I love the word blustery, first of all. I think it conveys what autumnal weather can be like, and also reminds me of Winnie The Pooh stories from when I was little. And boy have we had some blustery days recently!
On Sunday I woke up early, (just after 8am)- I was quite pleased with that time but then I realised that the clocks had gone back so it was just past 7am. The weather was windy but sunny, so I decided to head out for a 10K, as I was expecting torrential rain and gales later. The run was great, although it was tough because of the wind. I decided on an out and back (and very specifically out for 3.1 miles) as then I got to repeat my favourite parts of the run. The wind was behind me on the way out, which meant the hill coming home was even tougher than usual with the wind trying to push me back down.
I was home before 9am, so I had a delicious Rude Health pumpkin bar, had a shower and then got back into bed to read. It was bliss.
Later on I had some porridge- I treated myself to some Dorset cereals Gingerbread porridge (I have made my own using molasses and spices, but this is a treat) topped with some apple (my final garden apple) cooked in coconut oil and sugar. So comforting and warming.
I spent some of Sunday afternoon baking in the kitchen (more on that later this week) before we went for dinner at Andy’s parents. We were considering the cinema late on Sunday night but the cold windy weather put us off- we came home and had the heating on instead!
On Monday I woke up super early due to all the wind. Thankfully we have only had a tiny bit of damage (a fence fallen down, although it is down to our neighbours to fix/ replace it). I had planned a rest day, so pottered about before walking to the post office.
There was a bit of damage to see on the way.
A few telegraph wires had been pulled down too.
At least the weather stayed good for my walk (it is just over a mile away)- it poured with rain just after I was back home!
Then I did some baking- I was going to a friends house for afternoon tea and I had offered to make macaroons- they seemed afternoon-tea-like. I made up one batch, then divided it in half. I added yellow colouring and lemon extract to half, and green colouring and mint extract to the other half. For some reason the yellow ones came so easily off the paper, but the mint ones stuck. I sandwiched the lemon ones with lemon curd, and the mint once with dark chocolate spread. I think I should have used more green colouring too, as once they were cooked they lost the colour quite a bit.
I was quite pleased with how they turned out anyway, and I liked these more than when I tried them before- they seemed to have a better chewy texture and a nicer flavour.
This morning the sun was again shining so for my run I headed to the fields, as now it is dark in the evenings so it is not an option then. It was wonderful, but hard work as it was muddy and the grass was slippery. Maybe I need to look into some trail shoes? Would they be OK for the pavement sections too I wonder? Although I need new normal ones too (maybe that will be done on Thursday).
I had a lot of work to do so tried to get on and power through, and included a lovely tea break, using some of the Marie Antoinette tea I bought at the Cake and Bake show- it looked so pretty. It is black tea with roses, other petals, vanilla and cardamom (and some other bits I think).
Also, I am very excited because I got an email from Popchips this week saying that they are going to bring the sweet potato flavour to the UK! No time line yet, but that makes me happy!
Runners- do you have separate shoes for road and trail?
How did you spend the blustery weekend?
