6.40 AM

Taken while waiting for the kettle to boil for my early cup of tea. I seem to be blipping a lot of early shots lately. That is because I don't get opportunities later in the day.

This morning I made a lot of bread rolls, using machine made dough. The weather was perfect for breadmaking. The rolls rose soft and light.

For lunch I had a big sprawling roll that was crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. I sliced it in half, squeezed the juice of a small mandarine on each side, and filled it with a chunk of cheese, with red and green loose lettuce leaves, parsley and mint fresh from the garden. Better than you could buy anywhere.

Most of my gardening efforts went into washing my extensive collection of frost and shade cloths. What a palaver! Most of them were too dirty to put in the washer and had to be prewashed in a plastic tub in the backyard. But first I had to pick off the detritus that clung to them. The knitted types were the worst. Grape tendrils and twitch roots had crocheted gathers and tucks into them. They look a lot more presentable now.