SAD syndrome?

I didn't! And I hope to show you that very forest!

Greatnan! You couldn't make it up!

I got three and a half hours of sunshine this morning - it wasn't planned, but I got lost in a dense forest and had to force my way up a very steep hillside through briars and prickly conifers, then across swampy land (thank goodness for my boots) and finally hit a little road several miles from my flat. I did enjoy my 'adventure' and I feel entitled to have a very rare treat tonight - a few oven chips with mayonnaise!
N.B. Electrified fences won't kill you but they can give you a nasty shock! I put my backpack and poles over the fence then limbo under it.

Welcome to Gn silverbirch

It is maginally better today, so we are having salade nicoise tonight, complete with the entire artichoke crop (one).

Have only just started to join the discussions. Its really cheery to read all your comments. Haven't mastered the faces yet! Agree with Jess M that when the sun comes out we should rush out into it if we can! It feels a real bonus if it comes out for half an hour eh! Have posted somewhere else about a funny article in today's Guardian by Charlie Booker 'How to Fix the British Summer' which I found hilarious and can be viewd online if you don't have the paperx

Nor me!

jeni, the very best globe artichokes I ever saw were in the fields around Valencia and in the beautiful covered market there. They were huge! Wouldn't mind a trip over there sometime.

I do love swimming but have let my health club membership lapse and the local pool is quite cold. My shoulders would like nice warm water to swim in - Indian Ocean springs to mind... can't have it all. Going to caravan site in Suffolk with the family and hope it has a heated pool.

I haven't swum for years except in the spa pool on the QE.
It's costs a bomb to be able to access the spa suite so I don't use it often.
The problem with the other pools is I cannt access them , including my local one

Annobel I do the same. I've tried to grow them but they always disappear!

Grannylyn - respect! I am a fair weather swimmer, preferring tropical waters if possible, although I did swim a lot in the Med when I lived on the coast south of Perpignan.

The sea was ok- no goose pimples, but I could have done with a flask afterwards.I live in South Devon but I think it's been warmer and drier in Manchester this week according to my son!

Grannylin I am so impressed you swam in the sea today (where do you live for heaven's sake?!)

But it's true. The sun did come out for a bit today and it didn't rain (much) and I swam as well, but in an outdoor pool at my leisure club. I could have braved the sea as well but was not quite brave enough. But it was wonderful to breathe some fresh air again and come home feeling perkier.

Now we must just pray for a very long Indian summer and a heatwave that will make everyone complain about the weather all over again ...

Feel like a different person after a bit of sun.Had lunch in the garden, glass of wine, then a long snooze in the sun.Did a bit of gardening then checked the weather forecast.....rain for the next 4 days!!NO.So have just jumped in the car, straight to the beach, jumped in the sea and swam for 15 mins.It was a bit nippy and rough but hopefully will banish SAD for good!

Sun here really cheered me up, and I have cut some hedge and mowed some lawn! Just the bits I felt like doing. Looks better though. Next month when the sun comes out again I will finish it off.

- I did do something silly though. I poured a glass of juice from the last carton of the apple and elderflower (Tescos, and I have been trying to get more...) and promptly knocked the glass over and spilt it, all down my jeans and on my socks...then I knocked the glass off the side and it smashed all over the floor!
Result, my jeans are hanging outside having been washed, and I still stick to the floor every time I walk there! I got the glass and juice up but have not had the energy to wash the floor yet! It will be done later...
....eventually - very useful word.

Artichoke hearts with a bit of dressing or even melted butter - delicious. We used to eat the base of the outer leaves, dipped in melted butter - messy but very nice

I won't take any chances, then, I will avoid both types!

Very different Jerusalem are a knobbly rhizome and give you wind!

I don't know - I have only had them in restaurants and found them tasteless.

Globe or jerusalem

I add chopped tomatoes to sardines and heat it up in the microwave.
I am fortunate in really loving almost all vegetables (artichokes are a bit boring) and salad ingredients. I could be a vegetarian - if I didn't also love most meats!
I know some people who live alone don't bother much with meals for themselves, but I look forward to my lunch after a long walk, then I have a 'proper' evening meal. (And a glass of half wine/half water).

I'm just away to the garden to do a bit of pruning so's I can sneak a bit of soil into the brown bin for collection tomorrow. We're not allowed to put soil in the bin so I squirrel away a bit at a time. But don't tell anyone....

Party some time. Not next we I've got the family coming

hush yo mouth honey chyle!
It has been not half bad outside today. Not exactly warm, but bright and pleasant.