Today was a lovely day for doing the washing - which desperately needs to be done. Unfortunately it was also a day when I had two cottages to clean, then, since it was noon, decided it was pointless doing washing that late in the day so I went to sewing instead.

The second cottage was left in total chaos - towels and bedding everywhere, and they lost a teeshirt in the pile of linen. This, together with the rather more expensive clothing I found hanging in the wardrobe has been folded neatly and placed in a pillow case pending recovery by the owners. If they don't I am now the proud owner of a rather nice quilted sleeveless top, a short-sleeved cotton shirt with a thin white pattern on a black background and a pair of black trousers. All my size :-). The teeshirt was not quite to my taste so can go into the Bargain Centre after a wash.

I managed to complete all but a few stitches in the wheat ear (four different shades of gold) so am feeling quite chuffed about that. Then I got home and dropped up the fire dogs I had promised Heather and suggested a way to use the fireplace that does not involve demolishing the brickwork and potentially causing more problems than are solved (place metal rods across between the fire dogs and use it as a grill, and a short section of railway track across the opening at the bottom to reduce the draft and so make the wood last longer).

Having finally got home, I discovered that the very dense piece of wood I placed on the fire this morning was still smouldering, so getting it going once more was the work of a moment. The chicken has had vast quantities of butter flavoured with garlic and thyme rubbed under the skin of its chest, the wings tied back and a lemon inserted in its belly and the lot placed in the baking dish along with some veges. The oven is heating and the lot will go into it as I set off for the bank to get that cleaned also. Hopefully when I get home I will have a nice baked dinner with some crispy chicken skin waiting to be served for dinner.