Keith and I had a very busy morning preparing food in the kitchen. We'd asked Keith to make us a batch of sausage rolls to take with us tomorrow to eat on the Eurostar, so he concentrated on them, while I started preparing a beef bourguignon for tonight. In between preparing food, I did multiple washes and put them out on the line as it was a beautiful day.
Keith's sausage rolls looked beautiful and golden brown when they were cooked. They will go well with our Champagne tomorrow! I had wiped the mushrooms, peeled the shallots, and Keith had cubed the beef for me, so I started the dish, coating the meat in seasoned flour and shallow-frying it until it was browned all over. I then fried the lardons, mushrooms and onions, added herbs, tomato puree and a whole bottle of red wine and let it all simmer on a low heat. It smelled lovely!
Sophie arrived home on a real high after completing 7k, and having breakfast with Becky and her other work buddy, Grace, who hadn't run with them. She had enjoyed herself immensely and wanted to do another, and also make it a regular event. Keith and I were very proud of her!
We pottered about until the early afternoon, and I hoovered downstairs and nicked one of the sausage rolls for lunch. At about 2:30pm, we went to Tesco's to buy some bits we needed and then popped to see my Mum. Her door was closed when we arrived, and I thought at first she was involved in one of the activities, but she was sorting out the photographs again, taking them out of the albums and scattering them about. Her room was a complete mess.
We made her sit down, and tried to clear up the bits of paper strewn on the floor, and I checked the bin, to find one of my wedding photos and a pic of Sophie in there. A couple of carers came in to ask about Mum's covid jab, and I said I'd rather she didn't have it, as twice now she has been ill afterwards. They confirmed that she had been throwing away photographs, and Sophie became very upset. It was awful to see her so distressed after she'd been so happy earlier on.
She said she was going back to the car and took as many photos as she could with her. Five minutes later, she was back and had met one of the carers, who told her that Mum had thrown my wedding photos out of the window. Luckily, someone had found them, but how many others had been tossed out of the window never to be seen again?
I was very upset now, and noticed that she wasn't wearing her engagement ring. Sophie and I searched everywhere and decided to take all the albums home with us, as well as a box of bits and bobs. I was hoping it would be in there. This made me really angry as I knew my Mum had wanted Sophie to have her ring when she dies.
I'm now worrying about other items in the room, and I took a Rob Piercy landscape print out of the wardrobe to take home with me. Sadly, my Mum wasn't making any sense as to why she had suddenly decided to rip out all the photos, but I did find it unnerving that the ones she'd actually thrown away were of my wedding day...
We left as Sophie was so upset, and she said it was because she didn't want me to become like that when I get old. I said I was very different to my Mum and that if I did start to show similar signs, I would take myself off to Switzerland! However, I could see why she was so upset, but I reminded her that both my grandmothers had lived until their early 90s and were independent right up until they died. Sadly, both my parents suffer and (suffered) from Parkinson's Disease, which has certainly hastened their demise.
We went home to sit in the garden, and this time, both cats came out with us. It was blissfully quiet; if this carries on, I'll be tempted to buy some lovely garden furniture! It was great to sit in the garden, but I couldn't help noticing that the grass needed cutting and it was, quite frankly, a mess! I only like sitting there when everything is neat and tidy, and I've been working hard on it!
We went inside, and Sophie and I played Scrabble. We opened the bottle of Pinot Noir that we'd bought in Oxford, and after the first sip, I said it needed a little chilling. We enjoyed a great game of Scrabble, and Sophie beat me. We chilled the wine a little, and it did benefit from a short spell in the fridge!
I'd turned the casserole off earlier, but now I turned it back on and made sure the beef was tender. We'd decided to serve the dish with tagliatelle and eat a bit earlier than normal, as we had a long day ahead of us tomorrow and we didn't want a late night.
The meal was delicious, and Sophie raved about it, which was great. There was enough left for lunches and for Keith to have when we were away. Once cleared away, we watched the last episode of Katya Adler's tour through Europe, and we learned some surprising things about France!
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