Distinctly

Nearly all my plants that I raised from seed are flowering. I just have about one or two more that are almost there. I have a couple of really fantastic plots of flowers. In the front there's a mass of poppies all different colors and in the back is a bed of cosmos and larkspurs in lovely pinks, whites, and blues. Everywhere else is also quite nice but not as well-planned. And I have a few bare spots even. Actually I take that back. Anywhere that is not exploding with flowers is exploding with weeds. So there aren't any bare spots whatsoever.

So my excuse for not weeding this week is that it's been HOT. We breached 90F. What's more, I was at work and I think it's common knowledge I work in a kitchen. What with the oven on and up to six gas burners at full power, plus a sink full of hot water to wash dishes...it's a wonder I'm still alive actually. It's the washing dishes that's the worst. Having to hang over that big sink in that hot water for fifteen minutes every hour just about killed me.

I was pretty pleased with myself this week, however. I made some English fudge, which is not chocolate, but rather a boiled sugar candy kind of like toffee. I had to heat the sugar with butter and milk to a temperature of 113C, and seeing as the boiling temperature of water is 100C, it can be a little tricky. I didn't have a thermometer that could read the temps so I had to do what is called the Cold Water Test. At 113C the sugar forms a soft flat ball when dropped by the spoonful into a glass of very cold water. So there I was with my little spoon and little glass, testing it every minute or so. But I succeeded. And it tasted great. In fact, it tasted so great that one of my coworkers kept coming back and stealing (or pinching as they say here) little pieces of it after it was cooled. It makes me want to learn how to make other candies. My gramma used to make really yummy sweets and candies every Christmas. I should ask her about them.