Past their Sell By date

I'm afraid I drew the short straw for who was going to stay home today and entertain our professional tourists to the castle.
In fact there were no straws involved so important it seems is his Lordship's day in the hills with his 'Last of the Summer Wine' friends.

I was moderately disappointed as today's cycling destination was North Berwick, a favourite destination of mine, given that it's all downhill from the castle and has the added attraction that it is possible to get back home in the train, should the wind and perhaps fatigue make that option alluring.

So, it was a stay at home day with the appeal duty of more cleaning and polishing.
However I did bake some banana bread with added nuts , dates and cherries , from a recipe given to me by a nice young girl at my morning watering hole. ( Yes I did manage out for three quarters of an hour before the tourists were up and about.)

I'm sure it is a fact of human nature that when one is contemplating the start of a calorie restrictive period, food is uppermost in one's mind. I hardly ever bake, because only his Lordship and I are going to eat the end result and that to excess.
But in the last week I have made two date and walnut loaves and now a banana loaf. Obviously my brain realises that there are dark times ahead on the food front and is programming me to load up with banned goods.
The smells in the house are delicious though.

Not being able to get out and wander has restricted my blipping and so I have resorted to these Mother's day tulips which are getting to the interesting stage of decay. I find them rather attractive in their death throes.
Like Gillipaw I found my digital camera with its macro setting was the answer to getting a close up.
My fancy new 500D hasn't got a suitable lens..... yet....