Just look what I picked today in my garden! A beautiful plump, ripe, juicy FIG. And there are lots more on the tree. To think that for the better part of my life I thought I hated figs - and that was because my mother used to give me a dose of Syrup of Figs every Friday night when I was a child. I hated it so much I turned my back on figs but oh, how different a ripe fig straight off the tree is from the sickly sweet syrup I remember. I cut it in half and George and I enjoyed it after dinner - one of our five a day. And all five today came from the garden, tomatoes, runner beans and a handful of gooseberries cooked with a couple of fallen apples and served with a crumbled digestive biscuit and a spoonful of Greek yoghurt. Yummy.
And following Gina's instructions in her Blog Drawing Tutorial I had coloured some pages in a sketchbook ages ago, having been told that was the way to overcome the terror of blank pages in a new sketch book. Having painted them, I then did not know what to do with them! But there they were, ready and waiting for a little painting done with a kebab stick dipped in bleach.
A couple of little chicks - in this case the early bird didn't get the worm . And then a couple of aliums picked from the garden, it is fascinating to watch the bleach taking effect, I know Gina said it would ruin a paintbrush but I bet you would get some better effects . I got a bit carried away with the daisies
Whilst I was painting the aliums, some hover wasps came into the conservatory and clustered around the flower head. Notice my illicit Campari - I am on a promise to myself not to drink during the week, but it has been a hard day.
There's nothing better than a ripe fig freshly picked from your own tree (well, perhaps a bowl of Cambridge Gages?).
ReplyDeleteWe're having a good fig crop here too (not as good as the best ever year 2001? or was it 2? when I had to cook fig tarte tatins to keep up with the harvest!
We also cut them in half and have half each after supper - isn't it a joy!
Celia
I love the bleached aliums! My fig tree has never yielded a single fig... and I adore them. I did spy some walnuts on our walnut tree though.
ReplyDeleteDid you know, Celia, that the Cambridge Gages are reputed to have been discovered in a hedgerow in MELBOURN ? They were originally known as the Melbourn Gages and when the railway cameto Cambridge a station was put in at Meldreth (only then it was known as Melbourn & Meldreth Station) just to take the fruit to London!
ReplyDeleteAnd for Gina - A woman, a dog and a wanut tree - the more you beat them the better they be !
Hi again Mavis - I didn't know that about the Cambridge Gage. But I do know that those trains full of fruit going to Covent Garden were loaded with hundreds of boxes my Grandad collected in his horse and cart from the orchards around his village.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Cambridge Gage trees in our garden are directly descended from the ones in my Grandad's own orchard.
Had another fig for breakfast :-)
Celia
x
the bleached aliums really work
ReplyDeleteThank you, JP, it was fun to do !
ReplyDeleteWhat fun, I love your bleached pages, I am going back to play with all of this again, and your fig, well here in Oz we should be able to grow them but somehow our trees never bear (or perhaps it should be bare?), but the neighbors do, which is good for us as they give us some.
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