My garden

Oh, how I love my garden! What a glorious day it has been, really hot and a clear blue sky. I would not have wanted to be any where else in the world! How fortunate we are. The tall thin apple tree in the fore-

ground is a Ballerina and I originally grew it in a tub, but then I felt so sorry for it that I planted it in the garden and now it is laden with apples, nice rosy red ones. On the right are the blackberries over the arch -

you have to make the most of them because once the devil has ridden over them they all shrivel up and you cannot pick any more! I am fascinated by the nut trees. Today must have been nut dropping day, because I don't think I have ever picked up so many in such a short space of time. These are the ones I picked up after I had put the washing on the line -they were just lying on the grass. Goodness knows how many more are on the ground in the bushes and flower beds.

Then after lunch I did another trawl and look -

I found even more! I was laughing out loud, because as I walked around picking them up, I kept on hearing a soft 'plop' as another cluster hit the ground behind me. I like to take the husks off before I store them, it is so satisfying when they slide out of their covering because it means they are really ripe and there is a good nut inside. I put some under the gate in the fence for Brenda, she has only got a tiny patio garden and likes a visit from the nut fairy, or the blackberry fairy or whatever else I have a surplus of. So yes, it has been a good day although I didn't get any sewing done - it was far too nice to be indoors. Now I am feeling really guilty because I am busy, busy, busy for the next five days and I honestly cannot see me getting anything done before next week - and the Art Van Go exhibition is looming..... I shall be burning the midnight oil, methinks.

Autumn bounty

I was inspired by the sight of Silver Pebble's lovely silver hare to show you mine! Not a precious one (except to me, 'cos DD2 gave it to me for my birthday and she bought it at an Open Studio we visited in Cornwall this year). It is looking surprised because this strong wind which we have at the moment is knocking all the hazelnuts off the trees. I walk round the garden picking them up and by the time I get to the end of the nut trees and turn around, there is another load on the grass. There is a good crop this year. I like to chop a few up and put them in my porage - yummmy - it will soon be porage time again!

George was out lunching with the great and the good again today (he had lunch with Jesus on Tuesday, well, AT Jesus to be precise) and today he was at the grand opening of the David Rayner Cancer Care centre at Scotsdales Nursery. The Duchess of Gloucester did the formal opening and

apparently she spoke to just about everyone present. The land on which the centre is built was given by David Rayner of Scotsdales and it is indeed a lovely building and very well used already.

So I had a solitary lunch with the D.T crossword and this beautiful apple from our cordon trees. It is so pretty, when it is cut the flesh is pink and scented and very sweet. I would have to look up the original planting to tell you what it is called - I should just do that for my own sake. We planted the cordons when we moved here in 1987 and it is only in the last few years that they have been a success.

And here is another picture of our grapes, aren't they pretty?

George is pouring me my 6 o'clock Campari (just a thimbleful, of course) so I had better go and cook him a meal, now he tells me that lunch was just a finger buffet! Poor man. Lamb chops are called for I think, quick and easy.

August Bank Holiday Monday

Our Bank Holiday Outing .....

Today George and I went with Brenda & George Melionotis (with whom I shared Open Studios) to Buckingham Palace - not, this time, at the Queen's invitation but to see the exhibition of Commonwealth Tours. And very interesting it was too, a tour of the Palace and an exhibition of some of the fabulous dresses worn by Her Majesty on the Royal Tours. What a tiny waist! Well, the Queen that is, not me and Brenda! Then we had lunch in the Bag O' Nails, a pub nearby, allegedly oft frequented by the Duke of Edinburgh and then we drove over to Greenwich. It was a glorious day and the sun was sparkling on the river which was busy-busy with tour boats, river buses and little dinghies. The two Georges spent a lot of time criticising the boatmanship!

We wandered round Greenwich Market admiring all the craft for sale, there were a lot of stalls selling food, especially foreign food which all smelled delicious - there was one little fellow who was doing well for titbits! There were loads of things we nearly bought. We sat and had a pot of tea on the pavement in a busy little street, watching the very cosmopolitan crown stroll by, it wasn't quite the passeggiata of Florence or Venice, but it was very entertaining nevertheless! We missed the Cutty Sark - so sad to see all the covers over the spot where the restoration is taking place after the fire, but one hopes to see it again in all its elegant glory before too long.

There were a number of people on the shingle at the side of the river - hardly a beach but certainly being enjoyed by children and adults and dogs, who were in and out of the water - it was a very hot afternoon. We sat again on the waterfront watching the world go by and speculating about people, who they were, what their lives were like and what their relationships were. We made up some quite scandalous lives for some of them! We were entertained by a young man who was highly inebriated but very articulate and frank about his drinking problem, all brought about because his wife had walked out on him (or perhaps she left BECAUSE of his drinking?). He kept on telling us he was harmless and wouldn't hurt us - he was a very sad case but I think he was just glad to have someone listen to him. He was on a curfew to be home by 8 so goodness knows what he had been up to! Drunk and disorderly, I daresay.

Eventually we decided to make a move and walk back to the car when, looking over the railings, we spotted this below on the beach

We chatted to this young lad who was about 15 or 16, the piece of work was part of his course
work - the pattern being made up of shells, broken glass and BONES! We said we hoped they were not human! but he assured us that he thought they were from animals but he had got a jawbone with teeth and some very recognisable bones, all jetsam which he had salvaged. He was eager for the tide to come in as the destruction of the artwork was all part of the ephemeral nature of the piece. He was very pleased to have our reaction (George M is a teacher and knows all the right things to say.) The boy's younger sister had done a smaller

design nearby and she was hopping about as well. It was so nice to see the river being used and enjoyed. We walked back to the car which was parked near the Trafalgar Pub - built in 1837 on the site of an earlier tavern, it was a haunt of Dickens and Thackeray and many others and is

apparently famous for it's whitebait. What a shame we were all still full up from lunch and tea! The pub stands right on the waterfront and looked so pretty and elegant with the bow windows and little canopies, and folk sitting eating and drinking outside, it was such a happy atmosphere. We got into the car and started to drive home when I realised I had not had an icecream, which would really have made my day and made me feel as though I had been on holiday! When we got home, it was still warm so we lit candles in the garden and sat and had a glass of bubbly to celebrate good friends and a lovely day.

The start of Autumn?

I can hardly believe it but, yes, here we are on 30th August with a FIRE! How cosy. I love it, the smell of woodsmoke is just delicious.

We have just come back from the second fabulous party in two days - yesterday in the next village, a drinks party with gorgeous nibbles and today at a friend's 80th birthday celebration, another lovely occasion with lots of our best village friends and other people to meet as well. The same caterers did the food for both occasions, only more of it today as it was a lunch party. The weather was kind until about 4.30 when we were walking home and it started to spit with rain. We must have looked odd walking down the High Street in our party finery (George looking particularly dashing in his Henley blazer and a battered sun hat) clutching bottles of beer! Not as bad as it sounds - they had had special labels printed for the birthday boy and we brought a couple of bottles away as souvenirs.

When we got home I must confess we had a little nap - yes I know, sewing to be done but it is hard to concentrate after a glass of wine or eight, and then I felt chilly so George lit the fire for me. Sign of things to come as we go into September next week.

We had some friends in for drinks during the week and we had ....

QUAILS EGGS - one of my favourites, with rock salt and pepper to dip them in - scrummy. They looked so pretty I had to take a photograph - they are pesky little things to peel, though.I just wanted to photograph the fire as I don't think we have ever done that on August Bank Holiday Sunday before, and now I am going to go and sit and enjoy it with a glass of Campari. I rather think I have gone over my limit this weekend!

Domestic Goddess

I am on a roll here, but I promise I will not blog again until Monday! Where does the day go? This morning we took the curtains down and cleared the bay window ready for the man to come and fit the new blind. He still has not arrived! I have left several messages on his mobile phone - bother him. Stuff all over the coffee table and furniture pushed into the middle of the room!

Then I went shopping and whilst I was gone George helpfully peeled a HUGE bag of apples for me so after lunch I was duty bound to make CHUTNEY. I have just finished that task, another day with no sewing done, no housework done and I still haven't typed up the Almshouse Minutes Perhaps, you might say, I could be doing just that instead of typing this!!! Quite right, but not so much fun...

. This evening we are going to play cards with some friends We do it about once a month, with two other couples and we just have a simple meal first - I've been told tonight it is bangers and mash. George will love that, but I am not at all keen! The whole of the weekend is taken up with entertaining and visiting and church, I am exhausted at the thought - bring on Monday.

'A' level results

Terrific news at 8.30 this morning - grandson William got three straight A's in Physics, Maths and Economics - we are so delighted and proud of him! So he will be going off to Birmingham to do a four year Masters in Mechanical Engineering. Now I just wonder where he gets all those brains from? I have to confess he only got a B in Geography which he was a bit upset about but I told him 'Who needs Geography? You can get around with a sat- nav!' Poor Jeremy still suffering with his arms, the wounds are infected and they have to take the scabs off every time they form - Ugh! Good job mother is an ex nurse.

And just look at my beautiful blackberries!
This is what we laughingly call the 'upper lawn' because it sounds very grand - or sometimes the 'orchard' because there are two apple trees and the fig tree there! The blackberry
is thornless so it doesn't attack you as you go through and there is a clematis climbing over it which was in bloom earlier in the year. I like the way the arch frames the thatched cottage behind us in Rose Lane. I tried growing roses over the arch but they just would not flourish.




When I was looking at the blackberries (and eating a few, I must admit) I saw something which I had never seen before in all my many years . A mummy and baby ladybird! The baby is SO tiny, I tried to take a photo of them but they were both moving so fast - can you see the little one? It was really cute. They were snuggled up together when I saw them and I felt quite guilty

disturbing them! Off to roll the pastry out now for the Rotary Wives' quiche.

A day trip to France

We had a really super day on Monday - we went to Calais for dinner with DD2 and her Dutch husband Pim! Well, we did quite a bit more as well but the main object of the exercise was to have a lovely meal in a really nice restaurant we know - hardly any Englishmen there! We do this three or four times a year and over the years the places we have got to know and enjoy have been 'discovered' and then written up in the Telegraph and before you know where you are you could be eating in Cambridge. So I am not going to mention the name unless someone specifically asks me. So there.

We did some wine shopping, then bought some groceries, then we had a picnic of French bread and brie then Sarah and I did some serious clothes shopping whilst the two men sat and, well, I have no idea what they talk about but we leave them to their own devices for about three hours! Then our delicious fishy dinner - this is the cheeseboard. Whilst we were eating a man came in with a dog - he was shown to a table near us and the waiter immediately brought a stainless steel bowl of water for the dog! No Health and Safety rules in France, oh no. It was a very well behaved dog, we hardly knew it was there. As we sat and looked over the wide expanse of sand and the pretty beach huts, the sun slowly set in spectacular style - what a lovely day.

Today was the AGM of our U3A - and as the leader of both the Creative Textile Group and the Craft Group I had to be there manning the exhibition table. It was so hot! but the talk by stamp designer Ian Loe was very interesting. Delightfully detailed paintings of wild life from all over the world used on stamps, what an interesting man.

The Craft Group had been making boxes - this is mine, covered in a pretty Japanese cotton with a knob made out of two links from an old belt - I thought it worked quite well. The box is lined with a glorious pink raw silk - I don't know what I shall put in it but I am certain to think of something!

Tomorrow is a free day - hurrah - except for the AGM of the Rotary Wives Group in the evening, for which I have got to make a quiche, so I do hope that the weather isn't too, too hot.