catching up...

I seem to have loads I wanted to post about - there has been no time in the last few weeks. But... yesterday I handed in my dissertation, so hurrah! Might actually begin to catch up with myself now! It was a lovely feeling to pile up all the books and journal articles which were beginning to make a take over bid - now I just have to wait for the results with fingers crossed...!

This is a glance back at some of the university buildings as I walked back to work after dropping off my work - am hoping that, with the exception of graduation day next year, I might be done with this campus!

It was a strangely surreal feeling - there is such a lot of effort that goes into studying and then the actual 'hand-in' moment is something of an anti-climax! I really didn't feel like going in to work but enjoyed the wander back across the park; This little stream looked so tranquil...

Other things I've been enjoying this week:

...crab apple preserving from the garden. These are waiting to be turned into crab apple & chilli jelly...

And the finished article...

This year the little apples seemed particularly rosy and the jelly came out a lovely colour - yummy too!

As was the juice drink - the easiest recipe that just involved steeping the apples in a mixture if cream of tartar and boiling water then straining...

Bit like a cross between apple juice and cranberry juice drink - very refreshing and polished off before I could freeze any!

 ...sunflowers...

This is a little strip of field at the bottom of our garden which usually has oil seed rape, barley, wheat or sugar beet with the odd fallow year in between. In 18 years living here this is the first time I've seen sunflowers - what a feast for the eyes!

They are taller than me!

...gorgeous summer evening skies...

...dozy, chilled moggy...

...and son 3's 18th birthday...

Not quite sure how it can be possible that all my boys are now officially grown men!!! Seems no time since they were filling my time with lego, frantic 'little boy' activity and bedtime stories! 

Wishing you all a lovely bank holiday weekend!

Sx

garden in August...

I have been trying to take a photo of the garden on the 15th of each month, just for comparison through the year. If I'm honest, I've kind of fallen out of love with this idea and am slightly bored with it - they've just made me realise from a distance, with the exception of the trees, my garden looks pretty same-ey all year!

However, I am a creature of slightly obsessive habits and I can't not finish the year now I've started - especially now we are over half way (actually, that's a bit of a scary thought - at risk of sounding like my mother, where on earth is this year going???!!). So here goes, my back garden in August...

Up close there is a bit more colour again now, having gone through a bit of a 'green' phase last month. Lots of 'shouty' flowers in the pots... 

The window box, R planted earlier in the year but most of the others are rejects he has collected; he works at a private school and, can you believe, they plant up loads of tubs for the school open day then they are neglected afterwards! The pots will go back at the end of the season but in the mean time we are 'looking after' the plants! 

I'm loving this bright lobelia...

And these pretty pale-edged sweet peas...

And in the flower beds, dwarf sunflowers...

...I'm taking the au naturelle approach to gardening this year - hence the weeds and slug damage! But still enjoying these aptly named flowers.

Clashing colours...

My Mum's always been one for 'themed' flower beds - you know the kind of thing, a 'hot' bed, a 'cool' bed, one with 'pinks' etc etc... Don't get me wrong, her garden looks fab with drifts of coordinated colour but mine's a bit more random than that! Lots of it has put itself where it wants to be - I may have planted things over the last 18 years but most of it has upped sticks and shifted to a different bit of the bed or even the garden! (quite a few have just 'left home' altogether but we won't dwell on those, I'm guessing some plants can't manage my level of neglect combined with R's passion for hefty pruning...). R grew the Coleus plants with the pink centres to the leaves from seed in the greenhouse and ended up with loads so planted them randomly all over the place and the orange crocosmia have just grown through them. I know orange and pink is a bit 'ouch' but actually I quite like it!

Can't remember what this pale pink flower is..?

Yarrow, maybe? (think the proper name is achillea?) Anyway, even though its flopping all over the place, I think its pretty.

My little apple tree is covered in fruit...

...even after trying to shake a fair number off to reduce the crowding a bit. They are not the biggest apples but very crisp and tasty.

There are shiny berries that the birds love on the honeysuckle...

Tomatoes in the greenhouse...

I haven't bought tomatoes in weeks - fantastic!

And loads of crab apples on the tree...

I'm amazed that this tree has done as well as it has this year, given that it clearly has some kind of lurgy (these were the leaves earlier in the year...). There are still quite a few dead looking branches and several leaves with odd looking red patches on them but there is masses of fruit and most of it looks pretty unblemished.

I'm not at work today, and meant to be studying, but it is son 3's A level results day today and I can't quite settle to anything so am going to faff about with crab apples instead... so far, thinking crab apple and chilli jelly (prompted by several people out there in blogland who say its delish), crab apple schnapps (I wouldn't want anyone to think there is a booze thing going on in this house but just was very tempted by the recipe!) and crab apple juice... will update another day!

Thought I'd just show you another view of the garden...

I don't know if you can just about see a bench in the far corner in the first photo? Well, there is a sheltered sun-trap in that corner first thing in the morning and I love to just sit with a cup of tea when I get the chance. And sometimes I get joined by one of these...

Ok, need to stop prevaricating now and get on with something useful...

Til next time

Sx

folk and VWs...

I think a couple of posts ago I mentioned I went with a friend to Cambridge Folk Festival, so finally getting round to posting about it. This is the second time I've been to this festival - it has a lovely relaxed feel and some great music; a mixture of traditional and newer folk-inspired music and lots that was new to me, which was fine. I really love to hear something different and sometimes it is the least expected that you enjoy the most.

There is always something just a little bit quirky about festivals and I loved this as we walked in...

What is a bit different to other festivals I've been to is the real music that's around - the performers are not just 'bands' (don't get me wrong I have no problem with bands and lots of them have great musicians and performers) but play instruments, traditional and funky mad ones, and it is so lovely to see and hear. i love the fact that there are loads of children soaking up the excitement of live music and the very traditional acts were just as entertaining. I didn't take many photos as most of the day we were in the stage marquees and the light wasn't great but I really enjoyed a Scottish singer called Emily Smith - beautiful lyrical voice - and a lively Norwegian girl band called Katzenjammer who were great fun. I'd not heard of either of them before but the nice thing about festivals is you can dip in and out so its easy to have a listen to something new.

These were good too...

...a Nigerian singer, Fema Kuti, and his band. They were so full of rhythm and energy you couldn't help but jig about - and the dancers were amazing; they are blurry because they were moving so fast!!

Lots of other acts I enjoyed - too many to mention - great day of music...

...blue skies...

...and just chillin'...

Which brings me on to this...

I don't know about anyone else out there but son 3 and I definitely would like to live this particular dream! There is a festival near us called 'Whitenoise' which is a VW fest - more campervans and beetles than you could ever wish for. If they're not your thing you might want to stop reading now but if you're sharing the campervan love, take a look at these beauties...!

How's this for a pretty van for coffee and cake?

Lots of nostalgia...

...this one took me back to the 70s...

...anyone else love spacehoppers as a child?!!

And some great detail in the presentation of these lovely 'homes on wheels'...

The boys enjoyed a bit of bike gazing...

Son 3 thought this might be the perfect 18th birthday present! Dream on, sunshine...

Still, nothing wrong with 'Living the Dream' for a couple of hours...

Lovely! 

Sx

PS Forgot to say, welcome along to some new followers! Hope you enjoy my ramblings! x

preserving progress...

Quick update on what is becoming known as 'the plum situation'...

So far I have made plum jam...

Plum chutney and plum sauce...

The chutney contains plums (obviously!), apples, sultanas, onions, garlic and spices plus the usual vinegar and sugar and the boys have declared it delicious - it was supposed to wait 3 months to 'mature' but that doesn't seem to have mattered!

The sauce was the easiest recipe in the world, found after googling plum recipes in slight desperation! I was going to post you the link but now can't find it! (How does that happen? You google the same thing and it has disappeared!) If I do find it I'll let you know, but basically it was bung everything in a preserving pan and cook til it looks like sauce...well, maybe there was a little more to it than that but really, not much. And...it used 6lbs of plums in one stint, hurrah! It has some cayenne pepper and ginger in it so has a hint of a kick but with the sweetness of the plums and the sour of the vinegar - yummy! I think it'll be really nice with pork or chicken but the boys have been putting it on all sorts (in cheese sandwiches, with ham...) and say its good. I'm ridiculously pleased with having made something that looks like 'proper' sauce in a bottle!!! Silly, I know but quite satisfying!

We also have boozy plums in the cupboard, some in brandy that have to be strained and bottled in a  month then the liqueur bit saved for at least 3 months (in theory...). And some in rum with blanched almonds that we are supposed to leave alone for a whole year! We'll see how we get on there...

Plus...I've frozen at least 20lbs of plums, we've had stewed plums, plum crumble (plumble! as Lucy suggested :-)) and more fresh plums than I can think about! I've given away about 10lbs...

And they're still coming! R keeps bringing in pockets full every time he goes out in the garden. The trouble is, once they are in I can't bear to waste them. While they are still on the tree, I just think the birds and insects can have a treat but once they're indoors... I have snuck a few of the mankier ones back out and given them back to the birds, and I've even fed a few to next-doors chickens that we've been looking after for the last two weeks (hope its ok to feed chickens plums! they don't seem to mind!) but R seems to be on a mission to foil the annual wasp invasion! Usually they do this impressive trick where they bore into the plums and then  eat them from the inside out, leaving shrivelled empty skins hanging onthe tree. I don't really mind, lets face it there are plenty! And sometimes they are quite entertaining when they've gorged on some slightly fermented plums! But it does make that end of the garden a bit of a trap for the unwary and R can't abide it, surely there can't be too many left out there...

Normally, I enjoy the chance to spend a day pottering with preserving - I love jam and chutney making (and have been known to give chutney pressies at Christmas!) but just now I'm in the 'death throes' of my dissertation which I just have to finish in the next couple of weeks. So if I go a bit quiet in blog land that's why...I haven't gone out just to take photos in weeks! I so can't wait to get a bit of time back, but am trying to remember why I decided to do the degree and that the learning has been stimulating...(it has...but I'm ready to finish now, thanks!).

Back on the preserving front, I made a couple of little pots of jam with these...

These beauties were in next door's fruit cage and just about dropping off the plants. There weren't enough to make much with them but together they made two cute little pots of backcurrant and raspberry jam - one of which I will take round for the neighbours to come back to (with a jar of plum jam and plum chutney too..!). Forgot to take a photo of these but they prompted the response from son 1 that it looked like proper jam!!! Given that I have always made jam at home I thought that was funny - he meant it was almost as solid as the stuff in the shops!

In between essay writing today, also had a brief go at what may turn into the 'courgette/marrow situation'... Mismanagement on the allotment front, if you ask me (not my department!), as once again we have more of the blighters than we can eat and I really have not got time to faff about making chutney yet (it just takes an age to chop everything up). So today I found a quick-ish recipe for what I think I'm going to christen 'Glut Jam' - marrow and apricot! I haven't tried it yet but I think it might be a bit odd! It kind of looks OK and apricot jam-like but even with the juice of 4 lemons and a cooking apple it is so sweet it should carry a dental health warning... Might be one for filling cakes maybe...or giving to the neighbours?!!

Hope you are all enjoying summertime and welcome along to some lovely new followers, sorry I've been a bit slow to respond.

Til next time, then, when I hope we will be at the end of the plum saga!

Sx

photo hunting... and plums!

As usual, a day late with the scavenger hunt pics - I am so disorganised at the moment! too much going on and not enough hours; at least, that's my excuse!

I have struggled a bit this month - doesn't seem to have been any time to go out photo hunting with any kind of deliberate intent so most of these have been 'Ah! that might work!' type snaps as I've gone along. Can't say I'm overly proud of this months efforts but here we go anyway...

Red, white and blue.

I liked the light through the roof of the shopping mall in Burton-upon-Trent, taken while hunting for cheap home furnishings for son 2's new flat. Don't think I got the light right but son and other half were marching ahead so didn't have much time for playing!

Flip flops

Mid late night shop in a certain well known supermarket! Lots of brightly coloured flip flops! I'm sure the woman who was refilling the shelves thought I was stark raving bonkers!

Ice cream!

I was getting a bit desperate for this one when I walked past this van in the city on Saturday! I would just like to point out that, in spite of the bloke in the T-shirt, it was bloomin' freezing on Saturday! Hence no queue at the ice cream stall I guess!

Strawberries

Can't remember what, if any, the story was behind these! They are just strawberries! Yum! (oh, and the bowl, which you can't see very well, is an original one of my Mum's tupperware bowls - given to me when I got married I think! I still love these bowls, even if they are a bit scratched and faded now!)

A flag...or flags, in fact!

This was taken outside the Millenium stadium in Cardiff at the beginning of the month.

Fields.

This is the field of wheat opposite our house, glowing golden in a summer storm, which had caused a fabulous rainbow that was so wide I couldn't fit it all in the shot.

A celebration

Preparations for Norwich Pride in Chapelfield Gardens at the weekend. There was a lot of bright funky hair about!

Sea shells

This is a bit of a cheat, as I didn't actually take this until this morning... I was thinking I wouldn't be able to get this one, then today remembered this little dish of shells in the downstairs loo! These are collected from various seaside holidays over the years - mostly not in Norfolk, we don't have many shells on beaches here - hey have been threatened periodically with being dispensed with but They hold little memories for me and I don't want to part with them!

Stars

 On the top of my birthday lanterns.

Stripes

It struck me that there was a lot of stripe-iness going on in my pile of ironing!

Something that makes you happy

I think I mentioned before my childish love of bubbles - these were monster bubbles at Latitude Festval and I love love love them!!!

So that's my photos for July - the observant of you will have noticed there are only 11; didn't manage a kite. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has come up with this month; thanks as always to Kathy for the monthly list. Can't quite believe its August already, at risk of sounding like my mother...where is the year going!!!

So on to plums... This is a cry for help really! I got home late last night from the Cambridge Folk Festival (more of that another time maybe...) to find this...

We have a plum tree in the garden that this year has been absolutely laden with fruit. They are eating plums really - delicious straight of the tree (and I'm sure about a month earlier than last year?) but there are only so many fresh plums that you can eat. I can't quite believe R picked so many! While they were on the tree I could sort of ignore them but now I have to do something with them! Soon!

Even before this lot I had already made 15 jars of this...

Because they are such sweet, juicy plums, I added a cooking apple and the juice of a lemon. I also added a small handful of blackberries that I had in the freezer - the green plums make a rather dirty green looking jam which tastes lovely but is a bit off-putting to look at!

This morning, I have frozen 10 lbs, potted up some with brandy and some with rum (plum hooch! never tried it before but willing to give it a go!) and have another 4 lbs in the preserving pan waiting for me to make it into chutney. And I have only emptied the basket! Haven't touched the wheelbarrow yet!

So, has anyone got any good recipes for preserving/using sweet plums???!

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Sx