Autumn Update

This is Rover, being expertly pushed by Grand-daughter.   He's not the original Rover that Daughter had as a child but I was lucky to find him at a Flea Fair for £12 and he's in very good condition and already much loved by his new owner.  A few weeks ago my neighbour popped in to look at something in the garden and happened to notice Rover through the conservatory door.  'Oh,' she exclaimed, ' You've got a Rover!'.   It would seem that every small child called their dog on wheels Rover.

Grand-daughter has been off on holiday so I've had more time, most of which has been spent at home to accommodate H's musical pursuits - we still operate like the weather house couple: one in, one out. Today, again, I'm in. I did manage a trip up to see my farming friends and as well as a super lunch I gained a huge bag of damsons and about a dozen large Bramley apples.  So, somewhat unusually for this blog, I can now prove that I do actually spend time in the kitchen.

This week I have made:

 Sour Cream Apple Pie - recipe from Alicia's Blog.  It's really good and seems to have cropped up on several blogs this week!  And a traditional apple pie which I've frozen.

 The damsons finished up as this large bowl of puree, from which I made -

 Damson Curd - should have had more eggs but it worked quite well and doesn't run off the bread!

 Damson and apple sauce for yoghurt and breakfasts

and Damson cheese - sweet enough for toast unless you've a really sweet tooth but great eaten with cheese like the Spanish quince paste.

Daughter gave me cucumbers from a friend's allotment and I had a red cabbage sitting forlornly in the fridge so I made some pickles too.

 Today I'm doing baked apples for supper and I'll put the rest of the apple, sliced,  in the freezer - they really were very large even for Bramleys.   Tomorrow, I'm meeting farming friend at the Malvern Autumn show ( - thinks, should I take shopping trolley to bring home lots of foodie stuff?).  I'm hoping for more of this mild Autumn weather and no rain and I might even start to tidy up the garden which has been neglected of late and still has quite a lot in flower.  Next week, when all is back to what passes for normal here, we have a wedding anniversary, a possible day out in Birmingham at the weekend and then the following week Grand-daughter will be ONE!  Where has that year gone?  She's a great blessing in our lives, I wish I could show you all the video of her laughing, it would certainly brighten up anyone's dull day.  Must trot off now and check the visiting cat isn't in M's room as I hear mutterings from that direction.  Have a lovely weekend, whatever you're up to.

Afterthought:  Just for those who asked, Yes, M did have another birthday -95th, No, she isn't any less demanding and she hasn't mellowed with age, Yes, she still says she's going to die before her next, No, we still don't believe it for one minute and continue to believe her to be immortal.  But thanks for asking :-)

The hand that once held mine....

My older brother has just been to stay - the first time I'd seen him for about six years.   He's twelve years older than I am, and when I was a child he was my favourite person.  Despite, or perhaps, because of the big age gap, he always had time for me. One of my earliest memories is holding his hand and the hand of one of his friends and running fast down a hill we lived on in Bristol so that my little legs left the ground as we ran - always makes me think of Alice and the Red Queen - and I sort of flew down the hill.  He must have possessed a group of teenage friends as kind as he was as I was frequently taken off on expeditions as a small child and passed from one to another to be carried home when I got tired.

When I was older, we frequently went off to steam fairs and country shows together, just the two of us or with a group of friends, and once he could drive he would collect me from late events at school or friend's parties as my father didn't drive and the last bus between where we lived then in rural Essex and the next town where I went to school left inconveniently early at 8.30 p.m.  When he finished his apprenticeship and had a well paid job, he kept me in pocket-money that my parents couldn't afford and could be relied on for good advice on how to spend it and how to keep it. In a rare act of defiance of parental opinion he bought me the puppy I longed for when I was twelve (though he got to choose the breed!).  Apart from the usual sibling teasing, we rarely argued and kept a united front against our fiery redheaded older sister.

About ten years ago he had a stroke - undiagnosed at first as he was having a different problem with his hand that masked it - he has lost the use in his right hand and his speech was affected and has recently worsened so phone calls became difficult.  Tied as I am with caring for M, I haven't been able to visit since we moved here, so I was delighted when he and his wife decided to make the rather long trip to see us.  As his balance can be uncertain, he prefers to hold someone's hand when out walking, so I have again been holding my brother's hand as we pottered around antique shops and discussed the local architecture and I hope I shall do so on many more occasions.

Lucky Me!

Image by Suzanne Gummow from the Beneath Southern Sky Exhibition which will be on display at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC, Birmingham next week.

H has at last bought a smartphone and we've managed to link our calendars - rather H has linked his calendar and I had to create one as I keep everything a) in my head and b) on a paper calendar in the kitchen when I remember to write it down.  One of the dates I added was the Festival of Quilts which runs at the NEC in Birmingham - strictly speaking just outside Birmingham - next week 8th -11th August, and thanks to the miracles of technology I realised that Thursday 8th was actually free and H will be at home. 
I hadn't got round to getting a ticket when I read this post on Janet (Clare's) blog  and, lucky me, she emailed after I left a comment to say she would send me a ticket!  I've had Janet's book, Freya and Fred, for some while with plans to make several things, and I'm looking forward to see her newest one and to meet Janet and her Mum.  I'm constantly cheered by the kindness of the blogging community and it's lovely to occasionally meet another blogger in person.  So, is anyone else going on Thursday? I expect to get there reasonably early and stay to about 3.00.  I must try to remember to take photos this time, if only with the camera phone.

Monday was my birthday, so Daughter, Grand-daughter and I went to Tewkesbury and had a pleasant cafe lunch and a potter round the shops.  It rained, of course, as it always does on my birthday but it was only showers and we dodged those.  The next birthday on the horizon will be Grand-daughter's first in October.  She's an absolute delight at the moment. crawling and pulling herself up on the furniture and waving and clapping. She is also very vocal and shouts with pleasure when something pleases her and has a really deep throaty chuckle when amused.  We are to have her one day a week from September when Daughter goes back to work - she's the perfect anti-dote to M.

Lazy Summer Days?.....

So far today, I have:

Loaded a Queen Elizabeth I Virginals - not the original but an excellent modern copy made by this chap here - into the car at the crack of dawn, and sent H off to loan it to someone to play at a concert this lunch time. A particularly delicate operation involving its own padded travel case and a fair number of cushions and blankets.

Dealt with all M's morning routine from shower through eyedrops aand breakfast to morning drinks.

Watered the garden, which I forgot to do last night as I was caught up in H's battle with the printer to make programmes for today

Checked a load of Tax Returns and Company Accounts because I've set myself a deadline of 26th July to have the whole lot finished before my birthday then I can forget them until September when things start to need submitting

Drunk more coffee than is strictly necessary and tried to remember to drink a glass of water each time

Had a text conversation with Daughter which included photos of Grand-daughter, and a phone conversation with H who'd inevitably forgotten some vital piece of information which had to be looked up on the computer - keep telling him to buy a smartphone!

I'm now waiting for my vegbox to come and wondering what I can give M for lunch - which gives me 20 minutes to write this post before I have to go and cook - M won't eat salad.


It's been a mixed week.  On Monday, Daughter, Grand-daughter and I made a visit to Judith (of Relatively Retiring blog) and spent a little while enjoying her lovely garden.  Tuesday and Wednesday H was out and I tried to deal with M's endless complaints about the heat without losing my temper and get some housework done.  I can't say I was totally successful on either count!  I had hoped to sew some cotton trousers for baby F who is now crawling and getting sore knees, but they're still sitting cut out but not sewn on the sewing table, although I know they only take 20 mins or so make.  The fourth time I had to traipse from the basement to the first floor to open/close a window, fill a glass or change trousers to skirt and back again for M, I decided I couldn't concentrate enough to use the machine and gave up.  Perhaps this afternoon or tomorrow?  I made one pair last week

I love this elephant print:

Yesterday we went to Art in Action.. I had my doubts about taking a small person, but by and large it was a success - plenty of shady spots to rest and eat or drink.  Didn't manage to take many photos though I thought these dogs were rather fun.    It was very hot but not overcrowded and it was just nice to get out of the house.  The journey was tedious but bearable - what did we do before aircon, babyseats and coolbags? 

 Now I'm off to enjoy my newly painted decking which is in the shade - well after I've been up and down with M's juice, M's lunch and M's after lunch drink.  Might just get myself some lunch and sit outside to eat it - but where's the veg box man got to?

Hope you all have a lovely weekend - H is out tomorrow.  Why I wonder am I not slimmer with all this stair climbing - one of life's many mysteries!

What I did last month.......

 In the month since I last posted I've actually been spending a lot of time at home - H has been heavily involved in musical pursuits.  I get very little done when he's out so even getting time to sit and type a post is restricted. I have done the odd few hours in the garden - so frustrating when I just get gloves, tools etc out and start and I realise I have to go back in to provide a drink or lunch or tea for M.  I don't know the name of this little tangerine-coloured Geum but it's flowering beautifully in the garden and adding a good splash of colour.  I haven't extended the border planting much but I have cleared the next few feet ready to fill with new soil, despite the many periods of rain.

 

 We've had some lovely evening skies lately as the weather's been so changeable

I haven't been totally housebound (though the last two weeks I've been here without a car and at M's beck and call for 9 days out of 14 and also fitted in 3 days of babysitting - you can guess which I preferred).   We did our annual visit to the Three Counties Show taking Grand-daughter for her first visit.  She adored all the animals, especially the sheep and pigs

This one unfortunately was very keen to be introduced and gave an enormous moo that reduced Grand-daughter to tears! We all got a bit damp but not totally soaked like last year. 

Various food related purchases were made.........

On Saturday, H and I actually had a day out - music related of course, and went to a recital at The annual Gregynog Festival.  Gregynog Hall belongs to the University of Wales now, but once belonged to the amazing Davies sisters whose wonderful art collection is now housed in the National Museum of Wales.   When I worked at University College Cardiff in the 1990s I frequently organised conferences and study tours at Gregynog, but fate decreed that I never actually went there in spite of many invitations to do so.   It is much more developed these days

 and now functions as a wedding venue, offers tourist accommodation and is designated as a Nature reserve.  The festival was started, by the Davies sisters, in the 1930's and attracts many well-known performers - this year The Academy of St Martin-in-the-fields were in residence.  The house and its grounds is well worth a visit if you're ever in the Newtown / Welshpool area.  It was a two hour drive from here in indifferent weather, but we enjoyed the break, stopping en-route for lunch here . Daughter held the fort as usual.

Now it's Wimbledon and M is glued to the screen.  She vows that she will die on the last evening -  haven't you heard that before?  I say nothing ..............

Perhaps I can manage to post a few more times next month - I've got a long list of things to do by the end of July, as usual, and the sooner I get them done, the better I can enjoy the rest of the summer.  Bye for now.

Days of Wine and Rose - cars and cats more like!

The flower bed we're creating where the old shrubs and fence used to be is at last beginning to fill out (long term readers will recognize the evil hedge, slightly reduce by last year's cut back, but growing merrily again now and already the view has disappeared, sigh).

The garden is doing it's best to compensate.  I remembered to plant tulips and alliums (spell checker wants to change these to valiums apparently), Ladies' Mantel is spreading around the pots that didn't get planted or lost out to the snow, and the pretty evergreen clematis is flowering obligingly at last. Peonies are looking hopeful too, as are the roses I was given last year for my birthday.  I've still about 10 foot of border to fill in and deal with - mostly hiding behind a variegated laurel whose days are numbered; time is short so I do what I can.  

Found this sonnet whilst looking for something else.  The joy of Shakespeare: one's never read it all.  Living, as I do, in an academic household, browsing a bookcase or a website often turns up hidden or forgotten gems. So many people seemed to enjoy last post's poetry - I had several emails as well as the comments, so I include this for them:

SONNET 15

When I consider every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment,
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment;
When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheered and cheque'd even by the self-same sky,
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory;
Then the conceit of this inconstant stay
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay,
To change your day of youth to sullied night;
And all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.

William Shakespeare 1564-1616 


Back to reality, the car, which I've been delighted with up till now, has developed a fault that is draining the battery.  Now I may be uncharitable here, but why does H saying ' I tried everything last night to turn the radio off whilst the satnav was on', fill me with suspicion.  Of course, it's bank holiday so it'll be Tuesday before I can do anything, Daughter's away at her in-laws and there's no point getting Green flag out again as I had to at B&Q this morning, as it charges whilst driving and discharges again within half-an-hour of parking.  Any trip to the Flea Fair tomorrow will have to be done on Shank's pony.

This is the car park field for Three Counties Showground - about a ten minute walk away - and all uphill on the way home so no buying anything heavy!  Bredon Hill and the start of the Cotswolds in the background.

The weather is lovely. (Here's Worcester Cathedral drowsing in misty sunshine about 10 miles away - how green everything looks in between.)  Which brings me back to the garden where I should really be shredding branches and power washing the deck......

As I was typing strange sounds alerted me to the visiting cat being comprehensively sick on the top landing - he's already tried the hall and the conservatory.  Off to don the rubber gloves again.....

I think I'm going to give up and put my feet up and knit.  Just finished this, and a hairy monkey which I'll try and remember to photograph.  I'm also busy making felt bunnies from Alicia's pattern - there are patterns for a whole wardrobe and I have several small girls with birthdays to cater for!

Hoping too to knit Little Cotton Rabbits from Julie (this is the one I already have that Julie herself knitted)

and currently knitting a cotton cardi, and trying to finish a Tana lawn dress which has a problem with the sleeve pattern.  Now if someone else would just deal with the garage, the cat, tonight's supper and M's pyjamas, I might get somewhere (oh, and could they power wash the deck too?).

Hope your weekend is going rather more successfully.

When I consider every thing that grows (Sonnet 15)

  by William Shakespeare

When I consider every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment.
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment.
When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheerèd and checked even by the self-same sky,
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory;
Then the conceit of this inconstant stay,
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
Where wasteful Time debateth with decay
To change your day of youth to sullied night;
And all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20313#sthash.6PqMAzQu.dpuf

When I consider every thing that grows (Sonnet 15)

  by William Shakespeare

When I consider every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment.
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment.
When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheerèd and checked even by the self-same sky,
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory;
Then the conceit of this inconstant stay,
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
Where wasteful Time debateth with decay
To change your day of youth to sullied night;
And all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20313#sthash.6PqMAzQu.dpuf

A. E. Housman (1859–1936).  A Shropshire Lad.  1896.

II. Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

LOVELIEST of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough, And stands about the woodland ride Wearing white for Eastertide. Now, of my threescore years and ten, Twenty will not come again, And take from seventy springs a score, It only leaves me fifty more. And since to look at things in bloom Fifty springs are little room, About the woodlands I will go To see the cherry hung with snow.

This spring has been worth waiting for hasn't it?  The blossom is terrific.   I can't but agree with Houseman, though I haven't fifty springs to look forward to, it is the loveliest of trees when in full blossom.

I've always liked 'Carpe Diem' poetry.  We should seize the day whenever we can.  The most famous must surely be Andrew Marvell's  (1621-1678) To His Coy Mistress, a poem I first heard when a teenager and have returned to and often quoted since. (Times winged chariot seems to be frequently at our backs in this house).  The delightful Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May by Robert Herrick (1591-1674) with its subtitle (To The Virgins To Make Much of Time), is another favourite.  I'd forgotten this poem by Ernest Dowson (1867-1900) - not a poet who is well known these days but we all know the phrase at the start of the second stanza.  The title is not Days of Wine and Roses, but the rather more erudite:

Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam (The brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long - Horace)

Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam

  by Ernest Dowson
The brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long. –Horace

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter, 
Love and desire and hate: 
I think they have no portion in us after 
We pass the gate. 

They are not long, the days of wine and roses: 
Out of a misty dream 
Our path emerges for a while, then closes 
Within a dream.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20246#sthash.uTEJ8Tv8.dpuf

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
Love and desire and hate;
I think they have no portion in us after
We pass the gate.

They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.

Dowson also gives us the wonderful line 'I called for madder music and for stronger wine' in his poem Cynara.   

If you were thinking 'Carpe diem' poetry has gone out of fashion since the Cavaliers, the Metaphysicals and the languid Victorians, Robert Frost and this lovely poem by Sara Teasdale (amongst others) take us into the 20th Century.   But the contempory poem that set me off on this train of thought is here   It's called You Can't Have It All by Barbara Ras.  It won't paste from that site but do go and read it if you've time

And when adulthood fails you,
you can still summon the memory of the black swan on the pond
of your childhood, the rye bread with peanut butter and bananas
your grandmother gave you while the rest of the family slept. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15239#sthash.5nX1WXlz.dpuf

Spend all you have for loveliness, Buy it and never count the cost; For one white singing hour of peace Count many a year of strife well lost, And for a breath of ecstacy Give all you have been, or could be. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20724#sthash.S4cnOza1.dpuf

Spend all you have for loveliness, Buy it and never count the cost; For one white singing hour of peace Count many a year of strife well lost, And for a breath of ecstacy Give all you have been, or could be. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20724#sthash.S4cnOza1.dpuf

Spend all you have for loveliness, Buy it and never count the cost; For one white singing hour of peace Count many a year of strife well lost, And for a breath of ecstacy Give all you have been, or could be. - See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20724#sthash.S4cnOza1.dpuf

Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam

  by Ernest Dowson
The brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long. –Horace

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter, 
Love and desire and hate: 
I think they have no portion in us after 
We pass the gate. 

They are not long, the days of wine and roses: 
Out of a misty dream 
Our path emerges for a while, then closes 
Within a dream.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20246#sthash.3DR0PQ65.dpuf

Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam

  by Ernest Dowson
The brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long. –Horace

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter, 
Love and desire and hate: 
I think they have no portion in us after 
We pass the gate. 

They are not long, the days of wine and roses: 
Out of a misty dream 
Our path emerges for a while, then closes 
Within a dream.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20246#sthash.3DR0PQ65.dpuf

Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetat Incohare Longam

  by Ernest Dowson
The brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long. –Horace

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter, 
Love and desire and hate: 
I think they have no portion in us after 
We pass the gate. 

They are not long, the days of wine and roses: 
Out of a misty dream 
Our path emerges for a while, then closes 
Within a dream.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20246#sthash.3DR0PQ65.dpuf