Awake early again as the curtains are far too thin, and I got up and after breakfast went to explore the footpath behind the house, and I found some nice lumps of dry wood which I brought back in case we light the stove on Tuesday evening when it could be cold and wet.
Then Gill and I walked into Mumbles together and had a wander around and did some shopping, and found two greengrocers and a health food shop, a love spoon shop and two charity shops. We spent more than an hour out of the house... and when we got back we thought the boys hadn't noticed that we'd gone, as they were so totally immersed in their DS games. So we had lunch and then had a family conference about what to do with the afternoon. Both the boys wanted to go and play Crazy Golf, as there is a place just at the bottom of Village Lane. So we all walked down and on the way we met a friendly Australian-sounding chap called Karl, who's currently teaching physics but is interested in working in a more creative way, and we immediately hit it off, and chatted for a short while.
I'd never played Crazy Golf before, but the idea is to knock the golf ball along the concrete playing area, past or through the obstacle, and into the hole at the end. This course had about 12 playing areas, all with different shaped obstacles. We all had our own club and different coloured ball, and four score sheets and a pencil. We just totted up the number of putts we each needed to get the ball in the hole, and at the end of the round, we totted up the number of points... and the person with the least had won, and, amazingly, that person was me. Beginners luck!
This was enough activity for most of the family so we came back home. Gill had prepared some tea earlier, a mix of Bulgar wheat, finely chopped onion, mixed seeds and grated carrot, and the middles of the hollowed-out mini-marrows, brought from home. The marrows/large courgettes were stuffed with this and baked with some grated cheese on top. We had this at about 6pm and it was really nice.
Before dark I went to a hedgerow where I'd seen a lot of dead wood and came back with a bag full of lengths of stick, which I may use if we have the stove going sometime.
In the evening I added chopped cooking apple to the de-stoned York cherry plums, and Gill's going to make a crumble with it to take to George and Rhona's.
Showing posts with label Cherry Plum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cherry Plum. Show all posts
I really enjoyed today...
After a slow start, and after lunch, the family went to Scarborough on the train, with one of the boys' friends, and left me to get on with whatever I wanted.
I spent a bit of time tidying the kitchen and then got the shredder up the garden to the front, and organised various sheets and bags to deal with the huge volumes of vegetation that I was due to process. So, I took all the pine tree I cut yesterday and clipped off any twigs, leaving the slightly larger sticks for stacking into a fruit box. I shredded these twiggy bits with all of the Wisteria I ripped out yesterday, and got 5 large sacks of shredded material off it. I did this on and off for about 4 hours, taking a break to make carrot soup (carrots from unsold Alligator stuff, home-grown courgette) and to prepare another saucepan full of Cherry Plums.
I got a nice visit from Debbie who was wanting me to help with a remembrance event for her friend Debbie Fricker, but I won't be able to attend as I'm doing something else. However, I'll be able to provide a little sack of logs for a ceremonial fire she's having.
Gill and the boys got back at 8 and Gill was pleased to have some carrot soup.
I had a really good chat on MSN Messenger with Leonie, a friend of my sister whom I've met once but have become friends with recently through facebook.
So a hard-working but relaxed day, happy that the Scarborough visit went well, and I feel lucky to have such a wealth of friends.
After a slow start, and after lunch, the family went to Scarborough on the train, with one of the boys' friends, and left me to get on with whatever I wanted.
I spent a bit of time tidying the kitchen and then got the shredder up the garden to the front, and organised various sheets and bags to deal with the huge volumes of vegetation that I was due to process. So, I took all the pine tree I cut yesterday and clipped off any twigs, leaving the slightly larger sticks for stacking into a fruit box. I shredded these twiggy bits with all of the Wisteria I ripped out yesterday, and got 5 large sacks of shredded material off it. I did this on and off for about 4 hours, taking a break to make carrot soup (carrots from unsold Alligator stuff, home-grown courgette) and to prepare another saucepan full of Cherry Plums.
I got a nice visit from Debbie who was wanting me to help with a remembrance event for her friend Debbie Fricker, but I won't be able to attend as I'm doing something else. However, I'll be able to provide a little sack of logs for a ceremonial fire she's having.
Gill and the boys got back at 8 and Gill was pleased to have some carrot soup.
I had a really good chat on MSN Messenger with Leonie, a friend of my sister whom I've met once but have become friends with recently through facebook.
So a hard-working but relaxed day, happy that the Scarborough visit went well, and I feel lucky to have such a wealth of friends.
Woke relatively late but got going quickly and had a very busy day.
I paid a quick visit to Alligator and Country Fresh and brought back 2 full sacks from Alligator and one box from Richard. I loaded these immediately into the Compostumbler.
I was out at the front and heard our neighbour Marion doing her hedge with an electric trimmer so I went to say hello. Whilst talking to her I noticed the tree above, an ornamental Prunus of some sort, had got lots of fruits on it... the first time it's fruited since we've been here. They were like large cherries or small plums. I tried one and it was lovely, tangy and sweet. Marion had one as well, and liked it too.
So, later I got the big stepladders and picked as many as I could, and I got a tray full, at least three kilos. I then found the tree in our Roger Phillips 'Trees in Britain' book: it's a Pissard Plum, Prunus cerasifera var. atropurpurea, a dark-leaved sport of the Cherry Plum or Myrobalan. Here's a good article about this fruit tree.
Whilst I had the ladders in the front, I helped Marion by lopping some of her hedge, at the top where she couldn't reach, and I had loppers and ladders so I did it for her. I also put the ladders up against the big pine tree which I'm slowly removing. It is too close to the house, shades our front room and the roof, which wouldn't be good if I put photovoltaics on it. But I'm not removing it all in one go in case the ground swells with the increased moisture that would then not be being transpired, and puts cracks in the house walls. I removed several branches, and cleaned out the gutters too.
I then cut back the Wisteria. This is a thug... I cut it back last year before the work on our roof, and it is already up on the roof again. I was quite brutal. Our youngest helped me by holding a builders bag open so I could collect the large amount of prunings, which I'll shred tomorrow I expect.
So, a very busy day... later on I tried to prepare some of the Cherry Plums for drying but I don't think this will be the best way of preserving them. Stewing will be better.
I paid a quick visit to Alligator and Country Fresh and brought back 2 full sacks from Alligator and one box from Richard. I loaded these immediately into the Compostumbler.
I was out at the front and heard our neighbour Marion doing her hedge with an electric trimmer so I went to say hello. Whilst talking to her I noticed the tree above, an ornamental Prunus of some sort, had got lots of fruits on it... the first time it's fruited since we've been here. They were like large cherries or small plums. I tried one and it was lovely, tangy and sweet. Marion had one as well, and liked it too.
So, later I got the big stepladders and picked as many as I could, and I got a tray full, at least three kilos. I then found the tree in our Roger Phillips 'Trees in Britain' book: it's a Pissard Plum, Prunus cerasifera var. atropurpurea, a dark-leaved sport of the Cherry Plum or Myrobalan. Here's a good article about this fruit tree.
Whilst I had the ladders in the front, I helped Marion by lopping some of her hedge, at the top where she couldn't reach, and I had loppers and ladders so I did it for her. I also put the ladders up against the big pine tree which I'm slowly removing. It is too close to the house, shades our front room and the roof, which wouldn't be good if I put photovoltaics on it. But I'm not removing it all in one go in case the ground swells with the increased moisture that would then not be being transpired, and puts cracks in the house walls. I removed several branches, and cleaned out the gutters too.
I then cut back the Wisteria. This is a thug... I cut it back last year before the work on our roof, and it is already up on the roof again. I was quite brutal. Our youngest helped me by holding a builders bag open so I could collect the large amount of prunings, which I'll shred tomorrow I expect.
So, a very busy day... later on I tried to prepare some of the Cherry Plums for drying but I don't think this will be the best way of preserving them. Stewing will be better.
