Top and tail

Yesterday, as I sat topping and tailing the gooseberries ready for the next jam making session, I was transported back to Saturdays in the 1950s when my sister and I would sit on the sofa preparing gooseberries and blackberries for my mother to make into pies. She was a wonderful pastry cook and made enough savoury and fruit pies on Saturday to keep us happy for the coming week.

My grandmother always came for tea on Sunday and there would be an apple pie for her to take home to my grandfather, who never visited anyone but enjoyed his share of the tea. Then there was the endless stream of cousins who called in for a cup of tea and a piece of Auntie Winnie's pie. My sisters and brother and I would eye them resentfully as they tucked in to our delights. But somehow there was always enough to last the week.

When any of those cousins came to stay, or we visited them, we used to be packed into beds like sardines - top and tail! That was fine if you shared a bed with a little sister or cousin whose feet didn't reach your pillow. Actually, I recall that pillows were usually confiscated by an irate adult when our noisy pillow fights got too much for them and we were ordered to settle down for the night.

I am fascinated by the way that  a scent, a phrase, a fragment of music or such a simple task as snipping the tops and tails of gooseberries can bring all kinds of buried memories into life.

Summer in a jar

Having heard Ghillie James on Woman's Hour recently, I couldn't wait to buy her book, Jam, Jelly and Relish. It is full of simple to follow instructions and fuss-free recipes.

I went to the pannier market in Barnstaple early yesterday morning to stock up on strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, cherries and apricots and spent a great day in the kitchen. I just had to try Muddled Berry Jam with a colourful mixture of strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants

Then I prepared the apricots which looked so wonderfully golden and luscious that I had to force myself to tip them into the preserving pan

Then I used the rest of the strawberries and raspberries with the cherries to make  Cherry Berry Jam, which Ghillie James describes as the tastiest of all the jams in her book. By teatime I had a box full of glistening jars to store until winter, when some will be given pretty tops and labels to give as presents and the rest will bring a bit of summer to our tea table.

Alongside the recipes for the preserves there are lots of ideas for making use of them. The book is full of lovely photographs of irresistible dishes, so one jar of Muddled Berry Jam has been set aside to make ice cream for granddaughter Charlotte's first birthday party next month.

from Page 64

The preserving mood was upon me and I spent the afternoon bunching lavender and drying bay leaves, all of which will eventually be made into more gifts.

It was a very satisfying way to spend a wet and windy summer's day.

Silver linings

My husband and I have become like the two little figures in the weather clock since my mother-in-law came to live with us eighteen months ago: we cannot both be out at the same time. We make the most of the rare days when we can get away; last month we went to Westward Ho! and on Friday last we had planned a visit to the neighbouring county of Somerset.

We set off on our perfectly planned day: a 45 minute drive to the motorway and then a further 20 minutes to our destination, a couple of hours to do some shopping, have a leisurely lunch and walk and then back home by 6pm. We had forgotten all about the holidaymakers who now go home on Friday instead of the traditional Saturday changeover day. After two hours of inching along behind camper vans and caravans we still hadn't reached the motorway. Not wanting to spend our precious day off in the car, we abandoned the shopping trip and headed for the Fisherman's Cot:

This is where I came in October 2007 to meet my now very dear friend D of 60goingon16 (can it really be so long ago?), so I had some very happy memories as I sipped my chilled orange juice.


As I had expected nothing more interesting than shops on this outing, I left my camera at home but I did have my new all-singing-and-dancing mobile phone. I have been waiting for my son to visit to teach me how to use it but finding myself in this lovely spot, I just had to have a go at sending a picture message to my daughter. I sent her the photo of the bridge and by return she sent me this picture of Millie in the garden - isn't modern technology wonderful?

Last week we had to make the difficult decision to cancel our planned trip to see my brother on his lovely Greek island.  The Fisherman's Cot offered a small compensation in the form of an excellent Greek salad:

After lunch and a very restful time by the river we returned home, not at all disappointed by our frustrated journey. We had a delicious lunch, a peaceful couple of hours by the river Dart, I learned to use my mobile phone and we had an instant picture of Millie at play. What more could we want?

Non-stop fun

The visit is over and Millie, Benjamin and their Mummy have gone home. Here are just a few of the things we packed into the week:

 1. Fun in the garden

When the animals have finished their tea party they obviously need to bathe

2. Fun at the fair

3. Fun at the park

4. Fun at the Big Sheep

bouncing with Mummy

down the slide with Grumpy

5. Fun at the beach

There is so much fun to be had when you are two years old.

Four and twenty blackbirds

Well, perhaps not quite four and twenty but our garage and garden residents are increasing rapidly. With the survivors of the first clutch (2 or 3, we can't be sure) now finding their own food, Mr B has taken on the task of feeding the newest nestlings and their mother:

The nest is in the rafters of the garage so the lighting is poor and we can't get close enough to take better pictures. My husband climbed up to look in the nest while both adults were out foraging and he saw 4 little ones but today we saw only the mother and 3 babies with open beaks waiting for those delicious meal worms.

 Mr Blackbird feeds his wife first and then the children.

I think they are wondering how much more these little ones can possibly eat.

Tomorrow I shall be seeing all three of my grandchildren. We are meeting in Bristol and then my daughter, Millie and Benjamin are coming home with me to spend a week in sunny Devon. That is the plan anyway but it has rained all day today so wet weather entertainments could be called for.