Have you missed me?

Just back from holiday, and I have so much to tell you and hopefully lots of interesting photos, but it will have to wait just a little longer.  There's mountains of unpacking and washing and ironing, the garden appears to have gone mad, I can't believe how much everything has grown.  And, of course, there are 2 little pusscats who think a huge amount of fussing is called for!

A different type of Rose

I love the scent of Rose Geraniums and having managed to successfully keep my plant over the Winter it's actually grown to a reasonable size.  So when I spotted a Rose Geranium cake recipe it sounded worth trying.  First though, you need Rose Geranium sugar, easy to do, just put some leaves in a jar with sugar.

One jar ready - but has to infuse for several days. Groan! Why when I fancy a cake does it always take extra waiting time.  I suppose the answer is that all good things are worth waiting for! 

 And the verdict - it was worth the wait! The rose scent had definitely worked it's magic in the sugar and when making the cake you put rose geranium leaves in the bottom of the tin, put the mix on top, then after cooking turn it out and peel off the leaves.  A real delicate rose flavour, it was yummy just as it was but very, very yummy with blueberries, raspberries (from the garden of course) and topped with cream!

Going Quackers

You are never too old to feed the ducks!  Well as you can see my 21 year old still enjoys it, and these ones that suddenly arrived at the sailing club are very tame.  I'm not too sure this is the best use of his lunch!

Summer Pickings

It's great when the garden starts producing crops and you can just go and harvest them.  I gathered the first of the gooseberries and raspberries on the same day.  Compared to the subsequent amounts I've been picking these look quite meagre, but they always seem extra tasty when they are the first pickings of the year.

We usually have lots of rhubarb but have hardly had any this year, I cannot remember ever having so little.  I had to resort to buying some to make my favourite jam, 'Raspberry and Rhubarb'. It's a lot less 'pippy' than Raspberry jam and not quite so sweet although you would never know there was rhubarb in it unless you were told. Normally I have to time it right to have enough raspberries but this time it was the rhubarb that was the problem and I could only pick 14 ounces. Having decided I would have to buy some I then couldn't find any in the shops but eventually located some in Waitrose, luckily reduced in price as originally it had been £3.19 for just 400g! 

I think the rhubarb shortage must be due to the lack of rain, and as ours is at the very top of the garden and not in a very accessible place I have to admit that it hasn't been watered as much as it might.  It does get forgotten about, usually until I want some!  Has anyone else had a problem with their rhubarb this year? 

Anyway, I now have six jars of jam waiting for labels.

There's Mischief in the Air!

Well I'm blaming the weather anyway.  All this rain is playing havoc with the routine of two little cats who can look as though butter wouldn't melt in their mouths.

Brother and sister from the same litter so they do look quite similar, but Samba is bigger than his sister. Normally very well behaved, well, they are for cats, they know that when it gets dark they are supposed to be inside.  Luckily this is helped by the cat flap having a sensor that locks when the light levels fall and then doesn't open again until morning.  However, Suki did manage to stay out late one night this week and bought home a present for us.

Perfectly unharmed, she is very good at this having practiced lots by bringing in butterflies!  Fortunately she seems to have grown out of last year's craze of bringing in LIVE bees and dropping them on your feet!  Anyway, having got out the Butterfly and Moth book, the closest image I could find is that of an Elephant Hawk-moth.  Having read a little more  and discovered they feed on grapevines and then watched Suki having a mad moment this morning, I am very sure!

 Two little cats were chasing each other at high speed round the garden, and then one disappeared by the grapevine.

I spy a stripey tail...

and now a little head...

 

Samba's looking interested...

 Ah, there she is...

 Samba to the rescue!

Well he made it this far and then gave up!  

I haven't seen Suki do this before but this arch with the lovely seat is a new addition to the garden this year, a replacement for the old arch that had partly collapsed under the weight of the grapes last year, and was extremely rickety. 

Samba had his own 'mischief' moment earlier in the week when he had vanished at bedtime and couldn't be found anywhere.  He turned up at 4 a.m. purring very loudly in middle son's bedroom having been sleeping in his wardrobe.  I think he might remember to close his wardrobe doors in future!

Sunshine and Showers

I've been meaning to write this since Sunday but other things have been jumping in the way!  Despite it pouring with rain all day on Sunday I had lovely sunny thoughts in my head from the day before and my day out in London where I was able to meet up with fellow bloggers.  So with the lovely company of Floss, Ang, Sarah, Stephanie, Seranata, and Lisa we started at the V & A, and enjoyed 'The Cult of Beauty' before going on to the Festival of Britain exhibition at the Southbank Centre.

Lots of memories from people visiting the Festival in 1951 really gave an insight into the impact it had on them, especially after the austerity of the war years.  There was lots of photos and memorabilia but if I had to pick a favourite item it would have to be the large quilt, 'Patchwork of the Century'. This was originally from the Women of the Century exhibition in Twickenham and according to the information panel, the 100 squares were made by 80 women who had no previous experience in needlework.  I was surprised by this as I thought most women at that time would have learnt to sew either as a necessity or for the wealthier as it would have been a usual leisure activity.  All the materials used were from old tablecloths, airforce uniforms and blackout fabrics so sticking to the traditions of patchwork. Each square shows a different historic event starting from the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Crystal Palace.

and the first successful sewing machine in 1852

and finishing with building the Festival Hall in 1950.

 Thank you Floss for organising this splendid day.

Catching up...

It was our wedding anniversary on Sunday and in readiness for us to celebrate this beautiful rose bloomed!  Aptly named it was a present for our Silver Wedding anniversary, 4 years ago now.

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There is bare fence behind where we took out two large bushes, I'm intending to make this more of a flower bed and hope to plant a climbing rose at the back to cover the fence.  I can't decide what colour rose but definitely want one with a lovely strong scent.  At the moment you can just see some tomato plants and sunflowers as I thought we might as well make use of the space.  They have noticeably  grown since I took the photo as we actually had some rain this week!  I'm doing a battle with the slugs though, they are munching their way through marigolds and petunias and find marguerite petals a favourite treat!

These gorgeous roses are from my wonderful husband.  

Apart from gardening, what else has been occupying me?  Do you remember the trouble I was having with crochet?  Well, for attempt number six I altered the pattern by eye, so didn't do as many increase rows as suggested and....

this was my daughter's lunchbox for the first day back at school after half term!  I am pleased to say that not only did she think it was cute but apparently lots of her friends thought it was too  and asked whether I would make apple jackets for them as well!  These are  all 16 year olds!  I'm not too sure that will happen in view of the time it took, and it was probably luck that it worked out in the end, but I was pleased with it.  A challenge to myself was met and I think I can say that I now have the hang of double crochet!

What else have I been doing?  Here's a little peek.  I can't reveal any more as it will be a present for someone who has a birthday very soon!