Little Sparrows

My wee boy (!!) had a week away at his auntys.  This is the present he bought back, a litte flower bird feeder.  Now I can watch beautiful birds in the morning as I make the tea and pack the lunches for the day........

Mint Jelly reflections

I have been gone such a long time, it just seems to have been so busy and very little inclination to write.  But now it suddenly seems very autumny, wind and rain, so I can get back to writing and back to making things.  We had a very blustery day on Monday, lots of things blew down including a big branch on a very old apple tree along the road. While I was out with the dogs, I collected a bag of apples and some blackberries.  I made an apple and blackberry crumble (with shop apples) and chopped up the fallen apples and cooked them up to make apple jelly.  I haven't made this for at least four years, when I lived out in the countryside.  Now I live in a tiny town with the countryside on my doorstep.  It was good to do this again, finding a cloth and straining them into my big pink bowl, then tonight boiling them up with the sugar.  The pan I have is too small and it kept boiling over and left my cooker in a sticky mess, but the result...... four lovely jars of mint jelly.

We have been thinking very hard about moving house to a smaller one, that will leave us more time for projects, travelling and relaxing.  But first we have to tidy up, decorate and sort out.  This is not the appealing part, I wish a magic wand could be waved and into the new, little house we would suddenly land.  We have one in mind, and if its meant to be, it will happen.  One room is almost finished being painted, maybe our bedroom next.  'The Man' from the estate agents is coming to look next week........