Well, I survived the weekend while H & L set forth into North Yorkshire to their favourite B&B at Beck Hole and took H's work to the Grosmont Gallery. They were roasted in the sunshine but enjoyed lots of walking and visits to the Birch Inn which consists of two titchy bars sandwiching a sweetie shop, thus catering for this pair perfectly. For example supper one night consisted of butties, jelly babies, two pots of tea and several pints - I'll leave it to you to work out who had what...
Pics are of Jasper, B&B dog, posing in the courtyard and Beck Hole from up t' hill.
My new kennels was pretty fine and I enjoyed walks and games with a ball in the garden - no great hardship, then, especially when mine host told H & L I was a 'wee cutie' and was welcome back any time!
Since we have all been back the garden has demanded a bit of attention. Loads of blackcurrants were converted into jelly (which didn't set, tee hee..) and jam (which set like a rock).
We're into 'village show' time of year hereabouts now and things are hotting up for the Southdean Show on 19th August. Lots of wee stalls are planned and herself is making a posh ragdoll for Guess the Doll's Birthday while himself will have to polish the tractor as it will be on display too. Presently, though, he's out with tractor and finger mower on the back, cutting small fields and paddocks around and about for neighbours.. with a big grin on his face!
For any knitters out there, Lindsay has just put one of her Alice Starmore books on ebay and the other one is going on tomorrow - tell your friends - sales can mean only one thing - a new bone or two!
6 comments:
Jack - the black lab/rott - shares your pain, Ash. He must watch from the sidelines as his boy ignores him in favor of his gaggle of teenaged friends as they play.
The black current jam/jelly sounds lovely... (One of the berries I don't have a bush for in our yard).
Regards to Jack, a man of true grit, obviously.
The jelly has been reboiled so fingers and paws crossed that it sets this time - or else we'll be drinking blackcurrant cordial for the rest of the decade.
I guess there could be worse things than cordial. But let me know how that turns out. I had whole batches of grape-thyme and lemon verbena jelly that refused to set last year, and it didn't occur to me to reboil and try again....
Wow, you make nice exotic sounding stuff! I have masses of Lemon Verbena (or is it Balm) so I should be using that too.
Anyway, re-boiled it now sets fine. Lost quite a bit in jar emptying/evaporation/testing but still nice and clear and glorious colour
That is very gratifying to know!
Lemon verbena (which is the *really* lemony smelling, tender perennial) makes great jelly in combination with lemon-aide as a base. Lemon balm (a bit less lemony and definately less leathery) tastes great with red grape juice. I'm an herb fanatic - and being that I live in the USA-Pacific Northwest where it doesn't get hot for very long in the summer - they tend to grow better than most of the veggies. I have to make due where I can!
Still here, still mulling over herbs in jellies! Looks like we are going to have a good apple crop here so I will make apple based jellies, I think - lavender for one but one with some thyme in it too, I think.
Will you tell me about making a jelly with lemon-aide as a base - I think there might be some differences in translation here and I'd hate to get it totally wrong!
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