Ciderrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Pili Pala, Colon, Moi, K...useing Colons' heath robinson apple masher!!

It's that time of year again and i love it a cider making session with my friends . And extra lucky this year as pili pala and her other half are over from france.

Picture the scene! A dark night, a lovely warm workshop the woodburner was doing well that night,, a big pan of goulash, and a very large sausage! supplied by k,, pork pies and baked apples by me, Cream and Posh chocolate by pili . Throw in some crusty bread and a big pan of mulled cider last years harvest simmering on the fire. A record player and a pile of LP's ! perfect

I'd also discovered in the depths of one of the stables 12 bottles of coffee and raisen wine that we made 20yrs ago BC [before children] boy is it good!! it brought back a memory of when we where making it and after about 6 monthes fermenting we threw the raisons on the compost heap, and dear old kim our elderly GSD ate them all, She was soooo drunk we had to carry her back to the house and she just lay there completely floppy wearing a stupid grin all day, and was very ill the next Bless her she never learnt her lesson, a bit like me .

Our apple trees have done really well this year, we collected 6 sacks or so, and hopefully i'll get to collect some pears this week and try to do some perry.....

Next week weather permitting i'm off on my scooter with Nel to New Quay in wales. so if anyones in the area let me know we could meet up....

Autumn days..

Well i've heard of tree frogs !!!

A lazy day today after yesterdays jaunt.
But the sun is shining again and everywhere look's pink and all the web's are glistening like gossamer.................but i do hate it when you walk through them .............

So today i thought ! [another grand plan] I'll go to the beach with the dogs, and stop in the vets on the way to get them weighed and buy a treatment for their fleas. as much as i like catching them and squashing them !!!!! i just can't keep up.........

Well what a palava ??
5 furry beasts in the back of the car being amazingly good. And "lord Ben" the jrt on the front seat to stop him causing trouble....
I stopped at the garage on the way, and looked in the back! ! it's to quiet ?....... and they where all looking back at me with BIG eyes! ears back! and tails down! and swallowing!, then it struck me the only times they have been in cars is to be taken away from what they know and left by their owners.................
Lordy they thought they where going away again....
I flew into the vets with them in one huge tangle of miserable dogs, parted with £67 for the stuff, i nearly fell through the floor blurdy ell ! ! and booked honey in to be spayed........ Tumbled back into the car and came home What absolute joy as soon as they recognised the drive the smiles came on their faces and their tails began to wag....................Now they're all sleeping after there adventure............Ben was the only one looking slightly peeved because i didnt leave them..........

The beach was a bad idea i should have leapt on to the scooter and gone????? HHhhhhmmmm where next...................................... toot toot...

The Drive to shropshire was stunning, i've never gone that far before about 160miles or more in a day. but its a nippy bike iwas a bit disapointed it only does 60mph !but i know thats quick enough.........
On one of the little lane's i saw a sign post for Rowley [surname] so i had to take a look imagine there could be "The old Rowley mansion" just awaiting our arrival ,Yeah right ! there was a crossroads and a chapel humph very dissapointed.......
Sbs was as welcoming as ever yelling" OY! ! missis where you goin !!" ...As i drove passed her house............ to hear that through a helmet takes some doing...lol
A fab lunch and a glorious walk, and time gone to Quick ................i really wanted to get a certain horrible bit of road behind me before it got dark, not knowing how bright my headlights are.
So there i am wrapping up in countless layers, and i moved the chair And the blumin back came off in my hand! ! mortified i could feel myself going red! and they were both in hysterics!!! evil !!! it was a trap i'm sure..........but thank gawd it does it all the time.....
Needless to say i didnt get to were i wanted before dark but i got home.........xxxxxxxxx

Putting the garden to bed..

Theres home, looking quite tidy for a change..It's time now and i'm sure we've all started to put the garden away for the winter, i started last week by putting the parasols away and the plastic garden furniture that tends to blow away.Non hardy stuff is in the polytunnel and and the rose as been cut back so we can get through the gate again,anymore cutting back will get done this week..I've repainted the iron furniture and want to paint the woodwork on the house before i set to on the stone sheds at the front of the picture..

We went down to Knighton yesterday to see what it was like, i'd forgotten i'd been there before with S's, we started our walk along the offa's dyke there 10yrs ago and still haven't finished it!! It's also very close to the spooky campsite we stayed at no we didnt stay!! we paid but then got bad feelings and ran off !! so i wasnt impressed, first impressions and all that..

We where going to stay away over night but S's had split with her first love and was in pieces she needed her mum!! we've all been there!! and watching her and listening theres nothing you can say, nothing will help, just time but try explaining that............xxxx

The picture at the top is of the window in the porch which colon made ages ago ,.............................

A trip to Ledbury..

Well autumn is here, The Apples are collected and my batch of cider should be on the go by the end of next week, along with the crab apple jelly, along with the 40 or so mobiles! yipee can't wait to do them! not...

I went down to Ledbury yesterday with nell for a drive, i love that part of the country at this time of the year you get a real "Harvest feel". And the cider orchards are laden to the ground with lovely red apples, we saw trailers of hop's I love the smell and trailers of corn on the cobs, I'm afraid all we get around here are trailers of silage so it was a real treat.
I met up with woozle at the hop pocket and we had coffee and chatted like old friends {we've met 3 times now}.
We met up again in town where Phil Rickman was doing a book signing. He'd finished but bless him he came back in and signed for us what a lovely man, if you havent read any of his books give them a go i'm sure you'll enjoy them especially you Shropshire lot!!!
Ahhh the Shropshire Four {or near enough} It was a real treat to meet up on thursday at Elizabeth's, isnt her house gorgeous!! I'm hoping we can meet up again at the Ludlow medieval fair on the 23rd-24th nov on the saturday evening so put the date in your diaries and anyone else who thinks they can make it .............
One thing we all agreed on was how strong this site as become, and what good friends we've made also the similarities and coincidences that connect us , aparently Elizabeth and mountainear lived around the corner from each other years ago and knew the same people but had never met. Small world isnt it..

Home..

For the last few monthes i've been getting a bit down about our unfinished house, you'lll notice there arnt any photos of the hous thats because at the side there is a bloody great hole if i stepped out of my back door i'd fall 15ft , the"extension" as been on going for 12yrs, the heap of rubble in the background as been on the lawn for 7yrs, if an unwary blind walker stumbles they could drop down from the lane 30ft onto the foundations............I never stand back and look at the house because of the mess at the side...Also cols dad and aunt and unkle are getting feeble now and need more care, they could live with or at least have the option . So thoroughly hissed of last month i decided i wanted to sell ! Get a house thats finished on level land, downsize to maybe 4 acres, and no gorse or ragwort..........sounds like heaven.and i started looking, i even went to view a hall in Clun it sounded perfect on paper and the house was big, but we drove up and realised most of the outbuildings had been converted and sold off and i couldnt inflict my family on anyone, I've trawled the internet and nothing compares to here unless you go into the millions....so i stood back and took stock and fell in love all over again, now i'm lavishing attention on my home all the woodwork to be painted, new glass in all the steamed up d/glazing, a serious pruning and weeding that pile of boulders is getting moved slowly and cols decided to restart the building work....yipeeee i think i scared him..........I may even go against the grain and poison the blasted ragwort next year i've tried organicaly for to long and my back can't take it. anymore.

A day with Big brother..

Is he serious?? said Monty.

Today my younger big brother [confusing] i have 2 of them Elvis { A strong resemlence to the costello one in the eighties} who's 49, and boozer who i dont see very often who is 53 .
It's strange isn't it how The big brother who teased me relentlessly and frightened me with scary stories ,until i was a wreck, wetting the bed and pulling my hair out, {To be fair my dad and other brother did their fair share}....Can end up your best friend..
One of my earliest school memories is of elvis getting bullied and called names ! and me brand new to school attacking them and screaming for them to leave my brother alone.!! I also remember eating all the Leatherette of his coat collar, while i waited for his class to finish he wasn't amused.......I hated him through all my early teenage years, But now I love him to bits he's my partner in crime always up for one of my daft adventures, and always there to help if he's needed He's been a Great unkle ! {I just heard an owl " Wolf Whistle" outside weird} And the children adore him.....I remember after we lost mum he had his head shaved. He'd had a long plait for years and it suited him, Sorrel was in tears when she cut it off in public And i was but he raised £500 for cancer research And we were so proud..

Well today he arrived and we played.. he collected his "favourite" mushrooms yuk!
Then we started on the apples, They are huge this year, And then i had him blackberry picking..
But best of all he's not scared of spiders so i made him venture ito the stables to find a collection of old enamel "wee willy winky"candle holders which i last saw 12yrs ago when we renovated! needless to say he didnt find them or the top to my dresser....
We ate veggie bacon butties and chocolate and put the world to rights.

He met me part way when sorrel and i did part of the offas dyke walk, he got of the train like he was going on a 3 month trip to the Antarctic ! ! He struggled along the first day until we arrived at our camping site.. Then i examined his pack>>>>> i don't know where to begin it was hysterical. The obvious was the 5ft by 3 ft Roll of Axminster Carpet strapped across the top of his rucksack!!! His rucksack was ex army and was made of canvas and steel!! His long waxed barbour, A metal water bottle that weighed more empty than mine did full ! A pan a real hard bottomed family sized pan!! the mind boggles!! it gets better A four man canvas ex army tent weighing a ton, and a proper kettle [ you must remember i had cooking equipment with me ] A household box of matches a big cream box [ he couldnt find his lighter so he brought them instead] And wait for it....................... "SEVENTEEN SPOONS" it sounds like an episode of last of the summer wine i know................................Apparently he'd forgotten his tent pegs!! so he called into a junk shop and bought the spoons thinking they'd do, and i could use them for mobiles after, What a laugh he is mad..................... i made bin his pan and carpet and kettle......When we eventually got home we put his pack on the scales it weighed 6 stone... he'll never live it down...

Just a quick one!

MOO And HONEY.

I feel i should have so much to tell,....
On saturday i'd seen advertised a cottage that was open to the public for the weekend, and i recognised it as one of my Derri's That i hadnt visited for years.. it has been bought by the landmark trust, And has been renovated to perfection...
I hadnt heard of this company before and bought their book while i was there..I can go and stay in my derri !!!! and i just may have to, it's only 6 miles away though, but i never thought for one minute looking at the ruin it was that it'd be possible....
Have any of you stayed in any of their properties, i am seriously tempted with some of them, and you can take dogs thats a bonus...
I'm still not in full control of my new camera, i can take the photos load them onto the computer but then they hide, i'll have to wait for a teenager to visit and find them for me.......