A Good Monday

A little cooler on the Island today, at least in the morning it was.  I managed to get the plums picked and some jam made, did some gardening, studying and painting.  I enjoyed a lovely walk in the later afternoon and was delighted to spot some dolphins out in the bay - about four or five, it was difficult to tell, and unfortunately a bit far out for  my little pocket camera.

In the garden today:

Beautiful roses.

All a bit too high for me to prune  and dead head roses unfortunately.

Fabulous dragonfly

It was very high up so I had to zoom in to capture it on film.

Someone's cat visited the garden.

In the kitchen:

Picked plums.

Cutting the plums open - quite a lot had yukky creepy crawlies in them, so they ended up in the compost, that was partly why I prepared the plums outside.

A 'double plum'.  

I'm not sure what type of plums they are - either Cambridge Gage or Pershore apparently.

Chop them up. (1307 g of plums)

Add 120 mls of water with 1 tbsp of lemon juice.

Boil and then simmer until plums are soft, add sugar - I added about 1200 g of sugar,  boil until reach setting point.  Pour into sterilised jars.

On my walk...

A bit a sea mist/haze this afternoon, I took this from the seat I sit on most times I come down to the bay.

The fields are so very dry.

A couple of crows.  There was quite  a few of them at one point and there was a kestrel (?) trying to dive bomb them - normally it is the other way round, but it must have been after something.  In the end it did fly away.

The highlight of my walk, as mentioned at the beginning of the blog, was seeing the dolphins.

Art today:  

I'm finding it a bit frustrating that I don't have any of my easel boards anymore, (no thanks to the removal company who lost them!), as I have nothing to prepare and tape the watercolour paper to.  I tried out some of the other papers I have... one was really for acrylic paints, and it definitely wasn't as good for doing water colours on.

This is just a mess!  Free style, is definitely not my style! Ha ha.

I tried an elephant.  Room for improvement, but pleased with my first attempt, using only one colour.

Successful Saturday

A good morning spent in the garden.

Admiring my beautiful poppy.

Lovely cherries.

Trying to protect at least some of them from the birds as normally you end up losing them just as they ripen.

I mowed the lawn and did some more weeding, another two big round bins full of weeds trampled down into the garden waste collection bin.  I really don't think I can fit anything else in there now before the collection on Thursday.

Looks like a badger has been at the bird feeder.

I made the second batch of jam.

You can tell I don't usually put labels on my jam, it is very wonky!  I took this jar round to the lady who gave me a box of jars this morning.  Just after I ordered some from amazon last night!

My plant that used to live in my bedroom at my old place is looking good.

It has just flowered.

A yummy lunch.

Raspberry Muffins - yum yum.

My current viewing...

A 'new' plant from the garden gate stall down the road.  Fortunately I had the white outer pot to put it in.

Another lovely evening walk after rain late afternoon.

A new dishcloth - waves.

Friday thoughts and Jam Making

I realised the other day when going through my 'Gooseberry Jam posts'  that I have been blogging for over 13 years.  My first blog started in January 2007 was private.  I then started the first Balancing Kiwi blog in March 2009.  I am not sure why I ended up with a second Balancing Kiwi blog now...perhaps because I thought the first was getting a bit too depressing, who knows.  Sometimes I wonder if I should go back to the first and just amalgamate the two blogs then I have all my blog records in one place, but somehow never get round to it.   Blogging has certainly changed over the years, and I looked back on my blog roll of blogs I visited regularly and also bloggers I had met and am sad to see most stopped blogging a long time ago. I wonder why that is?  Did they all move over to places like IG or FB?  It is a shame as you can't really get the full appreciation and enjoyment from those I don't think.  They are just quick 'snapshots' that you look at then scroll past.  Plus it is so much more difficult to write anything when using a silly little phone keyboard, which is why I still much prefer things that I can look at and use via the computer.  Give me a full size keyboard on which I can actually type any day! 

I used to enjoy the real community blogging seemed to be and had fun over a few years taking part in blog swaps of various kinds, from creative, challenges and even letter writing. Good times.  I still do enjoy reading blogs, and the ones I follow who still post, even if I don't always comment - I am sorry to that, I do need to make more effort!

Anyway, back to the task in hand...today was the first batch of gooseberry jam making.

I picked over three kilos of gooseberries this morning and there are still ample left on the bushes to ripen for more jam making and also desserts later in July hopefully.

Lovely gooseberries free of blemishes on the whole.

Topped and tailed.

boiling away... I discovered jam making on an AGA is not as easy as it was on my gas stove... there are only two elements very hot and simmer.... and anyone who tells you you can just move the pan half way off to minimise heat is telling porkies!  It is VERY easy for it to boil over as I discovered...and the simmer plate isn't really quite hot enough for that rolling boil you need to keep going for the jam, so it took a lot longer to make than usual, and also a far bit of cleaning up when it boiled over.  Not to mention a few choice words.  Perhaps I need more specialised saucepans/jam pans on the AGA.  I used my heaviest based pan, but do have a slightly larger one so will use that for the second batch I make tomorrow morning.

With a hotch potch of jars I managed 11 jars of lovely looking jam. 

This mornings raspberries.

Hollyhocks have started to flower along the driveway.

My trusty gumboots/wellington boots have taken a beating over the last few months.

and are looking a little worse for wear.

Holes everywhere!

What to do?

Armed with scissors and some gorilla tape that is supposed to stick to all sorts of surfaces

I patched them.  I fear though it will not last as it has already started to peel. 

In the evening I went for a lovely peaceful walk as the sun came out after a rather wet and dreary day.

What a treat it was.

Have a good weekend.