16-Sep to 22-Sep 2012

Sun 16-Sep: Another step this morning in the effort to consume every last plum... plum crumble. Note to self on first good effort: slightly less sugar, slightly longer cooking time (in spite of what recipe says). Ate most of it myself.

Mon 17-Sep: Suppose it was the first step in redoing the back garden this afternoon, when the majority of the patio was cleared. Almost serene in the sunshine, listening to the radio and gradually making progress lifting each patio slab and weeding. Still not decided on the overall design other than there's going to be a small grass area, a pond and the rest a drought tolerant shingle garden.

Tue 18-Sep: With Andrew and Steven set to come marauding over the border to win everything in sight this weekend, pulled out the tin cups to add some spice. Here's the snap posted onto Facebook to whet Andrew's appetite for the pitch & putt, pool, darts and chess competitions after he'd won a somewhat more prestigious Scone Bowling Club trophy.

Wed 19-Sep: Ambled round the Holywell walk this morning and saw this beautiful comma butterfly resting in a hedge. Thought it was unusually late in the year, but apparently it hibernates over winter and can sometimes be seen even on warm winter days.

Thu 20-Sep: Here's the blackberries picked with Connor this afternoon. Sammy didn't want to go and would only accept the allotment alternative if we took his tractor, which wouldn't fit in the car. So just me and Connor set off for my favourite blackberry patch. Thought we weren't going to make it; the first field had been ploughed and after almost an hour we were still searching for fossils. Also brought back a couple of meteorites found by Connor.

Fri 21-Sep: Doesn't look like three hours of effort, but at the end of an afternoon in the kitchen ended up with four jars of apple, blackcurrent and plum jam plus two Italian rosemary peasant bread loaves.

Sat 22-Sep: Here we are, chipping off at the first hole of pitch & putt at Pidley this afternoon in the first of the weekend competitions. End result of the 18 holes was me 66 (31 & 35), Andrew 75 (41 & 34) and Steven 80 (41 & 39). Much comment from the other two that this was just a warm up and they'd do a lot better tomorrow morning. Later we canoed up The Waits, around Holt Island and under the St Ives Bridge before tea at The Dolphin. Then off to The Legion for pool... not quite as good a result there, with Andrew winning 11 games, Steven 7, me 5. Well, got to let them win at something!