PEAR TREE LOG

pear tree log: I started this blog to keep my younger son, Jonny, in touch with life in Lincolnshire, while he spent a year working in China. That year turned into five! Now he is home and training to become a physics teacher. This is simply a patchwork quilt of some of the things I enjoy - life in rural Lincolnshire, our animals, friends, architecture, books, the gardens, and things of passing interest.



Sunday 30 June 2013

Glastonbury and the Very Elderly

Aaaargh!   This blogger thing is playing games with me today.   Here goes again... with apologies.


During my usual morning call to Aunt Lillian I asked whether she had watched anything on television yesterday evening...suddenly she burst into excited, jumbled, chat.    It seems she had watched the Rolling Stones perform at Glastonbury and LOVED it.     She is 91 years old and suffers memory problems, but their music proved to be so powerful that she enjoyed it immensely.     The power of music - any kind of music - even elderly rockers strutting their stuff.


My weekend duties included helping out at the Village Hall Jumble Sale - as it was also Armed Forces Day we put out the red, white and blue bunting to join in the celebrations.   We were kept busy selling 'jumble', books, raffle tickets, tea and cakes...and enjoyed a catch-up on all the village news.   It raised some much-needed funds for the village hall fund and we had a lot of fun along the way.

The next village event will be the Show at the end of August.   That's our biggest fundraising event of the year and brings out the competitive spirit in everyone.


I made my very first ever batch of elderflower champagne - inspired by Cro's post.  I'll let you know how it turns out.       It was so easy to make that I got another batch under way today.


I don't think I have ever looked closely at elderflowers before - obviously I had to check for bugs and horrid things - this is what the flowers look like through the macro lens of the camera.  


I also made a jar of chive vinegar.   Lots of people have posted about it -  it is quick and easy to make and I couldn't resist the idea of pink, mildly pickled onion flavoured vinegar...a novelty if nothing else.


Toby Too behaved impeccably when the wonderful Dominic, of Belleau Kitchen, stopped by.     Thanks to Dom's kindness we now have lots of wild garlic planted in the woodland.    I look forward to seeing what happens next spring - perhaps in a year or two it will have spread sufficiently for me to be able to harvest some of it.

Because wild garlic leaves are not dissimilar to my beloved lily-of-the-valley, which is poisonous, we have planted it on the other side of the wood.    I would hate to be responsible for the unwary picking the wrong ones!






Later in the afternoon I had the opportunity to grab a few photographs of this lovely cottage garden at Belleau, which The Viking of Belleau Cottage Blogspot has created.





It is an absolute delight with drifts of colour and form mingling, little glimpses of picket fences and velvet lawn - and lots of lupins.    Mine usually get decimated by slugs - but The Viking has far more success.   I suffer from lupin envy when I see his garden.


One final delight - the Canada Geese and their little goslings are in fine form, the youngsters are growing quickly now.    This photograph was taken peering through the hedge - they are on a difficult to access part of the fish pond field.     Clever geese.




26 comments:

  1. oooh, the garden looks so lovely... who's is it? ;0)

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    1. Hello Dom - It is a wonderful cottage garden, you and The Viking should be very proud of it. Thank you very much for letting me take some snaps to share here. It was lovely seeing you - and a really good experience for Toby Too. xx

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  2. Three cheers for Aunt Lilian, and tell her I said so.

    As to elderflower champagne. Every flower that becomes champagne does not become an elderberry. A travesty, unless one has enough elderberry bushes at hand.

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    1. Hello Joanne, I'll be visiting her to do housework, laundry, etc tomorrow - no doubt I'll hear more about it then. If I can get a word in edgeways, I'll pass on your regards.

      Don't worry about the elderberries. I have always been reluctant to 'waste' the flowers like this - however, once I really read the recipes I found that I only needed to use six heads of flowers to make several litres of elderflower fizz...and even I found that I could spare those few.

      The reason I guard the elderberries so carefully is that we use lots of them to make elderberry rob a rich red cordial which is said to help protect one from flu...plus I like the birds to have something to eat during the cold weather. We always pick very carefully - some for us, some left for the birds.

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  3. Replies
    1. Hello John, Her head will be quite swollen from all this attention. I'll pass on your regards tomorrow. I know I will regret it, because she won't understand, but at least it will make a change from having to listen to the problems she is having with her feet - again and again.

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  4. Ohhh ... the garden IS lovely ... so lush and everything looks super-sized! The soil must be so fertile! And Toby Too looks positively regal!

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    1. Hello Susan, The garden is a true delight, I knew you would enjoy seeing it. I don't know if you know that song "English Country Garden" - but it describes this type of garden beautifully and it always runs through my head when I visit there.

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  5. Mick Jagger isn't too far behind Aunt Lillian! Love the garden photos, my favorite thing to look at, XOXO

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    1. Hello Susan, The funny thing is that I can remember her being a big fan of The Beatles, but not of The Rolling Stones - nor did she have any of their records in her collection - perhaps she thought my uncle wouldn't have approved! I am so excited about winning your beautiful apron. Thank you. xxx

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  6. I hope your elderflower champagne turns out beautifully and that you enjoy every sip of it!

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    1. Hello Scarlet, I am crossing my fingers! I've just bottled the second batch - I'll let you know how it goes - with luck we should be able to try some when Jonny and Ming Ming are home. I've done one batch in those special (recycled) stoppered, glass bottles. The second batch is split between glass and plastic bottles...a little experiment, for everyone seems to have different advice.

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  7. Sounds like a busy week. Bless your aunt Lillian, so glad she enjoyed the music.

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    1. Hello Molly, Lillian was still talking about it today! Our village is really tiny, so is our village hall, there are a few sterling supporters who always turn out to buy things they don't really need or want...and we are so grateful to them!

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  8. What a lovely post with lupins and goslings and elderberry champagne! I was never a fan of the Rolling Stones. I find it sweet that Lillian took a shine to them.

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    1. Hello Ms Sparrow, You would have laughed if you had seen my antics as I tried to get a clear view of the goslings and their parents. The hedge was thick and there were lots of nettles but I was a woman on a mission!

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  9. When I went back to make my second batch, I found that all the flowers had gone. So just 6 litres for me this year (although I still have a few bottles from 2012).

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    1. Hello Cro, I am really excited about this little project! I'll let you know how it goes. The last time I checked on the bottles it was all looking very promising.

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  10. Love the thought of your Lillian enjoying the Stones . . .

    Beautiful photos . . . I have never seen such huge Lupine . . . Gorgeous!

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    1. Hello Lynne, Just goes to show that no matter how well we think we know someone, they can still surprise us on occasion. I quite like that! You would love that garden, it is a feast for the eyes, definitely one of the prettiest I have seen.

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  11. Well who'd have thought it? Aunt Lillian enjoying the Stones - good on her!

    That garden is simply gorgeous.

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    1. Hello LBM, I'm afraid the highlight of her day now is Bargain Hunt, music has been left behind - a passing phase!

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  12. I’m afraid I let my elder flowers go this year as it was a busy time for us. Perhaps if you would be so kind as to share the elderberry rob recipe the whole crop will not be a bust. The photos are amazing, I love lupines and have seven colors in our border.

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    1. Hello Doc, I hope you are going to post photos of your wonderful flowers, I'd love to see them. Don't worry, I'll do a post about how to make elderberry rob before they are ready to harvest...but, when your elderberries are ready just give me a reminder, if I haven't done the post by then.

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  13. Glad your Aunt enjoyed the music!

    The chive vinegar looks great. Toby is dashing, and I love the lupins

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    1. Hello Knatolee, The chive vinegar has turned such an amazingly pretty colour and already the flavour is there. Now I just have to remember to use it!

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