First this year

I have anxiously been waiting for my blueberries to ripen. This year the bushes were laden with fruit but they are quite fragile and the wind, ably assisted by the birds, seems to have been knocking the fruit to the ground. Not having sufficient sun has also been a major problem, however yesterday I managed to find enough to make a meal. Some could have been a little riper but I couldn't wait any longer!

Archives:
2008: June Taylor Conserves
2007: Rocking Girl Blogger Award

My plants don't know winter is coming....Tortoises Hibernate

As I took these photos last weekend and I was marveling that many of the flowers were still in full bloom. One of the blueberry bushes still had some flowers and a couple of fruit and the colour of the leaves on another bush were beautiful. Well I know this has to end soon as it's getting much colder and last night we had a frost so I'm now expecting everything to die off. Looking back to last year the first heavy frost came eleven days earlier, so no wonder the plants are confused this year!



Tortoises:
A week ago they were still enjoying the late sunshine but they had stopped eating ...

Luckily (before the frost) I decided to hibernate the them on Monday so they are tucked up safe until the spring.

Archives:
November 15th 2006: Emerald Isle

The fruits of Embee's labour

Having bought two more blueberry plants last weekend, I needed some patio slabs laid to make a neat area for them in the sun. So yesterday we took ourselves off to the garden centre to buy the slabs, some plants for my tubs, and other bits and pieces. So today Embee amongst other things cut out the lawn, laid the slabs and the final result is as you see. All four plants have plenty of flowers and I'm hopeful of a reasonable little harvest given the size of each plant.

Embee is rather disappointed I didn't get the patio plants potted but I was too busy scanning photos for Fun Monday, and taking numerous phone calls from my youngest grandson. I dread to think what his mother's phone bill will be. He thinks it's great fun, we've chatted about everything from how well he's done getting to the next level of Star Wars game, he's read to me, sung to me, he's told me all about how he baked and decorated buns without any help, we played I-spy, I know what his mum and dad are doing, what he was eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner- no secrets when he's around. He's so sweet he wishes I could get on a plane right now and visit. There's no prizes for guessing what I will be doing once I have skype up and running!!!

How not to treat your baskets

Mimi's post on baskets see French Kitchen in America immediately made me think of resurrecting a favourite basket of mine that has been languishing in my cellar for over twenty years, well in fact since we moved into this house. Now, I cannot remember how I acquired it but I really loved it and it was regularly used for popping out to the shops for the odd few items. The basket became impractical once supermarkets took over from the local shops. A weekly shop was much more convenient and supermarkets gave plastic bags in an effort to reduce the shop lifting, so you were not allow you to use your own bag. Now we have come a complete circle and with all the recycling bags have once again become 'fashionable' and stores encourage rather than discourage own bags and baskets. In fact many actually sell bags for re-use, the cynic in me says are they really trying to save the environment or line their own pockets. This is open for debate and I'm sure you all have views. You can see from the first photo taken in the cellar my basket has been used to store my grandchildren's buckets and spades. As an aside the boat you can see is one of two that were made for Sam and Beccy by their father back in the early 70's (I hope you note we were ahead of the times not all stereo-typical girly toys). I have so much stored in my cellar I have enough material for quite a few posts if I get short of ideas. I think a cellar sale would be a good idea once it's all sorted.


The basket is currently sitting on my hearth and I have been wondering whether to keep it as a feature and fill with dried flowers or pebbles. Any ideas would be appreciated.

My version of Blueberry Breakfast (Anytime) Bars

I saw a mouth watering picture that Barbara at winosandfoodies had posted of what looked like a delicious snack and decided that I just had to try it. This is a recipe, using among other things blueberries and oats, that Barbara found on Farmgirl's blog. You will find the link to the recipe on Barbara's post therefore will not include it here.
So making sure that I bought sufficient blueberries I decided to give it a go yesterday. I didn't have the recommended size pan so mine probably turned out a little thicker than intended but I still managed to cut into sixteen.

As I was preparing the ingredients it seemed like the layers were going to be quite a rich consistency and when cooked I personally found it was quite sweet, although my mother thought it was fine. However, when (not if) I make them again I'm going to put in a little less sugar and see what happens. I have a lot of blackberries and loganberries in my freezer so intend to use up some perfecting this recipe.
I know these are called 'Breakfast Bars' but I agree with Barbara they are delicious at any time and you could serve them as a hot dessert and then cool the remainder for later, that's if there are any left!!

PS You might like to know that my friend Tina's verdict is "mmmmmmm they're almost orgasmic" so get baking!!!!!