Reading...?

Reading? What am I reading?

Well, mostly recipes for making Chutney, bottling tomatoes etc

but I do have a small pile of books which I dip into when I can.

The top one is a very old book and I think it is a sort of 'comfort read',

a bit like comfort food.

It's 'A Little Princess,' by Frances Hodgson Burnett,

who of course wrote the classic 'Secret Garden'.

It takes me back many years.

Then there is 'What God does when women pray',

by Evelyn Christenson, a book that I read in short bursts, and

find inspirational. I will be hosting a ladies Prayer Lunch at Church soon

and this book gives me thoughts to share.

Maeve Binchy...well, always a happy read.

And the last is a new one by the author of 'The Historian',

called 'The Swan Thieves'. It didnt have brilliant reviews on Amazon,

but I found it very interesting, though perhaps a little

long winded occasionally.

Underneath all of the books there is, of course,

Country Homes and Interiors.

Can't do without it!

The winner is..........

The winner of the draw for a CSN token is..

..................................

.................................

MARK

Now I don't think Mark has ever commented on my blog previously,

so please let me have your e mail address, Mark.

I see that you are furnishing a flat for

a student. That can be very expensive,

so I'm sure you will find something from CSN

to help it along.

Sorry you couldn't all be winners.

EDIT

with apologies.

Obviously the onset of old age is affecting me.

I really truly thought it was 30th today

and have just realised it is 29th.

Many apologies.

Just a reminder

I will be drawing the name for the winner

of the CSN giveaway on 30th September.

(See post September 23rd)

This will be the last time I do one of their offers

as it seems that so many people are now

being approached.

If you havent left a comment, and want to enter,

there is still time.

It is limited to UK, Canada

USA and Germany.

Wild peaches.

The peach tree grows on the edge of our garden. You couldn't compare the fruit with

the peaches which grow further South, pink and huge.

But these have a very sweet taste.

All our neighbours simply allow their peaches to drop and rot. I picked ours, and although they are hard and wouldnt ripen any further, I peeled them

like potatoes, and gently stewed them.
Without any sweetener added, they are delicious!
so three boxes went into the freezer, ready to come out when we have forgotten
the heady tastes of Summer.



I cant bear to waste any of the wonderful provision we can find here
in our country lanes.

Frozen tomatoes

Whilst we have been away, our very kind neighbours have been picking our Tomatoes for us.

The freezer is consequently full of bags of red bullet-like tomatoes

waiting to be processed.

This afternoon I started on them
Very big pan, three bags of the red things

onions, potatoes, herbs and seasoning.

If you pour boiling water on to frozen tomatoes the skin simply slides off.

In went the oil, butter and shallots. Diced potatoes followed.

Tomatoes, herbs and seasoning went in,

and the whole lot was left to simmer
filling the kitchen with delicious

smells. Now it's done, and I have four freezer boxes
of thick Tomato soup.

A real Winter warmer!

Giveaway from CSN

CSN contacted me again to offer a giveaway, so to celebrate my homecoming I'm offering it to you!

You may know that CSN has online stores where you can find anything from attractive wardrobes to cookware. I think this one has a slightly French air, and can imagine it full of beautiful antique bedlinens!

The draw is easy. Just leave a comment here. The prize is a voucher for £35.00 to be spent in one of their online stores.

You may not want a wardrobe! But there are many other lovely things from which to choose.

I'll draw the name on 30th September.

Edit; Please make sure that I am able to contact you in the case of a win, either by leaving your details, or making sure that your e mail address is on your profile.

Back again, and a giveaway to come.

Back in France again after a very calm crossing last night. We rolled off the ferry at 7 am to the most exquisite pale pink sunrise, streaked across the morning sky.
CSN have offered me the chance to do another giveaway so I will put that up once I have unpacked......

This is where we were this evening, in a little church, surrounded by woodland, standing n its own away from other habitations.

This is the church of Old Kea, a sister church of All Hallows, Kea, near Truro. The evensong service uses the 1662 Prayer Book, and it was refreshing to hear the

old words with which we had grown up, to sing canticles such as the Nunc dimittis,

and even to have a psalm read.
The inside of the church was brightly lit, welcoming, and two pedestals of Autumn flowers shone out , golds and bronzes glowing.

As we drove away, we looked back and could just see the lights on the pathway

shining through the trees surrounding the church.

About 30 people come twice a month to worship here.

It was a special return for us.

"The chapel at Old Kea stands on the historic site of Kea Church near the river Fal. It is said that St Kea landed here on his first visit to Cornwall, making it one of the ancient sites of Celtic Christianity. A medieval tower is still standing in the churchyard.

Services are held twice a month, and at Christmas and Easter, using the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The friendly congregation often fills the small building but there is always room for more"

(Taken from the Kea Church website)

Christmas card shopping

Whislt still in England I thought it would be a good opportunity to find Christmas cards.

France is a secular country and you find very few cards and certainly none that show anything relating to the Christmas story as Christians know it.

This is the sort of card I hoped to find. It's important to us that our cards reflect our faith.

I started in the Charity shops, as I do believe in supporting them.

Sad to say, the cards in any of the shops, charity or otherwise, were not what I wanted.

I found this sort of card......


...and even this,

..and this too.

None of these come from the shops in which I looked, but are typical of what was on offer everywhere. I even found one printed with the words,

"The greetings of the Season", which seemed very odd.

In the end I went to our Cathedral shop, and found some lovely ones.

I know that I might be in a minority here, and I'm certainly not rigid.

I find fun and pretty cards for grandchildren, but

I refuse to give in to the 'cut out anything religious' syndrome.

Visiting.

We have spent this week visiting.

Visiting family, visiting friends.

It's so nice to see them all again, to catch up with news,

to congratulate grandchildren on exam results,

to hear about holiday jobs, College and so on.

Today we visited a very dear old friend of 89,

who has had to go into a 'Care Home,' as they are now known.

It is a delightful building, beautifully carpeted,

paintings on the wall.....but....

I felt sad.

There they all are, either in their separate rooms

or in the sitting room in a circle, many unable to communicate.

There was a 'Bingo' game on, and that seemed even sadder

as I dont really know how many of them could really understand what was going on.

Our friend has a nice room overlooking the garden.

He is frail, and uncomplaining, but

I just felt he would rather be at home if he could have been.

While we were there, none of the staff looked in to check him,

and that seems sad too, in a Care home that charges so much per week.

We will go again, and come away feeling sadder, I expect.

Tea........ at a price

Today we took a little drive round the byways of this part of Cornwall.

With another friend we decided to stop for afternoon tea at a nearby hotel.

We sat in the garden, overlooking the water.

We watched sailing boats skimming across the waves.

We ate one piece of cake each, not a big piece by any means.

We had 3 pots of tea.

We then had the bill, for.....

£19.50!!!

The three small pieces of cake were priced at £12.00.

Oh my goodness, this hotel knows how to charge!

Suffice it to say, we will not be revisiting!

Wedding day

How can one go all the way to England for a wedding.....and leave the camera at home? In France.
The one I bought, in desperation, on Brittany ferries, has never worked.
So, no photos of a beautiful wedding.
Preparations began with the Marquee arriving and being put up with great efficiency on Wednesday before he wedding.
The lining was put in, the floor was put down. 'Can we borrow your hoover?' they asked, 'just to hoover out the tent?' A household hoover for a huge marquee??
When are the tables coming in, we asked, so that we can arrange the flowers on each one. With the promise of the arrival on the Thursday we thought we were going to get everything done in good time....flowers for the marquee on Thursday, church on Friday.
No.
The bride to be arrived and murmured that they seemed not to have put the special ceiling lights in that she had requested. Ah, they said, that means taking the whole liner down. That means we'll have to do that on Thursday. That will take , um, quite a while, what with having to get the electricians back etc.
Cutting a long story short, the Bridegroom's mother and I did the flowers for both marquee and church on the Friday.
The marquee tables finally arrived and were dressed around 7pm Friday, and it looked wonderful. The Bride had chosen sunflowers and the church was a blaze of yellow. Bouquets and buttonholes were of Sunflowers, and the Marquee was wreathed with them. Depsite all the hold ups, eveything had been done in time.


Now we are all exhausted. The bride and groom have gone off to Colorado on a riding honeymoon. How lovely!