It’s been a pretty pleasant week, quiet but busy – decent weather with a couple of days just about perfect. Reasonably good temperatures, a light breeze and glorious sunshine
Penny hosted the monthly meeting of the Moreton Pinkney Reading Group at ours on Wednesday evening. The book of the month was Penny’s choice, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. I read it many months ago and absolutely loved it – one of the best books I’ve read in a very long time. More importantly, the Book Club loved it as well. Several members commented on how this was the best meeting they’ve had in a very long time – a great book (which, surprisingly, everyone had read from beginning to end – that apparently doesn’t always happen) and great discussions.
If you’ve not yet read it give it a go – you (probably) won’t be disappointed.
Although it’s been a “quiet” week in terms of our getting out and about, it’s been anything but quiet in other ways. Penelope shot off early in the week to visit a dear friend on the Hampshire/Dorset border. She and Daisy were away overnight but somehow, I managed to muddle through. Obviously, Daisy is the one who I miss the most on these sorts of occasions (please don’t tell Penny). But, the enthusiasm of her greeting when they arrived home was certainly generous compensation (Daisy’s, not Penny’s).
The main occupation of the week has been getting our various produce and products ready for the Moreton Pinkney Garden Club Annual Show which was yesterday. We submitted the usual array of fruit from the orchard, Penelope made some gooey brownies (for one of the cookery categories) and, of course, I was defending my six-year streak of sourdough success. You will be as surprised as I was when I tell you that the loaf I baked on this occasion more closely resembled a cow pat than any sort of edible loaf. I don’t know where exactly I went wrong but the obvious conclusion is that I was not paying sufficient attention and simply got my measurements wrong. Nevertheless, the Moreton Pinkney Cow Pat still won first prize in the Sourdough Bread category, much to my surprise. There was only one other entry, to be fair, and the baker responsible did concede that this was (also) the worst loaf he had made in a long time. Hey ho, win some, lose some.
The real show-stopper, however, was Penelope’s construction of a replacement for our tired, thirty-year-old post box. She’s had this in mind for a while and her execution was flawless – the bits where I had to help were perhaps not quite so flawless but, for the most part thankfully, those bits are hidden.
As well as her First Prize certificate, she was also awarded The Jessie Spencer Memorial Challenge Salver for Handicraft Work as well as The Lady Henry Cavendish Bentinck Memorial Challenge Cup for the Best Roadside Garden. A great show and a lot of fun, as always.
We had a cute video from Adam & Ava the other day – Jessie teaching Julieta to read a few words which will assist her in learning to drive.
Yesterday was my brother Steph’s birthday – he is now somewhat older than he was a couple of days ago. Happy Birthday Steph – we love you lots.
And today would have been my mother’s 99th birthday – wow! As I’ve written before, when we were growing up, we often had a joint birthday celebration for the pair of them. Thinking back, when we were young the joint birthday celebration must have been held on Steph’s birthday or some other day. The first of September was always the opening of the dove shooting season and my father used to go down near the Salton Sea every year, missing his wife’s birthday. How did he ever get away with that?
In later years we were often able to gather at the family compound at Lake George and have a joint birthday party. Lovely.
Meanwhile, keep happy, keep smiling, keep exercising, be good, be careful, and keep safe. And be gentle to wasps and bees – we need all the pollinators we can get.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg