Are England in the Diving?*

Before we set out today we walked around the garden. Smallest was so animated about all the flowers and plants and he wanted to show us all the new ones that had bloomed, especially in his garden.

Last Saturday we went Strawberry picking and had a mammoth Jam making session, which incidentally tastes AMAZING. Today we went Raspberry picking, at the same place, but picked considerably less than last week. I am not a raspberry fan but I ate more than I would normally eat in a year, maybe two years, and I do have the odd one now and again. Small and Smallest ate far too many, in fact I was worried they might get tummy ache. Huffle possibly ate his weight in raspberries, bearing in mind he loves them and they are his most favourite fruit. We bought enough to make about ten jars of jam (but not today as it was too hot for standing over a boiling pan for a coupes of hours), plus some to freeze for Huffle's porridge and a big lot to keep for fresh for pancakes, breakfast and yogurts etc.

The queue for picking was very short this morning and we did get there earlier than last week's 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen go picking in the midday sun'. We took our bucket with us and were directed to Row7 and given our instructions to pick from the right side of the row only. This suited us fine as we shared the row with three older ladies who stopped half way and so we had the whole row practically to ourselves. The raspberries were in abundance and when we had picked enough to take home, and eat enough to satisfy our cravings, we started playing catch the raspberry in the mouth. Some of our party decided to start a 'how many can you fit into your mouth in one go' Challenge. Smallest started with thirteen and Smallest came back with twenty (really? Though he did say the secret was to pick the smallest ones). Huffle managed seventeen and didn't spill any on his top this time.

It was very very hot and there was no shade, but I decided I wanted to go and pick a few strawberries so we could have some fresh for tomorrow and next week. The boys were done though so we sat them in the shade and Huffle and I picked a small load (but we had to buy another bucket).

As Huffle and I are now pro's at fruit picking and jamming, when we got home we measured how many we would need for the jams and put them in the fridge, unwashed (somehow washing the fruits makes them go off quicker), we washed some and froze them for the future and put another batch in the fridge unwashed for tomorrow and next week. Meanwhile the boys jumped in the pool to cool down.

Huffle and I made lunch and packed it in the cool box which we deposited in the cool of the barn until we needed it and then we all went in the pool.

We had a visit from ExerciseNic who has given us a Window AirCon unit for us to put in the loft as that is the only room that the air conditioning doesn't get to. She was off to collect eggs from a friend with chickens. She came back on the way and gave us six huge eggs and her girls went in the pool. Because I asked the boys not to be too rough and splash too much they disappeared and played in the garden and on the trampoline. We gave Nic a couple of lettuces to take home from our garden. We love this barter system, should be more of it.

We had lunch, played in the pool, played outside the pool, read, relaxed, swam and played Squarrels.

Much later we all played catch in the garden and tidied up the pool. Huffle and I made dinner while the kids played on their tablets. After dinner we all played Catan. Small won. We cleaned the pool, added chemicals and filled it. All ready for tomorrow now.

 

*this remark (made by myself) caused lots of laughter from Huffle due to the fact that I was talking about the PanAm games which actually only includes The Americas, hence the name PanAmercian Games. DOH!!

 

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