No more tears.

I finally have my days off and have very been busy. I got an email from the Weyhill Fairground, offering me a stall in September! Lucky I have been preparing for it for months as 6 weeks isn't enough time.

Managed to get leave at work, so have the weekend of the 25th/26th September off now. Will try and get the week off before it too, to give me time for last minute baking etc.

Jase and I spent 1/2 an hour picking plums.



..and another 1/2 an hour picking the squashed ones off the lawn. Very windy last night and a few more pounds have fallen overnight. The blackbirds and Bluetits seem to like them!

One basket went into the pan.....


.....which resulted in these..... -



......and these! -


I have another 5 pints of plum juice in the fridge and a huge basket of plums on the porch. Plum and pear chutney is the next job to do.

Decided to go for a more savoury jam as well. Rachel Allen's onion jam is delish, so I made one or two jars! After peeling nearly 3kilos of onions, I'd had enough.


I did manage to make 17 jars though. Lovely with cheese on toast or added to gravy! Have labeled them and just need to add a fabric topper.

Have made a list of everything to take with me to the craft fair. Have quite a bit of stuff and will bake oatie biscuits the day before, as they went down well last year. Still not sure if I have enough, but time is now limited so I won't have a chance to make much more. If I can get the week before off, then it will be 'sewing central' at the cottage.

Cornelia is no longer broody *smiles*. Exactly 21 days since she started, she snapped out of it. What a text book chicken! She hasn't laid yet, but insists on keeping Agnes company when she goes into the eglu to lay.

We are looking after next door's bantams again and Marigold is broody (for a change)!.....Lily is laying, but Lavender appears to be moulting. I am turfing Marigold off the nest a few times a day, but she is a determined little fluffy Madame.

The house is back to some sort of normality. I said to J the other day, that it was cluttered, making my mind cluttered. He stared at me blankly. I know what I mean. The office (my dumping ground) is such a mess that I can't see the bed. I have to get it sorted out as it is getting me down. The lounge is reasonably ok and just needs a quick dust and hoover. Kitchen is getting there slowly. It is clean, but the table attracts paperwork that needs filing away. I popped into The Range and picked up some plastic storage crates, so at least my craft fair stuff is neat and tidy.

The shed is full of old layers pellet sacks and general stuff that should have been thrown away a while ago. It will get a spring clean before autumn. He says hopefully!! Am tempted to give it a fresh lick of paint, as it hasn't been done since we put it up 4 years ago. I'm thinking forget-me-not blue as I have a can in the outbuilding.

Enough waffling on, Mum and Dad are on their way over as I haven't seen them for weeks. Better clean the downstairs loo!

C x x