Apples, shimmying and other such stuff....

Morning, all....

The BBQ was great, and the monsoon like rain arrived just as we all finished eating out in the garden under the trees. The garden looked wonderful, with tables and chairs set up all around it - my friends have a very large garden! So there was a dash for the indoors, and that was where the older ones among us spent the rest of the evening. Some insect decided to eat my arms, so I now look as though I have the plague with a few large red bite marks which itch like crazy. But I have some (totally ineffectual) cream for that.

And the garden back here is looking a little subdued after the rain. Torrential stuff. Actually, it is lying down at the moment. I did go out earlier to see what needed doing, but it is all too wet and, as it is supposed to be very hot today, I will wait till later to go and chop and check. By then it may have sprung back into place. Or not.

I managed to stew a huge pot of apples and one of plums yesterday, for the freezer. I really must learn how to bottle things. I say this every year. I do not have a big freezer, and there is nowhere to put one, but I could manage bottles. There is another even larger bag of apples on the kitchen counter waiting to be done as I speak. These apples are huge. And so early. But when they start falling off the tree, you forget the date, and start cooking, don't you. Exactly. I have this vision of apple pies in winter. I also got a bag of blackberries, so I may just make another raspberry/blueberry cake, but using the blackberries instead. Before it gets too hot. In fact, I am going to go and sit at the counter and do that now,and start peeling apples too. Yesterday, I was doing that in the heat of the day. Not clever. One does not want to be stewing stuff when the humidity is sky high and the temps reach the 30s. The damsons - we will get them early next week and make some jelly - strained jam.

I think Dawn asked re weeds. Of course I have weeds. If I see them, I yank them out, but I don't hunt them down. And if they are pretty and non-invasive, sometimes they can stay. In spring, as the garden starts growing, I get out as many as possibly, and again in the autumn. But because I scatter seeds of flowers about, I am never sure if little plants are weeds or flowers, so I let them stay till I am absolutely sure.

Well....

It is now the next day. I started writing this yesterday and forgot about it. Aqua class, a wonderful head massage, dozing off...you know how things work out. I made the blackberry cake, by the way, and can report that it is just as delicious as the other 2 versions. The bag of apples is still waiting to be cooked, and the freezer is still full. Loads to irritate me, but even more to be thankful for. Including the latest copy of Molly Makes to go and examine in a while.

I went to aqua again this morning at an early hour, and loved it all. I had a chat to the teacher afterwards, and she told me - get this - that my shimmy-ing is getting better. Hah. Me. Shimmy-ing. My mother would have grounded me for life if I had tried this in my youth. Shaking one's assets. And hips. Actually, shaking the lot. And I have a lot to shake right now. It is not a pretty sight. You try. It is impossible. She told us to start with the shoulders, and the rest would follow. Now we have graduated to the hips too. Well, I come from the twist era, and hula hoops, and I know how to move the hips. Sort of. Putting it all together to fast music is a trifle harder than you imagine. All I can say is thank the good Lord this is all UNDER WATER.

Restraint, you see. I was raised to be ladylike. Sorry, Mum - you tried, I know. And I prefer more sporty things, so the release of constraint and restraint on the dance floor never happened for me. But now, in the pool, now that I am older, now that I can wear purple and not worry about what people think..... Well. You have NO idea.

Why not. Some people take up embroidery. I am learning how to shimmy. UNDER WATER. Some young things came to class yesterday, wearing bikinis. The poor teacher had to keep racing down to their end of the pool to beg for restraint. Hahahahahahaha. The older, well upholstered ones (aka me) could throw ourselves about with abandon.

Now, however, I need a nap. But I am still grinning.