Jam tomorrow

Up and after two days of pubs, I prepared breakfast and thought about living in an enclosed monkish life contemplating and praying quietly. Lorraine a bit snuffly and coldy. Having eaten and doing some laundry we repaired to the garden and lurked in the open air. Another hot day, but the forecasts say rain is likely in a few days.   

In the afternoon I went to Morrisons, bought some jam sugar with pectin, and a bar of chocolate for Lorraine, and then made off to various places where I'd seen blackberries on my travels. I picked a kilo of them, which doesn't sound much but takes plenty of time. The berry gods took their payment in thorn tips in my hands that are impossible to get out, and my shins being stung a good deal by stinging nettles. There is a glut of fruit this year, all a month too early and many of them dried up due to the climate crisis of a summer we have been having. So far August has seen 1% of the average rainfall for the south east of England. I noticed big juicy sloes here already ripened too, and I might be back to pick some of those to make sloe gin with for Christmas. They taste better after being frosted, so you either wait till later in the year or pop them in the freezer.

Currently listening to Electric Spark a biography of Muriel Spark. I quite like Spark's writing, and the biography is interesting. Also her life and Tolkien's overlap so having just read his letters, interesting to see the same time from a completely different perspective. 

Home and Lorraine harvested loads of tomatoes, and did some gardening. I watered plants from our water butt. 

I made a lentil and chicken curry using Kenny farm tomatoes and garlic, while talking to the Tobster, who'd read here about the nasty business with Mum's friend Paul. He's set to move go back to Toronto soon, and moving into furnished comfortable place for minimum disruption.

Yawningly watched most of Match of the Day tonight. And so to bed. Lorraine found a jam recipe which suggests putting the fruit and sugar together beforehand in the same bowl and leaving it overnight, apparently reducing the cooking time and making the jam taste fresher. We shall find out. We don't actually eat much jam, still having a bit of last year's Kenny farm plum jam, but blackberry jam is my absolute favourite.