Bright Lights - could be the sun!

I've taken a bit of a liberty with my title, as my chard plants are all 'Ruby' and not 'Bright Lights', but they certainly bring a splash of colour to the rather drab plot, at the moment. As for the sun - well, I was rather disappointed when I saw how wet it was this morning, as I had planned to do some clearing up on my allotment. Still, after a boiled egg and a cuppa, the sun is now trying to break through and it just might clear up enough to encourage me outside. I seem to have spent hours in the kitchen lately. In fact, I almost entitled my blog 'Preserving the Past' but I hadn't had time to take a photo of all the jars of jam I had been producing. The latest batch was rhubarb and ginger. So, as I free up some space in the freezer by using some of the past year's fruit to make the jams, I am quickly filling up what little room I have in my pantry, with the results. I'll probably take a break from the sweet stuff, as the plan is to start on pickles. I haven't had to buy any vegetables for months, but I'll be needing some good pickling onions asap.

It's been a rather difficult decision, but we are reluctantly going to have to sell the car. Mike is now nearly three months into his two year 'sentence' and there's no point having it sitting on the drive for all that time. We are beginning to get used to using public transport, even if the bus doesn't always turn up, as happened at the beginning of the week. The plan was to go into Lichfield, but even my patience was strained as we stood in the bus shelter for nearly an hour. So, we set off walking to the train station and, guess what, the very late bus passed us before we could reach the next stop. So many people have offered to help out with lifts and I am now becoming less reluctant to take them up on their offers, instead of trying to be so independent and struggling home with too much heavy shopping.

Our youngest son is, at the moment, working in Brazil. He'll be meeting up for a coffee (there's an awful lot of it about in that country!) with Mike's cousin Tony, who lives not far from Sao Paulo where A is spending his first few days. Then he'll be off to Rio, for a few more days, staying opposite the beach at Ipanema. I still find it amazing how I can use Google Street View to look around where he will be staying. Hopefully he'll have a little time to take in his surroundings, between his long working days. His next trip, which he is really looking forward to, will be to South Korea and Japan.

After a busy day in the kitchen, our eldest son and family called to see us. Then Mike and I settled down to yet another meal that included veg from the plot and, if I am not mistaken, the very last picking of the Autumn Bliss raspberries, with home made scones and cream.