I’m really getting into this cherishing and being domesticated lark. Combined with my autumn desire to put stores away for the winter means that it is all starting to get a little out of hand though.

This morning down at the farm shop I bought 3kg of beautiful Fellenburg plums to stew and freeze… (please ignore the very dirty aga – proof that I’m not quite there on the cleaning front!)

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…yum…there isn’t much that beats a plum crumble in the middle of winter. I made enough for 5 crumbles by my reckoning. Don’t ask me where I’m going to find space in the freezer for my little pots though. It’s beyond critical. I’m going to have to do some concerted tidying and shoving things in to fit these in. Somehow I’ll manage.

Of course this compounds the apple storage problem. Luckily for me I’ve been following the apple storage-related comments on Lindsay’s blog – so I now have two boxes of apples individually wrapped in newspaper balanced very precariously on top of the bikes in the shed. (I see another horrid tidying out job looming….). We’ll see if they rot or whether I can keep them for a couple of months like this. Honestly I have apples coming out of my ears, I really do and everyone I try to give them to is dealing with their own apple glut. It’s obviously an apple year this year! I stored the apples in the lovely wooden boxes that we sometimes get wine in – they’re so beautiful that it has always pained me to smash them up for firewood, but you know how it is….a girl only needs so many wooden boxes! It felt like I was killing two birds with one stone – storing the apples and using the boxes in an ecologically sound way!

Next on the list I’m making tomato sauce. Never done that before either, but cooking tomatoes were remarkably reasonable this morning and I want to try out Simon Hopkinson’s Aubergine Parmagiana recipe from The Good Cook. I’m also a firm believer that one can never have too much tomato sauce….unless of course some of it needs to go in the freezer…oops!

And now, just for good measure, a quick look at the flowers I bought at the farm. I was aiming for dahlias, but so it seemed was everybody else – so instead I have this very nice blue bouquet….something a little different to brighten the dining table.

And here is the current state of play on Rachel’s quilt. Two more rows to go I think – a fair few yellow blocks and some more stars. I’ve really fallen for this quilt in a big way – didn’t think I would, but there you are, sometimes these things just creep up on you, don’t they? It’s so soft and pretty and feminine! (But sadly still not very photogenic – it’s a million times prettier in the flesh / fabric…whatever!)

On that happy note I’m off to torture my poor sick son with French possessive pronouns and irregular verbs. What a struggle we are having. The poor child is not a natural linguist (none of us are) and is already fluent in three languages. I have the feeling that French is just one too many. Unfortunately there is no way out – he will be doing French right through his entire education and even through an apprenticeship if he goes that route – so we have to crack it!

On that happy note, have a lovely Friday!

Helen

My inability to run sees me with more hours at home. It’s also low season in the academic editing business this month, so I seem to have more time pottering around  than usual. I’ve been perusing more blogs than normal too!

I’m always interested in seeing how people are decluttering and simplifying as this is an ongoing theme round here, but I’ve read a lot lately – at domesticali, attic 24 and the quiet home, just to name a few of the blogs – about cherishing our homes and families. I’m not quite sure how much I’ve been cherishing everything round here recently. I love my home and I love being at home, but there is a definite tendency to run away to my sewing room at every opportunity.

I’ve been doing a lot of much needed cleaning this week and I’m trying to do it with a positive attitude – really trying to enjoy making a good job of it (even if nobody else notices!) – and even more, I’ve been enjoying the change in the atmosphere in a house that is sparklingish clean. Tomorrow I’m going to go to the market to buy fresh produce and if they have and dahlias I’m going to treat myself with a bunch for the dining table.

I suppose it’s all linked very much to contentment, being happy with what we have and also making the most of that too. I love classical music, but hardly ever listen to my large CD collection anymore – so today I made time to listen to some lovely music (Gershwin and Barber) while I was stewing more apples and baking blueberry muffins for the children to come home to. It was lovely. Simple, homely and not very spectacular, but I enjoyed every minute and it made me realize how much the simple things really do matter.

And hopefully my children will feel suitably cherished when they come home from school….

…or at least the ones who eat blueberries will!

Helen

I didn’t think it would, but it has. Rachel’s pale and interesting quilt has grown on me. And while it grows on me I keep on piecing and it grows – 20 squares now. I have no idea how big it will be. It will be as big as it is when I run out of fabric. So far it seems to be holding out fairly well. It’s turning out to be very delicate and very, very pretty, but unfortunately not very photogenic – which may be because of the light conditions today…or on the other hand may not. But I like it. And I think you will too!

As I can’t run – at least for another couple of weeks – I’m consoling myself with piecing, which I find immensely calming and soothing.

Calm and soothed is good. Now I have to do French homework with my son. This is something that he finds very difficult and by the end probably neither of us will be feeling very soothed….

So….vive le français….

Helen

So. That’s it. It’s over. For this year at least.

I had my MRI yesterday and there is visible muscle damage and fluid on the muscle on my hip. I have to see my doctor tomorrow for a final diagnosis, but the writing is on the wall. No marathon this year for Helen 🙁

It’s frustrating after all the training I’ve done over the summer – but I’m consoling myself with the fact that they were, on the whole, lovely runs in the  woods and I felt happy and strong and enjoyed them. I also learned to run alone and know now what I didn’t know before – that it’s Ok, I have the discipline to get out there even if there is nobody to go with.

The other good news is that my actual hip joint is in good shape. Muscle will heal, a wearing out hip joint probably wouldn’t.

In other words it’s frustrating, but it’s not the end of the world….although I’m also not getting any younger 🙂

So another time…maybe. Or maybe that will just end up being one of life’s little dreams that we have to accept will never be achieved. Acknowledge it and let it go….but not quite yet….

Right now it’s frustrating not being able to hit the trails. I’ve got used to all the endorphins flowing through my body and substituting scrubbing the life out of the house just doesn’t quite cut it for me. But I’ll be back. Slowly at first, and it might take a few weeks, but I’ll be back…

Helen

Once the weather breaks and the nights start to draw in and it’s dark in the mornings when we’re getting up , every year it’s the same. I stop wanting to go out any more than I absolutely must. I fill the freezer just incase we’re snowed in (which of course never happens, this being super-efficient Switzerland). I have drawers of frozen blackberries and stewed apples – enough to keep us supplied with crumbles and pies for the next few years at least. The cellar shelves are filling up with stores of all the basic supplies we need for the winter. I can feel myself hamstering away everything I need, so I am all set for every eventuality. Actually I would love to be snowed in for a week – but the only time that’s ever happened to me was in England!

Every day when it isn’t raining I make myself go out and work at clearing the garden and putting it to bed for the winter. Two baskets of cuttings or weeds a day. It’s a big garden, but little by little it’s starting to look tidier. I want to be done before we get the first snow, after which it will be cold and the plants will have turned into a horrible slimy mush. It’s worth doing though, when come March and April the first of the spring plants poke through, but it really isn’t my favourite way to spend my time at the moment.

The children laugh at me because I really try to avoid going out in the evening as much as possible once the nights are dark. They think I’m getting old – and they could well be right! Given the choice I just want to be at home, log fire burning, with a few candles, my knitting or some hand-quilting and a good book, or snuggled under a quilt watching something nice on TV, cup of tea at the ready.

Cosy, safe and warm in the heart of my family. I love my home. I don’t want more.

Helen