Home Made Jam

On Sunday for one of our last walks in the area we took some plastic bags with us and picked some local produce. We found some really nice Blackberries and also some of the Elderberries had ripened. Towards the end of the walk we also came across a few crabapple and apple trees. We picked a load of all 3 fruits and took them home and made some jam. After lots of cleaning and sorting, cutting, cooking, draining, testing, cleaning and mess we had 6 bottles of jam. We made blackberry and elderberry jam and then we made crabapple jelly.

Crabapples are not actually edible off the tree as they are extremely tart, bitter, sour or whatever but they make your tongue contract and mouth implode. However after lots of cooking and sugar and draining they make a nice pinky, gold jelly.

We had a great time making it and it was especially satisfying using wild fruits.

This is the End my friend

Unfortunately the Sun is setting on our wonderful home in Hunningham. We have spent 6 fantastic months here and tomorrow is our last day of work. We are excited to finish and go on holidays but I am certainly sad to leave my clinic. It is easily the best job I have had and may struggle to be beaten in the future. I have had a good mix of clients, work, nurses and friends and it is a beautiful country area.

All good things must come to the end and I am happy we have had the chance at all to work in this area. Thank you to all the people I have worked for and with and I hope you all prosper in the future (a very mature thing to say).

And lastly, remember that life is too short and hard to be serious all the time so remember me being an idiot and laugh.

Cheers

Rodger

renee's plot

On the Weekend i went and visited my receptionist’s vegie plot. Her name is Lorraine so we call her renee. It was a gloriously british day with dark cold clouds and rain. The plots were excellent though with a huge variety of fruit and vegies, especially berries which you don’t see that much in Australia and certainly in Queensland.

The plot with Wendy House (cubby house) in the background.

A very tame possibly drunk Bumble Bee on a calendula.

The plots with some raspberries in the foreground.

Hertforshire and Essex

On the Weekend we traveled to hertfordshire to see liv and downy, emma and danny. We partied on saturday night in dane end and visited a local pub which is run by an anti social fool of an idiot. We had a wonderful time though barbeque-ing trout and prawns and scallops and burgers and drinking the night away. we walked through paddocks and stepped in many a good cow poo. Danny and emma got lost? for a while on the way home in the dark but luckily made it back with all clothes.

On Sunday we planned to drive down to essex with em and dan to see soufend with them. We got there, parked and then discovered duel empty mobile phones and had no way to contact them. we walked up and down the esplanade, had some shit british fish and chips and even went to their house to look for them but we never found them. 3 hours later when we got home we had many messages and missed calls on our now charging phones.

The weekend was great, a few mishaps but definitely great and good to catch up with friends.

Downy desperately trying to remember the scientific name of the gum tree behind him

Downy discussing the amazing story of the day he beat danny in an argument, admittedly a rare occurrence

Drinking my beer from an infants cup, very fitting

Emma delighting over the firm, moist flesh of my bbq trout

The start of a very big adventure - to the pub run by the socially incompetent Man

A local Rabbit, very large

The pub garden with three of the fattest labs in existence behind

Me trying desperately to keep my fish and chips down

Sunflower

Here is a picture of a sunflower we grew without trying, isn’t it beautiful.