For one reason and another, we haven’t been blackberrying yet this year so resolved to go today whatever the weather. Luckily it was a bright and cool Autumn day and there were still lots to be had. The sea on the horizon was truly blue today.
A friend from choir very kindly brought some beautiful apples from her prolific tree to share with us all so I am using those along with our blackberries to make an almost free Blackberry and Apple Crumble.
We’ve baked a bunch of cookies today to take with us tomorrow morning to support our local postal workers who are striking for better conditions.
Oat Cookies and Chocolate and Oat Fingers
Talented Bury St Edmunds member has kindly baked a cake that simply demonstrates the struggle that our posties are in today.
And I can’t go without mentioning that Queen Elizabeth has died this afternoon. I’ve never been a royalist  but I do feel sad at the breaking news which has got to me for some reason, perhaps because she was also a Mum, a Granny and a Great Granny and all those people will miss her so. This appeared in my feed and I like it. She was such a good sport and clearly  loved being a part of that sketch. Thank you to the artist.
The birds have been loving the sunflower seeds from the head we brought back. I decorated the  Cheesecake I made yesterday with our last three Violas and it went down a storm at the party.
I had occasion to go the the surgery today, yes, on Sunday! Having waited many months for a steroid injection in my hip for the Trochanteric bursitis which has been bothering me, I was delighted to get a message giving me an appointment for this morning. The lovely Mr S suggested that, working on a Sunday, the Doctor might appreciate some home-made cookies so I made some yesterday but forgot to photograph them. The Doctor was, indeed, delighted. He doesn’t get a day off in lieu which really does seem very wrong. Â By the time I thought of photos, the rest of the bake had been eaten by the lovely Mr S!
Last cookie
I was told to rest for 24 hours to allow the injection the best chance of success so I have spent another day reading. I’ve just started a book I couldn’t leave in the bookshop when we we were in Truro the other day – Sarah Winman’s ‘Still Life,’ Â and the loveliest coincidence – my cousin who lives in Australia wrote today about a possible visit and said she has just finished reading this book and loved it. Â I also loved SW’s novel, ‘A Year of Marvellous Ways’
It’s August 1st and here is this month’s Happiness calendar, Altruistic August.
Friends came round this afternoon for tea in the garden and what a joy it was to entertain again after such a long time. Both couples brought a garden posy for us and I put them all together to make a delightful colourful bunch.As you, Dear Readers, know, we have lots of courgettes in the allotment. For this afternoon I made Courgette and Cheese Soda bread which we had sliced and buttered. followed by  Chocolate Courgette Cake which was scrummy!
At 10.30 Â last night the sunset still coloured the sky in beauty.
Beating eggs in a deep blue bowl to make  some more muffins showed how lovely the bubbles are.
The colours in the muffin ingredients pleased me so here they are – mozzarella, feta, sun-dried tomatoes, courgettes and shallot, all ready to be mixed into the egg and then the flour added..
It was a delight at the allotment this morning to find these two chatting and playing with water while their Mum (who gave permission for this photo to be used) was tending to their plot.
We harvested some more courgettes/zucchini  from the lottie and this afternoon I made some delicious Courgette, Feta and Mozzarella Muffins using our last onion from last season.
The Muffins turned out well!
For any eagle eyed readers who know my recipes, this is a variation that I can write up if anyone would like it.
We have a delightful little book. Every month has information about the moon and the tides, bird of the month, what to plant and what to harvest , a recipe and a folk song for the month. It is really lovely. I looked ahead to July and found a recipe for Flower Biscuits..
So, I made some! They are  a bit shortbready and have the edible flowers pressed into the biscuit before baking and a lemony glaze when they come out of the oven.
I planted up a tub with purple, white and petunias this afternoon once it was cool enough to work outside.
It’s Open Studios week in Cornwall and this morning we went to visit the studio of one of my favourite local artists, Sasha Harding, one of whose beautiful paintings we bought twelve years ago. Today we bought two small ones which I will show you when we have hung them. This is one wall of her gallery, taken with permission, of course.
A lovely sunny day called for a proper summertime lunch with homegrown leaves.
I’ve made a coffee cake for tomorrow’s market as I do almost every month. I decorated it to be a crown and sprayed the points with edible gold as a nod to the jubilee celebrations.
