The Joy of Blogging

As you may be aware, I've been blogging for over a year, which means that on my other blog A Trifle Rushed I have a year's worth of tried and tested recipes.

When we went to Brittany for Easter I found that I had forgotten my handwritten, and rather tatty piece of paper, which has my instructions for making Strawberry Jam, and I'd found some beautiful strawberries in the Supermarket.

I paused for a moment, wondering if I should ring my younger son, ask him to find the paper and call me back, but then I  and realised there was another  solution. I had made Strawberry Jam last Easter, and  I was pretty sure that I had written a post. I checked the recipe page, here, and then clicked through to Strawberry Jam.  I followed my instructions and hey presto:-

Three beautiful jars of homemade strawberry jam, (and a tiny bit left over for the last two days of our holiday.)

It's made me realise that I must spend some time, during the next week or so,  updating my recipe index, as it is actually a very useful tool!

Happy St George's Day, and I know this recipe uses Breton strawberries, but in a few weeks English ones should be available, and I'll certainly be making more jam.

Beautiful Breton Strawberry Jam

Lots of 1KG boxes of Strawberries

Which one should I chose?

I love the fact that the strawberries are laid in
a pattern, so that they are not all bruised

A local Breton based company

Even better when the cover is removed

I washed them

And found the recipe!

So simple, I cut them in half

Covered with sugar

Mixed them gently and left for two hours

Lots of delectable juices

Boil

And pot into jars

And this year my little girl agreed that
home made is superior to shop bought! 

Down on the Farm

The great thing about the  school holidays, is that there always seems to be an extra day, just to enjoy.

We got back from France on Sunday, and as school didn't start until Tuesday we had a 'spare' day.  One of my daughter's friends lovely Mummy (or should that read Mom, she is a New Yorker) suggested a visit to a local farm and we met her and another Mummy along with a gaggle of children, at 11am.

And the sun shone!  We had the most delightful time, there were new born lambs and a very young calf, there were donkeys and goats to pet.  There was a fantastic playground.

I brought a very tired, but very happy little girl home, and once she was asleep I got on with sewing name tapes into her new summer uniform!

I'm not adding captions to these photographs, as I think they speak for themselves.

I will catch up with everyone's blogs over the next few days, it's dreadful how quickly I get behind, I am sorry.

A Spring Day Walking in the Dunes

This post is for my eldest son, who is an officer in the Army,  serving in Afghanistan.  He left last week and will be away for six months.

I can't wait until he and his brother (who is busy working in London) can both join us for a family holiday here in our lovely part of Brittany.

Go through the wood

Across the busy road

Onto the dunes

Look at the sea

And the sailing club

Let the dog of the lead

Remember summer swims to the island

Spare sometime to
Stop and Stare

Look at the amazing rocks

And the stunning beach

The old custom's house in the distance

Look over to the port
where we keep the boat in the summer

Sit down on a hill and think

Enjoy the perfect blue sky
and the larks singing

Goats and Donkeys - the delights of a rural seaside home!

I've shown you some photos of our lovely dove Cutie Pie.

We see lots of doves here, so we're not a hundred percent sure which one is Cutie Pie, but I'm sure she's around and will be back to visit us in the summer.

When we popped into Roscoff for lunch last week, a woman was walking her goats on a lead down the main street!

I asked if I could take a photograph, and she agreed.  One goat nearly posed, but turned around at the last minute, the other swerved out of the frame, but here they are in all their glory.

On Saturday as we set off for the shops and I was helping my daughter into the car, I heard an "ee-ore" and said to her: "I can hear a donkey!"

We drove along the road, and there, outside a neighbours' garage was the cutest, fluffiest donkey I've ever seen!  He was happily munching the long grass and looked so sweetly through his long fringe as we stopped to take a photograph.

Don't you think he's cute!

(Now a donkey is added to my wish list, along with the dovecote, my dogs, some hens - I've wanted to collect my own eggs  for years - a pony for my little girl and a horse for me, not much to ask!  But certainly never going to work in Richmond and Brittany!)

Cutie Pie

When we arrived in Brittany we found a young dove in the garden.


It seemed content, basking in the sun but  not yet flying.  It hopped around the garden for a couple of days, visited by its mother every so often.  Tempting though it was to feed it, I decided not to, we're only here for a fortnight, and I felt it would be cruel to let it rely on us.  We did put out some water.

By the third day it was fluttering it's wings and by the fourth it had flown from the garden!

We really enjoyed watching our little Cutie Pie, (named by my daughter)  and her mother Tweetie Pie. We were amazed at how tame and calm they were.  Luckily, for Cutie Pie,  the dog is elderly and he just looked at her, but was not interested in chasing (or worse)!

(Now I want a dovecote and to keep doves, but I can't see that as a possibility at present.  It's one thing to bring a dog on the ferry, but doves?  I don't think so.)

Cutie Pie sitting in the sun

This seemed to be her favourite spot

I don't have a fancy camera

With an amazing telescopic lens
we really could get this close
without her showing any concern

Tweetie Pie often joined her for an hour or two in the
midday sun

They were so relaxed

Only vaguely interested in us 

They were so happy in each other's company

Basking in the sun

And hopping off to follow Mum