Picking Sloes and Blackberries

We spent a chilly and slightly damp weekend in Ireland, just before Halloween,  but the weather did not prevent me from picking sloes and this week I plan to make some Sloe Gin!

I love  Autumn, the preparation for the cold of winter, making delicious supplies which will be here  for  both  family, and  as seasonal gifts for friends.

This week, as well as sloe gin, I plan to bake my Christmas cake, prepare some mincemeat and make various scrumptious chutneys.

Sloes are mini plums, which grow wild,
be careful when picking as the trees are very thorny!

Some times they can be tricky to pick out
well hidden behind the bare branches.

It's worth the hard work though, there is nothing
as wonderful as warming glass of sloe gin
after a long winter's walk.

The crop was sparse this year,
but I hope I have enough for three to four bottles.

Amazingly the blackberries were still around,
my sister in law made a scrumptious blackberry
and apple crumble.

And it was very wet...

So lots and lots...

of mushrooms

Sadly I didn't have an identification book with me
so left them well alone.

It was wonderful to come into the house
 out of the chill and damp
and sit by the fire

Or the range!

We were joined by some wonderful
Halloween characters

And had a cheerful, fun

 Halloween evening.

An organised Foraging Walk

Yesterday as it was so very hot, we decided that rather then get stuck in traffic, with everyone else  fleeing the city  into the countryside, we would go on a local foraging walk.  I had seen it advertised the week previously in one of those free newspapers that pop through the door.

It was great fun, although most of the fruits have finished, so it was a case of you could find blackberries, rosehips, apples, pears, etc, if you'd come earlier!

The man  who led the walk was very knowledgeable, he not only knew about the local Flora and Fauna, he was also able to give a history of "Ham Lands" and told us about "bat walks" in June, I'm certainly going to attend those next summer.  I often see them flitting about, but had no idea there was so many in this area.

I was impressed with the number of people interested in foraging

The apples are nearly all gone

and the rosehips

The blackberry bushes are empty

But I did find a mushroom,
However, I'm not knowledgeable so decided to leave it in the ground.

Today as a special treat for me, Richmond have decided to dig up the pavements right outside my house, during the hottest October heatwave in over a hundred years!

I know I should be glad, it will be lovely to have a new pavement.  (Although I'm also sure a utility company is waiting around the corner to come and dig it up and ruin its' beauty.)

So now I have a choice of windows closed and being hot, or windows open and the house being full of dust!  I've gone for option one, with the added advantage of the noise not being quite so loud!

A lovely drill was used to break up the pavement and concrete!

I'm not sure how to cross the road!

And just to make sure I (or my neighbours) can't park too near our houses
we have a store of sand and cement right across the road from us!

Blinds down, windows closed

Electric fan whirring!

Rather selfishly, I  wish it could have been done over the summer, whilst I was away!