the running wave

I don't want to sound romantic and silly about this but, to my mind, there is something incredibly reassuring and comforting about the annual village flower and vegetable show.  It's not so much the show itself but the fact of the show.  They will have been taking place in villages and small towns all over the UK this Bank Holiday weekend.  I have been enjoying these occasions ever since I was a little girl.  It seems to me that as long as the British can put on a good flower and vegetable show once a year, everything will be alright.   I LOVE flowers.  I love wild flowers, I love garden flowers.  I love the blossom on fruit trees and the funny little flowers which eventually produce wonderful vegetables.  At the flower show the vases displaying prize specimens from villagers' gardens and greenhouses are always joy!   There has probably been much angst about the exhibits.  The roses and the sweet peas, will the blooms be perfect on the day?  Will it rain and ruin every

Do you remember this? That was on 24 April and I was wondering, at the time, how it would look later in the year.  Well, now is as good a time as any to have a look. The fields are being harvested at the moment and I expect this one will get the chop sooner rather than later, and then the view will re-emerge!  That's what I love about the countryside - it is always changing.   This photo shows the same field from another side. It is a very beautiful barley crop with wonderful colours running through it before it is completely ripe and golden.  It's a sort of green gold at the moment.

I love the opportunity to forage for wild fruit for making jam, jellies, and chutney for us to enjoy and to give as presents, and also to make fruity gin to enjoy at Christmas time!  September and October is a good time for hips, haws, blackberries, sloes, wild damsons, apples etc.   However, on my walks 'round the block' with Tilly at the moment there are other fruits to gather!  In the hedgerow there are gooseberries - not too many this year but present nevertheless, and blackcurrants.  The fruits are small but more berries this year than last. And in the woods around the house there are loads of raspberry canes.  I have made several rounds of sweet pastry filled with fresh raspberries I have picked, which the children (i.e. my grandchildren next door) have really enjoyed as a pudding.  Here's the fruit ... .... and here's the recipe! Oven at 180 degree C / gas mark 5 75g (3 oz) butter or margarine 175 g (6 oz) SR flour 75g (3 oz) caster