ABC Wednesday - J

This is a scheduled post as I am away until the end of the week.

J is for Jam - well, I had to chooose this didn't I?



and for Jacob, my grandson, whose 10th birthday falls on 20 September.

I know I mentioned him at G but I'm using grandparent's licence here. Happy Birthday to my lovely boy.



Thanks to Mrs Denise Nesbitt and her team, who host ABC Wednesday. For more looks at the letter J, please click here.

Last weekend

First of all Bob went back to Malvern, on Thursday. So far so good. He rang in the evening to let me know the telephone number of the hotel, just in case, although he does have a mobile phone. That is our routine. Because of his mix up the previous week the hotel were only able to put him up for one night but recommended a B & B for Friday. It had already been decided that he would have to drive home on Saturday because it was #2 son's 40th birthday party that evening and return to Malvern early on Sunday for the last day of the show.

Friday morning early, I went shopping and was back home by about 11. Message on the answer phone said "Sorry to bother you, this is the Malvern Hotel, not sure how to get hold of your husband, he checked out this morning but has left his clothes in the room" - all this accompanied by almost hysterical laughter - theirs, not mine. I rang back and apologised, then contacted Bob who by that time had got the message. (please see previous post 'A Senior Moment' for explanation of mirth). So we'll move on ...

The rest of the weekend went according to plan and without any more hitches. The party was very enjoyable with family and friends. When I say family, we were missing son #1 (in Australia) daughter #1 (in New Zealand) and daughter #2 who although lives in the UK just couldn't make the party, being unable to alter arrangements already made, and their respective families. But it was great to see some of sons' school friends, remembered as little boys/young men, now 40 year olds with wives and little boys (and girls) of their own. We didn't stay too late - Bob had to get up early next morning and in any case, as far as I'm concerned, as soon as the music starts getting louder it's time to go!

Bob left by 7 am on Sunday morning and I got on with making some strawberry jam! I have to say I'm very happy with the result. It set a little thicker than I would have liked and it definitely wouldn't win any prizes but I could get the knife into it, it does spread on bread and it tastes good. Please see photographic evidence below.

Bob arrived safely home at about 7 pm on Sunday evening and we chatted over our evening meal.

A.

Jam making

I have never been successful at making jam. Chutneys and piccalilli I have mastered however, thanks to Delia Smith. But a week or so ago I discovered in a 'Good Food' magazine a recipe for strawberry jam which, the author declared, is 'pretty near perfect' . Well that is a challenge!

Now, I suppose, I had better come clean about my most disastrous jam making ordeal. In my defence it was my first attempt (or should that be offence) and I was only about 12 or 13 years old at the time.

It was for a school cookery lesson and we had been put into pairs to bring the fruit and other necessities for blackberry and apple jam. Well I volunteered the blackberries but only because I knew my parents had been picking them the day before and in any case the other girl (my partner) had said she would bring apples! So my second mistake was to miss the early bus home so that by the time I arrived in doors with the news that I was to take x lbs of blackberries the very next day, it was getting very close to dusk. And of course, unknown to me, my mother had already made use of the fruit picked previously.

To cut the story short we did manage to find enough blackberries between us, mum, dad and me and I went off to school the next day all prepared for my first lesson in jam making. I have already said it was a disaster and I'm still not sure whether it was completely due to my ineptitude or whether perhaps the teacher wasn't attentive enough. We'll never know. Suffice to say I went home with a 2lb jar of something we couldn't even get a knife into, let alone spread on bread - and my mother has never let me (or anyone else) forget it - and I'm talking 50 years ago now - so I'm assuming she never will forgive me!

Anyway back to my challenge. Bob is away this coming weekend and I am determined to have a go at making strawberry jam. This is how it should look - good enough to eat!







Once I have completed my task I will take a photo of my attempt and publish it in another post, though of course you will have to rely on my truthfulness regarding texture and flavour. And, if it all goes horribly wrong, no-one need ever know!

Ladies who Lunch occasionally

Today I had lunch with two of my closest friends (emotionally, not geographically). We are all 60 something and have known each other for more than 30 years. We have, over time, had many lunches, suppers, days out etc, laughed a lot and lent shoulders and cried on more than one occasion. I believe today was the first time we have all been together socially for at least 2 years. I have seen them both separately and two of us visited our mutual friend when she was in hospital for several weeks last summer. In spite of the infrequent meetings, we find, as with all good friendships, that we just pick up where we left off. Just natter away and catch up on family and mutual friends' news.

I waved cheerio to OH and went off to pick up friend D who lives just down the road and drove the 10 miles to the next town to collect friend H and then on to our chosen venue. And 3 hours later did it all in reverse and came back home to OH. All very simple but very pleasant and enjoyable. We should do it more often.

Before I retired I worked with a "girl" (she is 20 years my junior) who has also become a very close friend, we have said on many occasions that we feel more like sisters. We have known each other for 26 years and we too have had our share of laughter and tears. At work it was mostly laughter and she was probably the reason why I didn't retire sooner. She was the first person I told of my decision to finish work and I wept with her on my last day. I didn't have to promise to "keep in touch" with her, (nor with any of my close ex-colleagues as we had such fun together - a great privilege for me) we both knew that we would, and now, about once a fortnight, I contact her and we "do lunch". It is only for 45 minutes as that is her lunch break but it gives us some time to share some laughs once again. Once in a while I join the "pay day Friday curry night" which has been going for the last 4 or 5 years, and sometimes now it falls on a Wednesday or Thursday!

Another friend - also an ex-colleague - I have known for 20 years and when I first got to know her, she worked part time as she had two small daughters. She is a lovely girl with a beautiful face and smile and in all the time I have known her I have never heard her say anything against anyone. She also is a friend with whom I have laughed lots and shed tears.

About 15 years ago, at a time when my mother happened to be staying with us, one Tuesday when I arrived home from work my mother told me that "a very strange thing happened today"! She had been sitting quietly after lunch when she heard the front door bell. On the door step she was confronted by two small girls who asked for me. "I'm afraid she's still at work" said my mother, "can I help you"? "Please have you got any strawberry jam" enquired the girls and my mother, very perplexed, went immediately to look. Unfortunately the cupboard was bare of any jam that day, strawberry or otherwise, and she returned to report the same to them. And off they went.

"I've no idea who they were" said Mum, "but they did ask for you". Well I didn't exactly have a sleepless night over it as I had an inkling of who this pair might be. And on arriving at work next day all was revealed. My friend with the two daughters came in laughing and between us we relived the events of the previous afternoon. She had been making a sponge cake and realised too late that she had no jam for it. She dispatched her girls off to the local shop to buy some but as it was a Tuesday afternoon it was early closing. The elder of the girls remembered that I lived just up the road and knew that I made cakes so decided I was the next best bet. Sadly they were unlucky at mine but their mummy saved the day and drove to the supermarket, so all ended well. Ever since then, when my friend has mentioned the name "Anne" the girls ask "do you mean Strawberry Jam Anne"? (my friend has a sister Anne). I love it and decided on it for my blog name.

The two little girls are now grown up of course, one has a law degree and the other is a qualified midwife and they are both as lovely as their mother. Last year when the eldest graduated I sent a text via my friend which read "congratulations, well done, with love from Strawberry Jam Anne", which made them laugh and cry!

Weather today - bright warm sunshine but blowing a gale!! What has happened to summer! We need balmy breezes! In the garden, flowering shrubs include bottle brush, hypericum and buddleia. And early this morning, about 6 when I got up I saw a spotted woodpecker on the bird bath having a drink. Lovely!