Friday 2 September 2011

More Catching Up

One year ago, I wrote about how the beginning of a new month feels for me here, and somehow, this is especially true for September.
This year, I am in quite a different situation; for one thing, work has changed for the better. There are a number of other changes that happened in the course of the year, most of which my regular readers know about.

Work and other things have kept me busy; there are several things lined up in my mind I want to blog about during this month, such as Gratitude, Patience, the GamesCom 2011, my autumn wardrobe (this post has given me the idea for that), some recipes and book reviews - quite what you are used to read from me.

But for now, I am only going to show you some pictures I took three weeks ago (I told you there is a lot to catch up with!), because they fit the mood and feel of these last days of summer so well:
The plum tree at my parents' allotment, full of delicious plums on August 12th - now, at the beginning of September, my parents have so much fruit they hardly know what to do with it! There is, believe me, a limit to the amount of plums I can eat, and to the number of cakes my mum can bake and we can eat :-) She has now started on a plum liqueur, spiced with cinammom. Sounds good, doesn't it?

 A close up of some of the plums before they were ready to be picked.

Buzzards. It wasn't easy to zoom in on both of them at the same time with my camera. My fascination with these beautiful birds is as big as when I wrote this; and I am happy to let you know that The Longing - or at least one important part of it - has been fulfilled this year.


Then, there are the wasps... obviously conferring on the tip of my small yellow plastic watering can whether it is worth bothering me or not. "Shall we bug Meks a bit, what do you think?" - "Nah, she just turns hysterical, it's not much fun to watch her flailing her arms and running from the kitchen." - "You're right, won't do us any good if there isn't some food in it for us." And off they took, once I had opened the kitchen window as widely as possible.

There should be a book review soon, as I am on the last few pages of my current read, and maybe I'll manage to write some more over the weekend.

8 comments:

  1. What a gorgeous plum tree! I wonder if the buzzards are what we here call Turkey Vultures although their wings in your pic look less nubby than ours do. Hmmm... gonna be thinking about this!
    Can't wait for you book review! I'm in the middle of reading one now and wish it would go by faster but I tend to fall asleep too early. Oh, well. : }

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  2. Thank you, Sonia! Yes, when I read before going to sleep, I know it is time for lights out when I have read the same sentence for the 5th time without understanding what's going on :-)

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  3. To me, it's such a foreign idea to just be able to pick your plums off a tree. But what an appetizing one!

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  4. Plum liqueur, sounds nice. I have been boiling the plums and freezing them. You can add them to ed apples year round, if you get tired of the taste of just apples.

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  5. The plums look wonderful! My Dad has two plum trees. In 2009, they produced so much fruit that he could never eat it all, and gave most of it to me. I gave away a lot to friends, but I was able to chop them up with sugar and freeze them. My son was amused by my "bags of blood" in the freezer. They were delicious over ice cream and also, I would use them in making cakes (they would turn the batter such a nice pink "girly" color!)
    Oh, and I love all birds! Just today, when I went back to work after my lunch break (close enough to home that I drive home for my break), a hawk was circling over my house and making that unmistakable call that he has...quite make my day, I can tell you.

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  6. Sorry, it MADE my day. I keep making mistakes, and not noticing until afterwards...sounds a bit like my life, to be honest.

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  7. Love the talking wasps! Bagman is looking forward to your fall wardrobe.

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  8. Westwood, whenever possible (of course not all year round), we skip on buying fruit and eat what my parents grow. There is quite a difference in when you can eat them directly from where they grow instead of out of a box after a long travel and some days of storage.

    Jenny, I don't think I have ever tried apples and plums in combination, thank you!

    Kay, don't worry about the typos, we all make them :-) I think it would be good if there was an editing button to our comments after we've sent them. That editing button would sometimes come in handy for our lives, too, wouldn't it!

    Mark, can you imagine their voices? A bit metallic and raspy at the same time they sound when they talk to each other.

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