Blackberry Picking

The weekend absolutely flew and sadly it's Monday which means back to work. We did manage to achieve a lot at the weekend though and when we were outside the weather did stay kind to us.

Jack's parents arrived Friday afternoon and we took them out for dinner as pre-payment for all their help on Saturday in our garden! Jack and his Dad managed to get the shed base done on Saturday morning while the weather was really warm and sunny. They've done a really good job and I think Jack is now itching to get the shed built. We had a lovely BBQ for lunch before Jack's parents headed home, so Jack and I got on with a bit more work on the tortoise enclosure. The fence is almost finished (we were waiting for Jack's parents to bring us more spare wood that they had) and I can't wait to get designing and planning the tortoise run, though building them a suitable house will be first priority if all this rain is anything to go by.

Shed base mixed, poured and drying on Saturday evening

 

I also managed to get the new skirting board in the master bedroom glossed (I caulked it earlier in the week), Sarah and I weeded the back garden and patio and finally Jack and I whizzed into town late Saturday afternoon to use our John Lewis vouchers to get new king-size bedding for our new bed in the master bedroom. The mattress doesn't arrive until Wednesday but I like to be organised.

 

I thought Sunday was going to be a wash-out from start to finish, but it started dry and bright so we got up early and took Barry for a nice long walk while the weather was nice and so I could spy the best areas for blackberries. I went armed with a bag full of empty tubs and was pleased that we managed to fill a large tub full of blackberries, just over 700g in all which wasn't bad considering we hadn't had any breakfast and they were a tasty snack... A lot aren't ripe yet either, so I want to go out again next week to get more. We ended up walking a lot further than planned and must have done a good 3-4 miles by the time we got home, the furthest Barry has been but it's good for him to build up the muscles again in his now healed leg (he slept all afternoon, he was so tired). He also enjoyed chasing pheasants, the first time he's ever seen them. It's nice to see he does have a bit of a Terrier instinct anyway!

 Barry and I

 

 

We walked through some beautiful countryside on Sunday, another route we hadn't explored before so it's nice to discover new routes

 

I did a lovely roast pork dinner yesterday afternoon and made some nice apple and blackberry mini crumbles too, they went down a treat with Jack (Mr Sweet Tooth). The crumbles weren't anything special, some oldish apples in the fruit bowl needed using, plus the freshly picked blackberries, sprinkled with cinnamon and caster sugar. I then topped them with an oaty crumble mix I made. We of course had them with custard, but I'm afraid that wasn't homemade.

 

 

We went to bed feeling very full last night, I do love proper British grub! Having a big roast dinner reminded me that this season is coming to an end, I've even noticed that the leaves are beginning to change on the trees. Autumn will be here soon, but it's such a pretty season, so long as it doesn't continually rain.

 

Nothing very exciting happening this coming week, I'm feeling rather tired and a bit blue at the moment... can't really explain why either, so I need to try and pull myself together. There's plenty of housework to do, I have studying to do and more decorating too so I'll plod on. Looking forward to a three day weekend this coming weekend anyway.

 

Have a good week!

 

Em x