I have been AWOL for the last few days - it's migraine season again (yay!), which hit on tuesday and completely wiped me out these last couple of days. I am however feeling much better now, and with no little demon stripping veins out of my eyeballs, I can get back on track! Since getting back from the honeymoon I've wanted to do nothing more than nest, but the weather has prevented any serious clearing-out and sorting. Everyone in England has had rain apart from us - we haven't had a drop for over a month now, the gardens (and myself) are thirsty! We are forecast rain tomorrow, they've been forcasting it for weeks, though not one single drip has dropped.

The garden is looking good, if a little dry, and as for vegetables we've had peas, are still munching a meagre crop of runner beans (this isn't anything to do with care or variety, my mother has had real problems with her large runner beans this year) and enough potatoes for a good few meals.

Last night we tore out the peas (saving any missed dried pods for next year's seeds), dug some more potatoes and marvelled at the pumpkins, of which we have 5 about the size of golf balls. What about winter vegetables though? I'm not sure about the onions, their tops have gone over, which I fear may be the end of them (I think I read somewhere that once their tops have gone over then they stop growing... I know how they feel). If we are to become more self-sufficient then we need to feed ourselves throughout the winter as well. This means two plantings, another one to go in soon of vegetables that we both eat and love. Things like broad beans, parsnips, potatoes and greens. So much stuff to find out about. I luxuriate in our livingroom with book after book reading and finding out how to do such and such.

Yesterday was my jam-making day, and to my delight, it all worked! The first one was a strawberry and redcurrant jam, the strawberries were left over from our wedding, and had been frozen - making them perfect for jam. It set perfectly, they sat in the right place and didn't sink to the bottom! The blackcurrant set even better, coming out and setting almost on contact with the pots. If you ever get the chance to make jam, do - it's not hard at all, as long as you've got a recipe. It's a great way to preserve and enjoy summer fruits over the year, most of all it's delicious - as homemade food always is!

I'm looking forward to the weekend, because most of all I want to sit in my newly-sorted (thanks completely to my husband) spare room, and write. Nothing but a head full of ideas, a sharpened pencil and a wad of fresh, blank paper. As well as insane urge to bake chocolate cakes, which was the first thing I did this morning when I was still weary and bleary-eyed.

The flowers are the David Austen rose 'William Morris' - it's been flowering profusely even though we only planted it in May. The other two Austen roses, 'Rosemoor' and 'Félicité Parmentier' were swamped by the huge mass of wildflowers sharing their bed - and have not flowered as yet. Zépherine Drouhin suffered the same fate, although all of the roses look healthy. The poppies are just delightful, every colour under the sun, they've been the most popular with hoverflies (which eat aphids) and bees.

Whilst sweeping the yard at 8-ish this morning, our lovely neighbour stuck his head around the gate and asked me whether I'd like any blackcurrants and redcurrants. Of course this was met with rapturous squeals of delight, with thoughts of jam, tarts, crumbles and cheesecakes galore! They're from a friend of theirs who owns an allotment - they had too many so offered their glut to our neighbours (there was too much for them as well!), who in turn offered it to us. I can't believe how kind our neighbours are, they prepared lots of food for our wedding and were amazing helps on the day. We're just lucky!

We got a knock on the door this evening offering us 3lbs of blackcurrants and 2lbs of redcurrants - far exceeding what I thought we'd get! So tomorrow I'll be off to the shop for 6lbs of sugar to make redcurrant jelly and strawberry and blackcurrant jam - yum!

Make a quiche. Yep, it's been a staple in my family since time immemorial. My mother always made them when anyone came around to lunch, and it's not summer without a quiche, Jersey Royals, salad and a glass of something cool. I have always found quiches to be really easy to make. Many people find pastry-making a hideous job, but I have never found it hard at all (and I have perpetually warm hands). I have tried making pastry with vegetable shortening and didn't get on with it very well, so in my fridge (necessity being the mother of invention) I dug out my cake margerine and gave that a go, it worked a treat and so every time I make pastry I either use marg. or butter.

Quiches are delicious, simple and quick to make. In this recipe I'll give enough ingredients to make two 8-inch quiches. You can vary the ingredients to make less or more, and to cater for whatever you have in your fridge at that particular moment. Eggs can vary in size, I use medium, and can get away with adding more milk to the mix if I have only 3 eggs per quiche instead of 4. Be warned, if the mixture is too runny it won't set as well. I make the mixtures in two batches for ease, so when making, halve the ingredients and do as I do - or not if you want to make it all in one go! The amounts quoted for things like milk are completely changeable, I do everything by eye now and so if it *looks* right to you, leave it, don't feel compelled to add the below amounts.

Spinach, tomato and mustard quiche

For the pastry:
3oz (85g) butter, cold, cubed
6oz (or maybe a bit more depending on butter) plain flour
pinch of salt and pepper
enough water to bind into pastry - usually a tablespoon or so

For the filling:
6 (or 8) eggs, depending on economy
100-150ml milk (can be Jersey milk if you want it creamier - if not, semi-skimmed is excellent)
8 cherry tomatoes or 4 regular
2tsp dijon mustard (can be wholegrain honey mustard instead).
1 large handful of washed, trimmed spinach
salt and pepper
A handful of grated mature cheddar (optional)

a little butter and flour for greasing the tins.

Method:

Preheat oven to 190ºC / gas mk. 5 (175ºC for fan ovens)

In a bowl take the flour, butter and seasoning and rub-in until you're left with a fine breadcrumb consistency and no discernable lumps. Add the cold water slowly, until perfect pastry consistency is achieved. Chill for 30 mins in the fridge.

For the filling beat three (or 4) eggs, mustard, seasoning and milk together in one bowl. Beat for at least one minute. Slice the tomatoes, into half if you've got cherry tomatoes, or slices if they're large tomatoes. Into an 8-inch pie dish or cake sandwich tin, rub a little butter then dust with flour to prevent sticking. Take the pastry out of the fridge and divide equally into two onto a floured surface. Roll out to around ½cm thick and line tin. Repeat for the second tin. Put these into the freezer for 5 minutes or so, it makes for better pastry!

Divide the tomatoes and spinach equally between the two tins and pour over the eggy mixture. If you want to add a little cheese now is the time to do so. Repeat with the second and get them both into the oven as soon as possible. They should take around 30-40 minutes depending on your oven, keep checking on them, they should rise quite nicely.

You can be creative with quiches, once you've got the base, the possibilities are endless. We have a glut of salmon left in the freezer since the wedding, and last year I made a splendiferous 'salmon, pea and mint' quiche, or perhaps broccoli and stilton? Brie and asparagus? Enjoy!

There has been a strange occurrance in the front garden of late. Everything is looking healthy, and on our weekly inspection a couple of of months ago, I said to The Husband "Look at this! We've got a cabbage growing!". He eyed me suspiciously, with a kind of contempt reserved soley for one of my practical jokes. He didn't believe me until I showed him, but sure enough, there were the beginnings of a cabbage plant. Then, in a look of utter shock, I noted that the plant growing not 3-feet away from it was a cauliflower! If by now you're thinking that I'm on drugs, you might be right, these plants have settled themselves into the most improbable place possible - but what stumps us is where they have come from. We haven't ever grown cabbages or cauliflowers, although that doesn't seem to make a difference in the slightest!



On returning from honeymoon, I looked out of the living-room window, and said with complete alacrity "Darling, there's a tomato plant in the front garden". By now, my husband has given up even questioning my bizarre statements, and just takes them on board. Yes, indeed there was a rather healthy tomato plant sat in a crack of earth not two-inches wide, growing very happily. Next to it, there is a self-seeded sunflower. We can only put these magical, strange occurances down to Vegetable Fairies, little elfin creatures who come to our front garden at the darkest of the night, and merrily plant cauliflowers, cabbages, sunflowers and tomatoes! Not that we're complaining, I can't think of anything I'd rather have growing there!

This hot weather is definitely not fun, I like a good sunny day, but when you open the door and the hot air hits you like opening an oven door, it starts to be a nuisance. I remember being at school and hating the classrooms, which always had the heating on in the hottest days before the school holidays, and the tight, restricting uniforms. Thankfully this house is kept pretty cool and no part of the house is too warm as to be unbearable. And like the title portrays, I've been a busy-bee. A couple of days ago I tried to get out into the garden, and failed miserably, I managed maybe half an hour, but hoeing in 30ºC heat is not for me, however much I covered up - our neighbours think I'm half-Bedouin - so I gave that up for the day.

Baking has also been on the agenda, another insane pasttime when it's so hot outside, having the oven on isn't maybe the smartest thing, but when I have an urge to bake, boy do I bake! Cranberry, white chocolate and banana muffins followed by spinach, tomato and mustard quiches (which are absolutely gorgeous), sausage casseroles, and many other yummy things. The good side to a mass-bake is that I don't have to cook anything on a set day - I can pull something homemade and gorgeous from the freezer, make a salad and it's done. Forward planning!



The rest of these long, Indian-summer days has been spent putting the house to rights. With the advent of the wedding looming, furniture was moved into unlikely places, space was made to accommodate the influx of guests, and there was little time to do much before we left for honeymoon. So when we got back, the house was as we'd left it - a tip. The police officer, who came to see us after reporting the car break-in had to wade over boxes, with profuse apologies from me saying that, no, this isn't how it always looks! He grinned and said nothing.

I've been working room by room through the house, trying to make order of chaos, having a re-arrange of furniture (something I find very relaxing), and trying to avoid flaking out in the heat completely. My one solace has been the garden in the evening. As the day wears on the temperature dips, and by 5-ish I can sit outside and smile as I see the wonderful runner beans do what they do best, creating little curled beanlets, which grow and unfurl into spectacular stringless specimens. The lavender bushes have been amazing this year, the three in the back garden were kept for two years in their pots (due to us not having a garden to put them in when we bought them) and became root-bound. But with some love and attention they've given us hundreds of spikes of lavender flowers, ready to be dried, so I can smell summer all through the cold winter months that are to come. The three in the front garden were bought this year and are full of lavender heads.

The wildflowers are still flowering, more are opening every day, especially the poppies and calendula. One of our roses, William Morris (Auswill) which was only planted in May this year has got a profusion of buds on it already with one which is just opening!

I had to post pictures of our alliums. I didn't think they'd come to anything at all, they were so slow to produce a flower that I was tempted to pull them up and be done with it! How wrong I would've been! Patience, as they say, is a virtue (lest I forget) and I'm so glad I waited!



Not usually a fan of lilies, I was skeptical when I saw these on offer, merely £1.50 for a pot of three healthy specimens. Despite not having them near the house (white lilies = death), I planted them in the semi-circular bed and forgot about them, then one day I noticed something pretty and it was a lily! They've all flowered, with around 5 flowers a plant, and in such splendor!



Tomatoes will always be grown here as long as there is a breath in my body. They are summer to me, and the smell when I brush past them is just as good as their huge bounties of lush, organic, flavourful fruit.



We're growing no less than 5 different varieties, and whilst I've lost some of the name tags to tell you which ones they are, I can tell you that there is one called 'Tumbling tom', a yellow tumbling variety, a red tumbling variety, Alicanté, a red plum tomato and another red one, I think.



The Jerusalem artichokes* (Helianthus tuberosus) are now one of my most interesting vegetables, and have piqued further research. I've eaten them before, and to my recollection, I really enjoyed them, not wholly dissimilar to potatoes/water chestnuts, they are another source of good-carbohydrates. They grow quicker than potatoes, very quickly in fact, produce one tuber which can be quite large (I checked the tubers of ours when I potted them up in April/May, one was already the size of my fist!), and are a really good sustainable crop. According to my complete self-sufficiency guide, they are great fodder for animals, smother any weeds and don't contain very many calories. They're ticking all the boxes for me! We are giving these a go, and hoping that they'll be a great catch-crop for future years - the only problem being that we cannot find anywhere that sells the seeds/tubers at all! If you know of anyone/anywhere that does, please let me know!



*The Jerusalem Artichokes are the tall sunflower-lookin' things below the hanging basket!

The Fiancé and I were approaching the registry office, with nerves, apprehension and clammy palms. We met all of our relatives at the front of the office, we walked there together hand in hand, and looked upon the spectre of the crowd. With my heart in my mouth we entered the building that would forever change everything, we met with the registrar's assistant, the lady who would fill in our marriage certificate and enter our details into the book of marriages. She made small-talk, whilst my hands were shaking too much to hold my bouquet! Enter the registrar who would carry out the ceremony, a portly chap, with a nice smile and charm about him. In a whirlwind of "I dos" and cheers, we became husband and wife. It seems like an age ago, it was but only four weeks, 28 days.

The reception was held in our back garden, we love the place, and thought it appropriate that it was held there. I'd been up much of the night before checking on the salmon, a huge fish, slow-roasting in its skin of foil. During the morning, a fierce wind had picked up and was blowing the gazebo into our neighbour's garden, so we had to weight it down with huge slabs. The sun was shining though, rain clouds passing overhead and choosing to shed their droplets elsewhere.

We had a good time, the food was delish, all of it coming from our local farm shop on the day, the strawberries picked that morning! In the end the rain diverted us inside, where we were made to watch replays of the ceremony (watching myself on video is like pulling teeth). All in all it was a great day, a long one (the longest of the year!), but an enjoyable one nontheless, and one we'll both remember forever!



I didn't know exactly how getting married would change me, or us at all. Some say marriage changes everything, but I don't think I knew whether this would be a good thing or not. It turns out that the changes are subtle and large, all at once. Everything does change ever-so-slightly. In the nicest way possible. There is security there that there was before, but which now feels cemented. I would share a couple of photos, but I can't because I still haven't been sent any! We're waiting for a host of photos from friends and family to be developed/burnt onto disk, so until then, you'll have to make do with one from the honeymoon instead!

To a very good friend. Just as we got through the door after the long post-honeymoon drive home, we were greeted by a pile of post resembling Kilimanjaro, and amongst it was a little card left by our postman telling us that we had a parcel waiting for us to collect.



In it was an amazing amount of stuff, crammed into the cutest little box, which had come all the way from America! Inside wrapped amongst blue and gold tissue paper, were goodies galore, a hand-knitted and felted pot-holder, Lionbrand Cascade 220 wool (onto which were threaded goodies!), chocolate (apologies for the lack of chocolate in the photo, that single Hershey's packet was all that was left!), gorgeous almond-scented soap, a hand-made card (with a quote that I *love*, and it's such a pretty card!), incense (smells divine), gorgeous magnet (I think of you everytime I open the fridge!), a hand-made book scarf (we both think this is fantastic!) and a wonderful letter. It was the best thing we could have received after the bad news we came home to with the hubby's car.

So, Robyn, thankyou so much, you are an absolute gem! I am already compiling my sneaky list - so watch out! hehe!

I am a firm believer in fate, always have been, always will be - until I'm proven otherwise. I think this stems from so many unexplainable coincidences over my lifetime, little things, signs almost, that come to you when you need them most. A serendipitous phone call when you're at your lowest ebb, a stranger deciding to smile at you, turning a grey day to a sunny one, small things that make life sweeter than it usually is. A hormone-adled wood pigeon cooing to its neighbour, or a pair of magpies (two for joy), a lone flower that for you makes you happier than you thought you could be. A sign, from above or elsewhere, just to let you know that things will be alright.

When we came home on Sunday, after a tiring drive, to find that my husband's car had been broken into, despite my exterior remaining chirpy, I was shaken. But I didn't allow it to upset me as much as it could have, I am glad I didn't see it happen, nor was our honeymoon disturbed to tell us the news (our neighbours didn't notice that it'd happened - it didn't outwardly show). We were planning on getting rid of my husband's (hehe, it sounds so strange) car anyway, because it simply wasn't economic to run both - now that decision has been cemented. It is, after all, just metal, and not life.

The offender, whoever he/she is, was obviously not an expert at the art of car-stealing. Having first cut a whole into the soft sunroof, the offender stuck their arm through and opened the door, taking with them a brick. Having first looked through the small collection of CD-Rs (we don't ever keep the genuine CDs in-car for this reason), they took the brick and smashed the ignition, trying to get it to start. This did nothing, thanks to the immobiliser, but the would-be thief cut himself, and thankfully (and probably unbeknownst to them) smeared blood all over the upholstery, windows and floor, as well as leaving many fingerprints. Our forensics officer was beaming at this, he said he got some brilliant samples and doubted that this was the criminal's first offence. We await the tests to be carried out and matched against their computer records.

Again I still believe this was a good thing, not good for us immediately, having to sort out insurance (bye-bye no claims discount), hire cars (paid for by the insurance) and repairs are not what we needed right now, but I won't let anything like this get the better of us - because I believe it was meant to happen. Perhaps it was saving us from an accident further down the line, teaching us to value our lives more than our cars - who knows?

One thing that made up for this whole debarcle was the immense beauty that we returned to in the garden. I haven't in all of my born days seen a show of flowers so beautiful, and although I'm more likely to say that because I planted them all, I really do mean it. My jaw dropped to see rows of ripe peas, potatoes flowering, broad beans fattening up, cornflowers, roses, bees, sweet peas and so much colour. We have a rainbow! Yes we were devastated at the bad news, but doesn't this make up for it, and show us that there is more to life than material possessions? I think so.

So in all of its unadulterated glory, I present our garden in snippets, I hope this makes your day as much as it makes mine every single day. Difficult though it may be, the old adage of 'what doesn't kill us makes us stronger' has never been so true.


[Borage 'borago officinalis', a herb that I've always wanted to grow]


[Cornflowers]


[Main semi-circular bed, planted with cornflowers, rose campion (the white variety), wildflower seeds, godetia and some splendid dreamy poppies]


[Godetia]


[Godetia]


[One of the most amazing poppies - I do hope this will come back next year, how delicate their colouring and graceful their slender necks]


[The poppies are all colours, hues of pink fantastic!]



Still so much to tell, harvests of vegetables, things learnt and so much more. That for next time perhaps :)

Just a quick to post to say that we both survived! We are both back from our honeymoon having had the most amazing time. I have so much to say but am a little too overwhelmed to say it! The wedding was amazing. We had a small registry office ceremony, but it was much nicer than I thought it'd be - the man officiating was very nice and gave a lovely speech, although the marriage part of the day is such a blur, I can hardly remember what he said!

The honeymoon was also wonderful, we spent two weeks in the deepest of rural idylls, away from anyone else, peaceful in our newly re-kindled love. And that was the point of it, to be just us, to have nothing cloud our first two weeks of wedded life. It was happiness at its most beautiful.

Now it is back to business, lots of washing, tidying, cleaning and homemaking to do. The house was left rather in a state, because we had little time and were far too tired from the wedding itself to do very much at all! But I am glad to be back, with ideas, memories and thoughts afresh, ideas to transform into reality. To be back with my husband and our dog, who also enjoyed a holiday with my mother, as our little family.

I am not going to cloud this post with anything bad - but there is news of a less-positive nature too, which I'll detail when I next turn the computer on - after the main housework has been done. Thankyous to all who have sent well-wishes, they were warmly received and have made our big day the best it could've been. The picture above? That was my bouquet - the most beautiful I've ever seen.