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.