I spent yesterday morning baking, as I was in the mood for it. I stewed up the fresh blackberries I had picked and the windfall apples I had been given and made a sponge topping for them. Done as plain stewed apples with a sponge topping, I have this recipe in my hand-written recipe book with "Danny's favourite" beside it. No photos of the food - sorry.
I also made some Plum Muffins, but took the skin off the plums as it was pretty tough. I had a failure with my Cornish Fairings (Ginger Biscuits) as the oven cooks too hot for the recipe and they needed 7 mins and not 10.
These sky photos were taken on my walk on Friday, and the clouds were tremendous. Rain sporadic, though a couple of heavy showers helped the land.
Tam, Rosie and I had a quiet weekend and stayed around here. Rosie has been playing outside in her little Wendy house - we took her farmyard buildings and animals out, and she helped me do a little bit of weeding too. I am working on the gravel strip at the top of the steps, which has become very overgrown with Aquilegias and Linaria and Fox & Cubs.
Just before T&R left to go home, my friend Pam was on the phone, asking me to check the FireMap, which I have up on my computer most days lately. She had taken her dog for a walk along by the River in Rhayader and was horrified to see first smoke and then huge flames on the top of Gwastedyn Hill. She thought it had been put out, but clearly enough of the peat was still smouldering beneath to reignite. She phoned 999 immediately and the Fire Brigade is now back out there trying to quell it again. She was quite shocked to see last week's burning had gone right down the hillside to the road for a long way back. She is quite newly-come to Wales (4 yrs I think) and you don't have this sort of thing happening in Surrey . . .
I left this post in the hope of hearing that T&R safely back, and they are. I feel so sorry for the Firemen and FireWOMEN who have had to drop everything and go out to fight that same fire yet again . . . My apologies to Denise, who is one of those hard working Firewomen and all of her compatriots. It takes a very special sort of person to do this job as of course, it isn't just about fires. Many thanks to those of you who have worked the clock round for weeks on end because of stupid idiots setting fires for a challenge, quite apart from naturally-caused fires, house fires etc.
Now I'm thinking about something to eat although I don't really fancy last night's leftovers . . .
At least your friend spotted the fire before it had got too much of a hold, I feel sorry for the firemen who must be exhausted. We've had a lovely day walking round Chatsworth gardens, which looked remarkably good and they are starting work on restoring the Cascade. Glad we went early as it was heaving when we left and Matlock Bath was gridlocked, mostly with very expensive motorbikes. Xx
ReplyDeleteI expect other townsfolk may have noticed it too, but best to make a call just in case. The fireman are absolutely exhausted, and the volunteer ones have to somehow find time to sleep AND get back to their day job.
ReplyDeleteChatsworth is such a beautiful estate to walk around. I am not surprised Matlock Bath was gridlocked - the summer holidays are always busy. I hear motorbikes from around 6 a.m. onwards here on a Weekend. I think they must get up VERY early to start on their day out, probably going to the coast or North Wales.
Those are wonderful photos of the clouds. Wildland firefighting is such a hard, exhausting job. I hope the firefighters stay safe. You have such lovely visits with Rosie! She's fortunate to get to know you so well.
ReplyDeleteI hope that there will be more rain to stop anymore hotspots turning into quickly moving fires.
ReplyDeleteWell done on the baking, can't remember when I last did three things at the same bake|!
A gentle plea...Some firefighters (like me) are women...We are firefighters, not "firemen"...
ReplyDeleteMy apologies Denise, I have altered the paragraph to include brave firewomen too. It is a job I could not do, especially the non-fire parts. I take my hat off to all of you. This has been the summer from hell.
DeleteThank you 😊
DeleteI'm an Aussie, so fire is just a fact of life here. We are very well trained and equipped, we work as a team who trust each other and our main objective is to have everyone come home safe. Every firefighter has been scared at some point, no doubt about it, but we do it because we care about our community. We take the trust the community has in us very seriously.
We had gone down to Devon on Wednesday so my wife could pick up a new puppy and we had only just got out of our village when I saw the whole hedgerow and field beside the road had been burned less than 2 miles from where I live. I hear sirens going a lot on the road I live, just never thought any more of it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like that was quickly under control where you are. Just as well you're not here at the moment as Glascwm has just reignited and I can see the smoke from here.
DeleteSad news about the fires reigniting, the fire service are heroes especially in this heat. Your photographs of the cloud formations are stunning, thank you for sharing. Jan
ReplyDeleteYes, I was pleased with the cloud formation photos. I will be glad when we have had some heavy prolonged rain (tomorrow possibly).
DeleteYour sky photos are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the fires.
Those ginger fairings are one of my favourites but I’ve found they don’t always behave as they should!
Alison in Devon x
Yes, most of the biscuits indedible . . . I should have been stood over the oven!
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