A poem for our time

 My daughter-in-law (who works in a school as do most of my family) sent me a copy of this poem:

T’was the week before half term and all through the land
The teachers were tired of washing their hands
Of cleaning the desks, and the drawers and the pens
Of reminding their class not to cuddle their friends
Of handgel and soap, of bleach and of wipes
Of passwords and google and all things that swipe
Of trying to stand at the length of a lion
From friends whose shoulders they wanted to cry on
T’was the week before half term and all through the land
The parents were trying to make up great plans
That don’t involve meeting, or greeting, or places
That in these strange times don’t resemble safe spaces
They look to the teachers, and all they have done
To make school inviting, inspiring and fun
To see past the problems, the issues and rules
To bring back the joy and excitement of school
Thank you being the safe place, the learning
For standing there strong with the children returning
For finding solutions that don’t feel so strange
With no funds or magicians to help you arrange
For stories and spellings and phonics and play
For taking the fear of this moment away.
October 2020

Update

 They just kept my granddaughter in hospital for one night but did a large array of tests. The GP is supposed to take over now. They want regular blood tests and she was supposed to be having one tomorrow but that has been cancelled because the nurse who does the blood tests is now in isolation... So we are suspended in limbo for a bit while we wait to see what happens next. At least they have ruled out a lot of the nasties that could have been causing some of the symptoms so I am sleeping a bit better now : )

I was given a few quinces by a kind neighbour so I have made quince jelly which will be another thing to add to my Christmas hampers. However, both my HMSO and my WI jam recipe books said to add half an ounce of citric acid which I happened to have in my cupboard, wonder of wonders. But I was saving on time so when I weighed my sugar out in a bowl, I added the citric acid in on top..... and a clump of citric acid fell out and I had added twice as much as I needed. I could not tell the difference between the citric acid and the sugar so I just had to add it all. It is an incredible colour, very jewel-like but with a definite tang of lemon in the flavour. I think I had better label it as "quince and lemon jelly" and it will make a very pleasant alternative to marmalade for breakfast. Next time I get given quinces, I will make very sure that I weigh out the citric acid separately!

Worrying times!

 We have had a little scare this week as my granddaughter got taken to hospital. She had the coronavirus the week before I started with it but has not got over it yet. She probably has the long covid but cannot be officially diagnosed until the GPs are given the official papers to diagnose it in early November. However she got much worse in the last couple of weeks and after consultation with NHS111, she got an referral and an appointment at A&E. Turns out she has developed migraines on top of the long covid, but the GP didn't manage to diagnose that over the phone. She has various other symptoms that the hospital want an eye kept on. 

Worrying times!

Tomatoes and more

 It was my birthday this weekend and I have had a lovely time. All three of my children have been for a doorstep chat along with most of my grandchildren : ) I have also had emails and phone calls and cards through the door from various friends. My littlest grandson had made some biscuits for me and they taste lovely although they are weird and wonderful shapes : )

I have been preserving tomatoes in oil for the winter. I did not have enough of our own tomatoes to preserve so they will all be eaten fresh or at least as fried green tomatoes. However I found some cherry tomatoes and baby plum tomatoes on offer in Aldi and Lidl and I now have 3 jars of roasted tomatoes preserved in oil sitting in the fridge. I had in mind that they would be a great treat in the winter but I am going to have trouble keeping my hands off them as they taste fantastic.

I read this article (and there is a video too):

https://theelliotthomestead.com/2020/08/preserved-tomatoes-in-olive-oil/

I have had an eventful day today. I was in school this morning and wanted to call at the shops on the way home, making it a multipurpose journey. In my area, they have been campaigning and complaining for many years about the amount of traffic that goes up the main road. So to try and alleviate this, they have blocked off all the side roads which means that all traffic must go up the main road. There is a major T-junction off the main road and they have blocked off all the side roads off this road too. We are going to be using a lot more petrol because there are no short routes left. Think going around three sides of a square to get from A to B every time with long queues everywhere. Honestly, where are their brains and common sense? 

So I got what I wanted from the shop and got back to where I had left the car. This was quite some distance from the shops and it had started raining so I was soaked by the time I reached the car. I turned the car round and headed back up the road which leads to the T-junction. There is a junction with four-way traffic lights just up this road. I waited through seven sets of traffic lights to get to be the first car in the queue for these lights because they were only letting two cars through at a time. At the lights there is a pedestrian crossing with an island in the middle of the road. There are metal fences both on the island and on the pavement which narrows the road lane considerably. Guess where my car broke down......? Eventually several men left their cars to help me push it through the pedestrian crossing gap in the metal railings on to the pavement but by the time we had done that, I had about 400 yards worth of cars in the queue behind me. It is a good job that this didn't happen at rush hour! I was so embarrassed and so grateful for the help given.

Autumn jam

 I have made some Autumn Jam from bits and pieces of autumn fruit that I have acquired this week. I went on a walk with my daughter and little grandson and I was looking out for any fruit as I went along. We had passed several blackthorn bushes, each with two or three tiny sloes and then when we were nearly at the end, I spotted a lovely blackthorn just dripping with big, fat sloes and next to it was a crab apple tree, also dripping with fruit. I always keep a bag in my coat pocket in case I find anything suitable for my rabbit so I filled my small bag with sloes and crab apples. During the week, I got a handful each of blackberries, damsons and elderberries. Then I spotted that lots of my windfall apples were showing spots of brown so I made a great big bowl of stewed apple for the freezer and put the nicer bits of the peel and cores in my jam. 

My first idea was to make jelly but there was so much apple flesh in the pan that I ended up sieving it all and making a smooth jam. It is a beautiful red colour and tastes absolutely fantastic. And the hens kindly finished off all the stuff I had sieved out of my jam. So everybody is happy and I have a novelty jam to add to my Christmas hampers. Then today I was given several pounds of quinces so I now have quince jelly to make. I haven't got my hands on any quinces for many years so I am looking forward to that : )