18^th July 2021

 

Dear All,

Try something new each week – this week was my debut at bread making, with expert tuition of course! It turned out surprisingly attractive and edible!

 

 

Virgin Bread

 

Another week of currant picking for Kate, this time black, pink and white. Strawberries have finished and the oldest bed rotovated in, cherries and raspberries have been cropping very well. I dug the Charlotte potatoes at the allotment and they have yielded well.

 

Black Currants

 

Pink Currants

 

 

Cherries

 

 

Charlotte

 

Last Sunday we walked through the orchard and up past the Mustill’s Lane allotments. Richard Fenwick had erected an owl box in his Christmas tree plantation and this year a pair of kestrels have hatched 3 offspring.

 

 

Kestrels

We led the Thursday walk this week starting in Over and following the River to St Ives. We had a large turn out (17) and the weather was good for walking. We caught the guided bus back to Swavesey and did a loop through their heritage orchard and the Over orchard again, before dining in Over Community Centre.

 

Walking Group

 

 

 

Geese on the River

 

 

Hay making near St Ives

 

Duncan and Sue Colqhoun have sold their house in Cottenham where they have lived for 35 years and are planning to move to Buckinghamshire where all three of their children are located. They invited us for lunch yesterday. The present house has a large plot of land and a tennis court and was on the market for £900,000, the one they are buying was built in the 1500s is much smaller and roughly the same price!

Covid has been affecting the local schools and both Swavesey junior and senior schools have had class lockdowns. Lorna, the lady in Swavesey that Kate has been collecting medications for and running to hospital has succumbed and is currently in Hinchingbrooke hospital.

The steroids may be helping Kate’s pain relief but also affecting her sleep pattern so she is wide awake at 6am and left for Tesco’s at 6.45am an Friday when evidently it is quite quiet!

My sister Mary has been arranging a cousin’s reunion for a couple of weeks’ time for those still fit and able to meet in Harrow!

The photo feature in the CN this week was “Dance” and I thought I won’t bother – never having captured Esther in full ballet mode! then I remembered foreign trips to Bulgaria and Ecuador where there were demonstrations of local expertise and the Ecuador photo was published.

 

 

Youthful Dancers in Ecuador

 

When Kate and I purchased new bikes in April we were invited to bring them back in a few weeks for a free service to adjust cables etc. We took then back to St Ives yesterday am and I naively thought they would service on the spot having booked them in, but they said no it would be next week. As I spluttered, they said they would try and fix them on the day which they duly did so we had a return journey just before closing time.

Brace yourselves for a scorching week until thunderstorms in time for the cricket on Saturday!

With love

Mike & Kate