....... had helped Andy Murray win. I wore this stupid hat - folded up from a page of yesterday's newspaper - all afternoon in the hopes that it would have some magical influence on the result. Ah well, there is always next year
Moving swiftly on! When we were walking through the Saturday market in Hawick, we saw that the fruit and veg stall had some very cheap strawberries, so on Saturday afternoon I started on a marathon of jam making, which finished today!
This is basic strawberry jam, looking good in my fancy jars that I got here
I also made strawberry and nectarine jam - delicious
I make jam in small batches in a large glass bowl in the microwave
using a pound of fruit and a pound of sugar. I use jam sugar, as I find it gives a better set
today I made strawberry and pear, and strawberry and melon - and still had a pound of strawberries left! So I finished with another batch of plain strawberry jam, which I put into smaller jars to give away to friends
I bottled the new batch of sloe gin, and also sloe port, which we had made with the sloes from the first batch of gin. This is the gin being strained
When Stuart and Alison tasted the first batch of sloe gin, they immediately demanded said they had better get another bottle or else said please could they have a bottle from the second batch (sorry, this is a poor photo!)
the rain stayed off long enough yesterday morning for us to go for a walk. We thought we would go somewhere different, and walked up the road that passes the back of the donkey sanctuary. There is just something so appealing about donkeys .... it is hard to pick just a few photos to share with you!
the road took us down to the suspension bridge over the River Tweed, which was running full and hard
usually we approach the suspension bridge from the other side of the river, coming down this road
on the way back to the car, I paused to take one of my favourite arty shots
I wan't so lucky with the weather for my walk this morning - yes, more rain! This leaf had obviously had enough of the dreadful weather and dropped off the tree early!
but even on a wet grey morning, there is always something to brighten the day!
ps, when we were on the way home yesterday, we saw three different means of travel
horse power
pedal power
easy rider!