Frances Berrill wrote two books of stories for children, named Five For Silver and Six For Gold and created photograms, which are pictures created by putting objects on top of light sensitive photo paper and exposing it to create a kind of negative silhoette. She was also one of my Granny's best friends and she passed on to us the following recipe for Elderflower Cordial, which is particularly appropriate for this time of year:
Lou has mostly been ill this week with the same problem that had me wiped out for most of last week. This left me in charge of Senor Pony on Thursday and Friday- a much-needed opportunity to improve my groundwork and for Joe to remind me in detail of all his weaselly tricks he uses to get out of doing work.
Today all our parents came over and we destroyed the remainder of the aviary in the garden, with the exception of one end cage that will probably become a chicken run. We burned what we could but it turned out to be such a solid structure ( cavity wall insulation, nailed together with one nail ever three centimetres around every wall ) that there was no way we could get rid of it all without burning down Farnham as a side effect. That would be rubbish because our house is in Farnham and it would be cold sleeping on a pile of ashes. Or at first uncomfortably hot, I suppose. We now have to decide if we can burn it all or whether we must instead find a skip and get rid of it that way which will be expensive but less likely to trash our house and those of our neighbours.
Ingredients
- 25 Elder flower heads
- 1 kilo of white sugar
- 50 g of citric acid
- 2 chopped lemons
- 2 1/2 pints of just-boiling water (about a kettle full)
Method
Put the ingredients into a large crock and pour over the just-boiled water. Stir well.
Steep for 2 days, stirring as you pass.
Strain into sterilised bottles.
The cordial will last well and can be frozen. It is one of the essential tastes of summer and I recommend it to everyone.
Lou has mostly been ill this week with the same problem that had me wiped out for most of last week. This left me in charge of Senor Pony on Thursday and Friday- a much-needed opportunity to improve my groundwork and for Joe to remind me in detail of all his weaselly tricks he uses to get out of doing work.
Today all our parents came over and we destroyed the remainder of the aviary in the garden, with the exception of one end cage that will probably become a chicken run. We burned what we could but it turned out to be such a solid structure ( cavity wall insulation, nailed together with one nail ever three centimetres around every wall ) that there was no way we could get rid of it all without burning down Farnham as a side effect. That would be rubbish because our house is in Farnham and it would be cold sleeping on a pile of ashes. Or at first uncomfortably hot, I suppose. We now have to decide if we can burn it all or whether we must instead find a skip and get rid of it that way which will be expensive but less likely to trash our house and those of our neighbours.