Pickings

I walked round the garden and orchard hedgerows in search of elderberries, but found thin and poor quality pickings - many are small and  shrivelled this year, and I've been too slow and let the birds take the best of them. However, I managed to gather a reasonable number to add to my jelly, though they took an inordinate amount of time to prepare; they are now simmering in the preserving pan with small apples, roughly chopped, and some surprisingly good blackberries, all from the garden. I didn't plan to pick apples or quinces, but found one branch of the quince tree bent almost to the ground under the weight of three large fruits, so thought it best to pick them. There are more to follow, for more jelly. The apples are samples, slightly bird damaged, to see if these trees are yet ready to pick; they are not bad, but I hope they will be a little softer and sweeter if we wait another week. 

This is the third blip I have posted today, and brings me up to date (apart from the remaining hospital photos, which I will fill in eventually). It's been a week of uploading everything late and in the wrong order, so a lot of things have inevitably slipped almost immediately into oblivion. If you have a minute to flick back, my Tiny Tuesday, Wide Wednesday and Abstract Thursday shots are all there. Now, I hope I can also get back to more browsing and commenting.