Apples, Morris Dancing and a sheepish Ta-Dah!

Another week, another 'Apple Day'. This one, again local, was slightly more exciting than the last. As well as the usual apple juicing and tasting, this one had bees, basket weaving, animals and Morris Dancing! After watching 'The Wonder of Bees' with Martha Kearney this week (did anyone else catch this?) we quite enjoyed seeing the beekeepers. It was the Morris Men that we found the most entertaining though - who could fail to be cheered by all that bell jingling and stick bashing?! R wanted to buy a heritage apple tree for the garden - we already have 3 apples, 2 pears, 2 cherries, a crabapple and a plum, so, as far as I'm concerned, we're all set on the fruit front. Far be it from me though to stand between a man and his budding orchard! We got to taste the apples first, in order to make an informed decision, and we actually came away with not one but two trees - a Pitmaston Pineapple that, surprisingly, does taste of pineapple and a Ribstone Pippin. They're quite small at the moment so let's see if they manage to survive the attentions of Bambi et al.!

Other happies this week:

My new bunch of flowers:

Driving through Burnham Beeches to visit a friend for lunch. We used to live near here; it's a national nature reserve in Buckinghamshire and great for walking and cycling. I stopped the car and had a mindfulness moment with the sun slanting through the trees and Vaughan Williams' 'The Lark Ascending' playing on Classic FM - blissful.

Deciding to get my old rocking chair down from the loft (easier said than done!). I'm very attached to this as R bought it for me when I was in hospital having just given birth to L. My only problem with it is the colour-I'm not that keen on the orangey pine. It doesn't look too bad against the duck egg blue of the wall but I'm in 2 minds whether to paint it or not - what do you think?

A quiet moment with this month's CH and I, a cup of tea and a slice of Nigel Slater's Apple and Orange Cake, recipe to be found here.

This week's purchases at the Farmers' Market - the celeriac went into cream of celeriac soup and the fennel is for a veggie paella for later in the week:

Finishing L's winter hat. I have to confess to having slight issues with the size of the brim - it was slightly larger than necessary, so has to be worn turned up! Sadly, this means that the ribbing is hidden but L doesn't seem to mind (or is too polite to comment!) and it is very warm. R, however, thought it had a 'touch of the Smurf' about it!

 Finally, I'll leave you with a photo of Hamish pondering on the sofa:

 Like Winnie the Pooh, sometimes he likes to sit and think but mostly he just sits! 

Wishing you all a happy week.
Toodle Pip for now. x