late being the operative word. Every one who wants to visit us is told at once that we do not do early mornings here and we tell them why.
You all know of course that Pa's disabilities mean that it takes a long time to get him up and dressed each day and if you combine this with my son coming in from his night shift you can see that visitors before ten thirty are impossible for me. Our friends both old and new know this and accept my limitations...until now!
Two weeks ago I was in the front garden when I noticed a lady with a pretty little girl admiring the flower's so of course I asked them in to have a look around, during a tour of the vegetable plot she told me that she had not been in the Country for long and was staying with her sister, the child was her niece. I picked a selection of herbs and salad leaves, something I always done for visitors and she asked if she could come again and bring her sister, of course I said that she could. It was at this point that I explained that my day had to revolve around Pa because of his illness and I mentioned that as my son would usually be asleep in bed I would prefer her to come during the early afternoon, mornings were out of the question.
The very next morning at a nine thirty my son had gone to bed and was fast asleep, Pa was in a state of undress as I helped him with his morning routine and all the curtains were drawn. Suddenly there was a knock at the door which as I could not immediately answer soon became a violent crescendo accompanied by loud calls through the letter box. I could not at once leave Pa as without his brace he tends to fall over, the knocking and the calling continued until I could get to the door which took several minutes.
I did not recognise the lady at the door but the child with her was the same pretty girl that I had welcomed in to my garden the day before. I could not stay and talk as Pa was still not dressed and by now my son was wide awake, not matter what I said I could not get this garrulous lady to speak quietly. I explained to her that I was unable to show her around the garden in the mornings as I had an invalid to care for and mentioned that as my son was a night worker I would prefer her not to knock or call through the letter box. In short I was often unable to leave what I was doing to answer the door and would she please come back in the afternoon when I would be better able to entertain.
She did not seem pleased, but she nodded as if she understood and then left.
The following afternoon she arrived with her sister and a friend, I was happy to show them the garden as I had promised but as I picked some herbs fr them I was a trifle disconcerted to hear that they intended to come daily to see me and to pick herbs, during this entire visit one of the ladies had spent the time stripping the strawberry bed of fruit after which she turned her attention to the raspberries, I thought her behaviour rather rude.
The next morning we were once gain subjected to hammering on the door and calling through the letter box, exasperated I went to the door as soon as I could and found the lady and her child sitting on the step, I explained again that I could not see her before the after noon and that my son was trying to sleep and she left. Since these events one or another of these ladies have turned up regularly and always in the morning, nothing I say seems to make any difference and I am at my wits end. I have no wish to be rude but the time is fast approaching where I shall have to take drastic measures. It is such a shame that I can not make them see my difficulties, I have so little free time and the early morning hours are always taken up with Getting Pa ready for the day. One way or another this will have to cease.
I have decided to go incommunicado next week when my son is at home and he has volunteered to explain to them why it would be well if the stopped hammering on the door every morning, I wish him luck!
In every other respect today has been quite ordinary,cooking and shopping, bread making and a little gardening. While at the shops I found some wonderful dried white figs and as they can be difficult to find I brought a pack and a bottle of very inexpensive brandy, the figs with a little brown sugar will soak in the brandy until shortly before Christmas at which time the delicious fig brandy will be bottled , some of the figs added to the Christmas cake and the rest will be served with iced cream, a real treat for boxing day tea. These home made liqueurs cost so little to make and are always welcome as gifts for friends and neighbour. The figs and the brandy together cost less than ten pounds and will make two gifts , help t make our Christmas cake very special and provide a luxurious tea time treat, I should say that was very good value indeed.
Here at the cottage it is almost time to make the first of the apple based jellies,these are traditionally
made from windfall and the first of the jellies is usually apple and thyme. This seems to be everyone's favourite although I prefer apple and elderberry . The season for making these will last until the end of September and during that time there will be damsons to deal with, it will be a very busy time. The tomatoes in the green house are doing quite well and I hope to have enough to make a few jars of tomato chutney. During the pat three years the tomato crop has failed and we have had to make do with apple chutney instead, I rather like apple chutney bur =t I must admit that most people prefer tomato.
Pa has been much better these last days, he has mended I pile of broken items such as damaged china , and broken necklaces, yesterday he stripped down an old fan, cleaned it until it looked like a new one and then mended the broken stand. It now works perfectly and looks terrific, it is good to see him taking an interest in things again, bless him.
I am counting the days until my son finishes his week at work, he is like a bear with a sore behind and is very worried about a friend at work who he feels is getting a raw deal, I honestly believe that who ever is causing the problem would by now have been challenged to a duel, pistols at dawn behind the cathedral had we been living in more civilised times!
Watching the news I see that there are riots every where,this is a worry but I believe to paraphrase Al Jolsen “We ain't seen nothing yet.”
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