Catch up!

 What a busy week!  Sunday, Luke and I took three bags of apples to an apple pressing day at a local craft centre.  2 bags of cooking apples from the tree at the allotment, and a bag of "eaters" we had accumulated from various places, oh, and a small bag of pears.  When I was washing them all, and putting them all into bags, I thought we had quite a lot!  But when we got there it was a meagre amount compared to what most people had brought!!  The apples and pears were tipped into an electric hopper which chopped them up finely, then put into a hessian sack and pressed in the green and wooden press at the back of the first picture.  We then had to decant our juice into bottles.

 We had collected plastic milk bottles to store the juice, as it could be frozen that way.  the juice oxidises very quickly, as can be seen by the colour of it in the bottles already!

 Given how few apples we had taken, I was rather pleased to have come come with 11 pints of homemade apple juice, although that really won't last long in this house!  4 pints disappeared during Sunday lunch!  Next year we will definitely be doing more. and may also venture into cider making!!

 Sophie, with a little guidance from Luke wrote her name, although she would only acknowledge the S as for Sophie, the rest were just shapes!

 Sunday I also decided that the air was getting a little nippy, so I decided I needed a hat that wouldn't look daft with my hair, and that would also fit on my rather large head!  So, I figured a tam, would work quite well.  And in amongst the apple pressing, Sunday lunch, family and everythig else, I was able to sit and crochet a hat, and by the night time, it was finished.  The wool, I had been given, and was using for a cardigan for myself.  But I didn't like the way it was knitting up, so I thought I'd use some of that, and I love how it has crocheted up, it looks jewel like in place, and I think I may just add a tassle to the centre of it with a few beads or gems on.

Blimey, so that was Sunday.  The rest of the week zoomed by so fast no pictures were taken!  Monday was busy preparing for visitors.  Stuart's nephew, Tom, and his partner, Denise, were coming to stay for a couple of days, as Denise had a training course nearby. 

Tuesday was my Grandma's funeral.  Stuart took the day off work to look after the children, and Mum and I went to Northampton to say our farewells to Grandma.  A sad day, one I was not looking forward to, as I still feel rather raw from the loss of Jean. Grandma was buried in a lovely green burial site (I love these places, they feel so alive), and they held a service of celebration afterwards, which was not exactly how I would have liked to say my goodbyes, but is what Grandma would have liked, so I guess that is what counts.  I returned home to our visitors, and Tom disappeared with Luke and Stuart to the Warhammer club, whilst Denise and I chatted about knitting, spinning, crochet and all things woolly, plus she has come up with a solution to the crochet blanket problem, which I will attempt to sort out this next week!  A lovely end to a busy, emotional day. 

The rest of the week has been entertaining guests (Sophie was excellent at this!!), and all the usual stuff.  But we have now reached half term (teacher training day today) and we can all breathe out and relax for a week.