Wine, An Autumn Harvest And A Load of Old Shoes

I've been quiet on the blogging front because late summer is a busy time in the garden and kitchen and it's been lovely to have time out with family and friends - still no more excuses! I hope you'll like my old shoes and you're welcome to chuckle at the wine!

 
First I'd like to show you my glorious 'Constant Nymph' Streptocarpus - she deserves a photo - so many flowers, too many to count. She's my favourite!

We've been busy harvesting a great crop of fruit and vegetables for weeks, freezing some, giving some away and turning some into jam, pies and chutney.  The kitchen has smelt incredible - positively heady at times - and I'm running out of jars.

 This year our black grape vine has done well for once (we usually leave the grapes for the birds) so as they're somewhat 'pippy' for eating we're experimenting with a little wine.........No, I'm not at all confident, but I won't know for a year....

Back in the day, or as my grandkids say, the olden times, my Mum and Aunt were great hedgerow winemakers.  You name it - they made it; I remember best the elderflower, elderberry, dandelion and sloe wines and spending hours in bright yellow fields of dandelions getting stained in sticky brown sap as we picked the heads and being pricked as we strained to gather the elderflower heads and berries from the hedges around our home.  Happy days.
Still - as I say.....no I'm not at all sure about this grape wine. However, I've made some blackberry Gin and I know that will be great!!

I've always been a lover of shoes, although these days the biggest concern sadly, is all about comfort.  Small shoes don't have to be comfortable just beautiful or interesting and I have a few.

 This little broken wooden shoe is very precious and was brought back from Germany by my Dad after his release as a POW after the war.

My family were bakers and confectioners and my aunt who not only made the wine, decorated all the cakes - this little silver cardboard shoe came from a family wedding cake about 50 years ago - the tiny metal shoes, linked by a rusty couple of links and thread have been with me 'forever'. Both sit on my printers shelves.

Different friends gave me the little leather shoes - all seem to have been brooches at one time.  The wonderful lady's heeled boot is old and a lovely fine china - it sat on my Granny's shelf and I love it now it is mine.  It's the largest shoe, but still only about 4 inches tall.

Car boots sales can yield some treasures and the last three shoes came from there.  I particularly love the handcarved wooden shoe - it reminds me so much of th‏e first one - and looks as if it has some age to it.  The green ones - not that old - do have a vintage look, and I like them both and love green china. These shoes are all about 4 inches long.

Now we're all recovering from the heatwave in this part of the world, I hope you're also enjoying a lovely autumn.

Thanks for looking
Robin