Fair and fruitful ground

Again, I failed to get ready to leave in time for the midweek Eucharist at St Catherine's, and that was after a long night's sleep too. I don't lack energy once I get going, I seem to have slowed down a lot lately. It may be the impact of the medication, or it could be this blocked ear which stubbornly refuses to yield completely to an otherwise effective wax solvent. I'm impatient, and unused to being impaired by feeling not quite right in myself. I always want to get well at an unreasonable pace. Ah well, I did some writing and then cooked us a veggie pasta dish for lunch. 

Clare returned from her early morning walk with nearly a pound of blackberries she picked, so instead of picking litter when I went out for my afternoon walk, I picked blackberries from bushes along the river embankment, another pound in weight. On the way back, I was in time to see the family of swallows that spends the summer in Pontcanna Fields swooping low over the grass at waist height. That's the first time I've seen them since the evening of my return from Ibiza, when I sneaked a quick walk on my own before self-quarantining. 

Clare stewed both lots with cooking apples and loaded them into her special straining bag, tied to an upended stool on the kitchen table, to make some more blackberry jelly. It shouldn't be long now before the fruit on the park's crab apple trees is ripe enough to pick. But will we have enough empty jam jars by then? Clare likes to use the smallest sized jars for different jams and jellies to give as Christmas presents. She generally stars thinking about Christmas gifts during the summer holidays, and has done all our life together. Start early, avoid the seasonal rush and enjoy more of the festive season is her philosophy. I can't fault it. I'm the one who's prone to do things last minute, however.

Before settling down for the night, I walked out again around the park to clear my head and get some more fresh air. Over by the riding stables, the cry of a screech owl penetrated the darkness, only a few hundred metres from the busy A48 Western Avenue, Cardiff's inner ring road. Between the large municipal allotment area and the containing stables and paddocks, there's an environment rich in insect and plant life which is very wildlife friendly, just a couple of kilometres from the city's commercial and business heart. We are so lucky to live here - just West of the Centre.