Marmalade all made

After a clear night with a full moon, a cold clear day with a funeral to take at Western Cemetery entirely in the open air, at the request of the deceased. His widow was in a wheelchair and the service had to be short simple and said at three degrees centigrade. Early cloud parted and the sun shone on the fifteen mourners gathered before the open grave. I was pleased that those present responded with Amens to the prayers and said the Lord's Prayer together with me, rather than just being uncomfortable dumb spectators.

As I had no lectern to hold my service sheet, I picked up a stiff black backed notebook from my bookshelf, to contain the service sheet. I was driven to the cemetery from Pidgeon's funeral home, arrived early, and waited in the car for the family to arrive. The notebook I'd picked up turned out to be my last handwritten journal from the autumn of 2004, giving my account of the week's flamenco course I took with Anto at the Carmen de las Cuevas school in Granada - a present from our spouses. We were there during Michaelmass weekend, and watched the procession of the huge trona de San Miguel from the Parish Church up the hill to the local hermita and back. A wonderful experience. Autumn in the following year was when I opened my Blogger account, and with a few changes of name it's been the repository for telling stories about my life ever since.

I cooked mussels and rice with veggies for lunch when I got back, right on time for Clare's return from her Tuesday group. She discovered that one of the second kilo batch of Seville oranges waiting to be cooked for the past week was covered with mould, so she got them ready for pressure cooking. I got them started, and cooking for fifteen minutes then went for a walk in the park while they cooled. The sunset was spectacular while I was out, and I got some good photos. Then it was a matter of cutting up the oranges and lemons, de-pipping the pulp, and cooking them with sugar until the jam was ready to be potted. Six and a half small jars and three large jars this time, to add to the seven large jars produced last week. All done in time for supper and the Archers.

Another amazing Winterwatch programme was showing on BBC Two, and I divided my time between this and completing this week's Thursday Morning Prayer video for uploading to YouTube. I expected somehow to feel very tired and stiff after a demanding weekend of fresh air and exercise, but so far so good. Today has been satisfyingly productive too.