Jam

The day began wet and dismal yet again, we didn't have use of the car, P still has a cold and to top it off it was Wednesday. Should have been a recipe for disaster but actually, just as the afternoon brought some sunshine, so the day turned out better than it promised. Inspiration struck on a trip out to the greengrocers for grapes when we saw punnets of English strawberries on sale. Yes, we wanted- still want- to go to a PYO but realistically it's not going to happen at the moment. I reasoned that it was feasible for a two year old to cut up strawberries with a dinner knife and therefore take part in at least some of the jam-making process. He duly proved me right for at least ten minutes before realising that eating the ingredients was even more fun than preparing them.
As ever, I enjoyed the alchemy of the jam-making, but I must admit that it didn't set very well. Apparently this is often a problem with strawberries, particularly when they are ripe. I did add lemon juice, which is meant to help with the lack of pectin, but to little effect. Still, jam is for spreading, isn't it?

Multi-tasking

A spectacularly rainy day meant that multi-tasking was a must for the rookie mum-of-two today. I braved the downpour in the morning, pushing the double buggy for a soggy constitutional into town. It was enough to convince me that this afternoon we were staying indoors, despite P's suggestion of 'garden' and 'walk' (he might be okay in his rainsuit and wellies, but us girls aren't so well equipped). Post-nap time saw me bringing out the home-made playdough again. At one point I was sitting on the floor, simultaneously feeding M and cutting out dough stars with P. Luckily, once M latches on she's keen enough to stay balanced across my lap! After that she retired to the bouncy chair her brother is gradually conceding to her using and I continued my dough modelling activities while bouncing her with my foot. Somehow amongst my baby nursing/toddler entertaining duties I got some knitting done today too...including pleats! These were very interesting and not too difficult to do and means that the main part of Manu is done. I'm now at what I consider the tedious and irritating job of pick up and knit to make the edgings, but as my mind is already onto possible next projects- I want to restock my very neglected Folksy shop and possibly think about Christmas presents (in July!!!)- I'm quite impatient to finish now.