Wednesday 20 January 2016

The right tools

Clear skies and cold nights mean that we wake each morning to a heavy frost
and it remains all day in the places where the sun doesn't reach.
Himself got out cutters and saws and erected the scaffolding tower so that we could prune the fruit trees.
The tower is one of the handiest things that we have ever bought and it sees a considerable amount of action. When not in use it is easily disassembled and stored in one of the old dog pens.
It was cold work, even at midday with the sun shining.  A few primroses are flowering around Maisie's grave, it was her favourite place to sit while I worked in the garden - she always knew the sunniest spot!

I've thrown some fleece over the citrus trees but I doubt that it will help much when the temperature outside is minus five.
We took a short walk through the woods to warm ourselves up. 
Hay had been put out for the deer herd.
It was lovely to be out but even lovelier to return to a warm house!
Wildside has asked about the duck that we ate  at Sally's farewell supper. It DIDN"T come from the lake! I bought it with the Christmas order from  
pricked it well all over, patted it dry, put it on a trivet to catch all the fat and bunged it in the oven.
I served the duck with an orange sauce, having first cut it into six pieces with another satisfying piece of equipment, my poultry scissors.
I like these scissors for two reasons, they are comfortable in the hand and perform the task they were designed for with ease. But I also like them because they were originally a present from me to my father and they conjure up happy memories. When he retired my father started to cook and bake - and he was good! He was rather like a surgeon doing an operation, the rest of us did all the fetching and carrying and the tidying up - but no-one complained because the results were aways very tasty. He and Wee One worked together happily in my parents' kitchen, she would run back and forth to their big stone pantry to collect whatever was needed for the recipe. She learnt to be curious, carefree and inventive when cooking with her grandad and has grown up to be an excellent cook.
I love objects that hold precious memories.

18 comments:

  1. So true, all jobs in the garden or in the house for that matter. are made easier if we have the right tools. Before we moved to France we lived in on the outskirts of Dartmoor S.W. of England , and certainly could have done with the tower you have to prune our trees.Lovely to see your frosty photos.

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    1. These clear, frosty days are SO much better than dark, damp and dreary!

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  2. Thank you, I've never cooked duck or even seen it sold, tho' hubby hints that he likes it very much...

    Such lovely lemons you have! (Brr! Poor things!) Could you serve the duck with lemon too? You don't need to answer! Doubt I'll find duck, unless I went hunting (no!)... But if I did...
    Hmm...

    Good stories!

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    1. My parents ate a fair amount of game and I was always sad to see a wild duck hanging in the pantry. I would never buy one. The one that I cooked was a Gressingham duck bred for the table. We used to keep Khaki Campbell ducks for their eggs, not their flesh. I think they are lovely, characterful creatures, far better padding about the harden than on a plate!

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  3. What a sweet memory of your father. Men really do seem to go about cooking in a more business-like manner than women.

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    1. 'Flamboyant' would describe Dad in the kitchen far better than 'business-like'!

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  4. I saw the scaffolding tower for the first time. It looks so useful.

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  5. Mmmmm, duck with orange sauce sounds good.... It is a long time ago that we had duck for dinner. Hope your lemontree keeps well with the cold temperature. I have one on the porch, also covered bubble plastic, but nevertheless the lemons hanging on it are already a bit shriveling.

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    1. I'm anxious every winter about my citrus but so far they have returned to good health once it's warm enough to put them back outside.

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  6. Several blogs I have read today talk about the duck dinner they just had.
    Do you prune your trees now ? I always wait till there will be no more freeze warnings.
    I have put lights under the frost cloth to help with the cold.

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. We prune in the winter when the sap isn't rising so that the trees don't bleed. Lights under a frost cloth may help butI'm just hanging in here and waiting for spring!

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  7. Oh how I need a tower. I have a few shrubs that have grown way to tall, perhaps I could convince someone to prune them if I had a pruning tower..... Your pictures are lovely as always.

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    1. We bought the tower after Himself had a near do thing on our big ladder. It is so much safer and more practical to use, with the added advantage of storing quite neatly.

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  8. Look like you all are so busy! And cold as well! Always lovely to pop by and see your happenings in your garden! I liked your story behind your scissors as well! Wishing you a great week! Nicole xo

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    1. It's cold, it's wet again and once more we are huddled in the house not being quite so busy! I love the way you are preparing well in advance for Valentine's Day, Nicole!

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  9. lovely pics dear,

    my house is quite big but among the all rooms and lounge i have only one favorite place and that is my little garden ,it stands like a soul in the body of my house ,my house and my soul breathes through it

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    1. Hello and welcome, Baili. You have left a very poetic message - how nice!

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