I mentioned here how much I love a pebble, a rock, a stone. I love to feel the surface, to hold them in my hands feeling the knobbles and bobbles, the dips and dents. I love to hold them against my face to press the cold stone against my cheek. I admire their colours, the muted tones that seep from their skin, I wonder what's inside, how they'd look to be smashed open revealing their core, might they sparkle and shine, I want to know, but I dare not smash that perfect exterior.
From this beach.
One of the reasons we were so keen to visit Charleston here was the Rob Ryan exhibition being held there. D and I have been fans of Rob for years now, we've some of his prints from back when they were much, much cheaper. I was really keen to see his Staffordshire cats and dogs. I'd seen them online before but not in the flesh and they looked too beautiful to pass on. Indeed they were, often embellished with rich mirror-like gold they really are charming, all decorated in Rob's unique style and yet each pair so unique in themselves. Shame I couldn't do them justice in my photographs.
Our weekend revolved around apples, odd shaped juicy nuggets of green and red. We've been busy making cider, you might have seen here on Istagram. We moved to our home, just over two years ago, not realising quite how many apple trees there were in the garden - 16 I think and amongst them many different varieties. We've no idea what they are, some sweet and fluffy, others crisp and sweet, and some edgy and tart. 2011 gave us a bumper crop not only did will fill our freezer but we managed three whole days of cider making - around 50 litres. So far this year it's just been the one day and we've probably enough apples left for half that again. It's a long slow process, and though we didn't make an early start we were still pressing on in the dark. Firstly there's lots of cleaning and sterilising of equipment, then we collect the apples using those that have fallen first before picking from the trees, wash, chop into chunks removing any bad and the core, pulp with an attachment on the drill, and press using a large fruit press into a bucket that takes an age to fill. Tonight we'll test the sugars then leave to ferment before bottling and storing till next year. I say we, but really it's D who's the master cider maker here, my department is collecting the apples, washing and chopping - the easy bit.
If you're wondering what it's like, yes we have already dipped into last years brew and we love it, the taste and the way it makes us giggle of course! It's quite dry and really more like a wine than a store bought cider (nothing like a Bulmers or Strongbow).
