Mellow Yellow

I was pegging up the washing this morning when I happened to notice this stunning flower on my courgette plant - it's a yellow courgette and although it's had loads of fruit they have been very small and pretty tasteless but this flower makes all that seem unimportant. It got me thinking about the colour yellow....






.. how sunny and bright it is and how it can lift the greyest of days.

.....So I went round my garden taking photos of all the yellow bits I could see - it is a dull day here so maybe these yellow pictures will help dispel the gloom.

Something else to dispel gloom is the wonderful support and friendship one receives via blogging so I also wanted to say a big Thank you to all those lovely people who have commented on my recent posts - I wish I could respond personally to you all but for now here are some comments of my own on your comments - if you see what I mean?

Several of you said I should wear the green shoes and Lesley even suggested I flaunt my ice skater's legs! Well of course the legs in the photo are not quite like that now - it was after all nearly 45 years ago - and I really wouldn't want to frighten the horses so I will wear the shoes but certainly not with a skirt like the one in my picture you'll be glad to know!

For those who liked the sound of elderberry syrup the recipe is simple: Take 4 lb elderberries picked from their stalks and rinsed. Add to 1 pint of water and add 8 cloves. Briung to boil and then simmer until all the fruit is crushed and the juice pressed out. Bring to boil and skim off any froth (apparently you can add the beaten white of a new laid egg to help clear the liquid but I didn't do this). Strain through a sieve and to each pint of liquid add 1 lb of demerara sugar and boil till it thickens into a syrup. Cool and pour into clean dry bottles and when quite cold seal and store in a cool dark place. To serve add boiling water to taste and a slice of lemon. Yum! Sorry the recipe is in Imperial measurements but the book is from the 1940s - I am sure you can convert if need be.

It was interesting to see your comments on badgers and squirrels - it obviously depended on whether you had been plagued with either. Helsie badgers are quite large weighing in at about 10 kg and being abbout 750 mm long and maybe 300 mm at the shoulder. check out this website for more info. They can and do cause immense damage especially to lawns - nobody round here has a bowling green striped lawn! Are they timid? Well I came home in the car one evening to find a couple having rumpy pumpy on the drive and they were not keen to move!!! I don't think they are that timid and they certainly don't seem mind the security light coming on and are happy to sit about under the street light but would probably rather avoid man where possible.

Squirrels - we probably all know that they are considered a major threat to our natural bio diversity and are to blame for the decline in our native red squirrels now sadly very scarce since the arrival of the greys. But they are amusing to watch and it's not their fault that they were introduced back in Victorian times but it does just show how dangerous it can be to tinker with different species and to introduce them to other habitats and so on. Cute? - yes and no!!

Now I need your help:

1) How do I delete a blog I no longer wish to follow? I have several - mainly from various magazines - that I don't find interesting anymore and I know I got rid of some before but now I can't see how to do it.

2) How do I upload a scanned document or photo? I know Jill you said you had scanned your memory posts as jpeg files and uploaded them that way but I can't seem to do it - can anyone help me?

3) Has anyone discovered how to get the spacing right on a post - I never seem to achieve a post with evenly spaced text - so often it it too near the photos and other times there are too many line spaces. As a one time typing teacher (I know you'd never think so to see my skills now would you?!) it offends me like this but I can't seem to do anything about it.

4) Anyone know why when I follow a blog my little icon comes out showing just a grey shape and not the coloured photo as on my profile?

Speaking of followers I see I now have 99 and although not all of you actually comment - wouldn't that be something? And although by now some of you may not even read my posts I am amazed to think so many people find what I write interesting enough to add themselves as followers. Now since I missed my 1 year anniversary and I also missed my 100th post I thought that when I reach 100 followers I will stage a give away of some sort so watch this space!