Blog 11, cant think of a title

Ready to roast

Little quinces ready to grate

Ready to use in tea. High in Vit C

Domestics

I am rapidly turning into a Polish gospodarka, housewife. The last 3 days have been preparing our quinces. We have some 6 very large and heavy boxes. No way will I work through them all, but I have plans to unload several of them (quinces, not boxes) onto my swimming chums when I get back.  I have tried different methods of preparation. They are tough to peel and core, very hard, so some recipes recommend baking them first. But even them they are fiddly, so I am trying everything. So far, bottled compote, pickled and now jelly! They are so good. I took more pictures of the bottled stuff, some 8 jars, but something is wrong with the connection on my phone and I can't get them. 

Bleat: why does something go wrong with my phone every time we come here and Stefan has no problems at all?

New fruit trees where once was jungle

New pipe to run rainwater from garages on the right to the well on the left.
Under the flat white shape is a cellar!
Note the pic. below shows leaves still on the walnut tree.

From the bedroom

Autumn

We arrived just as the leaves were about to drop. Every morning we wake in our attic bedroom to the sight of dozens of rooks, or ravens, or crows, gleaning walnuts, while they last. 

Elections

The right wing party, Law and Justice got in which suits our David fine. I guess both countries will be lobbying the EU for changes together. I gather the Polish conservatives are not as right wing as in the west.  They seem to care much more about levelling out the playing field for everybody, rather than blindly chasing the dollar, hang everyone else. But I am very concerned about their strong links to the church. It matters as they are anti abortion and in outro fertilization.  I wonder how the women in the party feel; I cant believe they are all anti abortion.

Reading

I do not read as many novels as I would like, as the Polish study predominates. No way am I ready for Polish novels!  But I did sneak one in on the journey, which I have to recommend: One Day, David Nicholls. The Times said, ‘Amazing, amazing book’. I couldn’t put it better myself.  Also reading The Last Polish King, Adam Zamoyski, happily in English. Very densely packed with history, but gripping. He had a youthful passionate affair with Catherine the Great of Russia who decades later sold him and Poland down the river. Seems to be the story of Poland. But the country is now recognized as doing very well under EU support. All they need to do now is raise wages (a lot) and maybe, just maybe, some of their emigrants will return.  Don’t hold your breath. At least the low overheads and rates of pay are very good for foreign investment.