A man of many talents

Every year, when we decide the nights are warm, we stop lighting the wood burner and call Tony to book a chimney clean

Tony has many skills and wasn’t always a chimney sweep. He is a truly talented wildlife photographer and I look forward to his visits when he shows me a selection of photographs. Today this one was breathtaking

Two goldfinches caught in flight ✈️

I’ve joined a zoom talk by author Jonathan Stone

I first started joining zoom talks during covid. I listened to speakers who I would never otherwise have seen – some were history lectures and I found a Leeds based community organisation, Milim, that organised talks with and from authors.

The host and the novelist
Here’s the book and son has just ordered it for me as he also wants to read it.

The novel is based on a real prison, Otisville, a low security facility near New York for Jewish prisoners serving less than 10 years for white collar crimes.

Never look a gift horse in the mouth

Son has a habit of buying extravagant but stylish gifts. He bought this strange creature some years ago

It’s an Alessi lemon squeezer and it turns out it’s brilliant – perfect for adding lemon juice to the strawberry jam mix
Lemon juice is just as good as using pectin and cheaper – the jam sets well