Elderflower - the Queen of Trees

The elder is the Queen of Trees. It is a powerful symbol of life, energy and creativity. Much of the folklore around the Elder suggests its ability to drive away evil spirits. As a protection against evil, people carried around it's twigs, and branches were often hung in doorways of houses, cowsheds and even buried in graves.

It has become a bit of a family tradition to make elderflower cordial, and this year I'm also going to have a try at making a sparkling Elderflower champagne.

A tea can be made from the fresh flowers (blossom) which makes an excellent tonic for refreshing the mind and purifying the blood. The flowers can also be added to salads and even cakes! I'm also going to have a try at making Elderflower fritters coated in a sweet batter made from honey & sugar. Yum...

They are in flower now, so why don't you give it a go? They taste amazing, and best of all - they're free!

Cushions, Company & Cake

What a fabulous afternoon yesterday, spent at the amazing Halfpenny Home in Needham Market, Suffolk - with my best friend Maria making a gorgeous cushion out of vintage fabric. I am SO proud of my handiwork. Check out the photo - mine is the one on the far right...

Fun at The Suffolk Show

Simon took the day off and we made an early start with our picnic packed for a wonderfully sunny day at the Suffolk Show.

The twins had such a fun time, and they were REALLY good - all day walking around the show with no fuss at all. We saw all the animals at the grand parade, watched sheep being sheared, had a donkey ride, rode on the carousel, went on a flight simulator, saw 5 paratroopers jump out of a plane and tried some really yummy new "Toffee Apple" ice cream from Alder Tree in th Food tent :-)

I, of course, spent an obscene amount of time looking around the craft tents. The day was nicely rounded off by a lovely BBQ at my sisters house and copious amounts of wine... and aftersun....ouch!

September 30th 2006: The Grand Arrival - Evelyn & Samuel

Charlotte's waters broke during the early morning of Tuesday 26th September (a mere 3 days after passing her driving test - undertaken with a bin liner on the drivers seat, much to the horror of the examiner!). Upon arrival at hospital, we were advised that she was already 1cm dilated and would need to be admitted until labour went into full swing. Unfortunately, this didn't happen for another 3 days!! After dinner on Friday evening, labour pains began and after 12 hours of pushing - she was fully dilated. Being a twin birth, it had to take place in theatre rather than in the delivery suite - so we were trundled off to theatre. Only trouble is, by the time we got there - Twin 1 (who we now know as Evelyn) had decided to pop back up again! Some anaethesia, and a couple of hours more pushing later - still no baby, so it was an emergency caesarean section.

At 07:08 on the morning of Saturday 30th September, our beautiful daughter was delivered, weighing 5lb 3oz. Two minutes later at 07:10 followed a handsome baby boy, weighing 4lb 15oz. Mum & Dad were so happy they cried! Although Simon had known the sex of the babies for some months, Charlotte did not want to know and was elated to discover that we had produced a girl and a boy.
A few complications, not to mention 4 blood transfusions later - and we were moved to a private room on Pearl Ward, where we stayed for a week before being allowed to come home. It was several days before we decided on the babies names - so they were known as Twin 1 and Twin 2 for quite a while! We finally chose "Evelyn Rose May" for our daughter and "Samuel Charlie James" for our son.

Coming home was the strangest sensation. Charlotte wanted to stop the car every couple of miles to make sure that they were OK. When you leave the safety of the hospital with all it's doctors, midwives and nurses - it's quite daunting when you realise that from now on you're on your own!

Our last holiday with just each other!

Our last holiday together, just the two of us - before our sweetpeas arrive. Two weeks of sun, sand, sea, cornish pasties (the occasional Cornish downpour) and best of all, each other.

Life will never be the same again...


Heavily pregnant, and he drags me up a hill in Port Isaac to take this picture!