Christmas is coming !!!

September is here and time to start thinking about Christmas/Yule !!!
Today was the start of the preparation with home made mincemeat. I am on a quest tom make a mincemeat that I actually like, as I do not like shop bought at all. Come to think of it I don't like Xmas cake, or pud or stollen either :)
So far I have made suet-free mincemeat with currents and without currents to see if that is what I don't like, also there is no mixed peel in as it is horrid bitter stuff, yuk.

Onions

After really regretting not harvesting the onions on Sunday when it was sunny and dry, I am now forced to go out between thunder storms to pull up our onions. They have done well this year especially the red onions (red baron), we also grew Ailsa craig for our white onions. Trouble is I am now having to lay them out in batches on the kitchen table as our kitchen is currently in the newly built sunlounge and gets all the sun (albeit between the rain).

A complete change in the weather this week, today we have sunny spells, showers, thunder, hailstones and high winds, nothing like a bit of changeable Orkney weather to keep you on your toes. But it also means I don't need to cook in the sunlounge with my sunglasses and straw hat on now :)

Summer's End

Another month gone and another update. So many visitors here this summer, no time to post, but that should change now the bad weather is upon us. Autumn has definitely arrived here on Orkney. No sign of the swallows flying in the yard all weekend so they must have flown away till next year,half the leaves have been blown off the trees, and the brambles are ripening.
Hard to believe only a few weeks ago we were on the beach at Evie with the boys. Although it looks peaceful and tranquil in the pics, only a few minutes earlier a tornado had flown over very low and spooked the geese in the field behind us :)