sloe and steady

This morning I slightly deviated from my usual walk, instead going up the track beside our house which winds and bumps between fields and onto an old roadway, wide enough, really, for only cart and horse. This is where we forage sloes for sole gin, a Winter treat. For the last two years we have had no sloes and therefore no sloe gin, but this year...this year the blackthorn is full of frothy white blossom and I've my fingers crossed that when the first autumn frosts are over there will be plump, dusty purple sloes in abundance for picking.

The windowsill in the dining room is often a place for bits and bobs, leftovers from a busy day- books, pencils, small toys, pieces of Lego and whatnot. I sometimes make the conscious effort to clear up the detritus and so today I am enjoying the delicately scented geranium and the bright sunlight, for a while at least.