John - Archived Entries for 2020 / 9

Dr John Hawkins

Welcome to my bit of the Maison de Stuff, home to a huge load of pictures, and my daily blog.

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Recent Entries:: Ashling Park Estate
Tuesday
First Apple and Winemaking
Harvest
Pewsey to Avebury
Pineapple and Pillow
Thursday
GevJam
Tuesday
Oliveto
Back to London
Saturday in Devon
Driving Down to Devon
Thursday
Wednesday
Tuesday
Slapbands
Gardens
Brix
Birthday Playdate
Erika's Birthday
Wednesday
Early Evening Stroll
Monday
The Black Friar
Satuday
Bankside Beach and the George
Veraison
Waner Bros Harry Potter Studio Tour
Tuesday

Ashling Park Estate: [Wednesday 30th September 2020]
Received a case of wine from Ashling Park today.
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Tuesday: [Tuesday 29th September 2020]
Something red out in the garden. Don't recall what it was now.
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First Apple and Winemaking: [Monday 28th September 2020]
Although technically we had already taken the first apple of this season from the tree the weekend before last (to make a token contribution to the batch of cider we helped to make while visiting Dad in Devon), today we picked the first one to actually eat. It's always quite a nice turning point of the year, and this year, having left it a bit later than usual, the apples were a bit redder than they had been previously. They're not a particularly strongly flavoured apple (the variety is red falstaff) but they obviously taste extremely fresh.

In a similar autumnal theme, we also started the process of winemaking this evening with this year's grape harvest. We had about two kilos of grapes this year, which hopefully is going to translate to at least a bottle of wine, perhaps two. Chie helped out with the destemming, and Erika helped out with the pressing (done with a potato masher) so it was a nice family activity. I don't have particularly high hopes for the wine itself - I didn't even try the end result from when I attempted this the year before last - but more want to go through the process to understand it better. Who knows though, maybe I might inadvertently make something drinkable this time round.
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Harvest: [Sunday 27th September 2020]
Harvested the grapes from my vines today.
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Pewsey to Avebury: [Saturday 26th September 2020]
Went for a walk today, from Pewsey to Avebury: via Wilcot, Pewsey Downs, East Kennet, West Kennet Long Barrow and Silbury Hill.

Read more on John Goes For a Walk.
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Pineapple and Pillow: [Friday 25th September 2020]
Braved the Pineapple for lunch (at Chie's insistence I might add). Later on my new inflatable camping pillow arrived.
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Thursday: [Thursday 24th September 2020]
Not much to report, other than had some of Dad's excellent cider this evening.
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GevJam: [Wednesday 23rd September 2020]
Made (in my opinion) a very nice dinner involving stuffed courgettes and stuffed cabbage leaves. After dinner I took a jam jar full of Gevrey Chambertin to drink on Hampstead Heath.
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Tuesday: [Tuesday 22nd September]
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Oliveto: [Monday 21st September 2020]
Erika had a dentist appointment after school near Belgravia, so we decided to go to Oliveto for dinner. Followed of course by gelato from Olivogelo.
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Back to London: [Sunday 20th September 2020]
Had a parting picnic at Castle Neroche in the Blackdown Hills on the way back to London.
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Saturday in Devon: [Saturday 19th September 2020]
Made cider in the morning. Afternoon in Teignmouth, then back to Dad's house for a barbecue for dinner, followed by me and Erika camping out in the garden.
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Driving Down to Devon: [Friday 18th September 2020]
Drove down to Devon after school this evening - took in excess of five hours but we were treated to glorious views of the sun setting around Stonehenge.
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Thursday: [Thursday 17th September 2020]
More of the same.
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Wednesday: [Wednesday 16th September]
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Tuesday: [Tuesday 15th September 2020]
Odds and ends and the usual grape pictures.
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Slapbands: [Monday 14th September 2020]
Erika had been given a kit for decorating "slapbands" for her birthday, and this evening spent some time doing so.
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Gardens: [Sunday 13th September 2020]
Spent most of the day either in our garden or the garden of our local friends. The Dad of the other family was on the eve of a significant birthday, which alas he couldn't really celebrate properly given the current circumstances, so we took round a bottle of wine to compensate.
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Brix: [Saturday 12th September 2020]
Took Brix readings to test the level of sugar in the grapes on the vines in the garden with my refractometer today. Later on a stroll to Hampstead Heath.
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Birthday Playdate: [Friday 11th September 2020]
Instead of a birthday party this year (and in addition to last week's outing to Warner Bros Harry Potter studio tour) Erika just invited a couple of friends from school over for an afternoon playdate, after school finished.

Overall this seemed to go pretty well - and the three of them played very nicely together the whole time. The only disappointment for me personally was that I made macaroni cheese for dinner - which after checking with both sets of parents is apparently something both kids like (as does Erika) - but although Erika had seconds, the other two kids didn't finish theirs, and one of them only seemed to have a mouthful. A bit frustrating really, as it wasn't as though I tried to give them anything weird or unusual. Oh well!
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Erika's Birthday: [Thursday 10th September 2020]
Given the current circumstances we weren't going to have a big birthday party for Erika this year, and as a testament to how grown up she is now, at eight years old, she seemed to completely understand. We'd gone to the Warner Bros Harry Potter studio tour last week as a birthday outing, with just one friend, and also planned to have a couple of friends over tomorrow, but that was essentially it in terms of social gatherings.

To my surprise Erika also said she was happy to wait until she got back from school to open her presents today. I think she wanted to be able to take her time over it, so she just opened her cards in the morning.

After school she had an impromptu trip to a local ice cream shop with a couple of friends from her class, then when she got back she got stuck into her presents. It had been a bit difficult to decide what to get for her this year, because even when we had given up trying to guess and asked her directly a little while back she didn't seem sure. We eventually chose a Nintendo Switch, and when she opened it seemed very pleased with it, so that was good. I was personally delighted to see a Lego Harry Potter Knight Bus (from Uncle Adrian and family), and I look forward to building that with Erika. Also the little Korobokuru costumes, made by Grandma to fit on Champagne corks, with an accompanying story, were very cute.

Finished off the day with calls to Grandma and Grandad and then birthday cake just before bedtime. In a way, for us as parents at least, this was actually a really nice birthday - in the absence of having to plan and manage a big party we actually got to spend more time with Erika.
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Wednesday: [Wednesday 9th September]
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Early Evening Stroll: [Tuesday 8th September 2020]
I went for an early evening stroll and some more Chateau Musar on Hampstead Heath.
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Monday: [Monday 7th September]
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The Black Friar: [Sunday 6th September 2020]
Was lulled into a false sense of security by blue skies in the, and went back down to Blackfriars like I did on Friday for an al fresco pub lunch and stroll along the river, but the weather turned and it ended up quite chilly.
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Satuday: [Saturday 5th September 2020]
A bit of a grey day and not much to report it seems.
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Bankside Beach and the George: [Friday 4th September 2020]
We had a company wide day off work today. I probably should have got myself better organised and gone for a walk out in the country, but didn't really get my act together, so instead settled for a Thames side stroll along the "beach" at Bankside, followed by an excellent lunch in the courtyard of the beautiful George Inn.
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Veraison: [Thursday 3rd September 2020]
I noticed veraison had started on my Cabernet Sauvignon vine today.
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Waner Bros Harry Potter Studio Tour: [Wednesday 2nd September 2020]
Took Erika and a friend to visit the Warner Bros Harry Potter Studios as an early birthday treat.
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Tuesday: [Tuesday 1st September 2020]
Back to work today for the first day of a very short working week - just two and a half days.
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