After the success of our November 1st barbecue where it rained like hell but only after everyone got fed, we were left with lots of gifts of nuts, fruits and veges which needed to be 'processed'. It's an interesting prospect when there is only so much jam and chutney that you can eat. So after long stretches finding recipes on the web I ended up making pickled pumpkin, pickled watermelon (don't ask!) pumpkin, ginger and walnut honey (honey because it is very runny!), frozen pumpkin soup and just frozen pumpkin chunks, chestnuts in Whiskey syrup and tangerine marmalade. Great stuff! Fraser even got to make our own Jack o Lantern which was really cool.
Our fields are full of huge parasol mushrooms 
and horse mushrooms and on the terraces and in the surrounding woodland there are fungi of various sizes colours and shapes everywhere.
We haven't been able to record all of them this year, but will start to do so next year. The weather has been particularly wet and humid so I am guessing that this had an effect. It certainly has made for wet boots! 
The rain has put paid to a lot of outdoor work but Fraser has started strimming the terraces and I planted out 43 acorns on the top terrace as a continuation of our reforestation plan. If a third of them germinate we will be happy.We picked two of our olive trees for the best and plumpest black olives
and I have processed them for the table. It's a bit of a business but worth it. 
15 days in water, changing the water every day and then bottling in brine with rosemary and garlic.The rest of the crop, which was relatively small this year, has gone to the neighbours again for pressing for oil at the local community agricultural adega. Fraser climbed up into the boughs of the olive trees by our garden to open them out
and they are now nicely pruned. We borrowed friends Josh and Veronika's shredder to shred up the smaller branches for mulch and what a great machine it was! 
We are hoping to borrow it again in the new year when we trim the rest of the olive trees. He is also continuing to work on our wood supplies and had a near miss when the chain came off the chainsaw and caught his jeans. Luckily with no damage but ballistic trousers are on the shopping list.Scraps had a re-visit from The Dude who paid her a lot of attention when she was on heat.
They spent the day playing and running around the field until he finally went off on his way again after a handout. He's a friendly young dog but obviously a stray. Scraps has developed an absolute obsession for the rubber ball that Jenny gave us and will spend hours running to catch and retrieve it until she drops and can't concentrate on anything else when she has it. She can sniff it out from wherever we hide it even if it is on the floor above where she is and just goes ballistic whining and barking for it. So we have taken to hiding it in a sealed plastic container in the armazem (utility room). She has also taken to sucking her feet as a kind of comfort zone. 
So we have decided that she is definitely ADHD (attention deficient hyperactive dog) and COD (compulsive obsessive dog). I did order some natural therapy stuff aptly named Stroppy Bitch Remedy to help her with her hyper behaviour but it never arrived because of the postal strike. I am trying Bach Flower Remedy. She loves the taste but I don't think it is doing much for her temperament. We keep forgetting that she is still a puppy and not even one year old yet! She just has so much energy and has become a chew-aholic. One of my Mexican rugs has suffered as a result!!!! Grrrrrr!
We have started to hang our prints and paintings and Fraser's work in the barn. Fraser set up a wire rail to hang them from.
He has an exhibition in the local Cultural Centre in March so we need to get busy doing simple frames for the canvases and boards. It's good to see everything up and thanks to friends Seanna and Harry I have a TV in there so I can do Yoga and Pilates every week from a tape with friends if they can make it. It's great to have the space with everything set up and my painting area is now almost there.
One rainy weekend we decided to go and visit the Medieval fair in Meruge which apparently happens every year. 
Despite the rain the participating locals continued to play their parts
and the medieval style events took place in good heart.
It was a great afternoon. Scraps was rather mystified by the pigs 
and donkey 
but she got a lot of positive attention from the people at the fair.
Friend Chris and wife Rosemary's son Chris came to stay for a few days on their way to pick up their furniture and belongings from their rented house in the village. 
It was great to see them and we are still enjoying the crumpets!!!!! So thank you guys.
We went outside last night and watched the space station go over us at 6.22pm. It was fascinating to watch it , the brightest thing by far in the sky. As Fraser said, it's not what it looks like as much as knowing what it is.
We have had a few easy last days since Fraser has come down with the first of his winter colds and we have been concentrating on indoor pursuits.
It is Barry's (Fraser's brother) 80th birthday in December and Fraser is busy doing a painting of a South African Crowned Eagle ( a really beautiful bird of prey that features on aerogrammes from RSA) for him. I have started on a quilt for my sister's 70th birthday next year and might even get on with a painting of my own.
Finally, for those roundabout enthusiasts who have been disappointed with the lack of roundabout of the month over the last few posts here is this month's offering. Just outside Meruge when we went to the medieval fair. Enjoy!!
