And Then It Happened!

It rained… it poured… and the kitchen leaked. In fact the water poured in above the kitchen window box or ‘green house’ window as Harry calls it.
That morning Harry blamed me for all the water all over the bench, asking, if I had spilt my water bottle when I filled it the night before.

But no I hadn’t … but it had rained.

We thought in the morning that maybe the jug had finally given up (being one of the longest running ones without leaking) and seeped its contents over the bench… but no it was fine.

I sat at the computer having my breakfast in the morning and could hear what I thought was the dripping of the kitchen taps. I thought to myself that I was sure I had turned it off and looked up to check by watching for the drips from the tap ... and then it poured.
And the rain came in.
The dripping turned to gushing and I had to find containers and towels to contain it all.

This is not an unusual thing as we have had it happen before but on the other side of the house down the bedroom walls.
We have spouting that is covered over (something we will never choose again) and so when the spouting is fill with anything, be it debris, nesting from birds or just too much water it cannot spill over on to the ground so it ‘spills’’ over into the roof of the house and if there is too much it will then pour down the walls inside.

We have replaced boards and ceiling in the bedrooms and check each year before the rains and have sorted the east side of the house but now it was affecting the west side.

So it was well past time to check and clean out the spouting.

On this side of the house we have a plum tree that has just grown from a stone. We cut it to ground level once but it grew again and although the fruit is not really sweet to eat it has made bottles of sauce and jars and jars of jam, gumbo, butter and chutney along with being very nice preserved in brandy!

Saturday dawned and Harry was out with his chainsaw to prune off all the branches near the house before he was going to clean out all the spouting with a special tool and some long tongs.

With camera in hand I watched and supervised which branches could come off.

And then it happened!
















At first it bounced off the roof – something Harry said he had planned – Yeah right – and then it smashed through the kitchen window.
Harry had been pruning off bits of branches in small logs small enough to fit into our fire place for next winter.

It was quiet for a bit and then a four letter word came from someone and it wasn't me. It was quiet for a bit more and then Harry said “That wasn't supposed to happen”.

Well I didn't think it was either…
but it needed fixing as the rain was forecast again and there would be a lot more coming in if it wasn’t.

So we rung AMI and they said it wouldn't be able to be fixed until Monday. So Harry rang a friend – the glass man next to where he works.
And he said he could come as he was already out on a job.

And then someone from Tokoroa rung to say he had been informed we had a broken window or glass in a door or something. We said it was fine we had someone coming.




Its at times like this all you need is a cup of tea, so I made us one and we sat on the other side of the house pondering and thinking all the what if's...

But it can't be undone. It was broken so it needed fixing. And glazing is not something Harry has really ever done much of, let alone something with an edge like the window box.

But Lyndon came and took out all the glass and replaced it with new clean sparkling glass. While he did that Harry cleaned out the spouting as promised and I went off to babysit.

The window had broken in shafts and one shaft fell through and decapitated one of my glass ducks.

But all was well and it looked remarkably different and bright.

And then on Monday we got another phone call from another glass company (this time from Matamata) to say they had been informed we had a broken window or glass in a door or something… we said it was fine it had been fixed.

So although AMI said it couldn't be dealt with straight away, we managed to organise something within a few hours (and yes Lyndon was an Insurance capable repairer) and then had two others contact us to restore the "broken window or glass in a door or something". Perhaps it was just the bonus of having a 'glass free' policy.

Meanwhile I am getting used to looking out a window that at times looks like it is still missing its glass. The odd colour on the glass on the outside of the original window was plum juice which had stained the glass from years of falling plums in the late summer.

And with the now pruned tree I no longer have shade from the sun so will have to look into curtains.

The plum tree looks odd and very lop sided. It may even need a bit of a tidy up prune to balance it, but I am reluctant to let Harry near it with a chainsaw again, not just for the sake of the house and its window, but because I still look forward to what preserves I can make with its crops. If it is without fruit before we have an established new one how will Katrina, at least, cope with out her home made plum jam!

Plum Gumbo

One of the definitions of gumbo is a soup or stew thickened with okra pods.

I have this recipe for a plum gumbo from an old preserving book that I love. I don't know why it is called a gumbo but it does say that: It is a unique flavoured recipe that is loosely named after a creole gumbo soup due to its dark constitution. 

It is sort of a cross between a jam and a fruit cheese.

I love it on hot toast.

Ingredients:

2 kg plums

1 ½ kg sugar

250gr sultanas chopped finely

2 thin-skinned oranges

1 thin-skinned lemon

125gr small walnut pieces

Chop the sultanas in a food processor.

Peel the orange and lemon rind thinly from the fruit without any white pith. I use a potato peeler.

Add the rinds to the processor and chop the rinds finely.

Squeeze the juice from the orange and lemon.

Put the ingredients from the processor, the juice, plums and sugar into a preserving pan and bring to a simmer.

Simmer until thick and the plums are cooked and soft.

At this stage you will be able to lift out the stones.

Stir in the chopped walnuts and continue simmering until it is very thick for another 10 minutes.

Pot into clean sterile jars and seal.

A Glut of Plums

As it says we have had more than enough plums off our tree this year.
Jennifer picked bags of them before we went south thinking that there would be none left when we got back, as the birds love to feed on them.
They weren't really ripe then but they still could be made into jams etc.
I froze the ones she had picked for me and I will use at a later time.

How ever on our return the tree was still dripping in ripe plums and the ground beneath carpeted with the falls either from the wind or birds breaking them off.

So I have been busy preserving and making jams etc from them.

But still they are on the tree.
This morning I picked another 3 kilograms and will do some more preserved, as some years we can't get anything. Sometimes if there is a lot of rain in the warmer weather they seem to swell and burst.

I will leave the rest for the birds as they will eat and be merry (they are starting to ferment) and they actually clean them all up off the ground just leaving the stones behind.



So my next few posts will be of the recipes I have for plums!!

 Plum Sauce
 Plum Jam
 Plum Gumbo
 Plum Butter
 Plums Poached in Spiced Brandy
 Plum Chutney

The Plum Tree - The Secret

I was feeding the chooks this evening when I suddenly noticed that the plum tree was starting to bud. Just those little tell tale swellings that you only notice up close, as from the distance the tree still looks like it is dormant for winter.

It made me smile as it’s like a little secret, that soon, buds will be ready to burst open to beautiful blossoms - the beginning of the new season for fruit.

Every year it happens with out fail, but what becomes of the blossoms and the fruit they produce are affected by the elements around them. It reminded me of a verse in the bible about the secrets of God.

Deuteronomy 29:29

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

The ways of life are God’s secret but once revealed they are affected by our actions, reactions and our free will. They are placed in our care as gifts but for us to have and use to fulfill God’s purpose. His plan is not something we know until we are living it. It’s a secret just like each of us were before we were born.

Psalm 139:14-16

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

His plan for our lives is unique. Each one of us has our own journey to go on, but God knows what that is even before it comes into being. It is His secret. But He will reveal it to us when we are ready.

I too have a secret and it is so special to have something secret before it is revealed to others.

When I took the picture of the buds on my plum tree I found one blossom already open, another secret that spring is just around the corner.

All scripture is from (New International Version)

Plum Tree – Winter

We have a plum tree growing outside the kitchen window. I can see it when I sit and read in a little nook off the kitchen we call the ‘quite room’. Through the season it seems to talk to me and reveal things from God.

It’s winter time and the branches of the plum tree are bare. They are stripped of their leaves and exposed to the elements. All is revealed and nothing is hidden. Even the birds that rest in its branches are no longer protected in amongst the leaves from predators. They are in full view to us all.

This week has been a bit tough for me. Because I made a comment in one of my earlier posts on this blog, I forgot that not all my dear children new of my past. I thought the first three new but I was wrong about our third daughter. Our youngest read the blog and was deeply hurt and angry towards me. I was exposed once again to the elements and I did not like it. Because of the hurt I was feeling I told my son as well so that all my children could know what I had done, before the youngest two were born. I thought if I was going to go through this again I would do it all at once, because it was not nice reliving it all again. This meant that my husband had to go through it all again too. I was afraid as to how he would feel but he was so supportive.
While I was out he talked to our youngest and told her it was not her business what had happened as it was in the past and all is forgiven, we have moved on and have left it in the past so she should too. What strength he showed.

The plum tree looks vulnerable but it is just resting. It is gaining its strength for the new job it will be doing in the spring. So I also felt vulnerable but I rested, in knowing that not only was God in control but that my dear hubby would support and help explain to our children. The strength I gained in letting go and letting others carry me through was what God wanted.

The wintertime is not a time to be afraid but to know that this is the time that God wants you to rest in Him because He knows what great things are in store for our next ‘season’

Lay Ministry

Today started early for me. The alarm went off at 5.50am, a quick shower, breakfast and a kiss on the check for Hubby.

I had to pick up two other ladies and drive one and a half hours to Te Kuiti for a Lay Ministry Training Day meeting that started at 8.45am.
It was my first time for this as it is something new God is taking me through.
The day started with two Bishops preaching and then two work shops in the afternoon.
There was lots of food and although a cold, foggy day the fellowship was great.
One of the things I would like to share is from Bishop Phil.
He preached on "The abiding significance of a sacred space - one place for all places"
Psalm 24:1 says "The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it". All places are sacred because the Lord claims them all but the reading of scripture sets apart more holy places.

He asked us 'What are places sacred to us and why?'

This called to mind two places at our home.....
One is an alter of stones I had built a few years ago. I was in recovery from a time of being very low and after being in hospital. God asked me to lay down all the things that I thought I had control over; my hubby, each of my children, my home, my job, my hobbies and other things. I found rocks and stones around the section and piled them up, naming each one for something I was handing back to God.
I had read in Genesis 35:3 "...I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone." It has become a 'sacred place' for me for it is a reminder to continually give back to God the things I try to control, when I can't.

Its a little covered in leave fall from the Manuka trees beside it but it is still a reminder.

The other place is in a nook part in our house where I can sit and read and look out at our plum tree. God often talks to me by using the plum tree.

The Bishop had gone on to say that it seems that despite ourselves we sanctify places, whether that place is personal or public. This work of 'storying', giving it shape and purpose, and bringing order to chaos, is necessary because human beings can not live in the formless and trackless space. A place is a space where something has happened; words have been spoken. We shape the place and afterwards it shapes us - it gains a symbol about them that influences the way we are towards the place.

I realised that even I have 'sacred places' around me.

Plum Sauce

Plum Sauce
1 kg plums
1 cup cider vinegar
1 large onion
6 cloves garlic
3 cm root ginger
1 tsp crushed chillies (more or less to your liking)
6 cloves
2 tsp coriander seed
2 tsp all spice berries
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick, about 8 cm
1 tsp salt
1 ½ cups brown sugar

Wash the plums and place in a large pot with the vinegar. Cook over a low heat adding and stirring in the other ingredients as they are prepared.
Peel and roughly chop the onions, garlic and ginger. Process in a kitchen whiz until finely chopped. (or finely chop by hand). Add to plums along with the crushed chillies.
Crush the cloves, coriander seed, allspice and peppercorns in a pestle and mortar, (or use a hammer). Add the cinnamon stick broken into small pieces. Heat these spices in a frying pan until they smell aromatic. DO NOT BURN. Add to the mixture.
Place the lid on but slightly ajar and simmer the sauce for 20-30 minutes, until the plums have turned to pulp. At this stage I use a potato masher to crush the plums so as to free the stones etc.
Add the salt and sugar and bringing the mixture back to the boil. Turn off the heat and allow to cool a little (15-30 mins). Push the mixture through a coarse sieve scooping out the stones as you see them. Any left over mixture can then be whizzed in the kitchen whiz again and pushed through the sieve. You should only have about 1/3 cup of waste left. If there is too much waste the sauce won’t be thick enough.
Gently reheat the sauce again, stirring, then pour into heated glass bottles and immediately screw on the hot metal tops tightly. I use oil bottles and orange juice bottles with the screw tops that sort of seal.
Keep in a cool place and refrigerate after opening.

This is a reasonably fun recipe. It is from Alison Holst’s, The Ultimate Collection, cook book. She says you can be sampling this by an hour. It took me longer but then I did change the recipe a bit.