For Club And Country

Last day of training for Latvia bound SLSC members - the frost kept away ... so did the sun unfortunately ... In fact it was rather miserable this morning ... Never mind ... it is what happens in our hearts (and possibly to our hearts) when braving the elements that matters! Where am I going with that? Well, the heart stays warm although feet, hands and for some other parts of the body don't!

Catherine heading off determinedly - 2 lengths - well done. you just "need to" remove these gloves now! :)

I did "A Steph" on Pip this morning encouraging her to swim 2 lengths by saying "you can do it!" I didn't feel too bad saying it as Pip swam 4 widths yesterday and hey, the water was "up" today - 3.5C according to Stephanie ... then again (male) Pip claims to have seen the mercury stopping at 2.5 C on the thermometer at the deep end of the pool ?! ...

I think it's safe to just agree that it's still b..... cold!

Beaming Pip!

After suggesting she should swim 2 lengths, I felt responsible for Pip's wellbeing and

made sure she was feeling OK (or even GREAT!) after (or because of) her heroic 2 lengths!

I did swim 2 lengths too which I'm sure must have played a part in Pip's decision to do it too!

Peter taking a deep breath on his way up the length of pool ...

2 lengths for Peter too - Well done!

Lucy on her final few strokes

Ian in full Latvia training ... diving in after his (baking) time in the sauna

Ian normally prefers using his wetsuit and "threatened" that this was the last time we would catch him during the winter months without his wetsuit !

Sue (Brearley) presented Sue (Rentoul) with a lovely hand made "Good Luck for Latvia" card which will, I'm sure, spur on the entire SLSC contingency to have fun and give their very best for Club and Country!

can't wait to hear all the stories and welcome swimmers back with medals round their necks!

After my swim I was off to Wendy's for another Marmalade making lesson!

I definitely needed a refresher after last year's production.

This year I prepared the fruit at home (in my pressure cooker) and brought the cooked fruit and the water they pressure cooked in over to Wendy's for all other stages.

Cutting up the rind is easy ...

pushing the meat of then fruit (pulp) through the sieve needs a bit of elbow grease!

adding water to make up for the desired water amount while sieving helps!

once that is done, sugar gets added and off we go : time to turn up the heat!

all the sugar is dissolved, scum is building up, the water evaporates slowly and the entire mixture reduces down

using a thermometer helps keep an eye on the proceedings ...

it will reach over 100C

Over the year I collected loads of empty jars ...

.... which came in very handy - Voila!