jameshurrell.co.uk

It has been far too long since I updated this blog - so what better opportunity than some pictures of Delphie at 6 months!

Cute, even if I say so myself!

Well, my lovingly nutured tomatoes have somehow managed to contract what I think is blight! They were looking so promising as well. My dad tells me that his outdoor tomatoes have gone the same way - my friend Ben’s on the other hand seem to be doing really well in his greenhouse (although he is significantly more green fingered than i could ever claim to be!).

So this is what they look like - pretty nasty stuff this blight:

All six plants (Marmande, Pixie, Sungold, Olivade, Red Alert and Sweet Million) are all now showing signs of this stuff… Anyway, all is not lost as I’ve turned all the fruit that doesn’t look like it’s going to ripen (before the plants succumb to the blight) into Green Tomato Chutney:

450g of apples (grated)
2 onions peeled and grated
1.5kg green tomatoes (thinly sliced)
225g sultanas
225g sugar
2tsp salt
450ml malt vinegar
4 small pieces of ginger
Half teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tsp mustard powder

Shove it all in a pan, bring slowly to the boil and leave for a couple of hours. Remove the ginger before you put it all in some sterilised jars. Leave it to mature for a couple of months. Voila.. some chutney for the autumn and a house that smells like a vinegar factory.

She’s here… well she actually arrived three weeks ago, but such is the life changing experience it has taken us a while to post this update!
Delphine Rose Hurrell arrived at 7.40am on 30th May 2007, at a very healthy 8lbs 4oz. Delphine and I are doing well after a labour which lasted 4 hours from waking up with contractions to Delphine’s arrival. Apologies to all those people who spent several days in labour, and advice to anyone about to have a child, when things are happening very quickly, no, the Dad’s do not have time to have a shower!!! (James wanted to shower, and then would not drive faster than 30 mph because there was a speed camera.)
Thanks to everyone who has sent us cards, presents and good wishes - our house is now a sea of pink!

There are more pictures here!

Yes D-Day as in due day! Only 15 days to go now - yikes! Where did those nine months go to? One minute it’s September 2006 and Alex and Hollie’s wedding and the next Juliet has expanded so much that she is down to her last few sets of clothes that will fit!

I think we are ready - well certainly in practical terms we are: the baby’s room has been re-decorated to remove the barbie pink colour (although our bedroom in Bridgnorth was the same colour come to think of it and we didn’t feel the need to shield our eys from it (well maybe I did!!)), the carpet has been replaced with a Brintons special (would a baby notice I wonder??), Juliet’s family hierloom cot is in place, the fangled CB-like baby monitor is out of its box and working (great if you need to call down for a cup of tea!) and the cupboards are stuffed full of passed on baby clothes from my sister Jo.

And then there is the 18-in-one pushchair, cum-car-seat, cum-pram, cum-trap-your-bloody-fingers-in-the-moving-parts wheeled buggy contraption thing from Juliet’s sister. And very generously lent and very gratefully received it is too. I admit that out of curiosity I had a quick look at the price tag for something equivalent brand new on the internet and moved on to something less shocking very quickly. I know for certain that despite having a modicum of intelligence (some would argue otherwise), I will never be able to learn how to use this buggy to its full extent… It is both a wonderous and frightening bit of kit…!

We are ready in practical terms, but are we (read “I” here) ready in emotional terms? We are both desperate to meet this baby that has been kicking around in Juliet’s abdomen for so long now, but on the other hand, that’s when it all starts for real - the being parents thing. Not to mention having to change nappies!

So watch this space as they say, it’s about to get rapidly filled by a baby.