Cordially yours

Three pictures of my elderflower cordial.

Is this what the blog is for?

Well, yes it is really.

It's for reining in this bolting life.

Making cordial was a slow process, 

over in an instant;

from the first ill-judged picking 
of the too far gone flowers in the garden,

to the expedition to find some 

at their peak of perfection in the alleyway,

(not too white, just creamy,)

to the purchasing of enough citric acid,

(not easy in this sad world, 

where I was asked what I wanted it for and 

regarded with great suspicion,)

to the buying and then dissolving 

of the sugar for the syrup,

the paring of the strips of lemon, 

the slicing of the lemon,

the submerging of the elderflower heads,

the 24 hour infusion,

the straining and restraining,

(all those tiny insects),

the sterilising and the bottling

and when I finally  lined them up  

in their specially purchased facetted bottles

I noticed how the light changed the colour of the cordial,

and thought that needed noting too.

Four bottles.

Seven hundred and forty two posts.

It's a record.