Birthdays, punting and damsons

August is now a busy birthday month for my family. My cousin, Tom, my squashy niece, Edie, and my Dad, all have August birthdays. Edie was one year old and had a big party with many other squashy, non-walking and very small friends. I made Japanese tori no kara-age for her birthday tea. My sister's and brother's families were both on holiday for my Dad's birthday, so he, Mum and I went to a country pub and had a really really good meal (yum!) and then we gave him a cup-cake with a candle in it (lucky him!). My cousin, Tom was 32 so of course he went for lots of beer to a pub with his Men Friends. (Maybe)

After the Birthday Madness, one Sunday in the middle of August I went punting with my friends, Simon and Kate. Unusually, they own a punt. A punt is a long, thin, flat-bottomed boat - a bit like a Venice gondola but without the singing Italian man. Not many people own punts these days, but Simon and Kate do, and they invited me for a boating day-trip on the Thames. After leaving central London, the River Thames becomes much smaller and goes through beautiful countryside. It was a very pretty trip.
Simon did most of the punting . . .

. . . I tried but I wasn't very good at it. At lunchtime we stopped by a pretty island, ate and relaxed for a couple of hours and then punted back. It was a lovely way to spend the day.Finally, at the end of August, Mum and Dad decided it was time to pick the damsons in their garden. Damsons are like a small plum. You can't eat them raw but they make very good jam. Dad and I picked a lot but unfortunately, many of them had a lot of insects inside. Some were good though and my Mum made a few jars of jam. I really enjoyed climbing the damson tree.