Cheerful News - food orientated, yet again 
I recommend folk to persevere with Blackcurrants.
Friends have a super patch where they grow everything including huge blackcurrants and I take the excess when I can for jams and jellies. ~
OH opened a jar of 2016 blackcurrant jelly yesterday and pronounced it delicious.
Hurrah !
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Hopefully this year is not like last year with the late frosts, OH is having to raid the freezers to replenish the jam stocks due to the fruit crop disaster last year, Ahhh the smell of fresh made jam again 
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Thatās what I used to do. Freeze the fruit in summer and make jam/jellies during the cold winters.
(Tried doing it in summer one year and nearly died from heat exhaustion.)
We always have a good crop of redcurrants so make a decent quamtity of redcurrant jelly - so useful! However, we are on the lookout at the moment for Seville oranges so that my partner, who loves marmalade, can make some. Anyone seen them> I wonāt be heartbroken if weāve missed the boat but he will be !
On the cheerful side (food again, @Stella) our last smoking, using beech this time, gave us the most perfect smoked salmon. Weāre going to have a go with cold-smoking other things now, having tried various fish and also eggs. This is incredible fun 
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I make āChristmas Marmaladeā using clementines from Corsica. Theyāre onsale locally to us around Christmas, hence the name.
Missed making it this year, but weāve still got one jar left somewhere in the cellar. OHās hidden it I reckon.
Have you tried making Melon Jamā¦ thatās a winter thing I believe. Neighbours from the Charente got us cutting and chopping some years agoā¦ a lovely joint effort, well celebratedā¦ hic
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Heās not daft, your OH
Iāve never tried melon jam - interesting idea. Weāre not all that far off the first sticks of rhubarb I suppose - my partner likes rhubarb and ginger jam so I have to make that. Making something I actually like would be a lot better though 
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Good grief, yes. Youāve got to like what youāre doing or itās just āworkā. 
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Or devotion to the OH, of course ā¦
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Must confess I love seeing his enthusiasm at mealtimesā¦
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Yes some things just canāt be bought.
Do you get satsumas across here, OH loves them but I have never seen them here.
I havenāt either! Mind you, I hadnāt seen them in the UK for many years either since the supermarkets seem to call them āeasy peelersā 
BioCoop has them at the momentā¦. I hope as weāre off to get some this afternoon!
Thank you @JaneJones - I shall trot out and look
(Actually, I shall send my partner out - better idea )
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Usually obtainable in Grand Frais 
If you make it with melon dāEspagne it is of no interest at all, you might as well make turnip jam, it would probably be nicer. You obv meaning anyone! I think it is a SW thing, we donāt make it chez moi.
Those look veryā¦ shiny. Enjoy your silver boots.
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Thank you! I certainly shall, I donāt allow considerations such as good taste to confine me 
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