Biscuits and Bilberries

As planned, we spent the day with the smallest foster-child, to give Jenny and Philip a break while the girls were at school. I think it went well: he seems to have had a good time, and we managed to combine several useful activities with keeping him amused. We started by baking Shrewsbury Biscuits (a spiced currant biscuit), which he enjoyed cutting into cat-shapes (courtesy of a biscuit cutter we bought at Christmas). We had one each for lunch, but they're mainly for the weekend, when we've got a number of friends visiting.

We then dug up a potato plant (another Lady Christl), which was very exciting. For me, obviously, though I expect it's good fun if you're two, too. That was part of lunch, which was conducted as a picnic hiding inside an old oak tree up the lane, where Liz and her sister had a den about 15 years ago. Clambering into it was an adventure, only slightly distracted from by the Belted Galloway cattle (a great favourite) in the adjacent field.

On the way home, we even managed to pick a small tub of bilberries from the hedgerow. Who said a day spent looking after a two-year-old would be wasted?