TWENTY-FOUR GUN SALUTE!

I have been meaning to begin this blog for months now but could not find anything to really blow my mind after four years of major events during redevelopment of an old farmhouse and twenty acres of olive terraces!!!

Today it happened. The water had gone off all over the olive groves and the casa. Of course it was a Sunday and lunch time!

As I made my way to the telephone I was felled by a blunderbuss from the car port, a loud hissing and a strong fruity smell. The dog barked, the cat hissed and I ran for the back door.

I had completely forgotten that two days earlier Hessy and I had bottled twenty-four old S. Pellegrino bottles with the first fermentation of Elderflower Champagne. Mother's old recipe in my much fingered Personal Recipe Book said in capitals, "Tie the Corks Down". Something to be remembered if anyone wants to try this.

We didn't have any corks or wine bottles and the S. Pellegrino bottles whose screw tops when used are not that secure the second time around are obviously not up to the job.

Hessy, my friend/sec/gardener/vegan/had insisted on making hers with brown sugar and these bottles were blowing through the roof every hour and on the hour.

I find this whole day not only funny but a lesson on not underestimating the power of nature. No yeast was added and within two days some sugar, a few sultanas and a few flower heads had turned into something DANGEROUS. The second bottle I tried to rescue went off in my hand and blew off my, not false nail, and bruised my hand. The remains of the contents was licked up by dog and cat!