Old ladies selling stuff on Saturday.

Apologies for the hiatus......I've been kinda busy and can never remember what to write about.

Anyhooooooo.....I was in Leura two Saturdays ago and the little general hall which every town dotted along the mountains seems to have, had a "craft fair". I popped in for a look.

In reality it was a couple of stands with goods made by little old ladies, doing some charity work for Retina Australia. This charity appears to be the real deal all volunteers. (Sidenote; I'm going to do a story on Greenpeace one day....pieces of work)

So there were the crafts laid out in all their finery. Crocheted tea cosies, those weird kupie dolls with a dress to cover your toilet roll, handkerchiefs with embroidery on them.....that sort of thing. The "folk art" thing hadn't hit this mob, so I missed out on those strange "folk artsy" corporatized versions of things that little old ladies make to keep themselves occupied.

But I wasn't interested in "crafts"....no there is another goldmine on these stalls.

I love these stalls when they've got a range of preserves, jams and sauces. It's the real deal. Strawberry jam made with strawberries, water and sugar (pectin perhaps) put in a bottle or jar that has been carefully put away for a "jamming". It tastes great and always seems to have more fruit and flavour than those "packed full of fruit" commercial brands you buy in the supermarket. There's also a strange variety of bottles and jars with all sorts of different lids, which adds to the experience.....lovely.

So, I picked out a strawberry jam, a plum jam and a plum sauce in anonymous looking jars with a small white tag to let you know what it is. The deal was sealed and it was popped in a "Leura Pharmacy and Gift Shoppe" brown paper bag that has also been squirrelled away for just an occasion.

It will be sad to see these sorts of stalls go in the future, I'm not aware of too many people who still do their own bottling anymore. In any case, I'm going to stock up on more of these lovely preserves.