Catching up

The indoor run for the tortoises is ready and I brought all three of them indoors today, to see how they got on.  It’s large enough that they haven’t noticed each other yet.  And it rained this afternoon, so it was good that they weren’t huddled under cover.

It’s been a sociable weekend – to Dunwich on Friday with Charlotte, as I said the other day, then over to spend Saturday evening with Weeza and family.  I read the children their bedtime story, and Gus chose a splendid book called Harvey’s Hideout, which had been Weeza or Al’s when they were little.  It’s about two muskrats, a brother and sister.  He’s a pesky little brother and Muriel is a bossy big sister – it stands the test of time.  On Sunday, Roses and Indigo came for lunch and there’s an amusing picture on Facebook, with his fine tshirt, which has an open-mouthed, toothy shark, saying ‘Om nom nom’ whilst I’m standing up close and personal to Indigo – and the shark’s mouth is in line with my face.  Indigo is at least 15 inches taller than I am.  I’d put it up here, but to download it onto my photo album would mean giving the dreaded FB access to all my pictures.  Not that there’s anything amiss about my photos, but – well, I’m reluctant.

It all seems to be bad news around here, in the last couple of days I’ve heard of three lovely people with terminal cancer.  It really does put any personal problems into perspective – all of them are younger than I am, one by twenty years.

When Paul the Fish called in this morning, I felt a need for self-indulgence.  So I bought lobster.  And I didn’t feel like doing anything clever with it, so I simply made some mayonnaise to go with it, which turned out to be so delicious that it was used instead of butter on the runner beans that were the first course.

My mother, every late winter, used to greet the first purple sprouting broccoli with the happy observation “They’re my favourite veg.” Runner beans are mine, I think.  Lovely.

8 comments on “Catching up

  1. tim

    I love lobster, and you did exactly the right thing with it – no faffing about. Lobster thermidor is an abomination.
    Did I ever tell you about the two live lobsters I once bought in Porthgain, Pembrokeshire, and the ensuing conflict due to lack of restraining elastic bands …? Probably not – I still bear the psychological scars.

    Reply
  2. allotmentqueen

    I didn’t realise Indigo was a giant. Lucky he’s a BFG.

    Beans are just coming into season here. Doesn’t seem to be as prolific as last year, which maybe just as well because I got fed up with picking, blanching and freezing them and by the end they went straight into the compost bin! Raspberries are doing well though.

    Sorry about your friends. But personal problems have their own perspective. Glad to see you’re relishing in the self-indulgence. And also that you are still having courses.

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  3. Mike Horner

    MMMM…. Favourite vegetables, eh??? Well, obviously potatoes ( delicious done pretty well anyway), or possibly roast parsnips (cut chip shape), asparagus perhaps ; and although I do love chard, I’m not allowed it for medical reasons (can clash with one of the heart pills I’m on, or so the medicoes say). Medicoes are meanies and spoilsports, sometimes -sulks quietly in corner like little Jack, of the same ilk as meself.

    Reply
  4. Z Post author

    It does seem a waste to do anything with a lobster but eat it. I’m not sure about tackling a live one, especially unfettered.

    I’ve got a lot of runner beans now, though they were late getting going – but then I had to replant, as rabbits got the first lot. Tomatoes, on the other hand, were very early, which was just as well because watering the greenhouse is perfunctory at present and there aren’t many more to come. At least I haven’t had to water the veg garden this year, for the first time ever.

    I love all vegetables really but, apart from asparagus, it’s probably runner bean season that I look forward to most. Though peas straight out of the garden are exceptional too, if they’re young. Damn rabbits got those too and I didn’t bother to replant. A friend was enthusing to me that he’d grown chard for the first time this year, so I reminded him that the plants will overwinter and can be picked again in the spring, until the new season’s crop is ready.

    They have met now, Sandy, and all seems to be well, though Edweena looks at them without any kindness in her face and walks close enough that they have to dodge her. The latest rain has made her run so overgrown that I think I might keep them indoors most of the time now. The babies seem to enjoy having plenty of space, though I do spend a few minutes, several times a day, looking for them. I must measure them, they’ve really grown a lot this summer.

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  5. LZM

    No one has mentioned spinach that is straight out of the garden. And if “runner beans” are called green beans here, they are my absolute favorite also. I thought there couldn’t possibly be a vegetable I don’t like until yesterday when I sampled Kale chips at Costco. Tasted like deep fried grass to me.

    Reply
  6. Z Post author

    String beans,, maybe, LZM? I’m not sure if your green beans are our runners or our French beans. I like kale, but kale chips have to be home-made to be palatable – and I still think they’re overrated!

    Reply
  7. LZM

    My investigation revealed that runner beans are quintessentially British, longer, with stronger flavor and coarser texture. They are one of the easiest vegetables to grow. Our seed catalogs call them Scarlet Runner Beans. I always thought they were another variety of green beans like Blue Lake or Contender. I may give them a try one day.

    Reply

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