chick lit

yes! it's the return of an old easter tradition, the homemade hen. a hen, a rooster and a clutch of chicks, that is. i had an eager four-year-old to cheer me on, and prepare feet and tails, which meant three chicks saw the light of day this year.

as we also went on holiday to a cottage well-supplied with light-hearted fiction, i can add that there's also been some reading of chick lit this easter. a new tradition? the usual thing is crime, but, well, the two can easily be combined.

cut off

i tend not to go in for cut flowers, preferring potted plants or flowers that are still attached to the earth outside. it seems such a waste, something that is cut off and won't grow anymore, or fruit.

but in the case of the narcissus, i made an exception. the first one broke when one of the little mad people (or beasts) of the house ran over it, possibly with a bike. it was broken clean off, so i prolonged its life by bringing it indoors, in a vase, to delight all the knights of the dinner table.

then another one just lay down and kissed the ground. i don't know why, maybe it had given up hope, or maybe it just wanted to get back to its roots. anyway, slugs started eating the petals, so i thought it would be a waste to leave it. and in it came.

finally, there was a big storm. garden furniture flew away and fences collapsed. the long-stemmed narcissus didn't stand a chance. they were all lying flat in the dirt when the wind subsided.

so i took them all in, and they brightened the day, just like the blown-off magnolia flower, the LEGO tower, the mad dog in his bounciness, and my flowery cup of tea.

happy spring!

crop'd

it's time to see what mother nature has given us in all her bounty this year. first, may i present:

what? well, it's a bowlful of earth from my very own compost. i've never really lived for long enough in one place -- with a compost -- to have been able to produce lovely soil. but this year, i have. hopefully this will help me grow slightly bigger veggies next year, as well.

my little potato darlings! see the skull-like one in the lower left corner? that's my favourite. these are all the offspring of a mother potato i planted in a tall red pot. as the pot was small, they didn't have much room to grow. the skull potato was scrunched up against the pot wall and some pebbles. hopefully, it will make more potatoes -- sinister or normal -- next year.


apart from the potatoes, i didn't have much luck with my vegetables this year. i tried to grow cauliflower, and the plants did flower, but in a highly underwhelming manner. the cauliflower on each was as big as a new potato. i left it on the plant, hoping it would grow some more, but instead got bitter cauli. next year i'll make sure they get more light. what i did get, though, was a suprise:

these are grapes! in the north of england! the vines crept over from our neighbours' garden. not all of them managed to ripen, but some did. i think i may have to take a cutting...

all packed

it's summertime, it's teuncy travel time, and there are those of us who like to travel with our electronic thingamajings. here is a matching set (eek!) i made for my mac and ipod, out of a checkered shirt that was too tight and a bit of curtain. the fortunate new use made the loss of the shirt bearable.

two in one

i solved the laundry problem and provided my daughter with a fun activity.

this last winter, we suffered from slow-drying laundry syndrome. the indoors clothes horse, after it collapsed, had been very nicely hung on a wall at the end of our long kitchen. unfortunately, that spot seemed to be where all moisture gathered, and so each load of laundry took about a decade to dry.

i was therefore very much looking forward to being able to use the garden for drying again. unfortunately, i'd done some "landscaping" which meant the line i'd used earlier was out of commission. a new one would have to be put up, preferably along the length of the house. but how? would i have to drill holes, pour concrete, or plant a super-fast tree to support the line?

as it turned out, our favourite hardware shop turned out to have clothesline supporters in stock. i bought one of these contraptions without any idea of how it might work, hoping i'd magically figure it out.

and here's the thing -- i did! i fastened the line at two (rather low) points, propped it up with the metal pole, which has a neat and functional extending system, and we had a working clothesline. full of clothes, it makes a pleasing, slowly swinging motion, like the crocodiles of Asterix. my daughter put the line to immediate use as a giant swinging toy, and she's been hard at work emptying the washing machine ever since.

this is cake

we had to make cake for fundraising. my husband beats the fluffiest egg foam, so he set himself in charge of actually baking the cake, while i got to decorate it. since he usually shrugs off icing, claiming it is for penguins. also, as we hadn't made anything for sale before, we decided to make two cakes, just in case.

this turned out to be a very good idea. the big, round cake rose beautifully, brown and plump and yummy-looking in every way. icing it, however, was no plain sailing. the cake was a little rounded at the top, so we cut off that bit. then i poured the icing on.

poured? yes. the icing was a little too runny for its own good. we had used an entire miniature bottle of coffee liqueur for it. this, mixed with some icing sugar, formed a lellow liquid which seeped into the cake, giving it a great taste, but a distinctly forlorn look.

luckily, there had been enough batter for two cakes. the other, a heart-shaped one, was smaller and thinner. however, we didn't feel the need to cut anything off it. and we only needed a little bit of icing to cover it. this time, i used a few drops of cold coffee which i mixed into lots of icing sugar. yay! off-white icing which would stay exactly where i wanted it.

of the two, the first cake was probably yummier. that's the one we kept and ate in nomitude. the second one, however, really took the cake at the fundraising cafe. they all hearted it.

plantlings

eagle-eyed and elephant-minded readers may have noticed i have made no mention of my enormous crops this year. this is because, erm, they're not quite finished yet. blame the poor soil or a confused climate, the cauli refused to flower and the carrots remained carrotlets.

to save them from certain destruction (and boy, was i glad for that when The Snow came!), i decided to move some of my potted vegetables indoors. fortunately, i had great help from my gardening assistant, who even assisted with a vehicle:



on a positive note, the number of carrots has increased dramatically since last year. this is because last year, i only grew one carrot. but we have nibbled at the small tasty carrots, and still there are more 'rots left in the earth, which means there will be no lean spring for us. hmm... perhaps i should do it like this every year?