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Apr. 20th, 2007 08:24 amWhen in doubt, start with a weather report. It rained overnight and is still drizzling. This is a good thing, because we have had half our normal rainfall this year. I'm sitting in the bay window overlooking the garden. The rose branches that frame the window are covered with almost-bursting buds and droplets of rain. Across the little valley, mist drifts across the mountain. Everything has that just-washed freshness.
Dave has been building frames around the raspberry bushes, partly to support them and partly to support bird-proofing. We haven't gotten any berries all the years we've been here because the birds have always gotten them first. The chard has bolted in the recent heat, and we're nearing the end of this season's grapefruit harvest (almost all of it damaged by frost, but next year's should be fine). The asparagus is still going strong, thick juicy purple stalks that can be 2" diameter at the base. There's a little purslane, too, but not ready to eat. (Nor, I should add, can I eat any great quantity of it, the taste is too strongly earthy, but it makes a good accent.) After that, it's a lean spell until the early summer vegetables come in. Still have frozen green beans and tomatoes from last summer, plus a dozen winter squashes/pumpkins -- we stored them in the library shed because it's humidity-controlled.
I'm off this afternoon to take care of a friend who's having arthroscopic surgery on her shoulder. Comfort measures from my own surgery are still fresh in my mind. "Got lots of ice packs?" I said. "Eep -- no," she said. So I'll pick up a couple of reusable gel-packs when I'm at the pharmacy this morning. "Gingerale?" "No, just 7-Up." Gingerale, if you like it, actually works better because the ginger has anti-nausea qualities. Put on list, regular not diet because she's apt to need the calories if she can't eat much. Bring books, knitting, overnight kit. To do before I leave: piano practice, 5 pages of SHIELD. (Did 5 yesterday, so the inertial ice has been broken.)
Dave has been building frames around the raspberry bushes, partly to support them and partly to support bird-proofing. We haven't gotten any berries all the years we've been here because the birds have always gotten them first. The chard has bolted in the recent heat, and we're nearing the end of this season's grapefruit harvest (almost all of it damaged by frost, but next year's should be fine). The asparagus is still going strong, thick juicy purple stalks that can be 2" diameter at the base. There's a little purslane, too, but not ready to eat. (Nor, I should add, can I eat any great quantity of it, the taste is too strongly earthy, but it makes a good accent.) After that, it's a lean spell until the early summer vegetables come in. Still have frozen green beans and tomatoes from last summer, plus a dozen winter squashes/pumpkins -- we stored them in the library shed because it's humidity-controlled.
I'm off this afternoon to take care of a friend who's having arthroscopic surgery on her shoulder. Comfort measures from my own surgery are still fresh in my mind. "Got lots of ice packs?" I said. "Eep -- no," she said. So I'll pick up a couple of reusable gel-packs when I'm at the pharmacy this morning. "Gingerale?" "No, just 7-Up." Gingerale, if you like it, actually works better because the ginger has anti-nausea qualities. Put on list, regular not diet because she's apt to need the calories if she can't eat much. Bring books, knitting, overnight kit. To do before I leave: piano practice, 5 pages of SHIELD. (Did 5 yesterday, so the inertial ice has been broken.)
