Garden updates

School holidays are over, finally, I have a little solitude, but I had to give up the sleep in, and I really love the sleep in. I have previously posted about my tomatoes, (I would add a link, but I haven't quite worked out how to make that happen on my iPad yet.) I am growing the Grosse Lisse variety, and yesterday we finally ate our first one!

 

It was so sweet and delicious, I am looking at the rest now, impatiently waiting for them to ripen.

We also ate something else from the garden, yesterday, I was making veggie soup and I realised there was no celery! I do have celery growing, but it's still so small, well tallish but thin, I wasn't sure we could really eat it yet. A quick Internet search and a taste test later, I was out in the garden, pruning shears in hand, snipping off a few tasty stalks for the pot. 

Baby celery had a much stronger flavour, and when raw, a nice peppery bite. I used the whole stalk, leaves and all. It was great to find what I needed in the back garden, now if only I could grow money... I suppose in a way, I do.

There is also new life happening in the garden, maybe in another three or four months, we might be eating soup for which everything is grown in our backyard! 

I've planted 5 climbing peas, and also cabbage, swede, cauliflower, leeks, spring onions, carrots, with some sage and dill to help with pests. Most have started to peek through the soil, there will be progress photo's. Sharing gives me a boost of encouragement, be prepared for the photo onslaught, I need all the encouragement I can get!

The perpetual spinach has been very encouraging.

These cherry tomato seedlings too, I have them positioned so that as they grow, they will cascade down instead of me trying to tame them up.

Annie, my kombi might not be on the road for awhile, the amount of TLC she needs, and the cost of all that TLC, is more than we can afford at the moment. There is a positive in this, I'll be able to spend some time treating rust spots, and prettying her up, do all those little projects that I can't do when driving her everyday. 

I am off to the kitchen, where I will dance and sing to jericco, and work out what we are having for dinner tonight... What music has you bouncing right now?

Bek.

A sad kombi day...

It's a beautiful warm autumn Saturday, the sun is shining, birds are singing, and I'm sitting in Annie waiting for a tow. Another opportunity to do nothing. Of course by the time I post this I'll hopefully be at home and making up for lost time, getting 13yo spawn ready for his birthday sleep over, or maybe it will be when I finally stop again, oh how my kombi always picks the best times to be unreliable. My day started with hectic need, drive daughter to boyfriends, drop mum at sisters, keep 10yo spawn happy by making cookies, maybe cook some yumminess for the birthday sleep over, keep the washing going while the weather is good, and so on. Instead, I didn't even complete task number one, Annie's back wheel started pounding and banging, an awful metal on metal sound that made me cringe, and maybe die a little inside. Some kind boys, one was a friend of my 19yo spawn and the other had some mechanical know how, pulled over and tried to help, but alas, the problem was beyond a roadside fix.

There are no words for the love I have for my kombi, I know it's weird, I know she's a machine, but she's also a part of my family, an expression of my identity, a moving memory mobile. So many good times surround my old girl, and you can't drive anywhere without seeing a wistful smile or an excited wave. The best are those people who stop me at random moments when getting in or out of my Annie, they share the most amazing tales of their own kombi experiences, most from a very different time. Kombi vans make the world a happier place. So happy, that about once a week I open my door to a hopeful smiling face asking how much I would sell her for, they have been driving past, and always wanted, or used to own, this amazing icon of pop culture. I am never tempted to part with her, there isn't a price anyone could offer to change my mind. 

My Justin has come to save me and keep me from hunger as I wait for the tow truck, a falafel wrap, a bottle of water and some good conversation later Dominic, my tow truck driver for today arrives, and I am allowed to drive her on the tray myself.

Dominic and I shared tales of spawn, classic cars, drag racing, vegetable gardening, and not least of all, the historical violent competition and dangers of tow truck driving, and some of the crazy experiences he's had. Then sadly, I had to end the journey, say goodbye to the nicest towie I've ever met, and leave my Annie girl at the mechanics.

I wish I'd been able to clean and polish her first, she looks a sorry state all alone, and on I go with the rest of my day. My Justin has let me use his Soarer while Annie's not well, it's black, and a fast sleek turbo powered beast, but it's not the same. I stop at the lights and look out the window, there are no smiling faces, no happy waves. Just competitive drivers who want to see if their car is faster or louder than mine, indifference, and the occasional appreciation for the sexy machine this car with no name is. The world really is a happier and friendlier place when you drive a kombi, I can't wait to drive my Annie home.

Bek