Summertime

It was one of those days yesterday when nothing much happened, yet everything did. My labours of love continued with the daily chores and catching up with odds and ends. We have a friends little dog, Iona, staying with us for a week while she is in Sydney. Rosie and Alice stared long and hard at her when she first arrived, but now they're settled into a respectful relationship and all is well in our doggy backyard.

One of my chores yesterday was to make bread and this is it - a quick sourdough made from the NY Times no knead recipe. It makes a great loaf and well worth trying if you haven't already done so.

I have been thinking a lot about baskets recently. Using my own shopping basket inspired me to make a very simple plaited raffia one. I love baskets and find pleasure in looking at them, looking after them, and now, making one. I don't know what it will turn into, my hope is for a small bench top basket I can put unripe tomatoes in. If this basket evolves into that, and there is absolutely no reason to believe it will, I will have a go at making a laundry basket.

Pigeon peas

Of course you'd know that I'd be watching the cricket yesterday - and in bits and pieces today as well, it's a five day test match. While watching, I shelled some pigeon peas, started another dishcloth for my gift stash and did some work on piecing the raffia basket together. It's a favourite time of year when the cricket is on. I wander in and out, work on projects and sometimes snooze in front of the TV. Hanno joins me sometimes and falls asleep too. If we're both sitting there and I wake and see him beside me, I have a little laugh to myself and think back to those days when sleeping during the day was the last thing we'd do.

There is a season for all things.

The sun is shining brightly outside and it's been a lovely summer of warm days and coolish nights. We usually have a very hot and humid summer, but this is very nice indeed. The vegetable garden has grown so fast, but so have the weeds, and although we welcomed the rain we had - and there was a lot - it's all but ruined the garden. Tomorrow Hanno and I will spend the day out there - with small cricket breaks, of course, to weed and tidy up. There are a few tomatoes still going, as well as the best capsicums (peppers) I've ever grown, lots of herbs, egg plants, lettuce and silverbeet. The potatoes are finished, along with the peaches and nectarines, so we've decided after we tidy up, we'll rest the beds for the remainder of the summer. Replanting will start mid-March. I'll write more about this tomorrow.

Our meal last night was tinned red salmon (from a long way off in Alaska) but I tempered that with potatoes and salad all from our backyard. Here is a picture of a yellow brandywine tomato we had in the salad. Brandywines are wonderfully delicious tomatoes that we've been growing for a couple of years. The flavour of the pinks is rich and very tomatoey, but these yellows lack the acidic taste of most tomatoes - the yellows are creamy and utterly delicious.

I hope you enjoy your weekend and have time to take care of yourself. To all those new to the blog, hello and welcome. I hope you find what you're looking for here. To all those readers who pop in most days, thank you for your lovely comments and encouragements along the way. I appreciate you taking the time to connect and I thank you for reading.