More Peas!!

I love my Saturday morning trips to the markets, and finding huge piles of fresh peas never fails to bring about happy moments of nostalgia.  As well as lavender scented hugs, a fond memory I have of my beloved Grandmother, Florence, is sitting chatting with her while she shelled peas at the funky red laminex table in her kitchen.  Sheets of The Telegraph Newspaper were spread over the table and she would toss the emptied shells onto it before wrapping the whole lot up and putting it out in the back yard incinerator bin. The yield was huge and the peas were fat....unfortunately Nan would boil the buggery out of them in a pot of water with bi carb soda added to it. Why Nan, why??

How times have changed! The bi carb boiling is forgotten and the kilo or so of peas I brought home from the markets looked very promising from the outside but as I opened them things were starting to look alot like the characters from some of those reality shows that my Miss H insists on watching.....lots of skin but not much going on inside.....

Despite the disappointment of finding some of the shells sans peas, my meagre yield of about a handful proved edible and flavoursome after a gentle steaming and as I tried to wash the green stains out of my fingernails I almost considered that frozen peas could be a better option. Or perhaps my Garden of Neglect would like a new friend.....now there's an idea....

xxMs.K

Garden of Neglect Update

With the glorious warm days already upon us I decided it was high time to get out of my winter hibernation (read: RUT) , paint my toenails and face the world again.  I'm not a huge fan of winter and by the time August rears its head I'm a cranky dreadful mess but knowing that September is just around the corner provides enough fuel to keep me going.

So today I thought I would check out my Garden of Neglect and she did not fail to impress.  There were pleasantries in abundance! Here they are, in no particular order.......

I grew lemons!!

I grew lettuce where I didn't even plant lettuce!.....among the weeds and a twisted wreck of  coriander.

...and then there were 3. My beautiful gerbera had babies....all by itself!

The next one didn't come from my Garden of Neglect, it came from my Saturday market visit but it is so happy I decided to include it.  A colourful bunch of Spring flowers with Spring inspired vintage cross-stitch doily....delicious!!

Enjoy the sunny Springness and the excitement of Christmas being just around the corner!

xxMs.K

To Pick or Not to Pick???

........I'm not talking noses here, but if I was the answer would be a definite "yes"!! What??? No, I'm talking about my Garden of Neglect. Here is my latest creation.....

My very first Gerbera, my fave flower of all time, the bloom that featured in my bridal party all those moons ago. I don't really know why I've never attempted to grow these before but by Jove's they are a hardy bunch.  This is the pot that, weeks ago, housed my huge harvest of basil that I made my pesto out of. It grew spontaneously and I thought all would be lost for my Gerbera who was trying to share its home with the pushy basil. I must say I focused more of my attention on the basil as I thought it had more of a chance.  So proud.....but now, not sure if I should pick my single bloom as a prized treasure to put on my table for Mother's Day or leave it flourishing in its own beauty in the garden. Oh the decisions......"without further adieu" (don't you love, yet hate that phrase?) I wish all the fellow Mums out there, especially my wonderful Mum, a very happy Mother's Day tomorrow, and I hope you get all you wish for.....read: a day to yourself without the hubby and kids....!!!! Oh behave!!


xxMs.K

PS. Apologies for the hiatus, I didn't realise how long it has been since my last post....(feel like I'm in the confessional with Father Bernard.)