Brenda was right by George, we got the green tomatoes yesterday just in time as today the rain is a steady pour reminiscent of Dicken’s descriptions of the rain in Lincolnshire in Bleak House. Made us think of poor Lady Dedlock wandering around her huge mansion where all the windows seemed always obscured by streams of water, shutting her in with her guilt and despair. She might have tried putting up large amounts of preserves.
Today we are doing green tomato salsa which will be sealed in jars along with memories of their growing and cooking, and all of which will burst out along with their fragrance during the winter. It will help to reassure us that Spring will come again.
There will be a problem with the garlic though. I was counting on some I purchased from Farmer Ken in Gore Bay but it seems he left them in the ground too long and now I sort through them many are marred by overripe markings that cannot be trusted. If this rain keeps up it will be days anyway before I can get back in the garden. Today is the last sailing for the Ferry. News is that if the Great Lakes keep shrinking the Ferry can’t operate without deepening the channel in South Baymouth. Like a true islander it now seems to me that winter is signalled by the dry-docking of the CheChemaun more than by anything.
If the rain stops and the sun shines soon, I will be looking for more wild mushrooms.
There is no soccer on TV. Pity!
Brenda feels a bit better today so I think the anti-biotic is kicking in.
Today makes me think of so many days in Birmingham, living in lodgings with the feed-it-a-shilling gas fire, studying with gloves on, making it hard to turn pages, when the rain and gloom in the streets made the day and the evening one, and when the cheeriest place to be was in the pub with friends and a pint. Climate must be why pub culture is so important in England and why pubs specialize in glass, glitter and lots of noise, at lease in big cities. Not to mention the spirits that come in bottles, like rum that tastes of Cuban sunshine and works better in northern climes and on freezing boats at sea than on the beaches where it originates.
