Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Spring stirrings and food economies


The last of the snow has gone from the garden, and though it's a rather grey day, I nipped out earlier to have a look at the half a dozen snowdrops I'd spotted from the window. And lo and behold, there were crocuses too. I love spring bulbs; they lift the spirits at the end of winter and they're so wonderfully hardy. Imagine them, hiding under the ground when it was so cold that I didn't want to stir from the house, and then at the first possible opportunity, there they are. The other reason I love them, is because once you've planted them, on the whole, they double up and appear in places you don't expect them. This has happened with the snowdrops. I only planted a couple of bulbs that I found in another part of the garden, a year or so back. The number I have is small at the moment, but it will improve, I feel sure. I happen to have a particular liking for purple crocuses, though, although I have a few yellow ones too. Unfortunately, I suspect that the birds have been pecking them in past years, as they don't appear to be increasing in number as they should. So it's not a huge bank of colour; you have to go close to see them, but I still find them uplifting. The above is last year's photo - with sunshine.

Of course, winter hasn't ended; there's some more cold weather forecast, but at least this time of year is a time to look forward to a true spring and also to much lighter nights. I always notice when I go to my regular meetings - Goldenford, Guildford Writers, etc, how much difference it makes to driving, once the days start getting longer. And tonight, there is in fact a Goldenford meeting. We have lots to talk about, including the promotional events coming up in March.

This week, being half term, the ProdigalD, husband and daughter will be visiting tomorrow, and OH & I will be in charge of GD2 all of Thursday. What we do then, of course, depends on what sort of day it is. Then I have a busy week planned for the following week with a visit to two operas, one a filmed version of Aida with Irene and daughter, Joe, and the other a semi-professional production at Haslemere Theatre with M's two cousins and families. Somewhere in the week is a lunch and another meeting. And then February will be over. Somewhere in between, I have to complete the VAT return, though I've written to the VATman, asking if we can deregister, in view of M carrying out less work these days. It will be nice to get rid of that three monthly burden.

This afternoon is my trip to the supermarket. I've been listening to a radio discussion about the amount of food we throw away. Being of the old school, I tend to use up leftovers the following day, or freeze them. I have a range of rigid plastic boxes, in which I store what I call mini-dinners. Sometimes two or three of these - of the same variety, of course, are sufficient to produce an emergency meal on a subsequent day. I also cook roasts and carve them up and store them in foil parcels. Having two or three of these in the freezer is great when you feel too lazy to cook - and a lot cheaper than a packaged convenience meal from the shops. We've also reduced the amount of meat we eat. Usually no more than once a week in the winter, and once a fortnight in the summer with poultry, fish and a vegetarian dish popping up on the other days. Better for us, and better for the planet.

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