Month: March 2023

Getting Creative with Courgettes

Felix continues to explore outside (despite those warnings from the vet). He has found that birds like to eat the grapes, so he sometimes hides in the leaves to surprise them.

Other fruit and vegetables are ripening or ready to eat: apples, rhubarb, tomatoes, lemons, silver beet, kale, broccoli, spinach, lettuces, herbs, and courgettes, while the runner beans are all but finished. My neighbour brought me apples and grapefruit yesterday and I gave her lemons, grapes and tomatoes, and she met Felix for the first time.

I was surprised to find an enormous courgette the size of a submarine hiding under the leaves. They can really get away on you if you don’t check them regularly. Today I made a Courgette and Carrot Kugel from half of it (4 cups, grated), and stuffed the other half with tomatoes, chopped courgette, chives and parsley from the garden, plus garlic, peppers and cheese.

It’s almost like living off the land.

For the love of books

Is there room for more books? Books about books, books to read again, books yet to be read…

We knew it had to end one day. The demise of our book group as we know it has caused turmoil in the last few days. We knew our wonderful facilitator could not continue for ever, and the bookshop who hosted us has costs to consider.

We have begun emailing each other to keep in touch. Yesterday, one participant shared our reading list dating from 2002 when she joined the group (it has been running since the 1990s). Wow. All those books – the diversity in scope, genre, culture and style. They challenged us and widened our view of the world. They also opened discussion which deepened our understanding of ourselves and each other, particularly as we shared the reading we had been doing apart from the chosen book. Sometimes, authors came to our meetings and we attended book events and even movies based on books we had read.

Our meetings have been a steadfast point through earthquakes necessitating changes of venue, a pandemic which meant we communicated online, and the ups and downs of our own lives. We have welcomed new members and others have drifted away. We are a diverse group, with a shared love of books and reading.

So, the change is hard.

All is not lost, however. There is the new format to participate in if we choose. There will be the connection which books provide, a continuing curiosity about the world and how it is represented, and a love of reading to sustain us.