Thursday 16 June 2011

Looking Good

This one is supposed to be another update concerning the small and trivial things that make up my day-to-day home life - small and trivial they may be, but still they do matter to me in their own way, and my life would certainly be less rich without them.

My previous update (concerning pretty much the same things) can be found here, if you are interested.

Let's start with my cat:
She has certainly put on some badly needed weight, and her fur is growing back nicely; it is almost back to its former length, just without the knots.
When I pick her up, she feels a lot more compact and heavy than just a few weeks ago, so the new medication she has to take twice a day for her thyroid problem seems to work well.
Also, she is a lot less nervous and appears calmer.

How are the little forget-me-nots doing?
They are positively thriving out there on the window sill! Look at these two pictures - the first one was taken on June 2nd, the next one only four days later. The basil seems to like its neighbours, too:


And now, another ten days later, the forget-me-knots are "tall" enough to peep over the rim of their terracotta home. Although they will not blossom this year, my hopes are up for next spring, if I manage to make them survive winter.

There are more things looking good around here - the cherries, for instance.
In what felt like no time they went from green to red to deep red, and 1 1/2 weeks ago, I picked a handful off the tree straight from my kitchen window:

My neighbours have been contributing to the good things, too. If you go to the search bar in the top left corner of my blog and type in "neighbours", you will find one or two older posts where I have mentioned them before.
Among other things, they have grown a mulberry tree in our garden (I say "our", because it really is as much my garden as theirs, but as they live downstairs and have a child and do all the gardening, I leave it entirely to them). The mulberries are very tasty, sweet and juicy, and the other day, Murat gave me a bowl full:


His mother made some Börek a while ago (puff pastry filled with spinach and sometimes minced meat, spiced very nicely) and rang my doorbell with this plate in hand - it was still warm, and althouth I had already had my dinner, I finished that, too :-)







There's more, but I am going to stop now with the very first raspberries of this season, from my parents' garden - and I wish I could add their scent to this posting!

Looking Good, aren't they?

(Sorry about the huge gap between the last two pictures - I have tried everything but can't get rid of it in editing)

14 comments:

  1. Hello,
    Mulberrys.....now thats something you don't see every day. My sister had a tree in her backyard and on moving day i was there with her, and we found ourselves standing under the tree, stuffing ourselves with mulberries and laughing, when we should of been moving.
    how wonderful to be able to reach for cherries right out your window!
    xx
    julie

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  2. Happy to hear your kitty is doing better! There's nothing worse than a sick pet because they can't communicate.

    Looks like you're getting your fruits and veggies! Everything looks delicious, especially the mulberries!

    Have a wonderful weekend!

    Mary

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  3. Julie, I am trying to imagine that scene under the mulbery tree :-)

    Mary, thank you! Yes, I am getting plenty of fresh food and lots of vitamins.
    You too have a wonderful weekend!

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  4. Love these photos of the beauiful fruit, fantastic looking plate with the Borek, your plants doing so well and your precious kitty!
    I must ask you, I have only ever HEARD about mulberries and that is from the nursery rhyme, what do they taste like, something like blackberries? (By the way, I love photos of fruit so much, when I see one I like in an ad, I cut it out and tape it up on my kitchen cabinets. How crazy is that?)
    Kay
    P.S. Hope I'm not driving YOU crazy these days!

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  5. Kay, of course you are not driving me crazy - I very much appreciate all your comments and our correspondence!
    Mulberries do indeed taste somewhat similar to blackberries, but they are less tangy, I find.
    I like your habit of taping pictures of fruit to your kitchen cabinets!
    Last summer, my sister and I bought "fruit" earrings for my mum, a pair of cherries, a pair of apples and a pair of strawberries, very cute!

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  6. So happy Miss Kitty is recovering well.
    I was skeptical, at first, your forget-me-nots would be over-shadowed by the basil, but it appears they are quite content sharing their space.

    We have fruitless Mulberry trees in our yard; the fruited kind are just way too messy, but the birds really love them.

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  7. Yes, Jill, I am glad that Pukky is doing a lot better, too. And just before I moved the forgetmenots to their new quarters, I had begun to think I may have to let them go; they didn't look very healthy anymore, but they really seem to be in the right place now!

    I didn't even know fruitless mulberry trees exist.

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  8. Not only do they exist (maybe only in the US?), but they are wonderful landscaping trees, beautiful and providing abundant shade.

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  9. Although you did not add a picture of yourself in this post, I would say that you are another element in your house that is looking good.

    PS: Bagman made me say that. Butler tried to retract the comment.

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  10. Jill, I can easily imagine that - the one in our back garden is really huge and grew at an enormous speed in only very few years. actually it is too big for the small space it occupies and should be cut back somewhat.

    Mark: Tell Bagman thank you, I am taking it as a compliment, and tell Butler that it's perfectly alright to say that and I am not offended (on the contrary), so he shouldn't scold Bagman for it :-)

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  11. 'all around the mulberry tree, the monkey chased the weasel' - well, that's the only mulberry tree I've ever heard of. I am amazed it exists. And bears such fruit. Anything the slightest bit like blackberries, I would love. You and I share the gift, and I really do believe it is a gift, for appreciating the things in life that some might view as small or mundane, but which really are the wonders of life.

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  12. Dear Nan, I couldn't agree more with you - it certainly is a gift to be able to appreciate the small things and simple pleasures! People can be angry and grumpy all day long, but they do not have to be, do they? :-)

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  13. Glad to hear your kitty is on the mend.

    My Mulberry trees are loaded and I need to get out there and pick them so I can make some mulberry jam.

    Thank for sharing all the food dishes....Yum

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  14. You are welcome, Cyn! There's a bit more to come, I have just not gotten round to writing them up and posting them here.

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