Coffee with Isobel – 23 January 2024

We drove up to the town centre today and were entertained by Isobel for an hour and a bit in Costa. I risked an Americano that actually tasted of coffee. I was shocked!

Life is never dull with Isobel. She always has stories to tell and doesn’t care who she insults when she’s telling them. Today’s topics included falling church attendance, losing a church minister, gardening and a useless new cooker. She did give Scamp some instruction on pruning roses and rudbeckia. She was making arrangements to have the wax removed from her ears by going private. I’m beginning to think that I need it done too, because my hearing has been getting worse recently. Anyway, after we’d heard all her gossip and she had heard all of Scamp’s, we gave her a run home because the rain was torrential. She wouldn’t accept any help and toddled off pushing her walker once we’d dropped her off. When we were coming out of Costa

Back home it was tomato soup and toast for lunch from the never emptying soup pot. I did consider going out if the rain stopped, but it didn’t and I stayed in. PoD was a photo of my Window Ledge Garden with its green spike of ’back from the dead’ Spring Onion and a clove of garlic that has white spike and also roots that weren’t there when it went into the water pot a couple of days ago. Both plants are growing in nothing but water. The pot, with its little floating island that holds the plants, was a Christmas present from Hazy. It took me a week or so to find the time to read the instructions and test it out. Amazingly for me, it worked first time. I’m intending growing beetroot and leeks next. Thank you Hazy.

By the time I’d checked in with Alex and discussed tomorrow with him, then processed and posted the PoD, it was time for dinner and for the second time this week it was fish. This time it was Leek and Smoked Fish Risotto. Unfortunately I’d cut the bottom off the leek before I remembered that I could have coaxed it back to useful lift. The resulting risotto was a bit wetter than I’d intended it to be, but we ate almost all of it.

We watched University Challenge later and got the nominal two or three correct answers each. Feeling quite pleased with ourselves. Then we watched The Secret Genius of Modern Life on the history of microwave ovens which sounds a really boring program. But with a thoughtful approach to delivering this information, it was interesting and informative. Infotainment at its best. I commend it to you. Accessible from iPlayer.

I saw that Isobel had a pair of sheepskin mittens in her bag and said, without thinking: “Oh, pawkies!” One of my mum’s words for mittens. Funny how you remember these random words.

The wind is wheechin’ round the house again tonight, and I hope it calms down a bit before tomorrow, because I’ve got a possible appointment for a photo walk with Alex in Glasgow which I don’t want to miss because I called off last week when I wasn’t feeling well. A dry day would be nice, but that may be a wish too far.