A Veteran Cactus

Once again my Christmas Cactus is living up its name, covered in bright pink flowers. I've had it for so long that I can'tremeber how I came by it. I think I may have inherited it from mother, in which case I've had it for nearly thirty years.

An Unexpected Surprise

The phrase in the title was voiced by a television announcer recently. I find it entertaining to invent circumstances in which vacuous forms of words might have some meaning. In this case we need to start from 'expected surprise'. People, especially children on the eve of their birthdays, often expect to receive a present, the precise nature of which they do not know in advance. One of my friends was quite surprised to receive a belly button brush as a birthday present. What surprised him was not the receipt of a present, but the nature of the present. The donor of the present was known to act strangely, so a surprise of some sort was not unexpected, though the belly button brush was.

Thus an unexpected surprise would be like being given a belly button brush when it is not one's birthday. I can't remember what event inspired the televison person into paradox, but I'm sure I'd have remembered had it involved a belly button brush.

Very Late Tomatoes

A while ago I thought I'd eaten the last of this year's homegrown tomatoes, but today I noticed that a couple of fruit I'd kept just in case they might confound my pessimism by ripening had actually ripened, so I ate them, just six days before Christmas day!!

My Neglected Cheque Book

I recently wrote a cheque to be enclosed in a Christmas card, and noticed that the last time I wrote a check it was to the same person, for enclosure in last year's Christmas card. At one time I got through a checque book in a few months. Now it seems likely that the present book will last for the rest of my life!

Persistent Blooms

Last month I boasted about the unseasoable profusion of flowers in the garden. After a fairly sharp frost last night there are fewer flowers now, but still far more than usual at this tine of year. The fuchsia still retains all its leaves and most of its flowers, and the campnula and Mexican daisy seem unaffected. A cyclamen is just coming into flower and the winter jasmine is splendid.

Home Grown Tomatoes

I'm still eating tomatoes grown by myself in the garden, and haven't needed to buy any tomatoes since early August. The plants expired a while ago but I've been eating fruit that I gathered unripe before disposing of the plants. I think this may be the first time my crop has lasted into December, though very few fruit are left now.

Revive Convalesent Homes

In the 1950's one of my aunts had an operation. When she no longer needed full medical attention she moved to a convalescent home where patients completed their recovery supervised by nurses. When I hear about hospial beds occupied by patients who no longer need hospital care but have nowhere else to go I wonder why convalescent homes are not revived.