The aftermath

We all know about delayed stress in theory, but I can tell you, it is not nice to live with it in reality. Ever since the robbery I have mostly been dealing with the fallout and even though I have kept busy and cheerful, it must be eating away at me inside, because my health is deteriorating. I still can't sleep more than 4/5 hours a night, and now seem to be down with something like gastric flu, which might even be something a lot worse.  Still, I would say the dealing with officialdom and replacing things are mostly done now, although quite a few things are in the process of being sent, so I can't say it has all finished.  The longest will be the passport, which is 8 weeks from when they get all the papers in the post.  Not exactly 21st century method of paperwork, but who am I to complain?

Last Monday's good news was an excellent concert with Isabelle Faust, although the orchestra was rather mediocre. An early piece of Bartok was brilliant and I loved the tones of her Strad, which is only a single year younger than Kristof's.

On Tuesday we had lunch with a family history friend of Roy's who was really nice. The restaurant had changed hands since we have been there last, but it was still very pleasant with good food.

The star event last week was a 60th birthday party for a hiking friend, where I could reconnect with him and his entire group of friends whom I have lost contact with in the last couple of years. We had a good time and one of them came up with the idea of bringing the group out to the village for a hike later on in the month. It should be really good, as they are a nice bunch who enjoy exercise, food and drink in about equal measure.

Now we are in the village where we have done some gardening and resting.  Amazingly some of the roses are still producing blooms in November.  I couldn't finish the pruning as I didn't have the heart to chop them off. I did prune the raspberries, although I had no idea how much I should cut them back, so they are about 18 inches from the ground in height.




The kitchen garden is also still producing stuff, including a plump strawberry, which I spotted from the corner of my eye. Initially I thought it was a leaf that got red through frost, but it was a really nice surprise to find the strawberry. The Brussels sprouts are also growing well, I am wondering if they will have some sprouts on for Christmas?

You may have spotted the other two, yet unripe strawberries on this plant.  I think that would be close on a miracle if those got ripe, now that the frost is coming.

And this is the last white pepper crop, which since got sauteed in olive oil and bottled. We have never done anything like this before, we'll see whether they keep or not.