(no subject)

Can't sleep right now, because I was running my mouth (upon request, this time) and managed to get myself more upset than vatine. Gotta love those conversations which just leave you feeling like a total idiot, and a whiny one at that. Say what you want about cheap Lidl cider, even small quantities make an excellent sleep aid. :)

I popped out the front--with its two doors serving as a cat lock--a little while ago, and spotted the neighborhood fox again. It was trotting down the sidewalk on the other side of the street again, pausing to sniff at people's trash bags. I'd wondered what had ripped into a couple of ours before, since there just aren't a bunch of dogs running around loose here, then I spotted that fox doing just that. A few weeks ago, when Ingvar was in the States as it happened, it started turning into our front gate while I was at the door, then just trotted along to the next house when it spotted me. That's the closest I've been to a fox, so far. My first reaction upon seeing the thing is still, "It must be rabid, the way it's acting," improbable as that is in the U.K. The only ones I saw in Virginia were usually crossing the road in the middle of the night, well out in the country, and avoiding humans as much as possible. (Never saw the couple of rabid ones which wandered out of the woods and into the neighborhood when I was a kid, before I was herded inside--nor the rabid dog, for that matter.)

Edit (about 2:30): I just went to the door again, and the fox came even closer, just 10-15 feet in front of me! It decided to turn in the gate and follow the walk around to the back. Ha, we forgot to put out the bags for collection before heading for bed--didn't think there might be reason for gladness. ;)

On a related note, apparently people in the Roanoke (VA) area in particular are getting bitten by every sort of rabid animal imaginable lately. My mother was laughing about its being a shock, having actual Appalachian people trying to pet friendly-acting foxes (and everything else), but I guess a couple of generations in suburbia can do that. It's perhaps a bit less surprising after seeing a documentary on Fraser Island dingoes, with one resident complaining about tourists doing ridiculous things like crouching on all fours with biscuits in their mouths, trying to lure a dingo over for photos!

Miscellany

Oddly enough, this is the second afternoon in a row I've felt an overwhelming urge to go and bask in the sun like a lizard, as good as it felt shining on my shoulders. I could just feel the Vitamin D synthesizing. (People who knew me in VA are probably snorting and falling over, about now.) It is still nice to be able to go out in sunlight for more than 10 minutes at a time without turning crispy. The climate seems to suit my default melanin level, at least. :)

Today I noticed the first eensy green tomato. The plants have been tantalising with scads of blooms but no fruit, so far! The first couple of crookneck yellow squash should be ready to eat in a few days, and I think the Costata Romanesco zucchini plant has a couple of tiny fruit. There are still about two dozen tiny nubbins of cucumbers, so that I'm beginning to wonder if the plants have decided to be perverse and tempt us with tiny, not-yet-edible cucumbers. There is even a volunteer dill plant just about at the right stage for making pickles, with the nice yellow head. Maybe they tend to do this, though--I haven't grown cucumbers on my own before, and know I'm not so patient! We also now have six green October beans of edible size stashed in a baggie in the fridge--more growing, thank goodness--so I think it's about time for more stir-fry.

Had I ever considered being a farmer, it's probably not the best option, given my level of patience. :/

Tonight we're having a yummy-smelling pork dish with red wine, olives, tomato, and fresh rosemary and sage. (Yay for jars of pitted Kalamatas! It's so much easier when you need almost a cup of them.) Also mushrooms stuffed with spinach and cream cheese, and garlic bread with some of the seedy wholemeal rolls I made yesterday, besides salad. (Ditto for the bread machine dough cycle.) I think I may take my chances reseeding the Bright Lights chard, since I let the first batch dry out while it was germinating; bags of spinach are ridiculously priced, especially if you go organic to avoid all the usual icky pesticides. I was actually slightly surprised to see that spinach was on the top-ten list of high pesticide vegetables, according to USDA figures, and I doubt it has fewer pests here.

I've been feeling a lot better since I haven't been stuffing myself so full of carbohydrates. I don't think I tolerate wheat well, in particular, which may not be too surprising, considering half my ancestors didn't even clap eyes on the stuff until less than 400 years ago. Not drinking sugary iced tea (the "house wine of the South", and a major addiction here) all day has probably helped quite a bit, too. (I'm having to compromise a bit there, with a lesser quantity of tea not quite as well-sweetened with sucralose, but even a bit of artificial sweetener is probably better than pouring in two litres--with half a cup of sugar--a day.) I think it's helped even out my blood sugar, which was part of the point. I realised that I was already having hypoglycemic attacks--took a little long to figure it out, with "Hmm, I didn't eat before I left and now I'm having panic attacks on the train again" being the most obvious clue. (Followed by several incidents of, "I think I'll eat some fruit instead of taking a tablet," which worked amazingly well.) With any luck, I can stave things off and avoid becoming full-blown diabetic like most of my mother's family. Basing your diet on pasta and rice when you're already prone to problems with glucose metabolism might not always be the best approach. :/ At the risk of sounding like one of the tediously food-obsessed, I really have noticed a difference in general energy level and anxiety symptoms over the past few weeks.