Cucumber sandwiches and a chicken in a tree

I spent this afternoon with Harvestbird and the mini-Harvestbirds at a garden party hosted by Dorothy’s pop-up tearooms (i.e. my friend Jan, who catered my graduation party).  After cold and wet weather earlier in the week, it was a lovely afternoon sitting under the trees eating scones and cucumber sandwiches and an array of incredible cakes.  I taught the mini-Harvestbirds (plus an additional small child from a neighbouring picnic blanket) how to play petanque, but was called away from the grand championship game by Jan, to tell me I’d won a prize in the raffle: a seriously cool pair of teapot and measuring tape earrings (quilts and tea – it’s like they were made for me. Just add some cats and books, and they’d be perfect 🙂 )

I think the highlight for the mini-Harvestbirds was the chicken they spotted perched high in a tree (the venue was out in the semi-countryside on the edge of town). Much excited shouting of “there’s a chicken in the tree” later, they had quite a crowd of adults gathered to see the phenomenon (mutter, mutter, city people, mutter, mutter…)

The elder mini-Harvestbird was moved to compose a song about the chicken, which younger mini-Harvestbird accompanied with interpretive dance.

Hmm, I really should have videoed it, shouldn’t I?  But as you can probably tell, it was a very impassioned performance.
A very pleasant way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon.


Talking of cucumbers, my little cucumber plants are struggling on, despite the cooler weather.  The leaves seem to be starting to die off, but despite that the plants keep valiantly producing flowers, and the actual cucumbers have more than doubled in size.  This would be more impressive if they hadn’t started out microscopic – the largest is now about 2 cm long.

Any bets on the chances of it reaching edible size before winter? Nah, thought not.
Even more incredibly, the watermelon has suddenly taken off. I realised yesterday that suddenly it wasn’t just the couple of leaves it’s been all summer – it’s grown a longish vine which is using the neighbouring mint plants for support. A vine with little buds on the end of it:

And when I got home this afternoon, those little buds had turned into watermelon flowers!

Definitely not holding my breath for actual fruit though.


As I was taking the photo of the watermelon, Parsnips really really wanted me to pay attention to her. This mostly took the form of meowing loudly and flopping dramatically on the step in front of me. Except she totally misjudged how close she was to the wall, so only her front half managed to flop, and the back was left slightly propped against the wall:

Most cats would have moved to a more comfortable position, but once Parsnips commits to a flop, she really commits.  She stayed in that position for as long as I was out there, twisting her head into maximum “aren’t I cute, now pay attention!” position while her back legs stayed standing on the lower step

Strange cat.

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7 Comments

  1. Okay… I think I would have done an impromptu song and interpretive dance too had I seen a chicken in a tree! Those girls are adorable.
    So is the cucumber. I think you should eat it, no matter how small it is whenever you think the moment is right. It would be the most fitting tribute to its tenacity to be consumed by its gardener. 🙂

    1. I’ve encountered chickens in trees before (we don’t have foxes or similar predators here, so people in the country often let their chickens roam free (if they’re not raising them commercially, of course)), but it was quite a tall tree, so the chicken must have been particularly energetic to fly that high!
      I’m tempted to make the world’s smallest cucumber sandwich 🙂

  2. I’m a sucker for a tortie. What a beautiful cat!
    Who am I kidding? I’m a sucker for any cat.
    Misty is totally transparent. If we’re both out in the yard at the same time, she just happens to flop down nearby, roll over, and have her tummy (briefly) tickled. She really likes a jaw rub.
    And she always gets it. She knows I’m a softie.

    1. She knows she’s beautiful too – she’s an expert at finding the cutest possible pose if she thinks it’ll get her a tickle (she prefers the behind-the-ear scratch, but a jaw rub is an acceptable substitute).

  3. Could you pickle the small cucumber?
    And on a completely unrelated note, is Albert going to Europe with Lytteltonwitch? We were wondering at the BC meetup last week!

    1. Doesn’t pickling shrink vegetables? The poor little cucumber might disappear entirely!
      I doubt the airline will be quite as accommodating as the ferry company when it comes to giving Albert a free seat, but maybe he could be smuggled in LW’s luggage? (I reckon it would be worth it just to see the customs officers faces when her bags go through the x-ray machine, but LW might not agree seeing as she’d be the one being dragged off into the interrogation room…)

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