Late today I read a tweet by Donald Trump. He said that, having spoken to the prime minister of Finland, the best way to prevent wild fires in California is to rake up the forest floor. I can’t believe he can be quite so stupid as he makes out. I’m sure he’d change his tune if he had to do the raking.
As usual at this time of year, while we don’t have any wildfires, we do have a lot of leaves. I know I discuss this every year but every year it’s as if the tree produces more and more leaves. Given we have it cut back every two years, this is patently not true. Perhaps it says more about my Age Determined Raking Rate (ADRR).
The ADRR is a simple equation that calculates how many leaves per minute one can rake efficiently when put against ones advancing years. Naturally the curve (isn’t there always a curve) rises towards the middle (Maximum Rake) productive years, and then seems to slide down the inevitable slope to the abyss of No Raking.
You can tell someone who has reached the level of No Raking because they tend to just stand and look at fallen leaves with a look of inevitable acceptance plastered on their face. I have not reached this level yet as demonstrated today.
Possibly one of the worst aspects of Autumn is when the winds pick up mid-rake. There’s little more depressing than watching your slowly growing mounds of leaf litter suddenly re-dispersed, back to where it all fell naturally. It makes you wonder why you do it.
The wind, while present today, was not strong enough to wipe out all my good work. Very soon I had a big mound of leaves, ready to wheel down to the leaf trap.
By the time I’d finished, I’d taken three wheelbarrows full down to the leaf trap. Actually, the leaf trap is in the process of being moved by Gardener Dave. Because of it’s interim status, the leaves are spread out a bit. Still, it’s all the same just not as tidy and it won’t break down as quickly.
And the terrace looked a lot better for about five minutes after which more leaves fell to begin the process all over again.
That took me a while today (my ADRR is clearly at around 1.1) but left me enough time to make Mirinda a sort of mini Korean feast.
I’ve noticed from all the Korean TV I’ve been watching that ordinary Koreans eat a collection of little bowls of food at just about every meal. It’s not like the big feasts we had in Japan (or sometimes at Chez Gaz) but rather like splitting a meal up into four bits and serving them separately.
So, tonight, I made chicken leg, broccoli and daikon in a soy based broth along with miso soup, sauteed spinach and lotus root and Mirinda’s favourite, tofu in sesame oil topped with caviar.
That sounds like a lot but it was quite a compact meal. Mind you, Mirinda did say it was quite filling.
In fact, there was no room for the dessert that I hadn’t made.
It looks very filling but nice. Its a pity you cant get rid of the tree that would cut out some of the sweeping also the barrow lifting it is very heavy when full I should know. It certainly looked good when it was finished .