Safely back.

Little gardening got done, less knitting. We had a good time. The weather was fairly kind, considering what 2012 has been up to so far. St Swithin is trying.

My vegetables appeared worse than ever – the deer had been back. Their pretty legs, sinking into soft soil, make footprints which the most obtuse naturalist could not confuse with slugs or rabbits. They have even eaten the growing tops off the autumn raspberries.

By the end, I felt a bit better. If the weather stays clement and the deer stay away – two major suppositions – the mange-tout peas might manage a late crop. Alexander and his family came over last weekend, to see James and his family. Alexander says my vegetables look better than his (hard to believe) and that he is ready to give up and just grow fruit.

I am going to stick to my plan of perennial vegetables. Jerusalem artichokes (the gift of the Fishwife, now in their third season), Good King Henry (repulsive alike to slugs, rabbits, deer, and people), and sorrel are doing fine. Harriet’s gift of Welsh onions and garlic chives have settled in happily. I planted the Babington leeks she gave me (sources vary as to how many “B’s”) in a large flower pot so that I can keep a close maternal eye on their early stages.

And the summer pudding bush produced an astonishing crop. I had netted it very carefully, pegging the netting down all around. We must have picked close to six pounds of berries. The pudding was delicious, and I have frozen more than enough to make another one for Helen’s family. The white current bushes, on the other hand, which birds have previously ignored, were nearly stripped before I got to them. They’ll have to be netted next year.

Good King Henry made another appearance as “saag” in a curry, and again acquitted itself well. The potatoes look fine. The vegetable cage has resisted attack.

But I am increasingly anxious about the prospect of being there alone with my husband. He is nearly 87; no joke. We had a low-blood-sugar episode which was almost trivial because James was there. Next month we’ll have Helen. But after that…

Knitting

I gave Alexander his Bedroom at Arles socks. Ketki was wearing her Restaurant de la Sirene ones. I knit a few long rows of the Japenese shirt.

Here, I am binding off the first of our niece’s socks. I find I can (I think) do the Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off without looking it up again. So today I’ll have to do another Magic Cast-On.

Pictures of many of the excitements just mentioned will be on view soon.