A week has sped by, during which time my hearing has improved vastly, although my ears continue to pop and click whenever I yawn or swallow.
I've been missing from the blog, busy devoting considerable time to family and various matters that needed my attention. There have been two days at my casual job, the grandchildren came for another hectic morning, builders have been to tend to small renovation jobs, I travelled to the city for a symphony concert and again to see the Queensland Theatre Company's production of 'A Streetcar Named Desire', then twice more to househunt for my pregnant daughter. I gardened and made mulch - and then spent two more days out in the glorious autumn weather playing croquet - my wonderfully relaxing, but also grippingly absorbing, sport of choice.
In between, I've been swimming each afternoon in the pool - warmed by a recently installed solar heater - and cooking up banana muffins and cakes to use up the last of the over-ripe bunch we picked. And in whatever time I can find, reading "The Meeting of the Waters", an intriguing account of the infamous South Australian Hindmarsh Bridge affair and its entanglement with the secret Aboriginal women's business. The book is written by journalist Margaret Simons - a favourite writer of mine since the days of her 'Earth Mother' gardening column in The Australian - and even more so after her delightful book about compost, "Resurrection in a Bucket".
But back to the kitchen and the garden - both the dragonfruit have been picked and eaten. And you are right Mikhela - lime juice helps a lot. Otherwise, some big scoops of natural yhogurt. I'm developing quite a taste for the red dragonfruit, and will be keeping an eye on the new crop coming on.
Meanwhile the Tamarillos (aka Tree Tomatoes) have ripened.
These are another lesser known subtropical fruit. Originating in South America, they are now widely grown in New Zealand for export.
Again, they don't have such a wonderful flavour, but are juicy and refreshing and very versatile for those who like making jams, chutnies and sauces.
I like them because the tree is quite attractive as well as fast growing and early bearing. You can see the fruit here against a backdrop of banana leaves.
Here's the tamarillo tree soon after we planted it, a little over 12 months ago. The leaves are big and shiny and the size of dinner-plates.
Behind it you can see the cactus of the dragonfruit plant snaking up and across the wire trellis erected for it. That is bearing now too - while next to it, the banana suckers we planted at about the same time, are now more than 20 feet high.
(Tabor is contemplating growing dragonfruit in her greenhouse. I'm no expert, but it is worth giving it a try. There's a link to some horticultural information here, on the left side-bar.)
The other tree that is fruiting for the first time this year is our Lemonade tree. A lemonade fruit is a citrus hybrid that looks like a lemon but has a mild sweet flavour that makes its flesh as ready-to-eat as an orange or mandarine.
We liked our first taste of this fruit so much that we planted a second tree, but this one is growing as an espalier on a wire frame constructed in the same way as for the dragonfruit.
The milk bottle hanging among the leaves contains the wild may oil that we put out to attract and drown the fruit fly. It does a good job, as is evidenced by all the bodies floating in the liquid.
Below are some of our bright chilli bushes - we have red, gold, green and purple varieties - which amazingly, are regularly raided by birds.
It's probably time for me to make some chilli jam again - and some lime marmalade - and the rosellas will be ready to pick soon as well.
So if you don't hear from me for a while ... !
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