pumpkinstrokemarrow

While I might not care for the activities of the coppicers on the Common, I do have a sort of coppice of my own in the back garden in the form of a decapitated chestnut tree which has sprouted, last noticed (according to the search button) on April 28th 2010. A coppice which is getting under way again, with new shoots popping out of the stump. Clearly got the wit to get going before it gets shaded out by the overhanging oak from next door - an oak tree which probably overhangs more of our garden than it does that of its owner, having been pushed over our way by a neighbouring willow tree.

Second item of interest is culinary, in the form of a new variety of chicken carcase soup, prompted by my low fibre regime. Use rather less water than usual, maybe two pints to the carcase rather than three to four, just one onion and one carrot. Boil for four hours or so, mashing occasionally, by which time one has an opaque, cream with a hint of coffee coloured stock. Strain and add some chopped cold chicken, two biscuits of Sharwood's medium egg noodles and simmer for a further six minutes (rather than the four it says on the packet). Not bad at all; hugely superior to the e number filled chicken noodle soup from Knorr one might otherwise be reduced to.

Third and last I can today report the completion of my second jigsaw of the season, a Schmidt 500 photographic view of an alpine valley. The finished jigsaw is maybe half the size (by area) of the first jigsaw (see March 28th) with correspondingly smaller pieces and all in all a lot more difficult. Reduced on the last lap, an expanse of mottled but otherwise feature free mountain side, to trial and error. Sorting was not of much help as all the pieces had the same format - prong, hole, prong hole as one goes round the piece clockwise - and colour variation was quite subtle. Even so, quite often, the brain and eye combined managed to spot the right home for a piece before the mind got under way. Perhaps another legacy of our hunter gatherer past noticed in connection with gathering nuts last autumn (see September 2nd 2011).