January Chard

Sunday was a good day, after a rather miserable Saturday. It was sunny, and P made his very good, slightly sweet waffles for breakfast. After feeding J and setting up her computer access, I put on my wellies and went to pick chard and survey the state of the vegetable garden. It's all very muddy, but the chard is in remarkably good condition for January, with lots of healthy growth. It normally survives the winter before running to seed in the spring, but it doesn't usually look this verdant. I picked a big box, some of which I prepared for immediate use while the rest will go in the freezer, chopped and bagged ready to go in soup. We also have plenty of Brussels sprouts and beetroot, and some curly kale and cavallo nero. There should be leeks, which are usually one of our winter staples, but sadly they were not planted this year. Indoors there are still plenty of stored pumpkins, squashes and potatoes, as well as lots of things in the freezer. There is a lot to clear and prepare before spring, but for the moment it's too wet to be trampling on the soil. It felt really good to be outside and made me want to start organising, clearing and sowing. I usually start the first tomatoes and aubergines by the end of January.

The best news today is that finally, after too much stress and embarrassing chivvying of people during what should be their Christmas holiday and re-negotiation of deadlines, the digital cinema package of the French subtitled version of J's animation has been prepared and sent to Paris for the animation festival. It's a pity we can't go - we are twenty minutes from the tunnel, so Paris is really not that far, but as well as our own cautious avoidance of indoor spaces and crowds, there is still a ban on anyone from the UK travelling into France. Given the astronomically high infection rates our government has decided to allow, it's not surprising. It looks like a very nice festival, in a small Latin Quarter cinema which has been showing art house and experimental films for almost a century.

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