Cultured Views

The woes of a very un-green thumb…

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My Dad was a very able and enthusiastic gardener; he just loved working the soil and everything he planted responded to his green touch. I am not like my Dad…far from it to be more exact.

There is nothing I would love more than to be able to stand knee deep in my own vegie patch, pick my own tomatoes, cut my own green beans from the vine, preserve my own cherries and cook my very own lettuce and carrots.

I have always wanted to be one of those women who wander through their rows of cabbages, courgettes and spinach with a cute little whicker basket over my arm and a sun hat on my head whilst I pluck the fruits of my harvest from their stalks and stroll harmoniously back to my kitchen to wash, prepare and cook them.

The closest I have got to achieving this idyll is picking a lemon from the tree which leans over my fence from the next door neighbours property…

I do not have a green thumb. Anything I plant stays that way…seeds fail to sprout, herbs lose the will to live and turn brown…even the normally indestructible mint and parsley make a one-fingered gesture at me before turning into dried stalks. I have bought seedlings of lettuce and while they sit neatly on top of the soil I retain some glimmer of hope - until the local bunny and snail population send out word overnight that the kitchen is open for business.

I have cherry and mulberry trees and long for the day I am able to get to the fruit before the local birdlife - one minute the little berries are almost to the point of picking…the next they are splattered all over my washing courtesy of a birds bottom.

Sigh. Oh well, I have the sun hat, I have the cute little whicker basket…now it’s off to the supermarket.

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2008 - a great year for sport

This year has to be one of those ‘dream years’ where sports fanatics are concerned. We not only have Wimbledon starting soon, Euro 2008 later this month and then of course the Beijing Olympics in August. Sport in the United States is especially huge and fans like to stay up to date on who is favourite to win next weekend; try this site for free football picks and the chance to match wits with likeminded people.

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Ever wondered about golf…just ask my son.

No I haven’t either actually; until my son in Australia got bitten by the golfing bug recently and now he talks about little else. Strange past time for a twenty year old beach-going Aussie guy when you think about it. William never gave this sport a seconds thought up until a few weeks back and then he caddied for his mate’s Dad and now…well…he’s boring the hell out of us with it all!!

Here are some of the things you may never have known about golf:

* The game was devised in Scotland over 500 years ago but the Chinese played a similar game around 943 AD.

* In a three-day span on a course in Wales, a mother, father and son each made a hole-in one; the odds of this feat are at least 10,000,000 to one

* The Toonik Tyme Festival in Nunavut features a nine-hole golf tournament on sea ice with fluorescent golf balls and parka-clad golfers at temperatures of –50˚C  !!

There, I’ll be that has made your day. It has made William’s day for sure…he’s now a font of somewhat useless information now. Aaahh, don;t you just love a fanatic though?

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