Matthew on the Terrace

With the advance media coverage relentless on Hurricane Matthew, it seemed like we could get a whopper.  But, sadly for the Caribbean and the southeast, most of its fury was expended there, and largely spared us - fortunately for us. 

Matthew did come earlier than expected here, somewhat throwing off my weekend running routine - early rains on Saturday, and then winds and a temperature drop after the rains stopped today.  An experiment with indoor exercise - doing stairs in the building - was considered, but then delayed, finally put off permanently by Presidential debate viewing.  Balance requires far more discipline with weekend and off hours than I am naturally inclined to muster - I must either work on greater discipline or learn to let go of the guilt and stress of not getting done what I aspire to do... working on it.

With the rains precluding the usual gardening on the terrace, "accomplishments" came down to darting between drops to pick up wind-blown tomatoes and cursory inspections of the plants.

Menacing Saturday skies as Matthew moved in.

 

The strengthening winds led to a green tomato casualty.  Tomato was rescued.  Not quite sure what to do with it - last year, the green tomatoes gathered when the frost finally set in got turned into a savory "jam" - cooked and reduced down as a condiment.  Maybe I'll repeat that again - although not sure how long this little guy will hold out, whether it will still want to jam by the time there are enough of its brethren to form a critical mass.

On the bright side, these rains, and the rains we got in the preceding days/weeks, seem to have had a very positive effect on the geraniums.  They seem to have grown and strengthened by leaps and bounds - no way I could implement the preliminary plan of using jars (collected to hold votives for evening celebrations) as cloches to get them through the winter.  But maybe more than just the largest will be hefty enough to be dry-stored through the winter - if I can remember to mist them occasionally through the season.

And then the rains began.

The rain allowed for new projects - salvaging a honeydew Sissy bought over a month ago that was starting to go, to see whether it might still be edible.  It was actually quite delicious.  And, in the spirit of using the whole melon, the internet yielded recipes for pan-roasted honeydew seeds - high in protein, apparently.

 

VERY ripe honeydew, and very sweet - cut up and stored for consumption.

 

Honeydew rinds, showing the beginning of mold spots, on their way to the compost pile.

 

Pan-roasting the honeydew seeds in a bit of olive oil, garlic salt, chili powder, paprika, sea salt.

 

Quite tasty, although not very fleshy.  They were mostly seed shells, I think.  But they were snacked upon and added crunch to a saucy sauteed leftover veggie dish eaten for dinner.  And they were gone by night.

And then today, it was, as the meteorologists predicted, quite breezy.  The water catchers caught water.  All in all, not too bad as far as damage goes.  Although it seems we are dropping into the 40s.  I am not quite sure I am ready to welcome the plants indoors yet.  A rebound into the 50s is also predicted after the brief chill, so perhaps there is time yet.

 

"Angel hair" (aka cardinal vine) trellis - off-kilter.



 

Bike parka - badly rustled by the wind, with a gaping gash down the middle.

Compost bins - liquid overflowing the bottom catch buckets, out the overflow hole, ringing the concrete pavers.

 

"Ten o'clocks" (aka portulaca?) - waterlogged.

So many tasks still to be done - so it had better not go cold on us yet.  Bulbs to be planted, tropical plants located indoors, dead shrubbery to be uprooted and chipped or composted somehow, new planters to be prepped with drainage holes and set in place and filled, seeds to be gathered, labels to be set in place as a reminder about what goes where to guide next spring's planting....