New Zealand/Old Zealand

Crocuses opening in River Valley Park in Exeter,

and snoozing Mallards on the river bank.

Field mushrooms

 fried in coconut oil and garlic for tonight's supper 

with a mustardy Chermoula dressing.

 I think it's warm enough to hang out the washing today - six of my husband's jumpers on the line -  but they are still damp at 6pm.

The nice man at the Genius Bar in the Apple Centre says my 6 year old laptop is now classed as vintage.....so I'm thinking about a new one.....and all that learning I will have to do.....and how much I like this old one.....and how I don't like change....which is the signature of my life now however much I resist it.

The way I'm resisting at the moment is to make us huge nutritious suppers .....and later I prowl through  the kitchen cupboards looking for something to fill up my imaginary hunger....dried apricots and cashew nuts don't really work but I used up the dark chocolate bars last week making a cake.

My husband sleeps a lot today after his Museum visit with the nice people at Innovations in Dementia.  He doesn't go to his ceramics class and as he has a cold I'm not sure he tasted much of tonight's supper anyway. I bought the mushrooms in the farmers' market  - not a variety I've seen before -  flat as a small hand, gilled and grey/ brown with a fat spongy stalk - chewy and nutty with garlic and spring onions. 

We had them with roasted sweet potatoes, a slab of grilled salmon, white sprouting broccoli and lashings of my version of Chermoula - mostly parsley, garlic, a grassy Spanish olive oil, lemon juice,  crushed toasted cumin and whole grain mustard instead of chilli.

Think I'm just missing New Zealand and being in holiday limbo. One day when we were driving west towards Franz Joseph Glacier my husband said,

This is New Zealand isn't it?

Yes.

Then he says,

I know it's an odd question but was there ever an Old Zealand?

It makes me wonder what ever happened to my old husband and our old life...... and how do you grow into a new territory without the stamina or drive of a pioneer?