Jacket potatoes with cheesy greens

Things I have learned or relearned today:

1. Minibeasts are great. I moved a pot in the garden and found dozens of woodlice and a centipede underneath. Contrary to their name, centipedes don’t have 100 legs: the common centipede has 15 pairs of legs, so 30 in total. Common woodlice have 7 pairs of legs, and are more closely related to shrimp than to insects like beetles.
2. Dad apparently loaded his veg patch with good quality soil at some point, because I was expecting the gardener to need hours to dig through our heavy clay soil but it took her less than 30 minutes. She therefore had time to plant some butterfly weed and dahlia corms, and to dead-head all our roses, too. 👏
3. At one point, she moved the garden bin to put the greenery in, and mum went into a minor panic that it was missing, and had the gardener stolen it? I had to get my shoes and crutches, and physically go outside and show mum where the bin was sitting, minding its own business and not remotely stolen.
4. There is just no winning in some discussions with mum. Mum was complaining that her teeth hurt, but “the dentist said there’s nothing wrong so I can’t do anything about it”. I said that no, the dentist didn’t say that, he said that mum might need a new filling. She then shifted to “I don’t like that dentist, he wants to do something to me”.
5. When all else fails, I can’t beat the satisfaction of a couple of hours constructing random buildings in The Sims. It was very much my thing during lockdown, and my total number of hours played is, terrifyingly, in the two thousands, and increasing by the week. I may go back to it this evening, if mum doesn’t decide she wants to watch the football again. Mum dislikes football, and only ever wants to watch when I want to go to bed early. 🥱
6. I really must not correct mum when she goes on one of her “I haven’t been to church in ages, why haven’t they contacted me?” soliloques. I pointed out that she went the Sunday before last, and was out for hours. Mum spent the next 20 minutes wandering around, muttering that she was confused and couldn’t remember and was she going mad? I meant to reassure her she hadn’t been forgotten, not highlight the problems with her memory.
7. It is essential that I check the fridge before announcing what’s for dinner. I told mum we would be having Mediterranean veg with our jacket potatoes, then discovered I hadn’t ordered any. Mum started flapping around – “will there be food?”. I consulted the AI on my phone, with details of what we had in the fridge, and it suggested cheesy garlic greens.
8. If you want to try it, just sauté chopped onions and garlic in a little oil, then add sliced spring greens (or any leafy green veg), seasoning (I used garam masala, although being Tesco own brand it didn’t taste of much), and a splash of water. Cook until the greens are tender, then add a splash of cream and a generous handful of grated cheese, and stir until the cheese has melted.
9. Mum said it was “very nice, thank you”. I think it’s one to play around with, to get the best results, but it was certainly a nice something different.

So that was today. I am exhausted and ready for sleep. Mum is complaining there’s nothing on television. Suki is on the arm of the chair between us, purring and purring and purring.

If all else fails, I have at least got a tabby purr in this world.