IT WAS NOT LOST.. JUST HIDING IN A CUPBOARD..

What weather.. warm, wet and windy! All the Ws.

The North End Road was heaving with people and it took ages to wiggle through, it is a good thing that old wicker just rolls along behind and does not grumble, for he was full to the brim.

Not with food though, SHE went to the library first and found a lot of books by a new author that SHE has recently discovered.

So down the library steps they went with a hop and a skip and crossed over onto Sydney Street to catch a bus to Fulham Broadway.

Money came out of a hole in the wall, aka an ATM and off they went to market. Humous, carrots, satsumas, pomegranates, grapes, apples (cox), spring onions, celery, double cream, emery boards, newspaper, a chat and a laugh with lovely Karen and back home on the bus.

That carrot and ginger soup was very quick to make and the smell from YumYum HQ was delicious, I had a whole slice of MY favourite bread, German dark rye with sunflower seeds.  Heavenly stuff. SHE slurped soup and cheese and celery.

All of a sudden, SHE was in the hall pulling open the doors of the china cupboard, then bending down to get at the bottom shelf.

SHE straightened up and in HER hand was a rather odd looking vase. SHE looked at it with great affection and brought it into the kitchen to be washed.

It has a small circular base, a little plinth which opens up into a round, bowl like shape, then it narrows in to the top section of about 8 inches which opens out at the very top, the bowls are usually decorated, HER vase is engraved with deep slashes. It is a very beautiful thing.

Do YOU know what it is for Dear Reader? Guess.

It is a Celery Vase. And it was given to HER for Christmas many, many years ago by a dear friend, he was a great 'foodie', a wonderful cook and he knew that SHE would know exactly what it was.

The shop, where he found it, has long gone. It was in Ebury Street, the enchanting, very elderly man who ran the shop was a expert of all ages and all types of Glass.

YOU see them often in charity / junk shops marked at very small prices for they actually are the wrong shape for flowers and very few people know what their original use was.. 

But for keeping Celery fresh, there is nothing better, it is a vegetable that really does not do very happily stored in a chilly white larder, just scrape a little off the base and keep it in the daylight in water.. the taste will be quite different and it is especially good when served with a fine Stilton. 

SHE is reading the papers, I am grinding old Beaky on top of sitting room door. Outside it is tipping down with rain and WE consider that WE are very fortunate to be healthy and that WE live in a cosy, dry home, with electric light, food in the house and water in the pipes.

For WE are sad to know that there are far too many people, even in OUR own country, who cannot say that they have these things. 

GeeGee Parrot.

December 21st, 2013.