Just Jo!

Just as Olivia was back to her normal chirpy self last night, Adam came home.
His team apparently had won, so he felt the desperate need to ‘celebrate’. He’d come home briefly to change before resuming said celebrations. He said he’d be back about 2:30. He made it ’til just gone 9pm. He collapsed onto his bed muttering, “We won!” He got a phonecall from a girl, all he could say was “Ineedawee!” repeatedly…. I do have photographic evidence of the aftermath of his celebratory efforts….they are not pretty. I will be saving them for any future blackmail.
This morning he was a little hungover. I say ‘morning’ on the understanding that a ‘morning after’ doesn’t actually begin ’til at least midday. Olivia had much fun laughing at her big brother. He didn’t. He moaned at her, if he was capable of shouting at her, I’m sure he would have.
I pointed out to him that on any future occasion that Olivia may come home in such a state, he has my full permission to inflict on her the exact same treatment. She pointed out that after witnessing her brother last night, she has no intention of ever getting drunk.
So at least one of them has learnt a valuable lesson….
I suppose I should be outraged , but what would be the point? He wasn’t aggressive in any way, there was no ‘mess’ to clean up, he’s 18 and I can’t remember the last time he got that drunk, he works hard, both at college and at his job, he could be a hell of a lot worse. So I’ll let him off….and keep the photos in a safe place.

Anyway….at least two members of this particular household were up bright eyed and bushy tailed at a reasonable hour. A lazy morning doing maths (Olivia) and Flickr (me). I’ve joined the 24 Hours of Flickr group that was brought to my attention by Merry. I thank you!
So that kept me quiet for hours as I looked at hundreds of gorgeous photos. I really need to get a halfway decent camera, I’ll be able to fill my blog with lots of pics then….
I think Olivia surprised herself more than me with breezing through the maths with absolutely no input from me. Got them all right too, apart from the two where it was so obvious she let her mind wander for a second or two.
Then we made caponata, which is probably our mostest favouritest way of having aubergine. But we needed tomatoes and celery so we had a quick shopping trip. Because we really have not spent enough time in shops this week….
We saw two spider nests on the front fence, which fascinate Olivia as much as me. I love the way they ‘explode’ then huddle back up again….

We decided that all food preparation and most of the cooking was going to be done outside. So that’s what we did, a recipe in photos….

We fight over who gets to use the mezzaluna. She won….this time….

We only needed 12 olives, but Olivia loves them so the jar is almost empty now….

We also needed a tablespoon of capers, Olivia tried one on its own….

Slightly concerned at the roaring flames on the barbecue ring….

After stirring constantly for ten minutes….

It gets served at room temperature, or in today’s case, garden temperature.
We pottered for a bit. Olivia chucking birdseed round the garden….

Me cooing at the lavender….

Adam has surfaced for brief periods throughout the day, putting a wash on, getting a toasted ham sandwich, bowl of cereal….
We had dinner al fresco again. I’d got some huge mushrooms, so grilled them with just avocado oil, salt and pepper, spooned the caponata over and around them, and had a rocket and tomato salad with balsamic vinegar. ‘Cos sometimes we can be posh and forget we live on a GCE!

So while she’s out watering the garden, I can now pretend I’m very busy doing incredibly grown-up things on the ‘puter. Fortunately, for a petite wee child, she has the tread of an elephant, so I can turn off blogs before she sees my oh so important (ahem)work….