End of August

 Here on Sue's News and Views I try to be upbeat about this crazy yet beautiful life as trans people. But today I am suffering from SABS, which normally stands for Sunday Afternoon Blues (when you've got to go back to work on Monday morning), only for me it's Sunny August Busy September, and I'm not looking forward to the change. It wouldn't be the first time I'd grumbled on here about the move from balmy, lazy summer to serious autumn stuff. Thankfully, I have some good friends coming to stay at the end of next month and that will be fun.

 

It takes guts

I mentioned back in the spring that a relative of mine went to hospital to have a hernia operation. It went badly wrong and he suffered a variety of horrible problems and is still there four months later. This coming week I am going away to help him out with his financial stuff, like dealing with his bank, paying his bills and, joy of joys, completing his tax return for him. I'm trying to drum up the enthusiasm needed for the week ahead. 

 

Hi there

Well, I'm not sure any post of mine has had quite so many views in so few days as the last one where I talked about my visits to Kew Gardens in London en femme, and wrote about foraging for mushrooms. Hello to readers from Queens University Canada, Osaka University Japan, Science Magazine, Southwest Airlines, BBC and many more. I suspect you sciency types have bots to throw tendrils through the interwebs for juicy titbits on fungi, like mycological hyphae burrowing through the leaf mould of the blogosphere! I don't know if my thoughts on mushrooms have advanced your fields of research much, but I appreciate the interest. If you're doing (genuine) research on trans people, do get in touch.

The next trip down Memory Card Lane will be about the Great Drag Race, as I've found the photos for that. Nothing to do with RuPaul, this was a charity event. Stay tuned.

 

Foodie news

Topic that generates the most interest in the comments here, even more than pretty frocks, is food. 

Impressed with my 4 kg weight loss in July, I set myself a 3.5 kg target for August. What with parties and dinners out I am sorry to say that I managed about half a kilo overall. Oh, well, it's in the right direction!

I decided to treat myself to a meal out, to cheer myself up about losing little weight. OK, I know my logic is as faulty as my waistline. My favourite restaurant specialises in local food, which here in Liguria is mainly fish and vegetable based, and the menu has some standard local items like brandacujun, which is cod and potato smashed up together (like fishcake filling but without the breadcrumbs), or baked bream, but they also have items that vary every month or two, and daily specials. 

Yesterday's special was cappon magro, which means "lean capon". Capons are a traditional Christmas dish here (I bought one last year for Christmas and it turned out just as tasteless and boring as turkey!) but the "lean capon" is a recipe that was traditionally supposed to use up all the leftovers. It's an odd savoury layer-cake of vegetables and fishes served cold that's made nowhere else that I know of. Mine had layers of carrots, cod, green beans, breadcrumbs, potatoes, beetroot and more. These days they serve it surrounded with clams and mussels with a prawn on top and, here, lots of green sauce made mainly with parsley. 

 

Curious, but imaginative and delicious.

 

Creature feature

I've missed the many little creatures that used to visit my terrace in past years, like Laura the Lizard. But these last three nights a gecko has taken up residence on my living room ceiling. I don't know where it goes by day - I leave the door open in the hope it'll get the message and leave. I daren't try to catch it as it'll shed it's tail as happened some years ago.

 

I know little animals like this will make some of my readers want to stand on a chair and scream so apologies to those ladies but I find them sweet. I just wish I had such cute toes. And maybe hanging upside down from the ceiling would be good! 

Sue x