Hot Tomatoes

Today is the tenth consecutive day above 35 degrees Celsius. In a summer (now autumn) of high temperatures and little rainfall I made the decision to let the veggie patch go. A logical decision really as I only keep a few herbs, a small group capsicums and 5 cherry tomato vines. My sense of disappointment however was high and for three weeks I was unable to make the walk up to the back of the yard to survey the damage. I will not dwell on what was lost but will instead proclaim with a hurrah! what was left. To take inventory: 1 oregano bush, a struggling collection of wild rocket and 5 twisted, distressed and fallen tomato vines, that had to my amazement managed to produce a small number of red and juicy tomatoes. I gently picked up the warm fruit. Some split down the sides at my gentle touch, so hot and ripe. I washed a bunch under the back tap while my younger one danced from foot to foot impatiently. Then we ate a selection of the finest ones, I savoured the sensation of biting into the surprisingly elastic skin then eating the soft and wet insides, while my younger one happily gobbled one after another while commenting on the wetness and warmness.