Uncertainty still looms for luffa: No more luffa cabin

If the success of gardening is measured by the abundance or scarcity of fruits produced, then we can declare success for the bitter melon and Taiwanese cucumber this season.  Uncertainty still looms for the luffa though.  Mid July is approaching and luffa fruits are still nowhere to be found. 

The luffa has survived the scourge of the cicada this year; no need for this worry until 17 years later.  We gardeners have confidence and faith on the ever growing luffa; the concern is when, not whether, they will bear luffa fruits.  Not that we’re not patient, but my brother and sister-in-law will visit our garden in mid-August.  It is our hope that they will be able to bring some luffa home for Miao-Chih.

In a letter to her brother, Austin, Emily Dickinson wrote,

Prithee, my brother,

Into my garden, come!

(Prithee = Pray thee = Please)

It is fitting also for me to say the same thing to my brother.

Listening to the advice of all our seasoned garden instructors, Katy cut off all the side branches (子蔓, 側芽), allowing/facilitating the more vigorous growth of the main branch (母蔓).  We’ve cultivated luffa for 5 or 6 years, never did we ever cut off the side branches.

I was writing about the luffa cabins the past years.  Without the side branches, it no longer looks like a cabin.  But, it is a small price to pay if they can be more productive for longer period of time.

Reading Churchill, learning good English: The Battle of Britain

Today (July 10) in 1940 the Battle of Britain began as the Luftwaffe started attacking England.  Churchill wrote,

As the month of June [1940] ground itself out, the sense of potential invasion at any moment grew upon us all. . . . It was not until July 10 [1940] the first heavy onslaught began, and this date is usually taken as the opening of the battle.  Two other dates of supreme consequence stand out, August 15 and September 15.  There were also these successive but overlapping phases in the German attack.  First from July 10 to August 18 the harrying of British conveys in the Channel and of our southern ports from Dover to Plymouth, whereby our Air Force should be tested drawn into battle, and depleted; whereby also damage should be done to those seaside towns marked as objective for the forthcoming invasion. . . .

The Royal Air Force remained vexatiously alive, and Goering October resigned himself to the indiscriminate bombing of London and the centers of industrial production. . . .

Ours [pilots] had supreme confidence in themselves as individuals and that determination which the British race displays in fullest measure when in supreme adversity. . .

This led Churchill to say, “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed, by so many, to so few.” In early autumn of 1940.

-          “harry” is to attack, assault or devastate.

-          ‘vexatiously alive’: The Royal Air Force was still alive, causing vexation (irritation, annoyance, exasperation) for Germans

During the London Blitz, the Germans dropped many U.X.B (the delayed unexploded bombs) that needed to be dug out and defused by bomb disposal squad.  In the Their Finest Hour volume of Memoirs of the Second World War, Churchill wrote:

One squad I remember which may be taken as symbolic of many others.  It consisted of three people--the Earl of Suffolk, his lady private secretary, and his rather aged chauffeur.  They called themselves “the Holy Trinity”.  Their prowess and continued existence got around among all who knew.  Thirty-four unexploded bombs did they tackle with urbane and smiling efficiency.  But the thirty-fifth claimed its forfeit.  Up went the Earl of Suffolk in his Holy Trinity.  But we may be sure that, as for Mr. Valiant-for-truth, “all the trumpets sounded for them on the other side”.

-          Earl of Suffolk is an educated man with a title, thus “tackle with urbane and smiling efficiency”; “urbane” (suave, courteous and refined)

-          forfeit (something that is lost due to neglect of duty, breach of contract or wrong doing).  “The thirty-fifth bomb claimed its forfeit” is somewhat difficult to understand; life was lost because of error in disposing the bomb.

-          Since they (Earl of Suffolk, his lady secretary and chauffeur) called themselves “the Holy Trinity”, it is fitting for Churchill to quote “The Pilgrim's Progress” by John Bunyan, a 17^thcentury Christian writer and preacher in England.

Reading Churchill, learning good English: flag and husband

Professor Pang-yuan Chi (齊邦媛) taught a class of “高級英文” (Advanced English) in the National Taiwan University.  It is hard to define “advanced English”.  But I can tell “good English” when I see one.  I will write a series of “Reading Churchill, learning good English”.

The following is Churchill’s speech when England stood alone in early 1940.  There is no ornate, florid big word.

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail.  We shall go on to the end.  We shall fight in France, we shall fight in the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air; we shall defend our Island, whatever cost may be.  We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender; and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old.

-          “we shall not flag and fail,” is just one of the numerous alliterations that Churchill used so often and so well; I think “flag” here means “weaken, to become unsteady and feeble”.

The following is what Churchill wrote about why and how the blitzkrieging German Army failed to hard pursue the British Expeditionary Forces that led to the 340,000 well-trained soldiers get away and safely returned to England—the famous Dunkirk Evacuation.  Hitler wanted to conserve the panzer divisions for the final blow to finish off French Army, so “to husband the panzer divisions” is to “conserve or economize” it.

However, very early on the 25th [5/25/1940] a fresh directive was sent from Brauchitsch as the Commander-in-Chief ordering the continuation of the advance by the armour.  Rundstedt, fortified by Hitler's verbal agreement, [Hitler visited his headquarter 5/24/40] would have none of it.  He did not pass on the order to the Fourth Army commander, Kluge, who was told to continue to husband the panzer divisions. . . . It is therefore certain that the armour was halted; that this was done on the initiative not of Hitler but of Rundstedt.  Rundstedt no doubt had reasons for his view both in condition of the armour and in the general battle, but he ought to have obeyed the formal orders of the Army Command, or at least told them what Hitler had said in conversation.  There is general agreement among the German commanders that a great opportunity was lost.

Cherry picking cherry tomatoes

The photo shows the ripe cherry tomatoes; but many of the ripe ones never got the chance to be brought in.  While watering, I cherry picked cherry tomato; wash it and throw it into the mouth.

Volunteer zucchini

We didn’t plant any zucchini this year, but ended up with more than a dozen.  Katy transplanted some of what she thought to be some vines (either Taiwanese pumpkin or Italian squash); they turned out to be zucchini, which was not in our mind as zucchini was never planted in the areas where these "volunteers" came back.

We will do what Earl and Opal of comic strip Pickles did in getting rid of surplus zucchini.

Bitter melon (苦瓜): There is hope

Yesterday I made a post lamenting the very few bitter melons (苦瓜), fruits produced so far; the 苦瓜was not pleased.  So this morning saw 7 or 8 little 苦瓜, hanging there in silent protest.  So there is still hope; more bitter melons to come.

Katy harvested three bitter melons (苦瓜); the golden red one is over ripe; we aim at its seeds. 

The photos include one female flower with bitter melon fruit and one male flower with no fruit.

female flower with bitter melon fruit

male flower with no fruit

Bitter melon: warty yet pretty; a bitter delicacy

These indoors-grown tropical bitter melon plants were initially planted days before the last frost of the spring and had to be dug out to move back indoors and later replanted.  They somehow survived, but may have been stunned twice (or as Taiwanese would say 傷元氣), resulting in very few bitter melon fruits produced so far.

We have shown a few American friends/neighbors the bitter melons; they all were puzzled by our cultivating something bitter.  Little do they know many Chinese/Taiwanese consider this a delicacy.

良藥苦口 (good medicine tastes bitter).  Bitter melon is also a medicinal herb, treating all kinds of diseases, including diabetes, salubrious to many health conditions.  Conventional wisdom tells me when a “medicine” is so good, it is, more often than not, too good to be true, unfortunately.

The exotic bitter melon may be warty and yet pretty.  The seeds of these bitter melon plants are gifts from Esther, a seasoned gardener, from whom Katy got many good advice.

Hollyhock is not intimated by these beauties: 傲視群芳

The hollyhock has been blooming; soft, noble, rich and exuberant.  Not in full bloom though she may be; she is not intimidated by the ever-growing beautiful flowers, the likes of geranium, petunia, begonia, celosia, salvia and marigold.

Almost all the flower sections are along this walkway, I might as well call it the Garden Boulevard or Boulevard de Fleur.  Walking into the garden from the back porch, one will be greeted by these beauties.