Hugs for pumpkin pie
RD: Granddaughter Michalann Perry with pet, Hugs. Ahmmmm, bet that tastes good.

Maggie Perry
Hilden, N.S.

Further thoughts on wiping
RD: Thanks to Sylvia Mangalam for her letter in RD July-August 2020 “Bathroom Convictions,” (page 9). My reaction was, “Why didn’t I think of that?” I’ve used hankies, not tissues, for my nose all my life. Why not bathroom wipes for the other end? Why not indeed. For women at least, it cuts down enormously on the use of TP. An old flannel sheet has provided a good stack of wipes (fabric doubled and stitched around the edges) and I wash ’em by hand with boiling water and a bar of good old Sunlight soap.
Why didn’t I think of that? Because I have become used to using all the stuff we’ve had available so cheaply for so long. Is thoughtlessness going to be the end of Planet Earth perhaps? Or can we train our brains to continually re-think the way we do things – just ordinary things around the home, like when I read the recipe that said to lay the washed vegetables between layers of paper towel. “No way!” my brain shouted. Old dish towels do the trick just fine.
Maybe it’s like the little boy and the starfish, but it’s worth a try!

Maggie Rice
Bridgetown, N.S.

Aberrant carrot
RD: Planted in May 2020, flowered in October, and roots assumed wild carrot colour and toughness. Any other readers seen this? Three or four plants decided to go for it. These I’ve since harvested, and found the rootlets turning white and almost too tough to cut with a knife. The carrot itself was turning purplish-green from the top down, outside and in. We’re surrounded by wild carrot, but I cut or removed all the nearby ones last summer, before all this started. One other possible cause is that, having planted late, I had to water and transplant several times afterward. But transplanting is a thing I usually do, sowing as I do in clumps of two or three, to be more sure of getting at least one plant. But this year they all came (rain in May), and then grew into one gnarly mass. One or two carrots were giants – 30 cm long and seven cm or so thick topside.

Gary Saunders
Clifton, N.S.