タイガは去年の秋から今年の7月までは、一度も2階へ上がって来ませんでした。老齢の脚でもう階段へは上れないのだろうと思っていましたが、7月からの猛暑が始まると夜は私より一足先に2階へ上がって、寝室のエアコンを催促するようになりました。以前のように一緒の部屋で寝られるので嬉しいです。
朝は私の朝食、シャワー・身支度などを終えて、散歩に出かけるギリギリまでタイガはエアコンにあたりながら幸せそうな顔で寝ています。タイガを起こしに行った後は、私は階段の下で両手を広げて、タイガがズリ落ちてきた場合に備えて待っています。私のそんな配慮をよそに、もったいぶって階段をそろりと降り始めます。
Taiga stopped coming upstairs in autumn last year, until the heat wave in July this year. Until then, I thought that her legs had become too weak to climb the stairs due to her old age. However, since the arrival of the heat wave, every night, she goes upstairs before I finish watching the TV and starts asking for the air conditioner to be turned on. I am only too happy to oblige since it is so nice to sleep in the same room as we used to.
In the morning, I leave her sleeping in the cool air until I have had my breakfast, shower, and get ready to go out any second. After waking her up, I hurry down the stairs and stand at the bottom of the staircase with my arms stretched open so that I can catch her if she ever slips and falls down the stairs. Whether she is aware of my thoughts, she moves slowly like a princess.
===============================
This is finger lime Durhams Emerald which I bought in spring last year at a nursery in Nerima. It was an extremely tiny plant then, but a few months later it flowered and even produced fruits that I harvested last year. Such a good performer. I repotted the plant in a 24 cm diameter pot in spring this year, and it has been growing nicely. Finger limes have vicious thorns and I have trimmed back the new growth many times this year.
「エバーリーフ」のレモンバジルが伸び放題で60cm超えになっています。これと一緒に買ったジェノベーゼバジルは料理に何度か利用したけど、このレモンの香りの方は、自分では一度も使わず終いになりそうです。苗がまだ新鮮だった頃に一度、お茶にするのが好きだと言う近所の知人にどっさり袋詰めにして持って行ってもらっただけです。