wagtail, whispers, stuffed

 On the brick pavement a pied wagtail steps out.

Down here in our little garden the air is still. So still it is a surprise to hear the leaves of the lime tree overhead laden with winged seeds, now dried to creamy yellow colour, whispering to themselves;  and to see the branches move slowly as though nodding in agreement with one another.

Olives stuffed with blanched garlic cloves are something relatively new, and pleasing with a glass of beer or glass of chilled fino sherry. I once saw olives stoned and stuffed with  red pepper in a factory in Spain. What surprised me was that the peppers were cooked and pressed into a  carpet-like strip, which was then cut into thinner strips, themselves fed into the olives and cut again by machine to fit the fruit. The garlic cloves  in this case are whole and probably fitted into  the olives by hand.