First Fall Frost

For my birthday, I asked the family if they would accompany me to the 20th Anniversary show of Riverdance. Surprisingly they both agreed and after waiting for months, the day finally arrived yesterday.
Bear in mind that we live in the country, over an hour from the City and that I normally need other things while visiting civilisation eg. DIY supplies, groceries etc. I formulated a cunning plan to pick up my daughter from school at 3.30, drive to the city, have a gallon of paint mixed at Home Depot, run in to Superstore for a homemade wine kit, drive across the very busy road to exchange a faulty iPod case and squeeze in any other task during the rush hour traffic.
I had packed some smart clothes for us to change in to as I really didn't want to teeter in to the DIY store in heels and a dress.
As we completed our last chore, my daughter spotted a Hallowe'en store that had popped up near the mall. She and a group of friends have decided to go trick or treating this year as Alice in Wonderland characters and presumably my daughter was either absent on the day they decided on their characters, or she drew the short straw. My daughter was to be the Cheshire Cat! I suppose I should be glad that she didn't draw Tweedledum, as luck would have it, we found some colourful accessories to send her off with pride.
Anyway, we arrived at the restaurant by the river and we scrambled up some stairs to a public washroom so we could get changed before our meal. I felt like Wonderwoman, walking in wearing t-shirt and capris and coming out wearing a little black dress, heels and a glittery cardigan!
During the meal, my husband mentioned in passing that there was going to be a frost. What?! How had I missed that on the local news? I still have cabbages, tomatoes, sprouts, pumpkins and watermelons - or rather I had.
The show was fantastic and though my daughter was suffering terribly with a cold, bad throat and cough, we all enjoyed it.

I drove home in the dark and decided to stop the car half way up the drive. It was 11.30 and I shone the headlights on the veggie patch and jumped out to retrieve an old towel out of the back. In my heels and dress I picked my way across the wet grass with the towel and decided to try and salvage at least one tomato plant. As I carefully draped the towel over the tomato-laden plant, I could almost hear the wildlife laughing at me from the darkness.
This morning it was zero C and I have yet to go outside to see my poor frozen veg. At least the pumpkins can still be used for decoration before they turn to a soggy mush. As for the tomatoes and cabbages, if you have any recipes for them, perhaps you can let me know!