Madeira - Day 8 - gardening

Another lazy day so not a very exciting blog. Blanca and Joao came over to replace my towels (they replace them once a week and the sheets every 2 weeks, such service). They showed me a couple of things about the house that they missed on that first night - where the fuse box is (with its blessed palm cross inside to protect against storms) and a key to open the gate if the power is off. When I asked they said I was welcome to do a little gardening if I wanted, Joao's father, who lives on the other side of them usually does it but he has his own garden to look after. So I spent a little time "dead heading" and cleaning up the fallen flower heads.

The rose that was in bloom when I arrived has faded and fallen  and this one has just come out.

Lots of camellia flowers and lots of dead ones on the ground.

A beautiful double hibiscus that will bloom even better with regular dead heading.

There are a few struggling geraniums and the garden is rounded out with a border of spider plants

and this cactusy looking plant with its yellow spike flowers.

I ate some of the fruit that I bought yesterday. For breakfast I had one of the tiny bananas. It was sweet and dense and had tiny black seeds scattered at random in it.

I had one of these for lunch and wasn't impressed. It wasn't as sweet as the one I had at the market and there were way more seeds than flesh. Not worth the trouble so I wont be getting any more of those.

I did some internet research on the Deliciosa fruit or Adams Rib.

This is the leaf of the plant (I happened to have taken a picture of it in the Monte Palace Gardens) and the fruit is actually the stamen of the flower that looks like a large milky coloured cala lily. It can take a year for the fruit to be produced

The specific epithet deliciosa means "delicious", referring to the edible fruit, while monstera means "monstrous," in reference to the size that this plant can grow to—over 9 m (30 ft) in many cases.
Common names include fruit salad plant, fruit salad tree (in reference to its edible fruit, which tastes similar to a fruit salad),^[2] ceriman, Swiss cheese plant (or just cheese plant), monster fruit, monsterio delicio, monstereo, Mexican breadfruit, windowleaf, balazo, Penglai banana and (inaccurately) split leaf philodendron.^[3] The names in Spanish (costilla de Adán), Portuguese (costela-de-adão), and French (plante gruyère) refer to the change of the leaves from entire to fenestrated (comparing it in the first two cases with the ribs of Adam and in the third with the hole-filled gruyère cheese). In Mexico, the plant is sometimes referred to as piñanona.

The fruit may be ripened by cutting it when the first scales begin to lift up and it begins to exude a pungent odor. It is wrapped in a paper bag and set aside until the scales begin popping off. The scales are then brushed off or fall away to reveal the edible flesh underneath. The flesh, which is similar to pineapple in texture, can be cut away from the core and eaten. It has a fruity taste similar to jackfruit and pineapple. The unripe green fruits can irritate the throat and the latex of the leaves and vines can create rashes in the skin, because both contain potassium oxalate: that is the reason why the fruits have to be consumed when the scales lift up.^[15] The black irritant fibres can be swept off with the application of a little citrus juice. 
from Wikipedia.

The vendor at the market had shown me how the outside kernels pop off when it is ripe and when I picked it up today I noticed that was happening.

They popped off easily

and I could get to the fruit underneath

but you can only eat the part that has ripened enough for the outer part to come off so I may be eating this, a bit at a time, for a week. It is delicious though, as the name suggests.

Joao and Blanca have 3 cats. One, a black one, is a rescue who fell off a balcony and hurt his back so cannot jump, and stays inside their house. This is Rio (river), he crosses my terrace but doesn't tend to stick around.

This is Luz Sol (Sunshine) who has allowed me to stroke her when I was sitting outside. Blanca asked me not to let them in the house as some people are allergic and the cats might scratch the furniture. I will try and make friends with them outside.