Skipper

She's a dory, not a taxi.

Where do you want to go.

Come in. Pull up a chair.

Them days you sent a youngster up the road to say there was a game on. Now you send the code, and if a chair's still empty when you deal, one of the regulars takes it.

Well, Sunday after Mass we'd walk it. Start at the gate and go down, and every house along here I'll tell you who's in it.

Them days the garden party was the whole summer. Here's what's on the go now, and when.

Well, Sunday the pot was on before Mass and the smell of it met you at the gate. Here's what was in it, and how it's done.

Mustard pickles

Garden vegetables put up in a bright yellow mustard pickle, eaten with fish and with cold meat.

Makes about forty-eight servings · About fifty minutes

What you need

2 large cucumbers
1 head cauliflower
2 cups white onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper (optional)
1/2 head green cabbage (optional)
2 cups sugar
1 cup vinegar
1/4 cup salt
1 tbsp mustard powder
1 bottle (500 ml) yellow mustard
1 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp cornstarch mixed into 1/4 cup water

How it's done

1. Roughly chop or large-dice all the garden vegetables.
2. Put everything in a heavy-bottomed pot and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat.
3. Once it boils, drop it to a gentle simmer and stir now and then with a wooden spoon.
4. Season with salt and pepper and simmer about twenty minutes.
5. Take it off the heat and let it cool.
6. It keeps a week in the fridge, or up to a year bottled and sealed properly.

Where to get a feed

Sold at farm stands and craft fairs in the fall; on the table beside the fish cakes anywhere that serves them.

Where that comes from

Them days the hall had a dance Saturday and the kitchen had music the rest of the week. It's still playing. Come in and listen.

He said, you know the one about the light on the water. I said, I do. That's a story, mind, and I'll tell you which parts.

No, I said, that's not the house. It was down just below there. Go back up the road.

Back up the road