Disappointment in the Kitchen but Diamonds in the Garden

Today was linguine day...any dish with pasta of any kind is a doddle when it comes to the non-believers as they just eat it slathered all over with marge'n'Marmite...and just so that we can settle this thing once and for all...Nigella Lawson did NOT invent that, WE did...!!...in fact I have photographs of myself eating spaghett'n'Marmite as a child which should be the last we need to say on the matter!
So this dish was an unholy tangle of linguine and grated courgette and garlic and lemon which should have been tongue-tinglingly delicious but in fact was inedible as the grated courgette was so dry and bitty it was a bit like when we got quinsy last year...hurt a lot when we swallowed....
I think the courgette was a Monster one from our garden which had been allowed to grow to ridiculous dimensions hidden under the foliage so was as tough as old boots by the time it was found, but added to that I think the whole thing would have been much improved if the courgette had been cooked before being stirred through the linguine...and also even though we always double the garlic in every recipe we use, we still couldn't taste any garlic...but then one of our favourite dishes has 16 garlic cloves in it so maybe we are de-sensitised?
It was a beautiful sunny autumn day and since 3 of the VegaNation cats (we have 7) have not yet been outside in their garden it seemed like today was a good day for it:
Nelly is deaf so we adopted her because we have an enclosed garden and her brother Noah came too as we think kittens should be in pairs where possible - they are about 15 weeks (Nelly is asleep on my lap or I would get up and check!) And Smokey, who is 18, only came home with us from the shelter last Monday and has been busy exploring the house...and dozing..!
Nelly was wildly excited and even climbed trees but Noah was very very anxious and only left the security of our laps just before we came in. He is a much more laidback character than Nelly but clearly found the Great Outdoors quite overwhelming!
But Smokey was enchanted with his enormous new territory and had a thorough look around and wore his new diamante collar for the occasion! Our garden is enclosed and all our cats are microchipped so they don't usually wear collars but our friend Jan was so moved by Smokey being adopted and coming to live with us that she sent him a card saying 'You Did It!' with a £10 note enclosed! So he bought his diamond collar and if his behaviour the other night was anything to go by he'd like the remaining £3.01 spent on Salt and Vinegar crisps!