Monday

Today was my first Monday is quite some time without scheduled vaccinations. I had rather planned on taking it easy, catching up on posting photographs and writing, and making creepy desktop icons for my new computer. Did you read this? Then you are not at all surprised that my new laptop computer arrived in the mail on Friday--a tiny black eleven-inch Sony powerhouse. What is surprising is just how little time I've had to get it up and running. Today was going to be the day. But once I got out of the shower, the dirty dishes weighed heavy on me. Normally, a sink-full of visitor dishes is only ten minutes worth of weight, but today's dishes were on the counter because my whole sink was filled with Bet and Cecil's garden vegetables. I'd been pointedly warned against putting any of the tomatoes in the refrigerator, supposedly assaulting their flavors. All total, there are nineteen tomatoes. All of the cabinets in the tiny kitchenette are already stuffed, though; the only room remaining is in the sink. This swirl of circular to-do list thoroughly invaded my day: I gave up on the relaxation and the new computer and the posted photos (though some new photos can be found here) and made soup instead. Like I don't know how to keep nineteen tomatoes out of the refrigerator? I made a thick, nearly salt-free garden veggie soup with three beans (red, black, and snapped string), onions, potatoes, chili and bell peppers, celery, garlic, lots and lots of tomatoes. It's frustrating to cook here, sometimes, because of the limited space: I have to constantly push things around my workspace, clearing areas of what I just chopped, spice bottles, and dirty dishes. It is more like solving a puzzle, sometimes, than cooking. [Cavin]