form a habit

since i last wrote (not too long ago, this time)

a very nice lazy afternoon spent on the green couch, with soup, tea, meandering conversation and some knitting.

made very difficult by the nasty slice in my right index finger i acquired moron fashion by playing with a soda can top. nothing like a little adrenaline and a lot of inconvenience to kick start productivity…

also we picked up fred today. as we have a cement backyard, we had him cremated. they put his ashes into a very simple box, and kept some of the feathers. it was one of those situations where a stranger is trying to be nice and helpful and inadvertently makes a mistake–other than the (freak) yellow tail feather, which was my favorite and specifically requested, they chose–well, strangely. but he is back home with us and, though very, yes, strange, it feels like the right choice.

so my brain is lazy. odd, unusual, abnormal, weird, curious, other, etc.

the aforementioned soup was a tomato lentil–ingredients bought earlier in the day from the italian market (a total cost, i am proud to report, of $2) and tossed into my slightly inadequate 8qt pot. as usual, i reminded myself to put a 10 or even 12qt pot on  my wish list. and i cemented the decision to get an immersion blender. transferring batches of soggy vegetables (which have _still_ not broken apart after far too much cooking) into our small cuisinart and making a silly mess is perhaps an activity i can do without. i have already had creamy vegetable soups (with proper texture) floating through my cooking dreams.

also a character in the soup was the new aero garden basil. it is busily outstripping the other herbs, and some heavy pruning will be necessary to keep the poor parsley and mint from having to grow in the dark. the large leaves of this basil, in fact are quite minty. proximity in this case is coincidental–did you all know that basil and mint are in the same family?

what else. we have just watched several episodes of simpsons season 10. i seem to have missed many that year. it was the year simpsons went all digital–lost some of the color nuances, improvement in sound.

but i babble. it is officially nighttime and i am pumpkined strangely early.

chilly bug

this morning the heat finally kicked on (we got lots of radiated warmth from our elderly neighbors on either side–take that, pustulant giant worm!) and awoke for the first time since it got chilly out to a cozy house. also one that smelled distinctly like a theatre–burning dust. right now i feel down right cold, but i gather it’s still somewhere around 70 in the house. perhaps a bit colder in the bedroom, which lacks storm windows. if i were a thermostat, i would check my warranty…

 but other than that, i’d like to complain about another monolith. verizon thought that it was time to change my time a few days ago. sometime in the wee hours verizon realized the error, and fixed it. today, however, the rest of the eastern time zone thinks it’s now 1:35, having fallen back. my dear old verizon phone still says 2:35. i even tried making a phone call to reset it’s tiny brain, but alas, still wrong. what is wrong with this company? is it such a hard thing to manage? i realize that for the first time in years things are different, but aren’t they supposed to be cutting edge?

and now on to computers. for some ludicrous reason, the computers at work are behaving badly. (and i do mean badly, not poorly–they are so pernicious in the annoying failings that i now believe them to be both sentient and malicious) outlook is screwing up in all kinds of ways. distribution lists stop working, sent messages aren’t saved, messages are censored when they shouldn’t be, and on and on. ditto with the various drives, which fail to map, fail to track saved items across the network, save things and then relocate them, and i’m sure all sorts of nice touches we haven’t noticed yet.  several of the machines (and yet, not all of them…) claim that they “might be at risk” because the necessary updates haven’t been made. hmmm. if only i knew how to fix these things.

also on the chilly front–i believe it’s time to bring in the herbs. the vegetables i’m going to allow to die a nice graceful frozen death. and there’s a baby philodendron just begging to live in ~someone’s~ house. along with some other babies… want plants? i know it’s a funny time to take in baby plants but i’m fairly certain all of them are strong enough to move to a new place without dying of shock. plants do this, you know. delicate little sensibilities and all. oh! also, the poor cactus that took a tumble off the windowsill (when a bird escaped, traveled to the kitchen, climbed the drying rack and began beaking about in the plants… naughty bird) and lost it’s top inch has started growing a skinny little spur on top. not as delicate as i thought. it’s sister plant (which did suffer death by sill-tumble when it became unbalanced in it’s pot) left me with two hooked spines in my thumb for over four months. i actually tried to catch it, and got what i deserved.

oh i’m babbling. i don’t care if it’s 1 something or 2 something, i’m a tired something.

not summer at all

squash, that is. a three pack dwindled down to one hardy plant, that kept on making flowers (which i had completely forgotten were edible, or i would have been snacking on them…) but no fruit. or veggie, i should say. the tag on the starter pack said summer squash (you know, the yellow ones…)

 false! they are in fact straight necked squash, which are fall producers,  and five or six three inch squashes are a-growing. the pepper plants are still reliably producing, and they are getting spicier as the season changes. it is fall, yes? don’t let the weather fool you…

i also tucked away my sentimentality and finally pruned the six foot long wandering jews. the two highly overgrown plants have now become three ~relatively~ sane pots full, and three completely ridiculous giant vases full of rooting pieces. plant, anyone?