Briny Week
3:49 p.m. - 2006-08-02


I expected that the week after leaving work, however involuntarily, would be like a vacation, very relaxing. Not. There are bank things to do, like IRA stuff and stock stuff, and since I pretty much took everything from my desk, that stuff has to be sorted and papers shredded and trash disposed of. It is still sitting in xerox boxes in the back of my car, but theoretically, it still needs to be taken care of. The hubster says that now that I am not working, we cannot afford to eat out at restaurants so often (goodbye my 'Luna'), but on talking it over seriously, we have decided that Dairy Queen is not a restaurant and is exempt from the embargo. Meanwhile, I am having a little culinary fun by trying to limit my trips to the store by cooking from my stockpile of items in the cupboards, freezer and garden. This is challenging and entertaining, and also cheap.

I spent most of this week putting stuff up. I made the pickle relish for the next year, made some apple chutney, and bagged up some freezer pickles. Our dinner menu depends on what strange buried packages I happen to find in the freezer. I have cleaned out the little freezer (the one on top of the fridge) wherein I found the pesto and the rest of the sofrito, plus the bags of pine nuts, and one of these days I will tackle the big freezer. I don't even know what is lurking in there. But whatever it is, we will eat it.

Today I planted out the sweet williams and other mystery perennials in the bed under the fruit trees out front. Oh, heck, I forgot I left the water on out front, better go turn it off before I flood the gutter.........

OK, I'm back. The new neighbor was walking by while I was moving the hose, and he told me that they have central air next door. Oh, the jealousy! Really, though, this next spring I am going to buy a little AC unit for the bedroom, and that should be sufficient. There are none left in town at the moment even if one had the money to buy one, so I will have to wait until next year. During the heat wave I invented a system for surviving the heat: I sit in front of the fan in the rocker (upholstery absorbed the heat so was too hot to sit on) with my back to the fan, then had a little fan in front of me blowing on my feet. This system presupposes that the power is on, which in this state is iffy.

Time to rest a bit and sip cool drinks...