Swell Foops

Gainesville

Crazy weather, indeed. I forgot to mention that Gainesville had a record low temp for the day this past week: 47 on Wednesday morning. Only two days later, the 90's, and hotter each day since. And no rain.

I'm on a losing streak with cooking. Haven't made anything impressive in about a week-- even my standbys have been letting me down. I need to spend more time reading my cooking mags and looking at cookbooks. I've been operating in crisis mode, just taking the Menu Mailer stuff and picking out what looks easiest, or what uses stuff I have in the freezer. This only works for so long. What's really discouraging is that this was during a week I had off! Thanks for the pointers to new FC recipes, Sandy. Have not explored that issue yet.

Loved hearing about your egg concoction, Mom. Yes, almost a fritatta, only with those, you don't have to turn them over-- you just run them briefly under the broiler to cook the top. I had egg cravings this morning also, and the eggs expiration date was today. I had two of them my favorite way-- taught to me by Dad: sunny side up, in butter, in a small skillet. Whites done, yokes runny. Period. Quick and dirty, indeed. And soooo good. Hard boiled the rest of them.

Thanks for more of Aunt Dottie's letters. I had no idea Dan was so down on Dad, even at such a late date. I know she had some sort of thing about men monopolizing decisions-- she freaked before my wedding when Lee and I agreed to compromise on dishes-- she thought that decision should be solely MINE. I didn't really care that much, and I knew Lee had much better taste in such things than did I. She never forgave him for that. I suspect the thing with Dad was over a similarly trivial issue, or a series of them.

I took the first steps today to consolidate my comics library. As Sandy and Mom undoubtedly noticed, books are scattered and stacked willy-nilly all over the house. I barely know what I have anymore. If this space is to become the office of a comics scholar, I must get the tools assembled. I now have four stacks of about 2 feet each of strictly comics-related books on the cedar chest in here. Next will be to clear out enough space in here to shelve them all-- and decide what to do with those books that have to move... the eternal domino problem. I have a whole shelf of cookbooks I haven't looked at for at least 10 years, for whatever reason. A few of them I value, but most should just go to the Friends of the Library, if not the dumpster. But it is SO HARD! Books are the very worst of my clutter problems.

Speaking of which, after reading the Pullman part of Sandy's post, I hopped onto amazon and immediately filled my shopping cart with $100+ worth of books about HIS DARK MATERIALS, plus Lyra's London and Pullman's edition of Paradise Lost. Luckily, I came to my senses before buying them all, but now I face the agonizing problem of deciding which to buy first. I will get them all eventually, of course (a little voice inside tells me), so why not just go ahead and get them in one swell foop? Therein lies the root of my bibliomania-- that little voice! We'll see how well I do fighting this demon. However, I MUST have Lyra's London-- didn't know it existed. Must. Have. Now. (And so must you, Sandy.)

Thanks for the garden update. Year to year overlap is of course the golden grail of gardenting (GGG). How satisfying that must be! I can't imagine-- the best gardens I was ever involved with were at Chris' -- and our mini-grail was to keep the lettuce going long enough to have with the tomatoes in the same salad. I think we maybe managed it occasionally, though it never lasted longer than a few days. A couple of my Sandy-onions are growing vigorously-- I really should use or toss them before they give the other ones ideas. I'm on the lookout for onion-intensive ideas.

And Sandy, if you have time, please remind me of the details of the carrots you made for us on the spur of the moment while you were here. I always have carrots around, and those were so wonderful.

We've decided not to go to San Diego this year. The timing is just plain wrong. The new building will be just about ready to open to the public, my boss will be leaving, I will be trying to tie up my various loose ends pre-retirement. I don't have the time or inclination to hunker down and do the scut work required for a paper, let alone the creative juice to actually write it. The complication of combining it with a trip to the Bay Area is just too daunting. It is much more sensible to plan a Bay Area trip in October or early November, when my time is truly my own, and Bill's position in the Library has been clarified. Now that Thea's situation has stabilized, there is not quite the same urgency to go out there and check on things. If that changes, I will be out there in a heartbeat, of course. There are other factors that suggest that a pass on this year's Comic-Con is a good idea. This decision has lowered my stress level considerably!

One more day of vacation before I go back to Cubeville. Naturally, I have grandiose plans for what I hope to get done: an entire week's worth stuff I put off til now. If I even get a few of them done, I'll be happy. Today, besides getting the comics reorg started, I changed the sheets, and got the full-boat morning and evening routines done, and folded a load of big white undies. If I were doing the star stickers, I'd award myself a few. I didn't drag out the Nordic, though I did think about it. That's a start, right?

Bill took Moonbeam out for a cruise around the Gainesville perimeter this afternoon and is very pleased with the experience. I'm glad they got a chance to bond. A new car really is a great toy, and this particular geekmobile has got to be the ultimate toy!

Look at the time. After 1:00 AM local. I should be asleep by now. Will be soon, I hope.