roof day

onions, leeks, broccoli, shallots, cabbage -- note watering bottles



garlic in the distance -- tomatoes on the far plastic -- near plastic: peppers, cukes, squash



potatoes, peas, beans


Waiting for the roofers to arrive, at which time all hell will break loose. A beautiful day for it. I plan to spend at least some of the time in the garden, weeding the peas. The roof will be done all in one day, and I am gloriously happy that none of it will be done by us. My job in these circumstances normally is picking up old shingles and putting them in the dumpster, then running a magnet around to pick up nails. I'll probably end up doing this last bit, since roofing crews are not very thorough about it. Anyway, my real joy is that Charlie will not be up on this terribly steep roof. Just remembered that my job when we roofed the garage here (since it was a new building there was not the mess of the tear-off) was to cut shingles, a nasty hard business, and it was cold, so the shingles were difficult to cut. A drag.

The FC cooking binge continues. I made the Asian salad (the recipe Charlie picked out from the magazine), and it was a big hit. Pretty hot from only one little pepper (superchili, the kind we use in pickles; I have a million of them frozen). We both loved it, and it was great leftover for lunch. I also made the shrimp salad in the Q&D section. This was less popular, but the shrimp I found in the freezer were mediocre.

I plan to try the pasta you made, Suzy. Maybe I'll do that tonight. Last night I went back in time and made a chicken breast with gremolata recipe that was in an old FC but repeated in the 101 Q&D book. I highly recommend this compendium, if y'all don't have it. You can get it from the Taunton FC website. I was inspired to make the gremolata recipe by Suzy's making of the pasta dish and by the fact that we already have parsley coming out our ears. Wonder if I can pass off a parsley-heavy dish two nights in a row.

The three photos of the garden were taken a few days ago. It's changed already, of course. The corn is peeking up, long rows of little green spikes. I'll snap that tomorrow and send it along.

It's nice that you are planning time off, Suzy. That will make these last months less onerous. It's hard to have little to do at work; makes the time go slowly.

The roofers have arrived, but I'll add one more thing. I actually ran across a piece of family correspondence. It's a postcard to Pa and Dan. The photo is of Fort Raleigh, Maneto, N.C. "Birthplace of Virginia Dare . . . ." The card has a 3-cent stamp, and the Berkeley address is pre-zip code. Postmark is Killden Hills, N.C., August 31 1962. Here's the text:

Hi. We are having a super vacation at Nags Head, N.C. Sharing a beach house with the Dupzyks. The kids spend hours in the surf & also yesterday Chris & Davy (10) caught 17 small fish that we cleaned and cooked, very small & mostly tiny nasty bones, but they were quite thrilled. Chris starts school Tues & it sounds like a very good one. Nothing but 8th at the school.


This must have been one of the first visits to Nag's Head. Anyone know? It's the start of the second year in the D.C. area. Wonder where I was. Probably still in CA. I don't remember when I came east that summer/fall, but I know I spent some time in Berkeley after Suzy's wedding.

Now I'll watch the destruction for a while and then go to the garden.

Final notes: Puss is terrified of all these strangers and noise. Suspect she'll spend the day hunkered down in a shed. All of the roof laborers are Mexican; the roof boss warned them that I understand Spanish, so they should be careful what they say!