In the aftermath of Hanna, which for us was a fairly mild rain and five hours of anxiety waiting for the wrath of the storm which never appeared for us (Brian reports the monks, whose living quarters are slightly elevated from us and in a vastly more open space, did have some wind damage), the triangle planting actually looks happy for the first time in a month. Apparently a few minutes of overhead watering is just not enough for the thirsty plants now proudly raising what's left of their flower heads. Next year, sprinklers! Of course that assumes I'll remember any of this by next year.
Our vegetable garden has really grown, as you can see from the photos, and we are now not only harvesting plum-sized yellow and green tomatoes faster than we can eat them or give them to the monks, but at last the big reds have arrived. And big they are, about the size of small cantaloupes and just delicious. I've been pulping and freezing for weeks now, and have accumulated more bags of tomato pulp already than I had last year, when I only began to do this after the first frost warning, when the plants we stripped covered the entire counter top with tomatoes in all sizes and stages of ripeness. Thus I discovered that it is in fact possible to ripen a tomato inside over a period of several weeks - who knew?
This afternoon we're going to put in our entire fall crop: lettuce, radishes, and peas, just to see how that may go. As all but the lettuce were given to us by our intrepid gardening pals the Packers, who are responsible for at least 50% of the flowering plants in the back terraces (such an advantage to know gardeners who have not moved in a few decades), nothing to lose and possible eating to gain.
And now, just so Ron Paul and Steven Colbert won't be lonely and uncontested in their recent announcement to run for President and VP in 2009, I hereby announce my completely unfinanced and unsolicited run for President all by myself. Thus far I have no running mate, so please feel free to nominate yourself or anyone else (preferably someone still breathing, though as a child growing up in Chicago at the time of the first and most formidable Mayor Daley, I know this is not a firm qualification for political office). And here's my three-plank platform, which will revolutionize Washington as much as Brian's cooking as First Man when I take office in 2010: Plank One: no one can serve in any position for more than ONE TERM. Thus I will eliminate the full-time job of every single politician in office, raising money for re-election. Plus there's the added benefit that without having to attend endless gourmet fundraisers, something might actually get done in terms of real legislation. Plank Two: yes or no vote on anything, with no amendments, earmarks (just why do ears need marking to the tune of several million dollars? I guess that shows my political naivete) or insertions. This will brilliantly cut down on the tree massacres needed to print out the simplest current proposals that regularly run hundreds of pages (one paragraph of legislation, the other 199 of "earmarks") and again, might actually encourage people to propose laws that would be helpful to persons other than themselves and show up to vote for them. Plank Three and last: absolute cap on interest anyone can charge on anything, bank loans, credit cards, car loans, (insert your own favorite here, my campaign is nothing if not user-friendly). Thus I forestall any repeat of the current mortgage mess (and by the way, how do you feel about your tax money bailing out Fanny and Freddy while their daddies, the CEOs, made $30 million between the two of them last year and of course don't have to return a penny). So there it is - vote for me in 2009! Create your own bumper sticker, too. Maybe I should have a contest to raise money, as we really don't have the room for more than eight people at our gourmet dinner table, now featuring the all-tomato menu.
