Soup

 I was going to make butternut squash and chicken soup but wasn't in the mood for all that peeling and dicing.  Instead I made Easy Egg Drop Soup with added cabbage, mushrooms, and chicken.  It smelled real good and I can't wait to have it for lunch tomorrow.  Mm, good.  But not from the red and white can.

There were three birds on the platform feeder at one time today.  Three!  And a sparrow on the feeder with the cracked corn in it.  I was happy to see the three House Finches even if they're rather dull looking in their winter plumage.

 

 

The suet squirrel was back today, hanging by its back feet to nab a nibble and then sitting up on top of the feeder to eat.  Down and up, down and up.  It was like a machine until another squirrel showed up and chased it off the feeder.  The other one wasn't as agile or accomplished as the first one, it managed a couple bites before it fell to the ground.  Oh, it tried to act as though it had jumped down but I could tell that it lost its balance and fell.

 

I started another cast sock toe cap in an old skein of yarn that I'd forgotten I had.  For some reason this trio of colors pleases me no end.  Who'd put purple, red, and orange together and expect it to look good but it does.  At least I think it does. 

 

29 November--Barbara Malcolm, The Seaview. 

I watched carefully as Mr. Gomez pulled himself together, unclenching the hand that grasped his beloved clipboard in a stranglehold and smoothing down the pages of the bill of lading that he had been working from all week.  He took another cleansing breath and started speaking.  "When I left last night after you and Mr. Solomon had returned the wires, switches, and junction boxes to the container, I was very careful to arrange the boxes that I had gone through onto the right side which is where I keep the cartons that have been cleared.  I keep the items that I have not certified on the left side.  As the work progressed and the items got bigger, like the pile of plywood and wall board, I had to call Silas and Edward to come and help me.  Edward is especially good at organizing things, you know."

As he spoke I could see the tension rebuilding in his face and hands.  I put a calming hand on his arm.  "Why don't we all get a nice cool bottle of water and go sit on the front porch?  I, for one, could really use something cold to drink and a breeze on my face."

Behind Mr. Gomez I could see Iggy nodding in agreement.  He turned and fished three bottles of iced mineral water from the cooler that I refilled every few days, wiped them dry on the towel that I hung on a nail above the cooler, and handed one to Mr. Gomez and one to me.  Both Iggy and Mr. Gomez insisted that I precede them through the hotel and onto the porch.  We pulled a third chair close to the other two and sat, me first of course, these were gentlemen after all.

"I do not believe that anyone would break into a container with an official Customs Department padlock on it," Mr. Gomez said shaking his head.

I hid a smile at his naiveté by sipping my water.  Did he really think that a flimsy padlock probably purchased in bulk at the local hardware store would deter a dedicated thief?

"People have no respect for the rules, 'Nando, you know that," Iggy said.  "These days they just take what they want no matter who it belongs to."

"I thought that you had respect for the rules, though, Ignatius.  You and I have been friends for my whole life, and our mothers have sat beside each other in church and sung in the choir together for decades. How could you betray my trust like that?"

Iggy, who had moved from his chair to sit on the porch railing between Mr. Gomez and me, shook his head.  "I do not know how you think that I got into the container.  Was the padlock broken?  Had someone jimmied the latch?  Mrs. Rose and I were working with the few things that I had not returned to the container, waiting for you to arrive so that we could retrieve my tools and enough supplies for the day."

Mr. Gomez was shaking his head as Iggy spoke.  "No, the padlock was on and the latch seemed secure.  I do not know how the mess was made but it was, there is no denying it."  He stood up and walked toward the stairs that led to the beach.  "I need to go down to the police station and file a report.  That is the procedure outlined in the Customs Department handbook."

As Mr. Gomez stepped onto the beach, his body rigid with righteous indignation, Silas came toward him from the direction of Johnno's.  "Mr. Gomez, I am glad to see you.  Have you opened that container yet?"

Mr. Gomez stopped in his tracks so quickly that his shoes slid and a drift of sand covered them.  "Why do you ask?  Do you know who broke in last night?"

Silas started laughing and it took a while for him to catch his breath so that he could speak.  "Oh, no one broke into the container last night, Mr. Gomez.  When you and Edward finished with your stacking and organizing of the cartons neither of you noticed that one of the local cats had been locked in.  I got very little sleep all night listening to it yowl."

It was all I could do not to burst out laughing but I knew that to laugh at the situation would make Mr. Gomez think that I was laughing at him and that would be a big mistake.

Silas cocked his head at the Customs man.  "Did a cat run out as soon as you opened the doors?  I cannot imagine that it would have stayed in there for one more minute, the racket it was making.  I knew that it had to be racing around out there.  I could hear cartons falling and metal hitting metal."  He turned to me.  "I hope that it did not break anything, Mrs. Rose.  We should probably go and check.

It was a very chastened man who led us back to the cargo container parked in the vacant lot next to the yellow house.  It took all of us most of that day, even with Edward's excellent organizational skills, to restore order to Mr. Gomez' satisfaction.

After the great cat trapping incident Mr. Gomez was very cautious before he locked the container each night.  He made Edward clamber over cartons and slither around stacks of plywood and wallboard to herd out any stray cat or dog that may have sought refuge in the container unnoticed during the day.

Today's toss was the two knit shirts I made this year.  I tried them on and they're miles too big, especially the necklines.

Writing wasn't too bad today.  I sent my main character snorkeling at one of my favorite dive sites so today I got her there with a couple new friends and tomorrow I'll get her in the water.  Tomorrow's the last day of November and therefore the last day of National Novel Writing Month.  I won't get to 50k words but I'll be close.  All of my words aren't story words but I'm just glad that I managed to write every day.

--Barbara