In!

We got the plants bought (nearly frying our brains in the afternoon sun) and (intelligently) waited until close to sundown to plant. Durwood showed admirable restraint and only bought 6 (six!) tomato plants. Good job, Dear! I bought a little 3-pack of celery plants. I've never grown it and want to see if I can. The cilantro almost expired (already!) but I saved it with a big drink of water. Hmm, maybe that's the problem, it's thirstier than the rest of the herbs. I'll keep an eye on it. Do you garden?

May 25--Kujuku Islands, Japan. Nina bent over the map, a look of fierce concentration on her face. "Ninety-nine," she took a breath and her hand froze in mid-air, "one hundred." A grown pulled down her dark brows and she shook her head. Kujuku comes from the Japanese word for "99" and there are way more than ninety-nine islands in the group, way more. Someone a long time ago must have looked at the big group of small islands and made a guess. "Too lazy to count," she said to the empty workroom, "and no one ever argued that there had to be more. Amazing." She had a vivid picture of a child counting "another and another," once he got past ninety the concept of more than one hundred was just too many to contemplate. Ninety-nine was a plenty big number, no need to keep counting.

What? I was hot, tired, and fried-brained last night when I lay down to do this. It's more than I expected and I kind of like it. So there.
--Barbara