The Last Day

Well, not the last day of everything but it's my last day to work.  I did some (old) math, i.e. arithmetic, and figured out that I've worked at the dive shop for nearly 25 years.  Holy crap, that's a long time.  That's a lot of tank filling and compressor running and wetsuit fitting.  I'll miss it but I'm glad I'm done.  I'm tired and want to do some things that have fallen by the wayside as Durwood's doctor appointments have increased and my share of the chores has multiplied.  All I have to say is thank god for the lawn guys and the cleaning lady.  They are well worth the expense.


This morning I made the tzatziki (cucumber & yogurt) sauce for this weekend's gyro tasting.  Last night I cut the cooled meat into three 3"-wide bricks which will get cut across in 1/8-1/4" slices to be crisped in a frying pan before getting slapped in a pita with some of my tzatziki sauce, tomato slices, and onions.  The recipe for the sauce said to peel the English cucumber but I elected not to, I wanted those little flecks of green in there.  It tasted pretty good when I got it all stirred together so I'm guessing it'll be even better after the flavors meld for a day or two.  Also next time I make the meat I'll dice the onions in the food processor, I don't think I got them diced small enough this time but it'll be fine, I'm certain of it.

 
We have a couple bell peppers starting to grow!  Hooray!  In all the years we've gardened we've probably harvest three or four peppers.  Either the chipmunks gnaw off the plants or blossoms or some blight or slugs attack, something conspires to keep us from getting any except from the grocery.  This year I think we might just have a chance.


Look how big the tomatoes on the Early Girl are getting.  That plant is making leaves and branches like it's in the Olympics and I'm trying to keep it contained but as long as it's making tomatoes I'm willing to keep up the battle of the leaves.  (Yes, Grandma Angermeier up in Heaven, I'm suckering the tomato plants.  Grandma was a firm believer in pinching off the shoots [suckers] that grow where leaves come off the stem so that the plant focuses on making fruit not foliage and I believe her.)

 
After supper I sewed the top of Pink Rebel Girl Hat #2 closed and wove in the tails.  I used the tail to practice duplicate stitching when I was weaving it in and I think I've got the technique.  Now all I have to do is sit down (once I'm retired) and chart out the letters so I can embroider the words onto the hats.  Only have one more hat to make but I want LC to try this one on so I can calculate how many fewer stitches to cast on for her hat.

And I added a few rows to the Easter Egg sock.  It's quite a change from the size 15 needles and three strands of yarn I use to make the pink hats to the size 3 needles and single yarn to make the sock.  It's actually a good idea to have two different projects on the go like that, it gives my fingers and hands a break switching from one to the other.

June 29--Samuil Adlivankin, Overfulfilment of the Plan Bonus.  Rose sat in the sidecar holding little Simon close.  The boy laughed as the wind made the ends of his scarf flap like mad things around his face.  Oscar drove the motorcycle fast but not too fast delighting in his son's laughter.  It was a perfect day, sunny after a week of cool rain, just right for a picnic in the country.  Rose had packed a hamper with bread and cheese, a little butter, the last apples, and lemon water in a bottle.  She could only afford a single lemon but after squeezing out all the juice she could, she cut up the peels and floated them in the water.  A tiny spoon of honey cut the tart lemon and made it seem like the old days when there was meat and fruit in the market and they could afford sugar and coffee.  She missed coffee.  The roasted grain they tried to pass off as coffee these days fooled no one's taste buds.

All-righty then, children, the sun's out and I am going to go to my last day of work.  Hot diggity dog.
--Barbara