Volunteer Squash

Volunteer Squash 21 Verona Street

This is an acorn squash that came up from compost.  By chance it is in a reasonably good location although John's desire to have a perfect lawn gene is frustrated by not being able to mow.  Since much of the lawn is now brown and weedy, however, the squash is the least of it.  Behind it are two very nice volunteer tomatoes and there are more volunteers in the actual garden.  This is the first year that we have had a bountiful tomato crop-- I often say that I haven't had a decent tomato since my father died but this year we are approaching decent.  Nothing will ever be better than a tomato my father sliced for me with the same jackknife he had just used to take a sliver out of my foot. Marshall was a gentle expert at sliver extraction using a pocket knife and I was always brave about it.  This memorable tomato experience must have taken place when I was older than four because it was in the South Hill Jamaica house.  

On Monday I drove Chip Curry as he went knocking on doors.  I am not a devoted political volunteer but since I absolutely refuse to make phone calls (and do not think they are useful), I volunteer to drive when campaigns get underway.  Two years ago I drove for John Piotti and for Erin Herbig and it seemed like a good way to give more than lip service to my support.

Yesterday I finished listening to Gone Girl and finished reading Susan Hill's Pure of Heart.  Gone Girl seemed just brilliant to me-- witty and creatively plotted.  Some reviewers have felt it was uneven-- the first part better than the second (and just as many feeling that the book only picked up in the second part) but since I was listening to it, I never lost momentum.  Listening to a book is so very different from reading.  Because one is usually doing something else simultaneously-- in my case, sewing, gardening or cleaning-- my attention does not lag and if the action or writing slows down, I don't seem to notice it.  Pure of Heart is the second of five Simon Serailleur mysteries and because I discovered them through the donated books I read the fourth one first, third one second, fifth one third, etc.  So now I have started reading the first of the series and feel I need to reread all the rest.