Things and More Things

Ah. I’ve just had a very nice dinner of tomato soup (made with garden tomatoes) and popcorn (kernels bought at the farmers market last weekend), and I have that slightly buoyant, all-is-right-with-the-world feeling that comes from the perfect combination of foods. Tomato soup and popcorn — who’d have guessed? How about some unrelated thoughts and images to round out your Tuesday.

– My mom recently asked if I had ever planted the two cuttings she gave me a while ago. I have, and don’t they look happy? I’m really appreciating the enthusiasm of the houseplants these days; everything outside looks a bit fed up with the heat.
– I’m writing this post on my laptop, because I hate sitting at my desk whilst trying to think of how to say things. I’ve only got two hours and 47 minutes of battery life remaining, however, so I’m having to ration laptop use. SOME beany cat chewed right through the power cable the other day. Why? I’m hoping my dad will be able to repair it on Thursday — he sounds confident, but it seems to all come down to being able to find a butt splice. I’m not sure if it’s really necessary, or whether the repair is simply less funny without one.

– I got through phases of enthusiasm for home renovation. There are quite a few projects on my ‘some day’ list, but the basement has been eating away at my attention lately. It’s quite a tricky space to tackle with limited resources, as it ideally requires rather a lot of framing and sheetrocking. I found two cans of Kilz primer that the last owner left, and it appears to still be good, so I’m going to have a go at painting the wood-paneled and some of the cinderblock walls. Then it’s just a skip and a jump to turn this into this. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Cheap, too!
– No, but really, even getting white paint on some of the walls will make a huge difference in bouncing the light around down there. It’s not quite as dire as it looks in that spectacular photo I took. I had to move all the boxes around today to go through for garage salable items, which is why they’re so front and center. I think the lamp being askew like that really sets everything off nicely, too.

– My latest loaf used two local flours (white bread flour and rye), and the seeds on the outside are local too! I used a different pan this time, one that’s shallower but longer, and I’ve decided I like it. The slices are still big enough for breakfast toast, and I’ll get more of them from a single loaf. This looks much more like whole wheat bread than usual — it was a new white flour I used, and the bulk bin said something about it still having the bran in, so perhaps it’s down to that. I also feel like there’s more rye flavour, although that’s probably just my imagination.
– I’m going to listen to records now and read a book (possibly Carl Sandburg poems, since it’s right here next to me) and try to ignore the heat (which is abating for the evening, thankfully). I wish I could do these things on a sofa down in the cool basement, surrounded by white walls and smart furnishings, but no. Maybe someday.