Well, I did try to do an…

Well, I did try to do an entry for yesterday, but the computer kept crashing and losing it. Just as well, I think -- I had typed in about 9/10's of a poem that I'm now not sure I'd want posted. Maybe Somebody was trying to tell me something.

I didn't get as much done yesterday as I'd hoped to. Perhaps today will be better. I *am* almost caught up on e-mail, which is something, I suppose.

Grey day. Hard time motivating. My tea is steeping, which may help. I'm feeling an almost irresistible desire to scrub the bathroom, but I think that desire is highly suspicious. Resistance at play. I do know that part of the reason I'm feeling so lack-a-daisical (are those dashes supposed to be there?) is 'cause I exercised and gardened yesterday, for the first time in a while. Body tired! Body is almost entirely lacking in muscles! Very sad!

Gardening update: Well, the herbs are generally lovely. Rosemary doing fine; I've used it several times. Ditto parsley. Chives and dill a little less enthusiastic but strong enough to use some. Basil finally starting to shoot up -- they've been missing the sun, I think. Ellie cut back the rose bush that overhangs them, and that helped, I think. Cilantro totally out of control; trimmed it back severely yesterday; I just don't use that much cilantro, I'm afraid. Thai basil struggling along bravely. Thyme growing happily, very pretty.

Early girl tomato plants are *huge*, with many green tomatoes right now. Very exciting. The report from the actual vegetable garden is less exciting -- just not enough sun. Poor peppers were barely alive, and I lost the Sicilian tomatoes to rot. And my spinach had been horribly infected with leaf miners -- evil evil. All those beautiful big green leaves turning white and withered as these little slugs burrowed through them...

Well, transplanted some of the chili peppers; not sure they'll survive the trip, but they're in a sunnier spot now. And cut back the infected areas on the spinach; cross your fingers and hope the miners don't come back. Arthur tells me the spinach has started bolting, however, whatever that means, which does not bode well for the spinach. The corn is quite beautiful, and about half the bean plants are getting quite long. I staked them to some tomato frames in the hopes that they'd grow *up* instead of getting thoroughly tangled among the corn; not sure that was the right decision, but they *look* better now. And the squash is quietly doing fine, flowering beautifully. The real excitement was the several potato plants that have popped up; I had forgotten that Gwen, prior housemate, had planted potatoes. Not at all sure when to harvest them, but they're looking nice and healthy. Ditto single leftover artichoke plant.

Not much to report on the flowers; doing fine on the poppies, pansies, etc. The blue lobelia is utterly stunning -- I'm so glad Arthur talked me into getting some. Snapdragons are shooting up finally and should be flowering soon. And the white alyssum has finally come up from seed and is filling in the bare patches of soil in the flower beds. I look out my cobalt-blue edged kitchen window at the lemon tree and the bright flower beds in the morning, and I wonder why I'd even consider leaving this house...

Well. I know the answer to that one.

Off to work, my chickadees. Have a lovely day.

12:45 -- Well, haven't accomplished as much as I'd like so far, but I *have* finished another book review, this time of Dorothy Allison's _Skin: Talking about Sex, Class and Literature_. Mailed it out to those of you on the readers list, so you should be getting it shortly if you haven't already. I'll be publishing it in the new webzine, which should be named very shortly, huzzah! So soon it'll have a web page, and some calls for submissions, etc. and so on. You'll probably be hearing a lot about it in upcoming weeks...

Okay, going to shower (yes, it *has* been a slow morning) and then I'm not logging on again until 2. So there. I'm going to *make* myself do some actual work...which means this computer is going to be turned off until then and I'll work on the laptop. It's a bit ridiculous that I have to go to these lengths to make myself work, but so be it...

Oh, and if anyone knows how I'd go about updating my system software from Mac 7.1 to 7.5, that'd be appreciated. Is there a free download somewhere?

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