Tomatoes. Tomatoes are my dilemma today. Do any of you know anything about growing tomatoes? See, our house came with four tomato plants (actually, seven, 'cause three have grown together). Way more than we can use, actually. And so they've been rotting on the vine. I decided to makee a big batch of tomato sauce today and jar it, so they are't entirely wasted. But I couldn't content myself with just picking the healthy tomatoes, oh, no. I'm compulsive enough that I started pruning the plant I was picking from, just cutting away the deadwood. Well, by the time I was finished, I had pruned it back fiercely, and it's looking rather bare -- and I have no idea if that's a good thing for tomato plants or not. The only plant-type thing I've spent any time with before is a rosebush -- and that you were definitely supposed to prune back sharply. I'm afraid I may have killed this poor thing....well, guess I'll just ask my roommates and wait for one of you to tell me if I done wrong. If not, then I get to attack the others -- I'm itching to get my hands on them. :-)
It's amazing how much household work gets done when I have writing I'm supposed to do. :-) Seriously, I did want to clean some, 'cause it looks like Clive can definitely make it to dinner (not that he'll care how clean the place is, but as we noted before, I'm compulsive). It's also a nice break 'cause it's cold in my house, and my fingers get really cold typing. Washing dishes in hot water or pruning out in the sun is a nice break. I think I may need to get a pair of fingerless gloves -- perhaps they'll help.
Big crunch on work these next two weeks, I think. I've been neglecting my classes a bit.
I had some promising thoughts on the subway this morning about the novel. The task for today is to try to gel those into a coherent outline. That and get through a bunch of mail. :-) Y'know, I don't get nearly as much mail in response to this journal as I used to -- am I boring you? Are you still there? (I know Brian and Kristen and Dale are :-) Maybe I'll put a counter on the November pages and check to see what the numbers are. Maybe not, though. Just knowing someone's listening is helpful -- both to keep me writing and to help me feel not so alone during down times.
I miss Kevin already. Two months to Christmas.