We happened to be there, not knowing it was an historic occasion. I have nothing but regret that we didn’t find it sooner, even if it meant being on the receiving end of a tirade from the owner, back in the day. And I would have run up a tab too, had I known that was possible.

But I got to spend most of the day digging obscure books out of the stacks, wishing I had the wad of cash David Bowie did in The Man Who Fell to Earth.

There are four or five of them, doing their best to stay exotic till I get around to photographing them. Thanks to all these books waiting to be listed, I’ve had to neglect them, apparently to Sparky’s dismay.

This morning, he’s all over them, as if to exhort me to get out there, and start working.

Well, I’d love to. Part of the problem this morning has been the non-blooming one in the side yard. I decided my fern alley was as good a place to put it as any. But the ants are colonizing it, and well, this can’t be allowed to happen. This is the one I bought last year, and managed to bring to bloom in the spring. Not only is it still alive, but there is new growth, and I have great hopes that it will not die.

Meanwhile, the ants are also finding my kitchen counters to their liking. And how many spider webs did I walk into in the little time I was outside?

Maybe tomorrow, Sparky, but not if it’s going to be 90+°.

They’re stacked up 15 - 20 deep all over my desk, around it and underneath. Some days I can’t move between here and the kitchen very easily. And I went to another book fair over the weekend.

This one was outdoors in the blazing sun. No one burst out in song, there were no overly aggressive seniors fighting about the 78s selection and the staff was friendly. 

But, there was the Chinese guy who came up as I was going through the foreign section. 

CG: Hey! These books are all in Chinese!

Me (Uh, you’re looking at the Chinese books, fool.)

CG: I can’t read any of this stuff!

Me (gives him a look)

CG: Wow! All this, and I can’t read any of it! I wonder if there are any cookbooks, at least.

Me (thinks of pointing him to the cookbooks section, then realize he probably only wants Chinese cookbooks)

For once, there were at least three other people suffering from severe allergies. One woman, breathing loudly through her mouth, was flinging books down. A man nearby managed to breathe through his nose, but very badly. A 300+ lb woman lumbered by, and passed a large amount of audible gas with tremendous enthusiasm.

Some grizzled guy came up to the Old Books table, and kept staring at my sweating face, then started laughing. Surely it was at least 90°, maybe I was sweating too much for his taste.

I’ll show you a purchase or two when I can find my camera.

1.   They are highly perishable. I lost a few of the ones on the bottom to the Law of Squish.

2.   It will take longer than you might think to blanch all of them.

3.   If you have to get other work done, it is possible to hold the blanched, unpeeled tomatoes in the fridge.

4.   35 lb of tomatoes will take up an enormous amount of space in the fridge.

5.    If you start the whole process on Monday, and have procrastinated till Friday, then your Friday will be very busy.

6.    Canning tomatoes is messier than trying (and failing) to temper chocolate.

7.    Peeling these tomatoes will find and irritate mightily the tiniest cuts on your hands.

8.    Try to have all supplies and ingredients on hand so you won’t have to run out and buy, as I just did, some lemons.

 9.    If you get bored while the canned tomatoes are going through their processing, and if you’ve always been a spaghetti slurper, you can practice eating it with a fork and spoon.

Obviously I need more practice with this, seeing as my laptop now has spaghetti sauce splatters. But not to worry, I am prepared. Once it was established that today is tomato day, I also stocked up on Dove bars, the kind with the peanut butter swirl.

It’s been a busy time, my bookselling inventory has grown, and my desk is currently covered with stacks and stacks of rare and not-so-rare gleanings from recent buying excursions. I also got a lot of props for Sparky.

Oh, and I bought 35 lbs of canning tomatoes that need immediate attention.

At some point between removing the peel from some of these tomatoes and listing these many books, I tried to arrange a set-up for shooting. A voracious Sparky kept looking over my shoulder, so to speak, and it was disconcerting. He kept this up till I got things kind of the way I wanted. 

I miss the old days when all I had to do was sit outside, waiting for him to show up so I could start shooting. 

The breakfast pizza from a few days ago was a bit dry. Instead of making a sausage gravy or some sort of alfredo sauce to put on the crust, I opted to do without this time-consuming step.

Having a bunch of excess cherry tomatoes today, I threw together another batch of marinated tomatoes. Then, because it was lunchtime, I ladled some of these over the pizza. A huge improvement that opened other possibilities.

I’ll be playing with this idea over the next weeks. Along with other variations of pizza, calzones and other such.

For the first time in a long, long year+ of dire illness (not mine), hospitals, appointments, and a seemlngly endless stream of home nurses (every day, including weekends), things are starting to get back to a pleasant and productive routine.

 This didn’t quite turn out as I wished, but at least I’m back doing a little cooking.

In the previous post, I link to a book I have for sale at Amazon. It’s one of many, and of course, my photos and videos are also up at various agencies. From time to time, I’ll post an item or two, just in case you’re in a shopping mood. Or maybe you wonder just what it is I do with Sparky and all the bird life I’m always going on about.

Here’s a poster.

Yes, I know it’s not Sparky. Later. He’s cranky today, and does not want to be bothered.

Because the home health nurse was late, we didn’t get there till almost closing time. Most of the good stuff was gone.

The elderly gentleman in the art section was checking his bookselling software. Most who do this are youngish. A guy in a garish tropical shirt hummed tunelessly as he browsed, and at times, sang quietly under his breath. Someone brought an institutional-sized bin to hold his purchases. 

How did I do? Not so badly, it seems that Sunday afternoons, I put on my book-selling hat. If you are looking for a pristine copy of The Fantastic Deer Man in Japanese, I’m the person you need.

There was only a little time to work with Sparky before heading off to the podiatrist appointment this morning. I had gotten some deep magenta lilies at Trader Joe’s over the weekend that were beginning to have mottled areas that weren’t noticeable unless you’re shooting close-ups. Much arranging had to be done.

Luckily I glanced in the mirror before leaving. Bright orange pollen streaks from the lily anthers were on my dark clothes. I knew they had staining qualities, but managed to brush most of it off.

On the way home, we had to stop for milk. I needed more lilies, but this was not TJ’s, so I had a quick look at their floral dept. And did a double take. Big bunches of orange lilies like these were marked down to $2. I got two.

Not the freshest of course, but there must be at least 50 flowers, and surely I can cobble together a decent number. 

The problem today being Sparky, whose attention span is zero.