Tuesdays are lake days so of course that means it starts raining today.  Of course I love the rain, but couldn’t it have waited until tomorrow?  So instead of driving east, I have ample time to empty the dishwasher and clear out the sink and take out the compost and sip my coffee at the table instead of in the car.

I finally finished the curtains, back when it was hot and muggy and ironing was a royal pain, and I would offer you a picture, except it turns out curtains aren’t very photogenic.  You’ll have to come over and see.  Nothing fancy, but they break up the Whiteness of the Wall (like the whale, get it?  Oh, hush, I’m listening to The Secret of Lost Things and have Melville on my mind).

Un Lun Dun was ultimately a bit underwhelming.  Fun and clever, but no need to rush out and read it.  I wouldn’t describe myself as a fantasy fan, but as it turns out there are a bajillion children’s fantasy books that I love.  I’ll eat up Tolkien, CS Lewis, Lloyd Alexander, Madeleine L’Engle, Susan Cooper, Patricia Wrede.  It goes on and on…but it’s either got to be quick and fun and to the point, a clever morsel, or you need substance and a sense of the profound.  Un Lun Dun wasn’t either – it was far too long to be a clever morsel, and although it might have tried for substance, I really doubt it.  It was full of characters and situations that begged to be recounted, but the plot and pacing felt off and the substance was absent.  It was like trying to eat a giant meringue for dinner.

I finished Serve it Forth the other night – it was very pleasant digested a chapter or two at a time, and I still have a huge chunk of The Art of Eating left to work my way through.  Recommended for people who like to think about and read about food.

Speaking of food, even my humblest tomato plants are working to put fruit on the vine, with the baby plant in a pot offering up a single crinkled green tomato and the larger plants hiding a multitude behind their lives.  Hopefully they won’t all ripen on the same day.  I was going to try, per Di’s suggestion, cutting back the watering on the most mature to force them to ripen, but the rain has squashed those plans.  I pulled out most of the dill to make more room, but left a few stalks to go to seed and give me more dill next year.   I’m thinking about braving the wet grass to go pick more blueberries while it’s cloudy.

Oh, and I got new glasses.  A bit reminiscent of my grandmother – the one whose vision I inherited – but not as severe.  (I ought to scan a picture.)  They will, I hope, give me amazing shushing action at work.