S. Worthen | Weblog

Sadly, the story of the Pepper Thief (which has to be a racoon) is not yet over. Last night, it returned to take its tithe. Perversely, despite all the new plants I planted, it seems to like the established ones better, and took the last of the original 6 pepper plants which it had not already claimed, plus one (of the 4) oregano plants. For some reason, it keeps trying to take the plant identifier-cards as well. Indeed, the original pepper identifier things-you-stick-in-the soil have vanished without a trace, but the oregano label was still on the deck, several feet away from the oregano pot. And it had had a good dig at the label for the new pepper plants, but evidently abandoned it after the satisfaction of making a hole in the soil.

Do racoons just particularly like pepper plants? (Most hadn't gotten past the flowering stage and into the pepper phase so I'm not counting on the fact it was after actual veggies.)

The good thing about having the city and transport innundated with people is that at least they're all generally happy people, many of whom are busy singing songs or contentedly socializing.

Last night, on the subway, one of them was playing Limbo Rock on the guitar, with many others clapping along. Two guys held one of their flags between them (the stick to which the flag was attached, that is) and, when the train came to a stop at the next station, several girls lined up and did the limbo under the pole. So no, it's not all religious music.

Today I nobly helped a group of them cross the street. They were struggling to figure out how the crosswalk worked. To be fair, Toronto has an odd crosswalk system and it took me a while to feel comfortable-ish using them.

This week is one of those where my family is scattered. Thus far, I've spoken to my sister in Italy (but she's going to Rhodes next week), my mother from the middle of a cornfield, and my father, who was actually at home. Amazingly enough. C. is in St. Louis, but will be back tonight. I'm presuming my grandmothers are at home. By the end of the day, I should have been able to talk to all of them. And I have a houseguest (oops, keep forgetting to ask her about methodologies like I said I would) so it's not even as if I'm home by myself.

I treated myself to a decadent birthday lunch. It's becoming a bit of a tradition, or habit, perhaps. This was the third year running I went by myself for a birthday lunch at the ceramics museum. Not only is the food good there, full linens, but it's fairly small, so I don't feel too out of place eating there all by myself. I'm having a gathering of friends tonight, probably the largest I've ever inflicted on myself, given how little I generally like anything in my honor. I've commissioned the restaurant to make a white chocolate with dark chocolate mousse cake. Mmmm.