sundries

[rm]

Was there anyone who didn't have a crisis today?

I just repotted our peppers. There are flowers coming and going on the other tomato plants but no tomatoes. I need to get on that. They are young plants though, so they'll produce more if it waits anyway. I just wish it would stop raining.

I burst into tears today when Black Boys on Mopeds came on the LastFM. And since then? I've been biological clock central, despite the fact that me? so not having kids. Sometimes I have these moments where the other lives I've almost had are nearly assaultive in their proximity. That was today.

When I feel like this, I tend to sing walking down the street. I always did this as a child, largely because I was bored. The block between York and 1st is very long, and I knew what songs would get me home. No one sings to themselves on the street anymore, unless they are wearing headphones and have forgotten the existence of others. One of the things I love about living in Spanish Harlem is that people frequently stop to comment that they never hear anyone just singing on the street anymore, and that it's nice. I don't have a great voice, but I have a good voice, and even quiet, I know how to sell a song. I always like it, it's one of the only ways in which I ever feel like we realy beong up here.

When I write fiction -- original or not -- I write these wholes lives for people. It's a failing of my fiction in a way, because I never just tell a story or get to the point. Rarely, anyway. It's a big problem in the original fiction. I act these characters, breathe life into them, more than I TELL A DAMN STORY. This is frustrating to me as a writer, and also a strange think to live with that I do not know how to describe.

Dinner is on. BBQ chicken.

Patty has revamped our office again and it's AMAZING.

I keep thinking about that Iranian boy I was friends with in 1978 and wondering where he is and worrying about him now. Our apartment building was evacuated once because we got bomb threats because they were there. That was later, during the hostage crisis.

Circling back -- I've got a lot of writing I need to do. Things I've been asked to submit, things I've been encouraged to submit and things I should just submit.

While it was never the intent at all, I've taken to calling my pinstripe suit which will probably arrive in time for the CoE parties my Ianto Jones Memorial Pinstripe Suit. And no, I will not be wearing it ot any CoE parties because I do not want someone thinking it's clever taking a picture of me in it while I"m bawling my eyes out at the TV.

Speaking of suits, I love three piece suits, but they don't quite work on Keith Olberann, who is usually the best dresser ever. You wouldn't believe how many brain cycles I have for men who do and don't dress well -- on the TV, on the subway. So many men wear their suits just too big! No one seems to know how long their pants should be and god do I hate those shirts with the collars that button down into place. Loathe. Also, I am a firm, nearly obsessive believer that a well-tied tie should have a dimple right under the knot.

I am in a mood. I should write. But the chicken's near done and I've got a speck of work to do.

Hi.

Comments

[gairid.livejournal.com]

Re: Tomatoes--be patient.My daughter lives in Queens and tells me that it's been a pretty cool spring-early summer. Tomatos do best when the days are sunny and hot and the nights are muggy and warm. If cooler weather has been dominant, it will take them a little longer to begin fruit production.

//gardening geek//

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that about tomatoes, though that make sense when I think about how my tomatoes have produced in the past. Sadly, I'm not growing any this year as I didn't get them in in time and here in metro DC, no one believes in late season tomatoes.

[gairid.livejournal.com]

In DC you can still get away with a late planting---find a tomato that produces in 60-75 days and you'll get some fruit. (Early Girl, any of the cherry or grape varieties, Celebrity, Yellow Pear and an heirloom called Reisenstraube are all earlier varieties, as well as your plum tomatoes (Roma, Sausage, Yellow Plum).

(Can you tell I sell plants for a living?)

You still have time if you feel like planting. It's late, yeah, but the season in DC should be amenable--first frost in that area is mid-late Oct. (I'm from CT and we sometimes picked tomatoes into November).

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

I know I could do but the selection of plants at the local nurseries are sparse and what's left is leggy and the roots pot bound.

I did a late planting last year, and had a decent crop despite the plants I had to choose from.

Maybe I'll put in a few on my days off (if it doesn't rain!), as I do love fresh tomatoes!