Relentless Inquiry

As always, time on Catalina went by too quickly. Only went out on the boat one day, for company, since I had decided not to snorkel– hadn't been swimming yet this year, since the new club has an outdoor-only pool. Took a couple of interior tours, hiked up to the Wrigley Arboretum, went out on the semi-submersible glass-bottom 'sub', picked out a 9-block of tile for the tile-top table we've been saying for years that we'd build, etc.

Unfortunately also picked up some kind of cold or flu bug– sore throat, blocked sinuses, and general zero energy. Thankfully it waited until Sunday morning to hit, so I mostly slept on the drive back. We took I-5 and did a straight shot home, rather than our usual dallying up 101 at Avila Springs or lunching at the Cracked Crab in Pismo Beach. I wasn't up for either of those, and Mike thought being home during the daylight to clean his gear would be a novel experience.

The cat-sitter had watered everything properly, huzzah. Even the greenhouse plants were thriving, and I was worried about those. My frantic couple of hours of stringing soaker hose crazily about had actually paid off. Tomato plants had visibly gained inches of height. Put off a detailed exam of garden until today sometime.

Picked some rainbow chard and did an easy rice-cooker dinner: brown rice and yellow split peas, with the last of the October 05 frozen quartered tomatoes, plus olive oil, rubbed sage, yellow mustard seed, and a sprinkling of thyme and savory. After the 'dinger' went off, took the pot out of the cooker and tossed the chard in on top, where it quietly steamed for a few minutes. A nice healthy antidote to some of the stuff we ate during vacation.

Sinuses cleared overnight– woke up at about 4am and went out to the livingroom to hack, snort, and spit so that I wouldn't wake up Mike. Still have a sore throat this morning, but don't feel as messed up, and ears not hurting, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can shake this within a day or so.