This post reminded me of one of the downsides to working for someone else. Your schedule is always controlled by someone else. I have never found a good carry-in meal. I don't like warm sandwiches and wilted lettuce. The employer may or may not offer a break room with microwave and fridge. More often my employers had vending machines for us. I can't count the number of times I finally got a late break and was so hungry I went for what ever was handy regardless of cost and nutrition. Or finally got off work and was so hungry I stopped at the nearest fast food joint. The cost wasn't the only draw back. I have always gained weight no matter what job I had. The more boring the job, the worse the weight gain.

I ran across this post and debated a bit before I decided to comment. As I read it I asked myself the same question I asked when I read posts about the mining company that wants to exploit a rich vein of gold that happens to be under a mountain that is sacred to the Western Shoshone and pollute the local stream with its waste. Or the mining company that wants to drill test cores for uranium in the Grand Canyon and on public lands adjacent to the Navajo lands in the southwest. Or the mining company that plans to lop the top of a mountain to get at the coal and dump the rubble in the adjacent valley. When do the environmental effects of our 'harvesting' mineral resources outstrip the value of the resources acquired? Unfortunately we have never found a way of valuing the birds, the streams, the land, or the air so a reasonable comparison can be made. And we have a long history of companies harvesting the resources and leaving the mess for others to clean up, maybe.

Mom and I were admiring our tomato plants. I showed her the blossoms coming out--a lot of blossoms. We are so looking forward to tomatoes that will have some flavor. The first ones will be taken green and fried. Yummm!!! Mom remarked in passing that we won't have to worry about salmonella. So right about that!!

This blog entry features a couple of thoughts that have come to me frequently of late. I have used the embroidery features on my sewing machine. I have drooled over the computerized machines and their embroidery capabilities. But, on reflection, I find I have no real desire to use acquire one of those machines or even to use my own machines features very much. I enjoy the hand work. I love the feeling I get when the embroidery turns out as or better than I thought it would. I will leave the machine work to others who enjoy it as much as I enjoy the hand work. I also think it sad that we equate efficiency with machines, speed, and the increased number of things done to the point that mechanization has become an unquestioned good. At the same time all hand work has taken on the aura of drudgery to be avoided.  Most of the jobs I have had provided little in the way of aesthetic satisfaction (and often almost as little in financial joy) so my needlework feed my soul.  Doing it by hand yields, for me, the most pleasure.