Thursday--

The thunderstorms expected yesterday passed us by.  I harvested a nice bowlful of cherry tomatoes which I cooked with the romas, some jalapeños, onions and basil.  I will put it through the blender for sauce and package them for the freezer.  The temperatures remained fairly cool so we opened the doors for the fresh air.  I saw a number of little tasks that I should get done it it stays dry today.

Friday--

Very cool day yesterday--stayed in the low 70s.  Got the tomatoes done and froze five more one-pound packages.  The next batch I will simply stew and can.  We have put all the tomatoes we can in the freezer if we want space for what else we have in there.  I harvested a nice meal-worth of Blauhilde beans.  We are looking forward to having them tomorrow with our supper.  Reports say they are a very tasty bean.  I also collected some seeds from the tong ho before deadheading it.  Harvested three Amish Gold and a large double handful of cherry tomatoes.  I had thought I wouldn't have enough to do stewed tomatoes till the week after next.  I might be wrong.  Also collected a few Gold Marie beans and added them to what we have in the freezer.

I found this item which explains a blurb I heard on the TV news yesterday.  It irritates me how so often this kind of information is just a blurb while we hear all kinds of meaningless detail about celebrities and politicians.  More and more aggressive treatments for various cancers are getting a second look and the results indicate they don't really do much for the patients.  But we noted that, as a society, we have been very carefully taught to freak out at the mention of the word "cancer."  Perhaps that is one aspect of former President Jimmy Carter's reaction so refreshing--calm, collected, thoughtful, and unhurried.

Once upon a time, errant Catholics could fork over some gold (or silver or other valuables) and get an indulgence that forgave their sins.  Now all it takes for the born-again Christians is as sincere an apology as they can fake it promising to be good hence forth and thanking a forgiving god for forgiving them.  And they do it again and again and again... .  Isn't it nice that god has made their redemption so much easier.  They don't even take a hit to their wallets anymore.

Rather an ironic setting for Rand Paul to make his pitch about ending birthright citizenship--not far from the Haiti-Dominican Republic border where the DR is forcibly deporting people who were once citizens but have now been stripped of citizenship.

There is something incredibly pathetic about this situation.  Susie Madrak's first paragraph says everything that needs to be said.