I was in the yard, sort of cleaning up. I thought the tomatoes were done. They’re not done. But the vines have gotten leggy and annoying. A few of my neighbors were out as well. IT was clearing out some weeds and the Guatemalan couple were clearing the sidewalk of leaves. I gave the couple some ripe tomatoes and some bunches of arugula. I had earlier given a tomato to residents of the Section 8 house down the street.
I was cutting off green tomatoes and setting them on the recycle bin as I was cutting back the vines they were on. IT and the couple already retreated to their homes when a woman in an SUV stops in the middle of the road and says, “Excusing me, how much are you selling those green tomatoes for?”
My mind went blank for a second. Sell? I’ve never put a monetary value on my produce. I’ve usually given away the tomatoes, chard, purslane, beans, and herbs growing my yard, but to neighbors, readers of this blog, co-workers, and family. Yet, if someone wants to offer me money, I’m not going to say no. Of course, I have taken bottles of wine…
The woman in the SUV began to tell me how hard it has been for her to find green tomatoes and how she really wanted some to fry. Fried green tomatoes don’t do anything for me, so the green tomatoes have little value to me, so I made up a price, one dollar for a bag. She parked the SUV, and I grabbed a bag and collected green tomatoes off of vines I was eying to cut back. I got $1 in change, which will fund my very bad vending machine Twix habit. The woman got about 3 lbs of tomatoes, which she seemed thrilled to get. G-d bless capitalism in its simplest form.
Month: November 2008
City Sponsored Murals
Shiloh Baptist has one on it’s child care center buildings, and there are a few more I’ve spotted around the hood. This is one on the corner of 4th and Florida Ave. It replaces faded mural that advertised Coca-Cola. Off on the side is a statement one can read whilst relieving oneself in the alley, about how it was a city sponsored project.
Want to join me for lunch Nov 17?
or sometime that week?
I got a promo email from Opentable advertizing their “Appetite Stimulus Plan”, which is sort of like Restaurant Week but $4-$5 more. Anyway I noticed a few Shaw and Mt. Vernon Square favorites, like Corduroy (lunch only) and 1905 (dinner only). There is also Vegetate and Acadiana. And I thought, I’d be willing to trek up to Corduroy for lunch from Penn Quarter. So if anyone else is working around Penn Quarter/ Gallery Place or at home in Shaw and care to join me for lunch at Corduroy, drop me an email in the next week or so at mari at inshaw period com.
Locally….
Part of me is screaming and cursing.
Reason 1- Michael Brown has the majority of the non-Democratic vote for city council. I’m so unhappy about that.
Reason 2- I regret that Jessica Lanza was not able to secure the seat for ANC2C03 with only 40% of the vote, according to the unofficial results.
The results between Chapple vs Thorpe and Sule vs Curtis look good, close, but it appears that the puppet show may come to and end, Praise be to G-d. And of course Padro wins by a landslide.
Over in Ward 5, Anita Bonds wins over the tree killer Jerry Mack. Sadly Ted Mcginn is behind Sylvia Pinkney. And Mark Jones, who had no spelling errors on his signs, got the DC School Board seat for Ward 5.
Make the world go away
I’m going to take a cue from one of my co-workers and stay home tomorrow. His plan is to vote and curl up with some good science/fantasy fiction. Something taking place in a kindgom far, far away. I plan the same thing, vote, and finish off a fictional parable about economics.
I’ve grown weary of the all election all the the time media so once I’ve done my part I’m shutting down. I plan to disconnect from the Internet, no TV, no radio and put the phones on silent. I’ll read my books, maybe do laundry, maybe take a hot steamy bath (haven’t done that for months) and watch those netflix dvds that have been piling up. I’ll wake up Wednesday when the radio alarm goes off and find out, unless there is something going on in the streets that clues me in.
I chatted with my Aunt and she also plans to stay home and have a quiet night. Her church, Shiloh Baptist, is having some sort of election party, gathering, whatever when the polls at their Hertigage Hall closes. Anyway she expressed concern about how residents would react to an unfavorable or favorable outcome and so she’s staying well away from the city. Even after several decades have passed and Shaw has bounced back from its past, the suburban distrust of the city is still there. Oh well.
I’m hoping for a quiet evening.
Anita Bonds for ANC5C01
Walking around this morning after getting my bag of baked goods I ran into Anita Bonds. She had a small group gathered on the steps of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church folding up fliers.
The fliers say, if by chance you didn’t get one, that ANC5C will have two meetings in November. The 1st will be on Nov 6th, at 6:45 at the All Nations Baptist Church at North Capitol and Rhode Island Ave NE. The second will be at Mt. Sinai on November 18th at 6:45pm. She’s hoping for a good turn out from us at the Nov. 18th meeting.
The flier also says vote for her on Nov 4th.
I say vote for Anita cause she’s smart enough to know that harming neighborhood trees is a no-no.