Even on vacation, Sunday can be lazy. While my hosts get the weekday New York Times delivered, they don’t get the weekend papers, meaning no Magazine section, meaning no Sunday crossword puzzle.
Their local
paper, however, the Santa Cruz Sentinel,
has a big New York Times crossword
puzzle, which must come from the Magazine. Since neither of my hosts does the
puzzle, I have it all to myself. It’s late afternoon, and I’ve done a bit over
half of it. I haven’t yet figured out the overall theme, i.e., what weird
PUN-ishment editor Will Shortz is offering us for clues with a question mark. (Ah, just got some in-house help: “Celebration
after a coup?” is “uprisersparty.”) And some of the clues have bad definitions:
“Detergent brand with a fabric in its name” turns out to be “woolite”; no, “wool”
is not a fabric, it’s a yarn or thread.
For lunch
we have the California version of a BLT, which adds an avocado. For the L, I go
to the backyard, to a half-wine barrel, where lettuce is growing. It’s chilly
and windy, so I put on a jacket, scarf, and hat, strange clothing for a
vacation in Central California. I’ve never picked lettuce before: should I pull
the whole plant, or break off the leaves near the root so new ones will grow?
Obviously, the latter. The BLT&A is the best I’ve ever had.
Soon after
lunch, it begins to rain – while the sun still shines. In this area of the
country, when that happens it’s said that the devil is beating his wife. Back
in New York it could also be a monkey’s wedding or a fox’s wedding, or even
liquid sun.
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I’m participating in the 10th annual Slice of
Life Challenge over at Two
Writing Teachers.
This is day 5 of the 31-day challenge. It’s not too late to make space
for daily writing in a community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager
to read what you have to slice about. Join in!
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