2002-09-07 - 2:42 p.m.

Sunday, September 1

11 a.m.

I hate to confess that I awoke so late! Strangely enough, my sleep didn't come easily and was broken. My "internal sentinal" was jumpy last night. The wind picked up again about 1:30 a.m. and blew my front door open. (The refrigerator cord doesn't let it close tight.) I rose and fastened it shut with bungee cord. Then someone from upstairs went to their bathroom and knocked over some of the recyclable glass,- with a clatter and a rueful comment. Later, I got into constructing internal dialogues for dealing with an irritating behaviour of a guy who sometimes comes to Wednesday meditation meeting. A half-hour of that prompted me to "give it up and turn it over." Thunder woke me next. On and on, till the crack of dawn, one thing after another. Kevtch, kevtch, kevtch! And after all that good Thai food, too! I kicked in a man-won to cover my share; that Thai Orchid is posh and pricy. So, I need to rein in my internet time for a few days and cut back on minor non-essentials.

To do today:

1. Clean and "neaten up" the front porch,

2. Sort through my storage boxes and organise the contents more logically. (Photos don't belong in the "grains, beans and condiments" box!),

3. Take a walk (doctor wants me to do one hour per day with the orthopaedic shoe inserts) and,

(subset Shopping List, buy another "Mul Moknune Hama," a quart of milk, a gallon of spring water and 4 cans of stove gas (if the plumbing shop is open).

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Thursday, Sept. 5

19:00

Cloudy all day. A breeze that felt almost like it came from a squall line sprang up and died several times between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. I'll have to check the internet news to find out what the weather is doing.

Sunday, after meeting, I got some good stuff at Hannam Market,- Parmesan cheese, tofu, radish sprouts, and fresh basil. I have been munching on the sprouts all week, but tonight, I got out the "big guns."

Pasta Primavera a la ~Sil!

Boil a small pot of spaghetti (one serving = one handful) to almost al dente' & set it aside. Saute' a sliced onion in half a tablespoon of my corn/sesame oil (patent pending...LOL) while slicing part (~1/2 cup) of a zucchini and half a handful of basil leaves (~one and a half tablespoons when minced). Saute' the zuke, then toss in the basil with an ounce of water, and clap the cover on the pan for a minute. [You can also add left-over chicken or other such to the pot before you add the basil and water to steam.] Set that aside and bring the spaghetti pot to the boil. Add cold water when it is al dente', drain and rinse spaghetti and put on a warm plate.

By now there should be a smidgen of very tasty "pan drippin's" in the saute' kettle. Make sure you get all of it on the spaghetti when you put the veggies atop. Add a few drops of soy sauce, liberal amounts of grated cheese and 3 or 4 pinches of radish sprouts. It's enough for two meals for me, makes almost 3 cups.

As I was writing, Jim called. We had a good long talk. He's going to look around for some free furniture. He plans to come into town with the car this weekend and will bring whatever he finds. He says he thinks that now is not the time to sell the house, with the U.S. economy in recession. David is an ideal tenant and there's plenty of time to decide later. He read Doe's e-mail arguments for selling and didn't agree with them, to me. So I'll hold off.

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Friday, Sept. 6

-- Had a good pupil today. He is reading "Harry Potter" in English. That's his "subway book." [Many people carry a book to read whenever they have a spare minute.] We talked quite a bit about words derived from Latin and other languages, especially Japanese.

Korean and Japanese are analogous to French and Italian, related but very different in spelling and vowel shifts: "Kendo"(J) = "Kungdue"(K), [the art of swordfighting] and "tofu" = d/tubu"(K), [soybean curd]. The Japanese alphabet looks very different, a lot more like Chinese to my eyes, more ideographic.

I do believe the rainy season is ending! The air is much fresher today, although the clouds are still with us. They're the accumulated evaporation of all the wetness, very "uncertain-looking," no structural integrity. I put out a big load of wash at 1 p.m. and all the thin stuff was dry by suppertime.

I splurged on supper! Went to the good chicken diner and watched K-Pop music videos while I ate. One tune is amazingly like "La Bamba" in feeling. Then put in some time at Cyberland and got home in good season for bed.

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Sat., Sept. 7

08:00

Sunny and Clear! A beautiful fall day! My "weather nose" was right on, yesterday.

When I pushed open the front door just now, there was a cat on top of the washing maching shed, giving me the "big eye," so I backed down the stairs talking gently. She's a pretty thing, grey tiger with lots of white, but she epitomises "nervous as a cat," treading slightly as she crouched, ready to sprint if I made a wrong move. I understand feral cats all too well.

She knows I'm the one who leaves chicken skin out on the porch, but she doesn't know if I'll pull a "bait-and-switch." She is larger, cleaner and healthier than most Korean cats. Her momma did a good job raising her.

Tomatoes are back, after a two-week absence from fruit vendors' carts. My guess is that these are typhoon survivors. They have a few bruises and are mostly green. I got six "Beefsteak"-sized ones for 3 chunwon ($2.40) and am ripening them on the window sill, resting on washcloths to "ease" their bruises.

I must say, bringing plenty of washcloths was an inspiration. They've come in very handy, for napkins, panty-liners, etc. Corea has these things; I just don't know how to ask for them. As I learn more of the language, I may retire the washcloths to their proper function.

Just put the tomatoes out on the roof of the washer shed and took a photo. Also got one of the "summer kitchen" set-up on the porch. Because this house is on a trapesoidal lot, my rooms are not square. A diagram is the best way to show them. Actually this whole city block is a big trapezoid. All sorts of architectural illusions have been used to make buildings "look square," but the geometric chickens come home to roost on the back sides of each lot.

Well, it's noon and I've got to run errands, so I'll sign off for now.

Thanks for reading!

Happy Trails!

~ Sil

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