Tomatoes, Anyone?

You are looking at one day's harvest from our four tomato plants -- an Early Girl, an heirloom Yellow Pear and two grape varieties.

Unfortunately, Gil is not allowed raw vegetables so these sit on the kitchen island and "tempt" him. We'll thumb through our cookbooks looking for unique tomato sauce recipes tonight. As long as it's cooked, it's fair game for him.

I am sitting in Room 9601 at Beaumont at I write this today. Gil has been admitted for the day to get one unit of platelets and two units of packed red blood cells. Since each is to be infused over several hours, we probably won't be leaving to go home until well after dark.

The saddest part is that we arrived at 9:00 o'clock am this morning and it is now noon and we are STILL waiting for the lab to come up and draw a type and crossmatch for the blood products. Once that is sent to the lab, the blood bank has to do its job of getting the compatible blood products for infusion. Only then can the transfusions begin.

We are armed with three newspapers, both our computers, Season One DVD discs of Mad Men, the third in the Francois Truffault trilogy following Antoine Doinel (called Stolen Kisses), today's NYT crossword puzzle, this month's selection for my book club's September discussion (The Help) and a stock market trading book for Gil.

We are getting very good at waiting!

Marika is heading back to school a week from tomorrow. Lots of packing and thinking about what the bare necessities are for a 10 foot by 10 foot bedroom in a three-girl apartment space. And, of course, the always difficult fashion decisions! (I'm vicariously enjoying every minute of it!)

Adam is steering clear of the LA fire's smoke and haze. He's coming to celebrate his Dad's birthday here in Michigan on September 17th for a few days. USC's first home game of the season is tomorrow. Adam and Laura are two of the Trojans' biggest fans and will be there in the stadium with the rest of the student body.

Evan is taking his exam on the cardiovascular system today with his med school classmates after six weeks of learning how to read EKGs among other things. (I told him to do his cardiologist Dad proud on this body system!) Evan is just finishing his sixth week on crutches and has a follow-up appointment with his orthopedist this coming week.

All for now. Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Haiku:

Long three day weekend

Honoring all who work hard.

Rest. Relax. Enjoy.