Got up, went out to breakfast, came home, played on the web and Playa del Carmen site, vacuumed the house, cleaned the screen porch and back porch, practiced a new tune, played more on the web, washed the kitchen floor, went out to get corn for supper (realized that my per ear calculation was wrong half way home and had to go back to make up the difference in the money jar at the corn stand, whereupon the corn guy who was now there told me that someone stole $4.00 from the jar yesterday), came back home and am preparing to make supper and go to Tuesday night practice.

Casio tells me that my camera is fixed. They will send it back for about $89.00. That's better than the $415 it just cost me to have the septic tank pumped and cleaned. If we didn't have all this stuff-------

So - why did mother nature invent mosquitos and fruit flies? They seem to be equally useless and almost equally bothersome, except the mosquitos are worse.

Every year at about this time, fruit flies appear, brought in on bananas or some such. Whenever I throw something in the kitchen trash, a small cloud of them flies out, darting about in their impossible-to-smack way. They are so small that against anything but a white background they quickly disappear. Then, every so often, a tiny black speck meanders aimlessly across your line of sight - just long enough to bug you (no pun intended) and too fast to clap. For the duration, the kitchen trash has to be sealed and removed every day, or maybe twice, and all surfaces must be spotless. No leaving tomato juice on the cutting board during supper or they will congregate in hoards.

This year's corn crop has been pretty sketchy so far. The first ears I got at Legare's vegetable stand were small, irregular and not very sweet. This is unusual since their corn is usually one of the best around. I have decided to shop around and see what's up at other places. Passing a sign at Boulevard Gardens that said "Sweetest Corn in Vermont", I stopped and got some. It was good, but not as good as my memory of fresh corn. I tried Paquette's with the same result and today I went to the organic guy I mentioned above. Haven't had a chance to test it yet, but it looks good anyway. I did return to Legare's for another try and it was much better the second time around.

One of the ATT requirements when they bought Cellular One is that you have to order a new service, even though your contract with the previous company has not run out, if you want to retain the same phone number. This is a total pain in the you know what, but I took the opportunity to upgrade to a new more option riddled phone. They were free with a 2 year service agreement. After a few months, I know why they are free. It's a total piece of crap. The battery door fell off in the first 2 days and disappeared. A new one was $15.00, plus shipping, from the only place you can go in the US for service (TX) and battery doors are not included under any warranty since they are a removable part. Pretty convenient for Pantech, the phone manufacturer. I suspect a large part of their profit margin is due to this clause.

I did convince ATT to pay for the door, which promptly fell off again in a day. This time I outsmarted them though, so far. I taped the door on. Now, the battery comes loose about 1 or 2 times a month and the phone won't work at all until I remove the tape and door, take it out and reinstall it. Of course, you don't know that you are missing calls until you try to use the phone.

ATT will be happy to upgrade the phone to an iPhone for a mere $250 (refurbished) and a new 2 year contract. I plan to call them and speak my piece of mind.

James Byrd of Clarksville GA has bees that make the best honey I've ever tasted from Sourwood blossoms. I bought a jar on the Southern Tour one year and was so impressed that I looked him up on Yahoo when I got home and called for more. He sent me 6 pounds at $2.50 a pound. For a product that normally costs 3 times that, I thought it was a pretty good deal, so I sent him money and a quart of Morse Farm's best maple syrup with a CD of Meg's kitchen. The next time I called, he refused any payment and sent another 7 jars. I sent more syrup. Today when I called, he said "I was just going to send you some more - I thought you might be out by now." This is turning into an excellent relationship. I think I'll send him a set of Floons in thanks.

For those who don't know about Floons, they are home made wooden flipper/spoons that are quite handy for many things around the kitchen. My entire family has them, some more than one pair. They come in right and left hand configurations and flip eggs, stir stew or soup, turn wok contents and serve salad with equal ease.

Time to start cooking. See you on the flip side, so to speak.