Victory Harvest

Yesterday I harvested the first ripe tomato from my wee garden.  It was small and yellow, and it was tasty.  Since I consumed it immediately, I have no photographic evidence of its existence.  This is a scientific rendering of what it looked like.  You’ll see I’ve included an equally scientific rendering of a ruler to give a sense of scale.

The most important thing about this tomato, and the reason I really should have documented before devouring, is that with this savory fruitlet, I won Tomato Race ‘07.  The Yankee Fan and I purchased and planted tomato plants in our respective gardens about a month and a half ago, and we’ve been competing to see who would be the first to acheive ripeness.  It wasn’t really a scientifically matched competition, since I planted in pots and he planted in the ground, and we planted totally different varieties, but I don’t care.  Because victory’s doubly sweet when you can actually eat it.

Pottery Fairy

I haven’t written anything in a while because I’ve been very busy doing a whole lot of not-especially-interesting things. The dramatic high point of Thursday night was when I was watching some ancient X-Files episode where there’s something with tentacles living in the sewer system of Fort Myers, Florida, and I was really tired but I couldn’t go to bed because I was waiting for Lemon Bundt Cake #2 to finishing baking (note to self, don’t make enough batter for two bundt cakes that take a really long time to bake when you only have one bundt pan), and then I fell asleep, and then when the timer rang it startled me so badly that I actually fell off the couch.
But something mysterious happened overnight. My porch was visited by the pottery fairy. I went out to get the newspaper this morning, and sitting on the two chairs I keep outside were three ceramic vessels (one vase, one teapot, one bowl/pot kind of thing). They are nicely glazed, mildly hippie-ish in style, obviously handmade by someone with some skills, but not a professional artisan. No note or signatures of any kind (and I did check inside the teapot).
TOTAL MYSTERY!
I have a variety of theories.
1) They were left by a crazy person, which needless to say are in plentiful supply in Oakland
2) My next door neighbor has a secret admirer who is a potter. Her door is on the other side of the building, but her address is the same as mine but with an “A” at the end.
3) I have a secret admirer who is a potter.

I’m hoping it’s not number 1, mostly because I’d rather not have crazies, even benign, pottery-dispensing crazies, on my porch. I’m hoping it’s not number two because it would be really sad if potential true love betwixt neighbor and mystery person was thwarted by something as banal as bad address reading. So by default I’m rooting for number 3. It has been a long time (like since junior high) since I’ve had a secret admirer (at least that I know of). But who would the potential candidates be? I don’t think I know any pottery types. Unless it’s my nutty upstairs British neighbor..He does always seem to be wearing tie-dye. And yesterday afternoon he spent an unecessary amount of time asking me about my garden and informed me that he has seen my silhouette in the evenings when I’m sitting at my sewing machine in the kitchen and how it was so nice to see somebody not sitting in front of a computer. Because he’s an old-fashioned guy, you know. eh….yeah…
Regardless, I’m not sure what to do with the goods. I don’t want to mess with them in case they belong/are intended for someone else, but I don’t really want them sitting on my chairs. What’s the appropriate waiting period for disposal of anonymous pottery?
Maybe when I get home they’ll just be gone.