Lake Lewisia #562

Casey recognized them from the audience the night before, now looking slightly more bedraggled from apparently spending a night out in a hay field, though with undampened enthusiasm. "I'm not magic, and I can't sing, and I don't know how to dance," they blurted as soon as Casey met them at the barn doors, "but please let me go with you." It wasn't a professional pitch, to be certain, but Casey knew professionalism could be taught but passion couldn't, so ey said, "Well, there's a free seat on the bus, and we just lost a setup assistant."

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LL#562

Today's Keyboard Smash

Naps aren't really doing the trick, but I don't know what else to do. Zombie!Joyce reporting for...whatever this is?

Got into the pumpkin patch again. The padding of loose hay we put down proved counterproductive for protecting the pumpkins from pressure damage and rot. So now we're laying plastic under them. Much better, so far. Also, this is a completely insane task we have set for ourselves. I mean, we are absolutely around the bend at this point.

Each individual pumpkin will be receiving massages and bedtime stories before August is over, I predict. One of them broke off the vine while being moved. I ended up carrying it around, lovingly drumming on it. I feel bad about having spawned such a never-ending time-sink by suggesting growing a pumpkin patch. But also, I continue to be indescribably happy whenever I get within ten feet of it.

Also, I have fried things today. An initial experiment with fry bread didn't exactly turn out right, but it was both instructive and edible. Shortly, I will begin frying chicken flautas, which are going with the tomato nacho dish mum has baking. It's been way less dramatic or dangerous than I expected. My experiences with industrial fryers have also always involved previously frozen foods, which carry ice crystals. Ice means unaffiliated water, which means splashing and popping and burn constellations. Home frying has, thus far, been distinctly less painful.

I'm not saying I'm going to live exclusively on deep-fried foods from now on, but it's a fun treat. The fair has been canceled here (and pretty much everywhere else), so it's up to me to provide us with our once-yearly allotment of battered and fried substances. So far, everything has been pretty...normal. Fried dough and tortillas. I've got a bag of fries and some frozen dumplings that will get fried at some point. I'm thinking, though, that I need to make at least a few wild things. A battered and fried pb&j, perhaps. I've got some not-Oreos, which could get the same treatment. Maybe I'll just have a day where I mix up a batch of batter and dip anything I can think of.

The real plan, though, is to combine my two great loves of this year: pumpkin tempura. I mean, I'll probably make various vegetables, sure. But pumpkin tempura. *droolslobber*