Thunderstorms and Salsa

I'm not sure what thunderstorms and salsa have in common with each other, except that the last big Tstorm we had (throwing tornados 60 miles up the road, but calmed down some when it reached us), I was making salsa, because the computer had to be turned off. And I wanted to make the salsa before the tomatoes I bought got too soft.

I've been in the habit of making things like salsa--things that are generally made in the summer and need to boil a long time on the stove--at night. I've been known to begin a pot of salsa when the evening news comes on (10 p.m. here in Central Time). It's too dang hot to boil anything any earlier in the day, during most of a Texas summer. But in the thunderstorm, the temps had cooled off enough, I didn't mind setting those tomatoes and peppers and onions and such to simmering. It made a really good batch--maybe because I used Roma tomatoes, or maybe because I let it cook a little longer than I usually do. It's nice and thick. And I didn't cook along with the tomatoes. It was a smaller batch than the last one, but I have hopes that some neighbor or friend will donate some of their excess tomatoes later in the season.

And yes, I'm rhapsodizing about tomatoes because I have absolutely nothing else to write about. I'm not doing anything but writing my current ms., reading books, going to "the big city" to paint on Tuesdays--and I painted out the heads of the little boys in my current painting because they looked totally stupid and I couldn't make them look right by trying to fix them pieceeal. Time to paint them over and start again. One of the three boys did get to keep his head, but the other two? Headless! 19 pages on the ms this week. Next week, I'll print and revise and (if it doesn't seem too totally stupid upon second reading) send it to the agent. Then I think I'll go back to the WWII book till I hear about the option book. Keep your fingers crossed, y'all. Thanks.