Oil change

Today was Ladies' Day at the Quik-e-lube, so I went to do my duty and have an oil change, surprisingly on schedule. I forgot to take something to read with me, so I stopped and got a Harmon Homes for my region. In the 3 years I've been here, this publication has grown from a Time Magazine into a Vogue Fall Fashions. Page after page of brick and vinyl-sided boom boxes, all with cathedral ceilings, granite counters and 4 bed, 5 bath. Someone in Amercia likes cleaning bathrooms more than I do. I don't mind the toilet so much as the area around it... And they're all in former cornfields, with , since we are an Italo-American region, Tuscany names. So as I was engrossed in these excesses, I forgot to notice that my oil change was taking an inordinately long time. That's when I saw that all the employees were gathered around my engine, peering in with flashlights. It seems they had lost my oil cap. They even got down in the pit to look for it. I am a very patient person. I will never get in the self-checkout line, nor will I chivvy the young men at the Quik-e-lube. In our area of very high unemployment, I am just glad when a person has a job. After all, my son finished college at 19 with a triple major in philosophy, math and computer science, and is completely unemployable here. He also went to baking school, and is a very good pastry cook. I wish he worked at the Quik-e-lube. So I didn't fuss the guys, until I found out they had called the auto parts store and were going to send someone over to get another oil cap. "No charge!" they said, brightly. "We'll have you out of here in half an hour, or so." So I told them they could keep the car, fix it when they felt like it, and I would walk home. So I did. After I had been walking about 5 minutes, I heard someone pounding along behind me. It was, of course, one of the Quik-e-lubers. They had found my gas cap, would I please come back and get my car. I did, and since it was Ladies' Day, there was $3.00 off my purchase.

Tonight's menu: Pork taginia with leeks, mint and orange
Couscous
Chickpea salad with poached eggs
Winter fruit