« socktoberfest! | Main | this place no longer exists »
October 16, 2008
i dig rutabagas
It's harvest time where I grew up, and we spent a good deal of time last weekend driving back and forth along roads of my childhood, to and from various Thanksgiving gatherings with family. A rutabaga field just outside my hometown was being harvested Sunday morning as we drove by and I was reminded of something my family used to do this time every year: my parents would drive slowly down then-unpaved Airport Line towards Exeter while my brother and I excitedly scanned the shoulders and ditches for rutabagas that had fallen off the trucks going past. We weren't really poor enough to need to eat fallen vegetables off the side of the road, but the game was fun nonetheless and I'm convinced that the thrill of finding them this way made the rutabagas taste better (and anyway, it's not like they'd go bad very fast lying out there, so why not?).
On Monday we dawdled around Exeter a bit (where I successfully Kinneared a guy wearing the most amazing Pink Floyd trousers and a t-shirt with fireworks over a cruise ship), then made our way at a leisurely pace from my mom's house to London to visit Peter's sister. Along country roads I let my eyes slide half-distractedly over the ditches in vain hopes of spotting something crunchy and delicious there. Peter had already said that he would not stop to pick up any rutabagas; he shares neither my enthusiasm for the joys of found produce or my love of raw rutabaga. Still, when I spotted a familiar yellow lump lying in the grass I shrieked in excitement, "stop! stop! A RUTABAGA!".
There followed a tense scene: him disdainful, me pleading, him: do you seriously want me to go back?, me: well, I guess not, well, yes! not if you're going to be mad though, but YES GO BACK PLEASE. I promised him he wouldn't have to humour me with any of my stupid shit for the rest of the weekend (this is at noon on Monday of a long weekend, mind you, and while my intent was sincere, I was forgetting that by these terms he'd only be exempt from humouring me for about twelve more hours). He said he thought the exemption should last the rest of the month. I agreed at once, ready to give in to any demands just so long as we could GO BACK AND PICK UP MY RUTABAGA NOW.
We turned around, drove back a full concession then turned again in order to approach the treasure spot from the same direction as before. As soon as I caught sight of that yellow lump I began to have doubts, and as we came to a stop a little past it I said, "I'm not sure that's really a rutabaga. It looks like it might be a piece of wood". Through gritted teeth Peter said, "go back there and pick it up we are bringing it home whatever it is EVEN IF IT'S A FUCKING DEAD RABBIT".
My friends, I present to you my bounty, thankfully not a dead rabbit. And now Peter does not have to humour any of my stupid shit for the rest of the month.
I can't wait until November.
Posted by jodi at October 16, 2008 12:22 PM | categories: dumbass
Comments
This post made me literally laugh out loud, particularly the part about the dead rabbit. Thank you... I needed it. :D
Posted by: crumpet at October 17, 2008 10:00 PM
Is that really what a rutabaga looks like? I had no idea . . . I've never had a rutabaga, so I don't think I even had a concept of what they look like.
It's on my list of "veggies to try", though . . .
Posted by: chris at October 19, 2008 11:25 AM
A rutabaga by any other name would be "turnip".
Isn't that....insulation foam? Looks like the stuff we used to spray into our barn to keep it warmer for the livestock!
Nothing edible by the looks of it, but totally, totally worth losing your nonsense priviledges for the rest of the month! (it's going to be hard though with Halloween coming up!)
Posted by: Mary at October 19, 2008 08:32 PM