Heating Water

Hello,

Excitement filled the air as I looked at the one-liter water heater. It was the type that we used in Slovakia to heat water for tea. I always liked it because it was so fast. Here is one that only costs $2 at this Methodist thrift sale. I had checked in the hardware store and found three ranging in price from $17-$50. What luck that I should find such a treasure. The box was taped shut, but I asked to look inside. The sellers were more than happy to do that. When opened it looked as if it had never been used. I was really excited now.

I raced home and showed it to Leroy at lunchtime. He was appropriately pleased. Then I tried it out. It did smell new so I gave it the new treatment of discarding the first three liters of heated water. The sad thing was that I timed it and it took four minutes to heat. Leroy and I are both sure that it was much faster in Slovakia. Could we exaggerate speed in our minds? Or was it the difference in the wattage? Or was it local magic? It is faster than the microwave that takes nine minutes to heat the quart of water in my teapot. I guess I should consider it fast, but I was expecting it to take about two minutes.

Besides that heater I also bought a 25-cent book to take to Sarah and dime ping-pong paddle for Leroy. All in all it was quite satisfyingly cheap deals.

Last year my neighbor gave me some winter onions. We have now eaten them. It is great to have some fresh food from outside my door. If I had known I would still be here I would have planted many more. I am beginning to think that I should plan on staying wherever I am and then I will be prepared for most anything but the regret of leaving treasure behind. It is hard enough with people. I am realizing that the longer association is going to make it harder to leave here even though I try to protect myself from that. Love and loss seem to go hand in hand.

Paula