Cutting Cantelope

Tomorrow (Sunday) is the grand opening of LaJolla Community Church. This spring we bought a "fixer upper" in the heart of the UTC area. Since then lots of elbow grease and love has gone into reversing years of neglect. Today the place was a buzz as everyone rallied to put the final touches in preparation for tomorrow's opening.

I have spent many a Saturday morning weeding the front garden. Sounds like a contemplative, outdoor, solitary activity that I would enjoy. Turns out weeding is not my calling. I was secretly happy to see that the garden I once tended is now a concrete patio!

Now that weeding is off the table - it is time to explore uncharted territory and expand my work day skills.

Today's mission was to dice cantelope for the brunch tomorrow. If you know me - I am, shall we say, "domestically challenged". In the kitchen my specialty is grilled cheese and soup. At Thanksgiving or Christmas I can be convinced to to chop or dice -- but only if I am given specific instructions.

It started out simple enough - a bag of cantelope to be peeled and diced. It took a couple of tries, but I start to get the hang of it and plod my way through the first bag. I start to gain confidence - yes, I can do this job!

Just as I think I am wrapping up -- in comes Eric -- when I am not looking he quietly drops off another bag of cantelope. Over the next couple of hours this routine continues. Just when I think I am about done - another bag appears. Now Eric swears that in total there were only 30 cantelope -- but after several hours of dicing I am sure I must of peeled and diced hundreds of them!

Fruits of my first hour of labour


The final (really!!) melon


Sign announcing the grand opening