The last two tomatoes...

...and a love song


Ah, me. This is so bittersweet.

My car is in the shop with one of those problems where the mechanic has to drive the car for a few days to discover what's wrong. My parents are in Italy with Dad's twin sisters for the next few weeks, so Dad very graciously agreed to let me use his truck.

A few days ago, I drove from work in Orleans, stopped in Cotuit to let out the cats, and drove on to Falmouth to get the truck. I opened the door of the cab, and there on the front seat was a white paper bag with the notation "last 2 tomatoes." Can you ask for a more wonderful present at the end of a long day and a long drive home?

Today, I am very reverently eating a panino with "the last two tomatoes."

Do you know the Guy Clark tomato song?
Here's his "love song" to tamaters:

Ain't nothin' in the world that I like better
Than bacon & lettuce & homegrown tomatoes
Up in the mornin' out in the garden

Get you a ripe one don't get a hard one
Plant `em in the spring eat `em in the summer
All winter with out `em's a culinary bummer
I forget all about the sweatin' & diggin'
Everytime I go out & pick me a big one

Homegrown tomatoes homegrown tomatoes
What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can't buy
That's true love & homegrown tomatoes

You can go out to eat & that's for sure
But it's nothin' a homegrown tomato won't cure
Put `em in a salad, put `em in a stew
You can make your very own tomato juice
Eat `em with eggs, eat `em with gravy
Eat `em with beans, pinto or navy
Put `em on the side put `em in the middle
Put a homegrown tomato on a hotcake griddle

If I's to change this life I lead
I'd be Johnny Tomato Seed
`Cause I know what this country needs
Homegrown tomatoes in every yard you see
When I die don't bury me
In a box in a cemetery
Out in the garden would be much better
I could be pushin' up homegrown tomatoes

Great, don't you think? If you believe in true love and home grown tomatoes, too, join me, and sing along with Mr. Clark's tender ballad here.