Peas of the Pharaohs

The other day, while looking for something entirely other among the foodstuffs in the back hall, John accidentally spilled a #10 can of dried peas. As he struggled to pick them up, Kathe observed that they were the remnants of a 50-pound bag she had been given in the early 1960s, when she had been running a free-food program rather like Food Not Bombs.

We picked up as many of the peas as we could find and shook the dust off them in a collander before putting them back in. Another quantity were swept up with a dustpan and then thoroughly washed, after which we put them to soak. We plan on having some ancient peas tomorrow or the next night.

But that still left peas to turn up in all manner of places over the rest of the day -- in the kitchen, in the living room, in the car while we were out (they must have been in the folds of John's clothes -- somehow).

Later. Kathe challenged John to guess what interesting object she had found on the stairway. He got it in one.

And just now, as we lay in bed, a dried pea crept out of the covers and leapt onto the floor -- we're pretty sure it wasn't under the mattress....

Is this the last? Watch this space for further developments.