As we pulled into the driveway, I began to twitch a bit. There were SO many little red cherry tomatoes hanging on the vines. SO MANY.
Alexis pops the tomatoes like candy, which is good because they are there for her. I grow them every year so that she can grab a snack without harassing me. But there were so many little red balls hanging there that there was absolutely no way she could make a dent in them, even if she was asking to have salad for dinner.
As I walked past the plants, I noticed that a few of the tomatoes had burst. GAH! So much waste!
Let's not talk about the fact that the plants came up from seed all on their own. I paid nothing for them to be there. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds rose from seed this spring (as they do every year). I thinned them down to a half dozen plants. A half dozen plants for one kid to use as her "snacking spot" is probably excessive.
Also excessive -- my obsessive need to make sure none of the tomatoes go to waste. I don't know why it bothers me if they grow too ripe for consumption and have to be tossed, but I twitch. And freak out. And generally get all sorts of annoyed.
Every year I do what I can to give them away to anyone who will take them. Bags and bags of them have gone with me to work. I've made every friend I know who likes them take dozens of them home. I remind Alexis to snack on them at least four times a day. Cherry tomatoes aren't great for making sauce, but that hasn't stopped me in the past.
I needed a plan for dealing with the twitch-causing overage that was staring at me as I stood in the driveway.
"Alexis, eat some tomatoes!" I demanded.
She complied, but even after she had knocked out ten or so of them, there were still at least fifty more ready to be picked.
I thought and I thought and I made all sorts of faces that were probably ridiculous considering it's not like I can ship the extra tomatoes to Africa so that starving kids can eat them, but STILL! WASTE!
"Wait!" I called out to Alexis as she started to go in the house. "Hey, why don't you see if Penny likes tomatoes?" I suggested.
Penny sniffed. Penny considered. Penny looked over her shoulder at me as if trying to make sure it wasn't all a trap.
And then she took the tomato.
She walked around with that tomato for a solid five minutes, perfectly setting up my most favorite picture of a dog OF ALL TIME.
She finally ate the tomato and another and another and another and WOOHOO! We have solved our excessive cherry tomato problem!
What happens if you give a Tibetan a tomato? Everybody winds up happy.