Today, I woke early and decided to dedicate the day to addressing outstanding tasks. The goal was to put my life in order, catch up on deferred tasks, and prepare for my Monday meeting with Dr. H. Instead of imposing order, I ended up missing garlic and missing all my marbles.

Task Planning

A task list was made, the calendar consulted, the weather forecast reviewed. Yesterday, I harvested basil. Tonight’s forecast calls for overnight temperatures near freezing. The remaining basil must be converted to pesto.

Some of the other task items promise to be difficult. Most of them involve legal issues of one kind or another, and require writing submissions. Making pesto is relatively quick and enjoyable. It offered a way to start the morning off on a positive note before making a later transition to more challenging work. While breakfast cooked, I prepped the needed ingredients (see here for the basic recipe).

I had purchased a big bunch of garlic from a local farmer’s market. One bulb remained. I cut this open and removed three cloves. The half bulb of 3 cloves was reserved to be used in a second batch of pesto.

Garlic Vanishes

At this point something happened. I am not sure what. I know I had 3 cloves of garlic separated from the bulb and 3 cloves of garlic still attached to the bulb. Suddenly, I found myself missing garlic. One clove had vanished.

I searched the counter-top. Nada.  Puzzled. Search again. I have two cloves plus the 1/2 bulb of 3 cloves. A clove is missing. Am I wrong? Perhaps the 3 separated cloves never existed. I take the two separated cloves and join them with the 1/2 bulb of garlic. The header image shows the result of this test. It is clear there is a missing clove.

I search everywhere: riffle through the garbage, check around the computer, look in the fridge, in the cupboards. Anywhere I might have placed a garlic clove. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Bizarre.

It is now 1154. I started this enterprise at 0900 by measuring out 40 grams of walnuts. The next step was prepping the garlic. One clove vanished. I have spent two hours in a fruitless search. The garbage was pawed through. All the drawers opened. The pots and cutlery checked. I have looked everywhere. The missing clove remains lost.

I am now uncertain. Am I missing a garlic clove? Or am I missing my mind?