Hello, Autumn

Well, it’s been a while, but since I wrote last I’ve done a few things, here’s a summary: I FINALLY finished my sweater and started the striped scarf for the charity auction (for my father’s memorial scholarship). I brushed sand into the cracks between the new pathway’s pavers, did fall maintenance on the flower garden, and painted the bits of garage that still needed it. We harvested many tomatoes, lettuce, beets, basil beans, peas, and a pumpkin from our garden, and pears, apples & plums from a friend’s orchard.

On the Martha Stewart-ey front, I made batches of applesauce and one of oriental plum sauce (we ate some with homemade dim sum last night, it’s tasty), which we canned, and apple crisp. I'm currently working on pepper relish. We tried ratatouille (it’s excellent with chevre & fresh bread) from farmer’s market veg and found it to be an easy, hearty summer produce meal. Oh, and here’s my no-fail bruschetta- chop up fresh tomatoes & basil (from your garden or farmer’s market- too weak with store-bought), add cracked pepper, crushed garlic, olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar, grated pecorino or parmesan, and sea salt. Serve on bread slathered with garlic butter & toasted (preferably grilled), mmm.

The evening before my last day, Kris and I went berry picking (was supposed to be mushrooms, but we didn’t get any) and attended Steph’s evening program for fun. The next day we had tea together as our afternoon break with huckleberry-topped cheesecake & Steph’s fancy china! Then I had one day off and the next I subbed for one of my favorite classes, and in the evening Kris & Steph & I went crabbing (we caught mostly red rocks, so we made sushi). R & I went to a bluegrass concert in the park with friends from his work. Just before Kris left town (sad) we did yoga, I really need to go more often. I’m also thinking of signing up for a gymnastics class. R went out on fire again last week, so the dogs and I tried to be productive, but mostly failed. I read a lot though.

I’m still looking for flights to Cabo for Christmas, but currently it’s prohibitively expensive (~$700 per person!). I’d really love to do an Espiritu Santo kayak/ snorkel/ camp trip too, but that would add a lot more to the trip total without changing flight costs, unfortunately. But at least there’s Puerto Rico- one of the many, many things I need to do on our weekend in Portland/Seattle in Oct is sit with the SMA girls and plan our trip, yay! It will be good just to see them again, I never see them anymore.

Anyway, our internet is being a bit fussy- there was a week or so there when I couldn’t really get on at all, so I’ll try to update more often now. With luck I should have more time for fall projects and other things to crow about. ;)