Fall Found Me Again

Last night, I got done cleaning up the kitchen after 2 days of canning (and making a mess, too), and went outside to look at the vegetable garden. It was a cool evening, the sun was going down behind the trees, and the air was a pale blue. I was in the tomatoes, picking a few that were ready, and a little breeze blew, bringing the scent of fall to me.

And all of a sudden, I was a child again, sitting in my room at my parent's house, doing my homework in the evening, at the desk in front of the window. The windows were open in my room and the crisp fall air smell came in and told me of promises of leaves turning, and the dark excitement of Halloween to come. It was that smell--that smell of the evening in fall--the one I can never seem to find here that seems to have found me. It lasted a minute. It lasted less than a minute. It was gone as fast as it came, and I didn't find it again all evening, though I tried. But it was there, for a moment, and I was back in time with it.

I know I have said that fall smells different here--it does. I miss the smell I knew. Why it brings me back to being a child, I don't know. Maybe because things were so much simpler then, though I didn't know it at the time. Maybe because it feels like a safer time. All I know is that the fall found me again last night, and it brought tears to my eyes. I was truly thankful.

It's sort of summer here again today. The heat has come back, but it's bite is gone. The leaves have continued to slowly turn. I can tell that summer is over--what comes during the days is just a shade of what it was. I am looking with excitement to the coming season. I hope you all are too.

I Be Cannin'

Be back.....eventually. :)

It's a Good Day

You're probably pretty tired of pictures of tomatoes and squash and stuff, so sorry, but I can't help myself. And since this is my blog, I figure oh, what the hell, I like squash, I will take some pictures of them. So here is a picture of some squash. These are pattypan, which are very delicious and mild-tasting, as squash go. They are very enjoyable.

This is what they are "supposed" to look like when you pick them (meaning, ideal size):

This way, they can be cooked and eaten whole, and they are good!! I don't always pick them at this size, though, because I feel like that's too small. So I will usually leave them until they are sliceable size, and then I'll slice them and cook them, and they are still so good. But sometimes, when I'm feeling wild, I will leave them longer, to stuffable size like this:That's when they are still tender and yummy and can be cooked by stuffing them with something (I like breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese with balsamic vinaigrette---YUM!) and putting them in the oven. They are big enough to hold in the palm of your hand, and weigh about a half pound each. They are a meal in themselves.

Then sometimes I like to not see a squash for--oh, I don't know--three weeks or something, and then go out and be surprised because there's a squash there that I didn't see, and all it's been doing is getting BIGGER, and it looks like this:
Here are some pics for scale. The littlest on the biggest.

This thing is like a work of art. It's 3 lbs, 2 oz. I don't want to eat it. How long do you think it will last if I just put it on a table as something to look at? Is there a squash taxidermist anywhere? Does anyone know? Geez, I just want to look at it all day, it's so pretty.

I did get many other things from the garden today, though, too. Here's a picture of them all. I am SO proud (can you tell?)

93 cherry tomatoes, 3 zucchini, a bunch of other "ugly" tomatoes, more pattypan, the huge pattypan, and I even braved the huge spider's lair and picked some beans (thankfully I didn't see the spider). Wow. I am super happy today!!

Turns out I am sharing my tomatoes with the groundhogs, though.

They got two of them. Furry buggers. Least they could do is eat the whole thing. What a waste, just eating a chunk and leaving it. Now that I know, I will have to find a way to combat them.

Ok, that's it for me today. I've got a million things to do. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

.....And Today I Took Them Back Off

Actually, I took them back off on Tuesday. Oh well. I didn't think it would last. The heat is back, but it's bite is gone. That is a relief. I got to do a good amount of weeding outside, which needed to be done desperately. At least the gardens are tidier.

Yesterday, I found the biggest, creepiest spider in the beans. I am not a fan of spiders, so I am very hesitant (to say the least) to go back into the beans and harvest. I will have to be really careful. And wear thick gloves. Shudder

Before I found said creepy huge spider, I did get a nice harvest.

The little brownish tomatoes are the Chocolate Cherry tomatoes. They are the ones I had to wrestle with. They have now grown about 2 feet past the supports and don't look like they are going to stop anytime soon. At least they are productive! The big huge yellow tomato in the front is a yellow Brandywine. They are ugly tomatoes, from an aesthetic standpoint, but they are huge. This one is one of the larger ones. It weighed 1 1/2 pounds all by itself. I called it Big Bertha. Then we ate it. YUM!

I hope you are all having a good week!