whoosh

That's the sound of the last few days going by. Honestly it feels like a hurricane around here right now. Not the calm back-to-school, back-to-routine that I was expecting.

Highlights for me? The kids are back in school and happy with their schedules. A big plus in my book. How long it will last? Who knows, but we're off to a good start.

Yesterday I picked a bunch of peaches from our tree. They're very delicious. The first processing batch got set aside for liqueur and two bags in the freezer for peach pie. The second batch is ripening just a bit more. I'm thinking maybe peach butter, we'll see.

Yesterday I also managed to get into the garden for a while (between vacation and rain that's been a rare occurance). Got a bit done, need to do more...that's a neverending task. I was thrilled to see that the deer did not manage to get the sunflowers this year. Last year I had lots of tall lovely stalks. This year there are actually blooms on top. Tomatoes are ripening, herbs are coming along, berry bushes are growning nicely. I'm also stunned to discover about 10 or so baby asparagus plants in a completely different bed than the one I planted them in! I really don't know how that happened but I think I shouldn't move them as I've heard that asparagus is very tender and does not take well to being moved. Now what?

My tackle-it-tuesday didn't get done so I won't talk about it here, but wait for next week (it's a big suprise, I promise). It's going to wind up being a multi-week project I guess.

Today was a zoo of a day. Running running running all day. Lots of chores got done but some fun stuff too. I went to the farm and as always loaded up on great produce. Small red potatoes are in. Along with kale, zucchini, eggplant, garlic, onions, corn, watermelon (the yummy yellow kind), tomatoes, carrots, beets, lettuce, and peppers. It was raining (it seems to always be raining on Tuesdays lately) so I skipped the pyo which was mostly gleanings anyway. I'm thinking there may be some ratatouille in our future.

After that I went to my friend Christina's house to make eggplant rolatini (sp?). On my way to the farm I had dropped off an eggplant, sauce and cheese. She went ahead and made it without me! What a wonderful surprise. We were supposed to cook together which would have been fun but this was a most welcome gift after such a busy day. We had it for dinner and even V, my meatatarian loved it. We ate in the dining room (mostly because the kitchen was full due to the tackle-it-tuesday project. Quite a nice change, I think we should eat in there more often. Of course I often wonder WHY I have a dining room as I only seem to use it a handful of times each year. It just doesn't seem to be part of our family culture to eat in this formal-ish, fancy room. We gather in the kitchen, all cozy and domestic.

This evening was Stitch Sisters. I hadn't been in three weeks so it was nice to catch up with everyone. Turns out that our group did very well at the local county fair, bringing home several ribbons all for knit or crochet items. Very fun. I also collected a few more hats. We're beginning to think that 50 hats is a more reasonable number. After all it's September and we are planning on delivering in November. We currently have 32. I have one on the needles and one more planned. I know at least three other hats are in process. Plus we're getting into holiday crunch time. However 50 hats is 50 more than the shelter had before so it's a good number. A great effort by all.

Now off to bed to collapse before tomorrow begins.