Another Busy Weekend, I Love Weekends

Oh the weather, it is wonderful! The heat waves seem to have abated, and it is now comfortable to sit outside on the back porch in the afternoons. The windows are open, the breezes play through the house. I am almost, not quite but almost, grateful to hear Yippy and Yappy the little dogs locked in the house across the street by themselves, with the windows open. They seem like angry little beings, taking offense at every sign of life outside their enclosure. A bird that lands on the tree in their front yard is in for an earful, and so is the whole neighbourhood. The insults upon their persons are constant. These little dogs have a big presence. It is frightening that I have come to regard their almost continual tirades against the universe as a sound that symbolizes good weather.

Another busy weekend around here! The garden does not produce a lot of anything at any one time. Things come in bit by bit. There is always a bowl of tomatoes sitting on the counter, and bags of tomatoes in the refrigerator. Bags of green beans accumulate, as do bags of green peppers, and hot peppers, and Kohlrabi. Every day something is dehydrated, frozen, or canned.

Today I canned four jars of Salsa Verde, two jars of Dill Slices, one jar of Dilly Beans and five jars of Tomato Sauce. All of this was from our garden. Attila picked some of our Celery, a heritage variety called Golden Self-Blanching. The stems are very short and tough, the plant has a lot of leaves. This variety is perfect for us! The stems will be diced, blanched (despite the name!), and frozen. The leaves will be dehydrated, powdered in a blender, then stored in a mason jar. Celery powder is lovely used in casseroles and soups during the winter, when fresh Celery is too expensive to buy.

I’ve also been sneaking in some non-food projects whenever I can. These red rags used to be one of Attila’s work shirts. The garment was full of holes, and had some very intense industrial oil stains that could never be washed out. Old t-shirts make wonderful rags, so I took my scissors, cut away the oil stained fabric, and created rags. I cannot bear to discard items that could be useful. An example of this would be my 30+ years-old pants. They were purchased in the 1980s, made in Canada, an inexpensive pair of pants. I’ve worn them off and on ever since, and as you can see the waist band is wearing away. There are holes at various locations in the pant legs. If you look closely at the waistband, the elastic can be seen. It is in perfect condition, and is as flexible as the day I purchased the pants. When these pants finally become impossible to wear, I will save this elastic, and make wonderful rags out of the material. I wore these last weekend to the farm to pick strawberries, it won’t matter if it gets stained.

Worldly

Weather

Updated on Sun, Sep 12, 5:55 PM
24 °C
FEELS LIKE 26
A few clouds
Wind 10 NW km/h
Humidity 46 %
Visibility 26 km
Sunrise 6:43 AM
Wind gust 15 km/h
Pressure 101.3 kPa
Ceiling 9100 m
Sunset 7:24 PM

Quote

“I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.”
Marlene Dietrich
1901 – 1992

For me quotations are an opportunity to feel more connected with the species, when thoughts I’ve had are expressed by others. Quotations also offer me a chance to remember and honour my dear friend Paul, who was brilliant, and funny, and kind, and had a photographic memory. When he became passionate about anything, he expressed himself with quotations, mostly from literature. When moved, his mind could form no words of his own as worthy as those written by poets. It was an endearing from of modesty.