71°f/21.7°C, mostly cloudy all day. Very humid, high of 88. Not a day to be outside---again.
I should not complain though, considering all the floods, the tornadoes, and the terrible earthquakes in the past month. The whole of Earth seems to be reeling from one cataclysmic event or another, while we have just had heat, rain, humidity, and a few fallen trees. Counting my blessings and sending my heartfelt sympathies across the sky to all the places suffering.
Yesterday was booth day, but we just did Ravenswood this time. I am trying to just do one location at a time if we can, as I don't get nearly as worn out that way. I mainly worked on that one messy booth; it looks a bit better but I am still not happy with it.
Before:
Afterwards we met granddaughter Hannah at the Artisan Market for a very late lunch. She had sweet little Sutton with her. Such a little doll baby. And a little sleepyhead! He is about 6 weeks old now.
After lunch Hannah went with us to the farmers market. It was miserably hot but we strolled around visiting friends who were vendors, and I picked up some fresh eggs. (I am sorely missing my hens; we will get more when we return from Colorado.) It was a very nice way to end our day.
I went out to the garden today for about 30 minutes to pick a few squash, some basil and onions, and some zinnias that had been knocked over by the wind. By the time I came back inside I was completely soaked with sweat. Larry worked in the garage all afternoon and how he stood it I don't know. He came in literally dripping, and had to strip on the porch. It's a good thing we live out of sight of all other humanity, as porch-stripping has been the order of the day this summer!
A few photos from my wildly messy garden.
This was the cucumber arbor, but they blighted (too much rain), so this zucchini is taking over. Mind, this was supposed to be bush zucchini! Apparently no one told it what it was supposed to do. There's also a volunteer tomato plant twining in amongst the rampant zucchini too.
Same thing is happening on the other side of the arbor. I think there is one surviving cucumber plant. Deer got in and ate my second planting of cucumbers, so we are done for this year. Disappointing.
At the other end of the garden, the butternut squash, which was also supposed to be a bush variety, ran amok and is covered with squash. I counted at least 14, but there are no doubt more hidden under the leaves.
Crazy old garden year, but we have harvested plenty, so I am not complaining. Every year is different, with some things doing well and others failing. I am just grateful to have the space to grow as much or as little as I want.
While I was outside, I went up the little bank outside my kitchen window to photograph a wild flower I had seen from the window. It came complete with a bug---a katydid, I think?
I don't recall ever seeing this one before. It has a rather suggestive Latin name: clitoria mariana, but its common names are butterfly pea and Atlantic pigeon wings. I think I prefer butterfly pea! I had asked Larry not to mow this area, just to see what might come up. I may do the same next year. It's a little messy, but no one can see it except us anyway.
Yesterday morning I came up with a pretty good hack for keeping a quiche from being too runny if I use fresh tomatoes in it: I just spread about 1/4 cup of uncooked quick oats in the partially baked piecrust. Then I layered the sliced tomatoes, some chopped garlic chives and torn basil, then parmesan and cheddar cheeses, then poured in the egg mixture (4 eggs, a couple tablespoons of mayo, a couple of the same of milk, and salt and pepper). Baked at 350° for about 20 minutes. It was not runny at all, and the oats were undetectable.
Other things I have been up to: sorting out my dresser drawers and a couple cabinets in the kitchen. I also sorted more books and emptied a bookshelf in the bedroom as I continue downsizing our little pockets of storage. Storage, I find, translates to "keeping stuff we no longer need, just in case we might need it again". Given our age, I am being more realistic about just what we can or want to do in the coming years.
I also painted this cabinet that we picked up at a thrift the other day. I have no idea why this photo looks so strange. Trust me, it does not have weird dotted lines around it!
I think this is made for storage of cans and jars in the kitchen, maybe?
I am reading a book that I think one of you Blogger friends recommended:
It is the best book I have read since A Gentleman in Moscow. The writing is exquisite, and I find myself reading slowly to savor every word, description, and especially the gentle, spot-on humor. Set in County Clare in Ireland, it takes me right back to our visit there in 2017, and now I am longing to go back.
Well, that's about all that has been going on around here. Tomorrow I need to get those tomatoes and zucchini dealt with so I will be back in the kitchen. More rain is on the way; maybe it will break the humidity. Til next time!
