Whither the Weather and Hither and Yon

At one of the most intriguing and fun stops of my recent travels, MAL and I met up with some folks in The Family whom we hadn’t met before. At some point in the conversation, one person said he’d dropped by here, and opined that “there’s not much there”. Overall, my assessment differs from his, but ’tis certainly true of late—I’ve been an infrequent contributor and when I do pipe up, it’s been with uncharacteristically brief bits. There are reasons for my shift ...

First and foremost, as I have already said, my summertime adventures have had a large impact on me; and I am still trying to sort a lot of that out. But grokking has been challenging because I haven’t had much time for reflective thinking—get back from Europe, deal with the gonzo tomato plants; travel a good distance to meet a friend and see Rush, then turn around and drive west to visit family and friends; and now I have the snolfs with me, which of course makes quiet time of any sort an even rarer commodity. Not being able to sort out my thoughts and feelings, it should come as no surprise that I’m reluctant to delve too deeply into anything.

So I have escaped to the outdoors. Unseasonably warm weather has coaxed a few tomato plants, and the lone tomatillo, into staying in production, and the snolfs are thrilled to be able to harvest the goodies. That of course means that I feel a strong urge to do something with the yummies. The weather has also encouraged me to indulge in a second planting of mustard—we’d been eating a lot of it in salads, but I found a couple of recipes for cooked mustard greens that I adore, and store bought mustard just won’t do; cooking brings out an unpleasant edge to its sharp flavor (which I suspect is from aging as it’s trucked across the country). We’ve also been enjoying a lot of walks—much needed for me, since I have regained some of the weight I’d lost, and much enjoyed by them, as they’re catching up on “nature’s news” and learning a lot.

At some point, the mental logjam will break, I’m sure; and you seven readers will likely flee in terror or be lulled to sleep by the ensuing flow. Until then, it’s apple season ... time for making apple butter and my very own jalapeño jelly recipe, drying apple rings, and slurping unpasteurized apple cider (if the nanny-ninnies haven’t outlawed it here). So for now, I’ll leave it at “I’ll see you when I see you”.