Soup Factory Closed For Season

Last night after supper Durwood cooked up the last batch of tomato soup, we got it canned, then he washed up all the pots and dishes and bowls and whisks and spoons and... and... everything.  Now I get to ferry it all back down into the basement over the next few days, and he'll have to make do with 34 quarts and 8 pints of tomato soup in the coming winter.  I'm sure he'd have liked to cook up another half-bushel and we have plenty of jars but it's a lot of work and we need to start focusing our energies on prepping for our 2 week jaunt to the southeast.

In that regard I've begun assembling the "car snacks."  Last summer before our Yellowstone trip I found a list of DIY 100 calorie packs that I made up for the trip.  It saved us a boatload of money when we stopped for gas or wanted an "I'm bored" snack so I portioned out a bag of pretzel twists (15/bag) and reduced fat Cheez-Its (22/bag) and some raw almonds I had on hand (14/bag) the other day.  At the grocery today I splurged on a bag of shelled pistachios and some tropical trail mix, got some Chocolate Chex to mix with craisins and 2 cases of bottled water.  At Fleet Farm I got some roasted and salted almonds for Durwood (they're cheaper there and they were on sale) and some wasabi peas for me.  That should be enough.  I'll stop at the dollar store on my way to the chiro for more snack bags so while we're watching the season premiers of NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles tonight I can be bagging snacks.  I'll invite Durwood to help.  (Oh, we got a box of Honey Almond Clusters or some such cereal for days when we stay places without free breakfast.  We'll buy bananas and milk on the way.)  This weekend I'll do laundry and focus on packing.  Last year we each took a smaller, overnight-size, bag along that we tucked  our toiletries, lounge wear, slippers and a couple days' worth of clean clothes into so, even though Durwood insisted that we bring all the cases into the room, we only had to open the small ones.  Then I need to plan my take-along knitting and Lala reminded me that I'll need to pile on the audiobooks on the iPod and Kindle Fire.  Lots to do.

It was gorgeous walking along the trail this morning.  I went a bit earlier because I had to pick Durwood up from the auto fixit shop so we could do the shopping and it was just lovely, cool and sunny and quiet.  Porter's getting really good at heeling and she almost listens to me some of the time.  At least she doesn't lunge at people in her eagerness to make friends anymore.  I consider that a win.  All season long I've seen what looked like grape vines growing up some of the trees and today I saw grapes.  No, I didn't try one, I did before and they're tart.  Really tart.  Along the way I saw a woman that I met in college and then worked with at the library downtown.  I found out last week that she goes to the same yoga studio I go to, not the same classes but still...  Small world.

September 24--Walker Evans, Girl in Fulton Street, New York.  Leigh stood with her back to the shop's plate glass window.  She had a good view up and down Harrison Street and she could see down Dayton for several blocks, so she could see if they were coming.  They weren't far behind, she could feel the chill of their proximity on the back of her neck.


Sorry, that's all I got.  I was really tired.  I'm, I'm, I think I'm going to go knit.
--Barbara