Tomato Harvest & Shopping Swag

The title of today's post showcases two things that definitely go together--not.  But I try to give a little tip-off of what's in store below.

First there was the sky.  A little cloudy with the sun blazing out between tree branches.  It's not as hot as it was a week or so ago but it's still humid enough to cut squares of air to wring out to water plants. 

 

In other sky news here's Friday night's moon as I left Goodwill.  I just love looking at the sky and can't wait for the solar eclipse later this month.  Not that we're anywhere near the path of totality but I'm hoping it'll be clear enough to get a glimpse of the sun's disk nibbled away by the shadow of the moon.  DD will be much closer to the path so I hope she gets a chance to see it, even if it is a work day.  Maybe they'll give them a special "Eclipse" break.






Tomatoes like hot.  They like rain too.  Our tomatoes are getting plenty of both this summer and rewarding us lately with yummy red orbs to eat.  I've been slicing a small one to add to my lunches and I suspect that Durwood is eating his share because they aren't piling up on the counter.  That shell is a Queen Conch that I carried home from Jamaica in a basket of shells and coral on my lap years and years and YEARS ago, long before we were ecologically savvy enough to know that taking things from the ocean is wrong and when you could still fly all that way with a woven basket the size of a breadbox on your lap and not have to unwrap each and every shell in it whenever you changed planes.







Now for the shopping swag.  Here's the lineup of the goodies we got at Penzeys.  They have the best herbs (next to fresh, anyway) that we've found and we even got free stuff--a little jar of Garlic Powder, a big jar of Italian Herbs, and a small jar of Basil.  I especially like their salt-free herb mixes, lots of flavor, fewer heart attacks (not that I've ever had one but it's better to be safe than sorry).


After Penzeys we sauntered on down the mall to the Jo-Ann Fabrics so I could see if they had any different printed linen blends than what's in Green Bay.  They didn't, in fact it turns out that linen is a summer fabric so they're selling the few bolts left at 40% off, which is still fairly pricey.  I did find a few bolts of cotton prints on their "sale" rack that came home with me.  One has envelopes and stamps and other postal doodads on it (I love fabric with writing on it and I love stamps and mail too), the black background one has bright cactus on it, and the other one had beer names and bottles in subdued colors.  I'll make a tunic from the postal one, a yoke and pockets and maybe sleeves out of the black one, and something for the someone(s) in my life that are laser-focused on beer right now.  I bought all that they had so I'll have to be judicious in my pattern choices.




This morning I figured out why the hummingbird came back, the honeysuckle's blooming again.  It's time to cut the honeysuckle way back and put up a new trellis.  This summer most of the dead branches are on our side of the privacy screen and the leaves and blossoms are on the renter's side.  We need a new fence panel too, this one's losing its pickets.  I tried to just buy a couple pickets year before last but it seems they don't even make fencing like this anymore.  *sigh*  I'm tired of being so out of step--or maybe the world's out of step with me.  Yeah, that's is, I'm sure of it.










August 6--James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Three Figures: Pink and Grey.  The Forstner girls' names were Eileen, Irene, and Lena.  Dad said they named them so that anyone could holler, "Lene" and someone would come running.  Lena, the youngest and most outspoken, said, "Ha ha, Dad.  Very funny."  School was the worst.  Every kid who thought they were funny came up with "lean against me" or "I lean against you," even "I rene" in a fake Chinese accent.  None of the sisters kept track of how many playground brawls they were in and they usually came out on top.  Mom never said a word when one or all of them came home dirty with torn clothes.  She just hugged them, bnadaged, them, and mended their clothes.

Okey-dokey.  It's time for me to finish up the last of the Chicken & Greens soup then go downstairs to cut out more of those tunic dress things.  Oh, I got an unhappy surprise from Weight Watchers today.  I found a recipe for a smoothie with spinach, water, and fruit (some frozen) in the Parade magazine a couple weeks ago and made some up today.  It's delicious. (it's purple because I put in lots of blueberries but there really are 2 cups if spinach in there)  Then I put it into the "create" function of the WW site only to discover that one serving is 4 points.  What????  Fruit and veggies are 0 points when you eat them as food but turn them into a drink and they cost?  I'm peeved to the max.
--Barbara