Brotherly Love

Odie came home for Labor Day weekend and his birthday, and labor we did. He helped me wash my windows while Hoops supervised. I think she's very excited about her new smudge-free views and is being extra careful not to leave her little nose prints on the glass. We'll see how long that lasts though. Anyway, it's good to have a big brother who protects you AND does windows.

(Note, I find it both rewarding and less tiring to document the labor of others)




We also went for a swift bike ride and a relaxing paddle with Roland and Amy; Lenore joined us at the dam for an abbreviated trip, which accommodated her short attention span.





This is one of the few decent egret photos I've taken while paddling.



Odie was checking out a new summer home, but it doesn't have cable.



Lenore and I also made a buttload of tomato sauce to freeze, using 97% of the ingredients from my garden. It involved peeling about 30 tomatoes and roasting them with chopped up onion, green pepper, zucchini (from Lenore's garden), fresh herbs, garlic, balsamic vinegar and salt/pepper. I have since picked about 50 more tomatoes and made a second batch. Spaghetti anyone?

Here's most of the bounty pre and post prep.




After roasting, I roughly pureed the mixture in my blender with some tomato paste and Parmesan cheese. I forgot to document the finished product. Stay tuned.

I would be remiss if I didn't highlight the largest pepper I've ever grown. It's now part of the sauce.



Lenore gave Odie a cool Blackhawks pen that has a little projector light on one end. Sweet! This first one is what ET would look like if he were a Hawks fan.




I do love a four-day weekend...though age is catching up to me, because I can't remember what else we did. Other than farmer's marketing, the usual mundane weekend choors (laundry, etc.) and lots of eating.

So, this is as good a time as any to present the first of the September nosegays! Notice the purple and orange.




The tiny sunflowers that grew up orange are about 10 feet tall now, and they are producing prodigious amounts of bright orange blossoms. Even the hummingbirds are impressed (I've never seen a hummingbird in my yard before)!