Fall is on it's way.....

 

Zoē taking a nap, which we were all doing in the hot part of the day.....

"Did you say we are going for a walk???"

At last our temps have fallen, we enjoyed a high of 76 F and that's a lot cooler than last week.  I know it will be hot again, but finally we can see an end to 98-100 degree temps soon.  

Whatever is going on with the weather, my garden is really growing.  The peach peppers have doubled their height, and although I see flowers, I haven't seen any baby peppers yet.  I sure hope I have a stellar harvest!  My giant marconi pepper probably will not produce a nice large peppers like the first one ~ which I stuffed with cheese and herbs and grilled.  I didn't plant it in a very good place (which I should have known the tomatoes would shade them too much).  They are super tasty peppers though, so I plan to do more of those next year.  

We'll be heading up to the mountains for a hike next week, although it's way to early for the aspen's to be golden.  We'll have to go up again when they do, because it's just spectacular.  I would really like to drive to New England and see the fall colors next year!  

In the meantime, I've been spending my afternoons watching all the drama in the US Open.  Some of the matches keep you on the edge of your seat!  Yesterday I watched Tu and Alcarez, and that was a great game.  

This past weekend I picked ~ for free ~ 6 lbs 14 oz of prickly pear fruit....and made two batches of jelly.  I plan to send some of these out to my kids for Christmas.  On Saturday I will pick up a bushel of Colorado peaches, and I will be making canned peaches, jam and jelly.  I've already had my canning warm up, haha. 

We're still baking for the Greek festival....we baked and boxed 800 kourambiedes (similar to a Mexican wedding cookie).  We have a few more days of those, which I hate because that powdered sugar goes everywhere.  It's such a mess!  They are delicious cookies though.  Luckily we will have this Thursday off since my friend who manages festival baking is off celebrating her anniversary.  

Other than the above mentioned stuff, that's all that is going on!  It's a pretty quiet life, which has it's benefits and negatives.  Great if quiet is your thing, negative if you want some adventure before we're too old to do said adventures.  

Love, 365

I am....the tomato worm hunter, bwa ha ha

 

There it is, my nemesis.  A teeny little tomato horn worm.  The "stick" in the foreground is a toothpick, but I had to zoom in so you could see the worm.  

Romeo bought me a small black light flashlight, and it works!  I go out with a regular flashlight (so that I don't accidentally step on a pile of dog poo ~ yes, I do clean every day, but sometimes I miss one) and the black light one.  The worms show up, along with every other insect.  They glow!  

Caution:  if you get one of these flashlights, don't use it in your house.  My word, that grossed me out, and convinced me that I need to paint a few places in my kitchen.  Peg, just don't or you'll be washing the walls and scrubbing everything.  Yikes.

Almost every morning, we take these two terriorists (get it? haha) on a walk.  Of course we get up early and get out between 7 ~ 7:30 am.  It has been too hot, temps in the high 90s.  I can hardly deal with the heat anymore.  I sweat buckets.  When my friend and I went to the Lavender Festival, the sweat was running down my face, but I noticed most over people didn't seem to be as hot as I was.  When do I reach the age where I'm cold all the time?  I have a friend at church who always has at least one sweater on.  

 

"The Hill"...this is looking on the downhill side, which thankfully is on the way back.  We call it the aerobic part of the walk.  Plus it has a sidewalk, so we don't have to worry about the stickers in the doggy paws.  This is only a small part of the walk, so they have plenty of other chances to hold up the paw for removal.  

Demitri popped up on my lap for some pets and scratchies.  

Zoē with her lamb chop toy, waiting for us to get ready for the morning walk.

A beautiful shot by one of my cousins of the dairy farm.  Kittens everywhere!  

Keep cool y'all!  

Love, 365