Will you look at these beautiful, picked-this-morning tomatoes?   They are a mixture of Early Girl and Willamette.  An aside, here’s a little rhyme for the non-locals for proper pronunciation of the river valley we call home.  It’s Willamette, damn-it!  While we’re here, I might as well go all the way – this fine state I inhabit is called Ory-gun, not Ory-gone.  Glad we cleared that up; you know, because I’m sure it was on your mind!  Anyway, getting back to what I was saying.  I put the tomato plants in the ground, along with some pickling cucumbers, what seems like ages ago, and slowly, slowly, they made fruits and ripened to this perfect state, ready for canning.  This is my third and largest batch.

What is that you say, largest?  Yes, largest.  With my recovery and putting food by, we take it a little bit at a time.   If it weren’t for those meddling kids, I mean slugs (at least for the cucumber plants) and blood loss, I’m sure we’d be doing better: more cucumbers, more zip.  I learned at my last appointment that I lost 1500ml of blood during my surgery, which is about 1/3 of my total volume (yikes!).  It is also the primary reason they couldn’t complete the procedure laparoscopically and why I’ve been so darn tired!

Despite wanting to get all of my healing done pronto or wishing I could can ONE giant batch of tomatoes and pickles, that just isn’t the way of it.  Besides, who am I to argue with the grand plan?  There is no magic button to make blood or ripen vegetables at the precise moment of ultimate convenience, no siree.  But there is that sense of satisfaction in knowing that there is one more tiny piece out of the way, ready to savor now or at the darkest hour of winter.  And savor we shall.

Speaking of savoring, the roses are from my neighbor’s garden (I’ve given up on growing my own – too much work) and smell like heaven.  The binoculars are for bird watching.  I love this little corner of the world!