My one melon. The plant was given to me late in the season by friend Saroja! Ymmmm. I wonder how many of the tiny melons it would have produced if it had the whole summer to grow.
Almost everything in the garden has finished producing. But I can start preparing for next year; in this case harvesting bush bean seeds.
The plant that is doing its best to ignore the season is the one that produces the big red and yellow dahlias. In the many years it grew in my back yard, the plant produced one flower a year. When I moved it to the sunny front yard two years ago, it took off! The photo on the right is of a part of the plant that was knocked to the ground by wind and rain a few weeks ago. It still is blooming! And so is the rest of it.
The pictures in this post are of a fountain, and the area surrounding the fountain, at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle. The white substance you see is water cascading down the structure.
Of all the flowers in my garden, the ones I love the most are the purple asters. When I arrived home yesterday, I noticed that that plant was brimming with small bees. I pulled out my camera and started snapping photos. I was amazed when I looked at them later. Such incredible beauty.
Not long ago, I was talking with someone who commented that being retired would be so boring. I was startled because I think the opposite. There are so many things I’d like to do. It seems to me that when I’m retired, I will have time to do more of them. I decided to practice being retired!
Ideally, I would be able to devote three or four days a week to that experiment, but that won’t happen often. Yesterday, unexpectedly, ended up being a free day so I decided to make it a “Practicing Retirement” day!”
I planned to do some canning that day, so on Wednesday I purchased blueberries and peaches at the farmers’ market. I was ready for the big day.
The first thing in the morning I checked my email and blog and then reblogged a post from @contentedness.net. Next I ate breakfast, showered and dressed.
The first project on my list was to gather tomatoes from the garden and make some roasted tomatoes.
Sliced tomatoes from garden
Add oregano and garlic cloves
Mix with olive oil and put on a baking sheet
After 30 minutes of roasting at 300 degrees
After 2 hours of roasting
Keep what I need for soup and put the rest in a jar to freeze
On to making crock-pot soup for tonight. The garden isn’t producing much now, and the vegetables tend to be small, but there is still enough to make soup.
Garden Vegetables
Add roasted tomatoes
Next, time to make blueberry freezer jam. I needed to get some supplies at the store to be able to do that. I started feeling strange when I was there and realized I had been so eager to start my “Practice Retirement” day that I had forgotten to take my blood pressure medicine in the morning. Not good. I carry extra pills in my wallet for occasions like that though, so took one right away. I will need to make sure I don’t get too engrossed in activities when I’m retired.
The medication wasn’t working yet so I decided to use the regular checkout line rather than the self checkout. That seemed reasonable for a retiree to do! When the bagger asked if I wanted him to put my bag in a cart I said “No, I can carry it.” I soon realized that it was heavy and that my blood pressure was up, and besides I’m retired, so I changed my mind. I could have even asked him to take it to the car for me, but I didn’t go that far.
Back home, it was time to make the freezer jam!
Blueberries from farmers’ market
Mash blueberries
Add juice, lemon and pectin
Add honey
Put the jam in jars, refrigerate over night, and then place them in the freezer
Time to rest and have some lunch. I shouldn’t be busy all of the time!
From time to time throughout the day, I worked with the graphic artist on September’s Pacific Northwest GreenFriends newsletter. By late afternoon, it was finished and I started sending it out to Amma groups in the region. I plan to continue working on the newsletter when I’m retired so it definitely fit into my practice day.
I have at least 6 more quarts of peaches to process, but that was enough canning for one day. I was tired.
After some rest, I was ready for dinner and my “Practice Retirement” day’s big finale.
This was the last of the preseason games and we won. If the Seahawks are playing this well without our starters, I wonder what the regular season is going to be like. I look forward to finding out! I also look forward to discovering which rookies make it onto the team. (I can’t believe I’m talking like this! I NEVER thought football would become an important part of my life.)
I loved my “Practicing Retirement” day. I know I won’t be able to do this much in one day when I actually retire; in fact I couldn’t keep up this pace even at the age I am now. When I retire, I will make sure I spend time being quiet and still, perhaps even having picnics with friends and looking at beautiful scenery like in the picture at the top of this post. Even when my body isn’t able to do the things I want to do, with my family and friends support, I believe I will live a fulfilling life. I do not think I will be bored when I retire.
I love the true beauty of nature so much that I almost never think of using the filters. Today I decided to take one of my favorite photos from this season and see what it would look like if I applied filters to it.
The Original PhotoYester ColorUrbaneTintPosterizeFocal Black and WhiteFocal ZoomHDRHolgaLomoBoost
That was fun! And a good reminder to use the filters from time to time. Which filtered pictures do you like best?
I woke up Friday morning to find a very supportive email in my inbox. It was from a friend who is visiting India. What a great way to start my day.
Soon thereafter, I read a funny post on my son’s blog. Next, I harvested vegetables from the garden, made some homemade ice cream and then started canning peaches. What a day and it was still morning!
In the early afternoon, I discovered that the Weekly Photo Challenge for this week was to create a photo gallery representing “Today was a Good Day.” We could use the present day or one from the past.
I realized I was in the middle of a day that was my conception of an especially “Good Day.” I had even taken some photos of some of my earlier activities. So I kept on living, and photographing, my life!
This was definitely a good day. If the Seahawks had won the game it would have been even better, but this was a pre-season game and they played well so I have no complaints!
I have been fascinated by tromboncino squash ever since I discovered them in 2013. Generally they are eaten when they are small. At that time they are considered summer squash and can be used in the same way you use zucchini. However, if you let a tromboncino squash continue to grow, it will turn into a winter squash.
The winter form may become very large.
In 2013, one of those squash grew in a very fascinating way.
This year I let one grow into the winter form. When I picked it, it weighed five pounds and was two feet long.
While that is big, it doesn’t come close to the one that grew in 2013. That one was 5 feet long! My memory is that it weighed 15 pounds, but I’m wondering now if it was less. Regardless, it was HEAVY. Below you will see a picture of that squash. It isn’t a clear photo, but it makes the point! I took it by snapping my reflection in a mirror. At that point, I had never heard of a selfie!
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”-William Shakespeare
Living, Learning and Letting Go 