Canning What We Can

I went into Quest in Wellfleet on Wednesday and found out I was supposed to fast before my blood could be drawn for the cardiologist.  Nobody told me. So no bloodwork. I made another appointment Thursday, but it had to be later because Woody had an appointment in Provincetown.  So, I fasted from the time I woke up @ 6:45 until 10:30. I don’t fast well.  I get lightheaded. I was relieved when the injunction to fast on Yom Kippur was lifted because of my age.  Fasting has always been hard for me. I suspect I get low blood sugar and that makes me queasy and lightheaded.

Anyhow, that threw Thursday off completely.  I got almost nothing done, never felt right till I had supper.  I ate a good protein heavy lunch [small can of salmon, right from the can and a tomato] but still remained half there till I ate supper. I was not able to write, so I edited.  That’s always useful. 

I planned to go outside today but our carpenter is coming back to work any moment now, fixing the sunporch and creating a better little deck outside the sunporch door.  Now when I try to enter usually holding several objects and/or a full basket from the garden, the door swings at me, and I have to step off the deck and try then to get inside with everything before it knocks me over. At he same tim, he HVAC technician arrived to service all our mini-split wall units that both heat and cool about half the house.  So, no garden work as I had planned, to take advantage of the dry and cool-ish weather.

Maybe tomorrow for the garden.  I want to dig the last beets and plant cilantro and dill seeds; pick zucchini and patty-pans and maybe a few tomatoes, if they exist. We’re getting a few but not enough to make sauce or can. It’s been a couple of decades since we had such a bad harvest. None of my favorite black Krims, not one.  The yellow tomatoes seem to be doing the best.

It’s time for Woody to thin the leeks in  his garden this weekend so that some can grow fat.  We are still getting plenty of beans.  I’m done freezing them, 22 lbs. so what we don’t eat, we give away.  Green, wax and purple are all producing well.

I’ve been writing poems with regularity again.  Three last week.  This week, just two so far.  But quality means more than quantity.  Three acceptances this week.

We finished watching PAINKILLER on Netflix.  With the writers and actors strike, there’s little on TV except reruns and game shows.  More sports than usual. I notice the Michigan game is on CBS this afternoon.  I was surprised Fox has been showing Saratoga races Saturday afternoons.  I like both but it’s one more result of the corporations that own media not wanting to pay anybody what they’re worth.  Nobody seems to feel they have to pay writers these days. Apparently, we live on hot air.

Tonight, supper with friends in town.  We’ll hunker down and stay off route 6 till Tuesday after what is always a hectic, insane and dangerous weekend here.

We are getting finally a few tomatoes, the ones we pick after they develop a faint blush.  I’ll boil up as much sauce as possible this morning and then in early afternoon, we’ll can what we can.