We are getting more tomatoes this summer than we have in over three years. We have company tonight – Stephanie, Dale and Stephen – but tomorrow morning we’ll get started on making and canning sauce.  We have been eating our own delicious tomatoes for a few weeks – the way it used to be.

We had rain this morning, which was much appreciated by us, the birds, all the plants, frogs, salamanders, etc.  It cooled down a bit and is supposed to dry out the air and finally get rid of the humidity later this afternoon. This morning I blanched beans and made a bean salad – our beans are producing nicely.  I also made a shrimp appetitizer of my own invention I  hope works well.  Dale is making dessert. We’ll also serve grapevine leave with an avgolemino sauce and spinakopita for appetitzer. I’m slow roasting a pork butt [from the shoulder] with carrots. onions, potatoes, celery, our harvested garlic and herbs from the garden including parsley, sage, thyme and rosemary.

Football is back. We missed it, although the track and field and gymnastics somewhat filled the void. I was impressed by the Pats’ 6th round pick among all the quarterbacks [they currenty are carrying 4!] Joe Milton.  He has a good arm and seemed to be in control in the last quarter.

Our zucchini plants died. We have no idea why. It has never happened before. I suspect borers. We both started new plants, but no flowers yet. We’ve never had a problem in m52 yeas of gardening here with an absence of zukes.  We’ve always had a surplus. I have developed many, many ways to cook them, but that knowledge is now useless. I hope the plants start flowering and make zukes.  I miss them. I can’t cook some of my favorite summer suppers without them.

I have started making my way through what I hope is the final draft of THE HOUR OF MY DEATH,  proofing recipes, improving them, going over the pomes,, proofing them, figuring out if they are in a good place or should be moved.  In some cases, a better poem could fit better. It’s a very very slow process as I have to check hundreds of poems if I find the one I put in to be weak or inappropriatel.

I weeded my whole garden and the herb garden this week before it returned to being hot and humid. It felt good to work outside. I hope this coming week will be comfortable. I minded going back to AC after sleeping a few nights with the windows open and breezes coming in.  Willow also preferred the naturally cooler nights.