The outdoor pool has been closed for months and they have asked frequently when woukd it open again. The pool at the high school is open Thursday night's. Usually we don't make it because of activities and responsibilities that fill our week nights. Last Thursday gave us a rather empty calendar and so these two went swimming for awhile. So needed for both, they love the water and had been missing their pool time. Bonus both slept very well that night.
Years from now if you asked me to name a toy that defined her childhood I would simply answer Shopkins. These mini figures of food, accessories, clothes and everyday household items adorned with cute eyes and expressions has entertained her for several years already. She plays with them often. When I discovered a program that shipped a box of shopkins goodies every quarter I knew it would make this girls day. The box arrived the other day and she was dancing with excitement, as she uncovered treasure after treasure she was speechless.
Every year I plant tomatoes...and every year I wonder what will I do with all these tomatoes.
This year I read a blog post about freezing tomatoes and I discovered the answer to the endlessly frustrating season that is tomato season. I love canned tomatoes, chili and hot dishes just taste better, I do not however love the process. Canning every week seemed tedious and time consuming and really just when was that suppose to fit into our already crazy schedule. I rarely had success in stretching the ripe tomatoes into a couple of weeks. Which would have reduced the constant canning. I quickly grew to dislike the whole process, and yet there I was every spring planting those tomato plants. Yes I realize that makes no sense at all. Perhaps in the heart of it was the simple flow from a time long ago, a connection to childhood when this was done every summer. Sometimes when so much of that memory has disappeared you hang onto the bit that remains. I remember countless summer days in a steamy, sticky kitchen, the heat from outside combined with the heat from the cooking tomatoes inside turned the kitchen into a furnace. There my mom would stand peeling tomatoes, packing jars, and canning them in water baths, which filled the room with steam and made the windows foggy, (perfect for little fingers to doodle on) and later a row of jars would sit upon dish towels on the counter.
Eventually as the jars cooled you would hear the pop of the jars sealing. It was magical that quiet pop in the now still kitchen. Even tho I strongly disliked the work those tomato plants would add to my full schedule I still planted those plants just to remember a time shared with my mom. Every year I would pick tomatoes and try to can them having mediocre success at best. Between spoiling tomatoes or non sealing jars I often wondered why this was so complicated.
A few years ago my friend Kelly came to visit and cheerfully used all my tomatoes in spaghetti sauce. She left us with jars of canned sauce, we wept every time we ate it. Late last winter we used the last jar and I in all seriousness told Kelly it was time for another visit, we were out of spaghetti sauce. She laughed and said when she came next year for the wedding she would be happy to remedy that. Sigh, never did a year seem so long. Which lands us where I started this post the discovery that you could freeze tomatoes. No I didn't know of this wondrous option, but I quickly read up on it and decided that this year we would try this. Every time we picked tomatoes we would wash them, cut the stems off and quarter them. Tossing them into gallon freezer bags and putting the bags into the freezer. The article explained that once the growing season was complete you simply took all those frozen bags of tomatoes and in one day processed them, whether canning tomatoes for chili or making spaghetti sauce. Sounded so basic and simple and actually it was. I decided to use the tomatoes for spaghetti sauce this year and so I filled the soup pot with bags of frozen tomatoes and simmered and cooked for most of the day. A total of 12 bags of tomatoes eventually filled that pot. With a few phone calls to Kelly for spice advice the house soon smelled amazing. At the end of the day a row of jars lined the kitchen counter and for the first time in years this tomorrow season felt like a success.
The evenings are getting colder
The day are becoming shorter, and so we soak up every sunshine filled moment outside that we can.... knowing that soon that will change.
She asks every year, I do my best to ignore her every year. Usually i was too tired, to overwhelemed, couldn't even imagine where to find the excitement to carry this chore out. This year tho we decorated early, with no avoidance. Discovering as time passes that all the changes we moved through this summer rather than exhausting or overwhelming me instead have given me new energy and a renewed calmness in our space. Her everyday joy upon seeing those decorations is a highlight of my fall days.
A busy, activity filled week. Superhero day, class color day, salad dressing day, and red/black day. Coronation and of course the homecoming football game. (Held in a neighboring town because construction has our football field unusable this season)
The start of something beautiful...right now these plants are small and surrounded by end of the summer plants and newly changing fall leaves but next spring they are going to fill this space with beauty and smiles. These are bleeding heart plants dropped off unexpectedly one evening by a generous, beautiful person who simply said "I read your book! And I wanted to give you these plants." "I enjoyed your stories" she went on to say. I'm not sure I even formed a complete sentence, my surprise was so complete.
I'm not sure I will ever find the space where my first reaction upon hearing someone say "I read your book!" won't be surprised shock. Since that books release I have experienced so many God Poke moments with strangers and acquaintances. It seems that those words that fill that book, which have such a deep connection to me have in ways I could never have imagined connected with others.
Miss Cross every time I see these plants bloom I will think of you and remember your beautifully spoken words. As we planted and now tend these plants before winter sets in I have shared with my children stories about you...I would guess in years to come when they see these plants in bloom they too will remember you and the beautiful gift you shared with us.
She had to go to a class with me last night. So while I took the refresher course for CPR/First Aid she played on her IPad and read books. After the class was completed I showed her this framed certificate...as she read it she looked at me and said "Is this me?" She knows the story of her arrival in an ambulance between here and Mankato she just didn't know that the ambulance crew that delivered her received an award for their help. The instructor overheard us and chatted with Reyna for a bit. She shared with her that no other babies have been delivered in an ambulance in our community since her.
