Holy cow!

What a beautiful morning in Seattle, not a cloud in the sky, although it will certainly be too hot for many people by the end of the day.  It's been a busy week, with way too much time spent on Seattle freeways. A quiet summer weekend at home sounds good.

Here in the Urban Village, "quiet" is a relative term.  Sometimes with the window open late at night (for us, about 11:00 pm) I hear the constant, background din of the big city surrounding us.  What is it?  Cars racing by, people talking on the street, sirens, trains on Harbor Island and always, airplanes.

By August, I usually have a few batches of chutney already up on the shelf, but I'm falling down on the job.  Canning is more motivating when the plum tree is dripping with fruit, but this year we have nothing but a big crop of aphids.  So I went over to the McPhearson's produce stand on Beacon Hill and bought some not-so-great plums for $2 a pound (that was painful) and local (meaning Eastern Washington) peaches that were hard as rocks.

I don't know why I shop for bargain fruit for canning. I suppose it's genetic.  I should buy the best there is, forget the price, because it's so much work.  Well, I'm not giving up on those peaches yet, but I can always buy nicer fruit later next week.  I'm going to Twisp to take care of the girls for a couple days while Amanda is at work, and really looking forward to it.

But it will be very hot in the Methow Valley.  The fire danger is high, but fortunately this year has not turned out anything like the last two disastrous summers.