Beep beep

 

Well, we have a big pot of plum chutney started on the stove. Chopping 8 pounds of fruit, ginger, garlic and onion took up all the early morning hours. My kitchen assistant did a good job helping--my arthritic fingers can't take that much knife work anymore. Now it needs to cook down at least 3 hours before canning. Simmering chutney makes the house smell almost as good as Thanksgiving. 

It's noisier than ever this week because the Seattle School District is on strike and the teachers are picketing nearby. Kind of a party atmosphere over there so far, but this is only the second day and enthusiasm is high. Every few minutes a car goes by beeping their horn to show support. Enough already. 

On top of that, they're grading and paving to finish up the new school addition parking area. The walls are vibrating. It's impressive how these truck drivers navigate these narrow, parked-up streets with that heavy equipment. There's hardly enough space for cars.

Anyway, that's about all the news. I did a big yard clean-up yesterday and squeezed in another rose. Which we needed like a hole in the head, but John gets sucked into the online nursery catalogs and they show up in the mail. Frankly, I think roses are overrated flowers for the amount of work and trouble. Then June comes along and everything is forgotten. Like a spoiled child with a precious side.

Things were so overgrown it's nice having some clean open space in the beds. No ground hornets, but the yard is buzzing with the good guys. I often wish I'd studied entomology. There's an amazing variety of just bees when you look closely. Then all the other little crawling critters...suppose it's never too late to learn something new.

What's not to like about September?