Busy, Busy

Mountaineer squash.

I keep waiting to get back into the groove of this new semester, but so far I feel I've been barely keeping up. Oh well, next week is the fourth week of the semester already...so maybe things will be finally settled down a bit by then.  Of course, that is what I thought might be the case this week. 

Hungarian wax peppers.

But things are looking up.  My desk is now pretty much cleared off for a change.  A cluttered desk makes me feel cluttered inside and like I didn't accomplish all I should have.  I have a reputation for having the cleanest desk in the library and I like that.   A clean desk has decidedly not been the case so far this semester and it'd been contributing to my feeling overwhelmed. 

Nardello peppers.

Yeah, next week has got to be the one where I start feeling back on top of things.  It will.  And I guess even if it doesn't this madhouse feeling has sure been making my work day absolutely fly by!

 Its been quite busy at home, too. I think when you are fully engaged in living that is to be expected.

Cayenne peppers.

We took our tie-dye on the road selling at three shows in seven days which is the most we've ever done.  Consequently, we've been busy tie-dying.  We're just about done putting up apple products for the year.   We still would like a few more jars of apple pie filling, but who knows if we'll find the time before all the apples are gone again.   We might be resigned to a few fewer crisps this winter. 

Banana peppers.

We're picking grapes tonight after the faculty vs. students softball game (I haven't played in years and am both excited and nervous) and processing them into juice over the weekend.  We recently sampled one of the few remaining jars from last year as a reminder as to why we needed to get on it and get those grapes picked and soon! 

Jalapeno peppers.

The weather is cooling off.  We even had to close the windows a few nights.  We're hoping and praying the seasons don't change too quick.  We have lots of tomatoes and peppers and things on the plant that are just not quite ready for frosts to come.  We've been stockpiling the skinned, cored tomatoes in the deep freeze until we have enough for a big batch of tomato sauce/juice to can. 

Football season has started again so Matt will be enjoying spending more time with his guy friends.  They don't see much of each other during the camping/vending/gardening/canning season so football season gives them all a reason to congregate at least once a week.  Matt isn't a huge fan, but he does enjoy it and he really enjoys the time with his brother and his friends.

It's Matt's birthday next week.  There are yellow leaves on the grass in the backyard.  I've had to take out the silken long johns to wear under my skirts on the morning bicycle ride to the library.  Where did summer go?  Is it really the middle of September already?!  Wild.