Late Thursday night we got back from spending six days in the Palm Desert in California, visiting Alan's Nana and Papa and most of his extended family. The four hours we spent in traffic trying to get from the Desert to LA for our flight confirmed one of the main reasons I could never live in California, the other main one being the lack of real seasons. Sure, it was a little brisk stepping off the plane into 40 degree weather when we boarded in 80 degrees in LA, but man did that chill feel good. I need the forced adaptation that the changing weather and light insists upon; it's an opportunity for growth. The only downside, I suppose, is the feeling of scrambling that often ensues as I try to adjust my routine and recultivate cold-weather hobbies and remember how you keep kids occupied inside all day long. So it goes with this space as well, as I try to figure out what a blogging routine looks like in the colder seasons. Anyways, forgive me that some of these photos are all the way from back in September (!) I have another quilt project and photos from a birth I shot before leaving for California to share here, so I will be back with those over the next several days, but for now I'll leave you with the above snapshots.

1. First try at homemade ricotta

2. Truly epic bed-head

3. Soy and maple glazed salmon over beet thinnings from the fall garden

4. Proof that kids will eat said beet greens

5. So many salad greens!

6, 7. Our new wood-stove and a sick sleeping babe

8, 9. The last of the zinnias

In the kitchen/garden: so many tomatoes (some of them are over a pound each!!) calls for fresh tomato soup. I used this recipe, and it was delicious! It felt pretty satisfying to realize that so much going into that pot was homemade/homegrown (homemade chicken stock and homegrown carrots, tomatoes and lemon basil - I could have used my own garlic too, if I could just remember one of these times that it's still hanging on the porch). It reminds me a little bit of one of my favorite quotes from Ben Hewitt: "I recall being amazed that anyone (and in this case, by “anyone,” I mean Penny) would so willingly work so damn hard to raise, say, a crop of tomatoes that could be purchased at a grocery store for a price that, if applied to the literal fruits of her labor, meant she was pulling down a coupla bucks an hour. . .The truth is (and this is not unusual), Penny was way ahead of me with those tomatoes. She understood that the hours spent amending and seeding and watering and picking and processing should not be detracted from the final tally, but added to it." The point being, I suppose, that we're always so busy looking for the easiest and shortest route, thinking that our deep happiness must surely lie at the end of the path of least resistance, that we've forgotten the satisfaction inherent in the (sometimes literal) fruits of our labor. I guess I've found I'm a firm believer in the idea that being willing to work hard tends to be the road to the most joy. Anyways, I guess that's a lot of philosophical talk for tomato soup.

I also made some pickled jalapenos (mostly for Alan, because these things are SPICY), using this recipe, though with half the sugar.

Also pictured: cicadas, quilt-planning (said quilt is completed - I'll share in the next couple of days - if you're on instagram you'll already have gotten a peek at it), Indy's last dance class of the summer, and babes playing in the rain.