Some Updates

Thank you for your well wishes from yesterday about my friend and about my tooth.  First, I want to tell you about my friend Lisa.  In case you missed yesterday's post, my friend who visited last week is under mandatory evacuation from her home because of the big wildfire burning in Southern California.  I have scoured Lisa's Facebook page, and I have looked at some of the links she's provided, and I'm afraid I don't have a lot more information except to say that the fire is still burning out of control.  I took this image from the Idyllwild Herald website, showing where the fire is burning.

The last information I have is that the fire is burning approximately 2 1/2 miles from the town of Idyllwild. There is some rain in the forecast, but of course, no guarantees.  I'll keep you updated with both good and bad news as I know it.

She did post this image (taken by someone else) of what it looked like when she left the mountain.

Scary, huh?  By the way, that is not Lisa's home, but a nearby market.  All I can say is, "Wow."  So that's all I know as I write this.

As for my tooth, it turned out to take less time than I anticipated.  I didn't see my regular dentist, but that was fine.  I've been going to the same dental clinic for decades, and so over the years I've met all of the dentists who practice there.  This isn't my dentist, but I loved this image.  (Any topic worth discussing is worth a picture.)

It took just 20 minutes from the time I walked in the door to the time I walked out, and so I was back home at 3:30, even stopping off to buy some blueberries.  (Blueberry chutney on the horizon.)  No pain whatsoever.

Speaking of chutney, I am so excited about my plum tree.  I actually think it will produce ripe plums in enough abundance that I will be able to use my own plums to make plum chutney this year.  In fact, I'm going to have enough plums to make something plum every day for a month even after I make the chutney.  Everywhere I look, north, south...

east...

west...

up or down...

It is positively loaded with plums.  In that last image, you can see that it is beginning to shed a few.  (Look to the left.)  Still, there are so many that even if it sheds 50% of its plums, I will still have pull-lenty.  I am plum beside myself with anticipation of the lovely chutney I'm going to make!  This will be this tree's 8th season in our yard, and it is finally earning its water ration.  It has a fair amount of insect damage too (thank you, former tree service), but it's too late to do anything about it now.

Finally, I want to point you in the direction of my right side bar where I have added a button for the new free BOM that was posted yesterday at Jenny of Elefantz.

I love the work she does, and this is looking like a very cute project.  I'm probably not going to keep up with it for now, but just collect the blocks as they are posted.  Also, if you head over there before July 30th, she is also offering a great giveaway.  Don't miss out!

So that's about all I have for you right now.  We are taking the boat out this afternoon.  This morning and yesterday morning it was cool and cloudy.  I'm hoping the weather will clear up before we go.  Have a good Friday and a great weekend!