A Busy Wednesday

If it's possible to pack the worst of the worst all into one day, I've accomplished it. I say this with full knowledge that some of our friends are preparing for a hurricane right now, and honestly, I'll take my day over yours any time at all. Please stay safe, my friends.

But to get on with my whining, yesterday morning I left the house early to get to my dental appointment. Yikes. I like it when my teeth are all freshly cleaned, but the getting-there part is pure torture.

Our hygienist starts by firmly planting her knee on my chest for stability before she goes to work with her pickaxe. (Just kidding about the knee, but I swear the pickaxe is real.) It always seems as if I've barely escaped with my life when I leave. And, drat. The dentist found a small area of decay around a filling. It can wait until we return from our trip, fortunately. He advised me to keep it nice and clean and attend to my flossing...and I'm a really good flosser. Kind of makes you want to treat me with more respect, doesn't it?

So after that, I moved on to the next thing on my agenda...getting a flu shot...and then to grocery shopping...which always gives me road rage. And then I came home and put all the groceries away. From there, canning seemed a blissful respite.

The green tomatoes were on my mind. There are actually quite a few red ones...red, but not really ripe. That was okay. I was only looking for the green ones that were close to turning red, and I managed six half-pints of green tomato salsa.

The recipe I'm using is from Marisa McClellan's book, Preserving by the Pint.

There are lots of resources when it comes to canning recipes, but her books are my go-to source when I'm looking for something new. I made the green tomato salsa for the first time last year, and it is surprisingly delicious. It's especially good on eggs. I was hoping I could link to the recipe. It was available as a book preview, and so I'm sharing it with you. 

It's a good one to have on hand because if you're growing tomatoes, you may not get any ripe ones, but for sure, you'll be tantalized by the green ones. I think of tomatoes as the cruel garden plant.

When the tomatoes were finished, I moved on to hand sewing. Having left the house early, I'd missed out on my morning slow stitching, and so I did some work on Mathilda. Now I've hooped the last of her.

It would be good to get her finished so that I can start our trip on Monday with a brand new project. I have the largest middle block for the Sundress quilt already traced out, and that's where I'll be heading next.

This is a project I've had on my wish list for a long time.

A few of you have asked if the kitties aren't allowed out on the catio. The short answer is a resounding yes! They would much rather stay inside and meown about their new stay-inside status. Also, it's too warm for them in the afternoon, and so they like to wait until the sun sets below the trees in the evening. Morning and evening are the best times on the catio.

Smitty is less bothered by staying inside than Sadie is. Keep in mind that he was the one who spent a night up a tree (we presume). He's kind of lost his mojo about going outside since then. He does love spending his evenings (and at least part of his nights) on the catio. Sadie uses it less often, preferring my quilt-covered lap to any other place inside the house.

Today will be another busy morning. I'm getting my hair permed this morning, and then I need to make one more quick stop at the grocery store for a couple of forgotten items. I think of it as the "coda" to every grocery shopping trip. When I get home, I'm going to make up a little dessert with an unused half-jar of lemon curd. The stuff is expensive, and I hate to throw it out. We're moving to that place in our trip preparation. Anything perishable that isn't coming with us is going either to the neighbor or into the trash. Would I throw away something that can be turned into dessert? What a silly question.