Still Smoky

We'd hoped the smoke would have cleared some by now, but no dice. There hasn't been a breath of wind for days, and so the smoky haze has settled in the valley, and it isn't moving. From what I've seen, Seattle is even worse than Portland. You can see pictures if you click on that link. Yesterday, I stayed in almost the entire day, but broke my outdoor boycott momentarily to check on the tomatoes. The kitties love it when I come out, and they follow me from place to place.

Smitty likes a good dust bath on a hot day, which explains the color of his fur.

He doesn't like the greenhouse, however, and when I headed off in that direction, he knew he wouldn't like it.

Sadie doesn't like the greenhouse either, but she still wanted Smitty to follow along.

There were several more ripe tomatoes in the greenhouse. I've been picking them as they turn red since a few of the Romas have fallen on the ground when left too long on the vine. I have enough now to make some Tomato Jalapeno Jam, which will be new to me. I'll have to let you know how it turns out. I won't be doing that before tomorrow, at the earliest.

Also I found another zucchini that should have been picked a day earlier. I have about a dozen zucchini hanging out in the crisper...most from our own plants, but a few from our CSA. I have a plan to try some Sweet and Hot Zucchini Bread and Butter Pickles. That too will be a new recipe. I've made bread and butter pickles from zucchini before. The recipe was fine, but nothing memorable, and so I'm trying something a little different this time to see if they can be jazzed up a little. The addition of a jalapeno pepper ought to do something.

Also on the canning agenda is some Carrot Cake Jam, which is my absolute favorite. Spread on some homemade sourdough, it's positively addictive. So I have three more items to can, but I won't get to them right away. It'll be spread into next week. On the other hand, we're going over to the beach next week, so who knows when it'll get done.

When I'd collected all the vegetables, I did some housework and then got to work cutting more strips for the black and white Rainbow blocks. I'm hoping I have enough to take me through the end of the quilt now. Since I haven't counted them, I'll just work away at them and hope for the best.

Then I cut the strips for the orange blocks.

Usually I make the colored blocks first, but I was feeling adventurous, and so I did the black and white blocks first this time. Then I trimmed and cut them, and they're ready to go.

The orange blocks were this far along when I needed to stop for the day. They go together pretty quickly, and so I'm hoping to get these finished today.

Today is busy, however. I'm getting my hair permed this morning, and then I'm hoping my hair won't be too frightening for a trip to the grocery store. There's a lot going on over the next few days. If the smoke clears, I'll be walking with Sue tomorrow, and then driving my quilts down to Salem for entry into the Oregon State Fair. It's possible to drop them off closer to home, but I don't mind that trip to Salem, and I'd just as soon skip the middleman. Saturday we're heading out to visit a friend for the day. Sunday and Monday I'll be packing the new RV for a trip to the beach next week. It'll be our first outing together in the new RV, and that makes it kind of exciting.

So, you can see there's plenty to do over the next week to ten days. Sewing might get short shrift.