After a reasonable difficult paddle yesterday morning into a north wind pushing the river against it's natural current, D. and I went for a training walk. Me, to get ready for the portages on the 90 miler and she, to get back into it after a 6 week hiatus due to her back muscle tear. I have a 4 mile route mapped out that includes some (4) steep hills; 2 going and 2 returning. It takes the better part of an hour to finish. It was just a tad too long for D.'s first back-at-it, but really she did great. I was fine when I sat down to a lunch of a fresh tomato sandwich with a handful of scoops and a sugarless cran-raspberry seltzer my daughter left here. However when I tried to get up I realized the next stumbling steps would be to the nook where the Motrin bottle is stored. ;)

Shortly after lunch we made the trek home to do the daily chores there: get the mail, feed the cat, get the newspaper (to include the Sunday paper which I missed due to Sunday's 3 1/2 hr. paddle in the rain with my partner Leigh), do some laundry and check the garden. 'Heavens to Murgatroyd' the garden was in dire need of harvesting. First of all the beans were far too big to be good eating so they're done for the year, but they did provide us 3 good weeks of fresh beans every night for supper. The eggplants had 4 ready to harvest, the cukes, all but one, were too small, but they too provided a bushel full this summer and more are coming, the broccoli and cabbage are ready to harvest and plentiful enough to feed the county. Tomatoes? No you don't even want to know about the tomatoes. I picked, conservatively, 80 lbs. (I lift weights regularly, I know what 40 lbs in each hand feels like!) of tomatoes, both Romas and Big Boy. Perfect, yes perfect they were in their full ripe voluptuousness, red, red, red, succulent ripened by the sun just waiting to be gently caressed as they were plucked from their vines.

There are dozens of winter squash finishing up the ripening process. Both the deep forest green Acorn and the creamy Waltham butternut will soon be stored in the root cellar ready to bring their sweet yellow flesh to the winter table.

Rutabagas, dozens, are huge and ready except for the frost that will sweeten them and make them then ready to pull and store in the cellar too

Back to the camp for a supper of cheese, crackers,and Merlot (Red Diamond: try it, you'll like it!)
D. filled a kettle with scalded and skinned Romas to be cooked down into sauce today.

And all is right with our world. Except that rel II got strep throat on his return to Texas.