Labor Day, Summer's unofficial demise? and other 'stuff'..........

Labor Day 2009. The day dawned but never turned into a sunrise, such as those to which we've become accustomed for the past 2 weeks or so........the extent of our summer for this year. The long-running warm weather system moved eastward during the night and the day has remained gray and cool, reverting back to the seasonal pattern of the past 4 months. Too bad for us, the summer-seekers, we who wait all year to revel in the heat of this short season here in the mountains. Summer means donning shorts, tank top, sandals and nothing else! when we can pop early out of bed and wear these skimpy clothes all day and into the warm night! Aaahhhh! So we are sad to bid farewell to this summer that wasn't and, hope springing eternal as it does, we decide that it was just a global warming fluke and set our sights on 2010, knowing that next year will definitely be better, if we can just wait for it.

Good sized pears have grown this year with all the moisture we've had and so I picked some early to ripen more fully on the kitchen porch table. They have begun to ripen over this period of sun and warmth, and we will soon be poaching pears and freezing pears and eating as many as we are able, as nothing is better than a sun-warmed pear picked ripe from the tree, its luscious juices running down your arm as you bite into its sweetness and savor its fragrant flesh.



Nothing is BETTER than a sun-warmed pear, but vine-ripened tomatoes are right up there at the top of the food chain! Surprise! we were able to save some of our plants from the viral blight by cutting off all the green leafy parts, encouraging the denuded plants to pump their lifeblood into the remaining uninfected fruits. We were rewarded by being able to harvest about 100 perfectly healthy and divinely delicious tomatoes. Those we can't manage to eat fresh, we're making into juice and sauce. Though not enough to see us through until next summer, we are grateful for what we could salvage.

New friends, old friends, those just passing through and some returning to stay, August was a month of movement for loved ones into and through our lives. It was so wonderful to see Alyx Mazerov Yuasa again after so many decades. We last saw her as an 8 or 9 year old girl and were so pleased to be able to spend a special evening together on the eve of her return to Japan and her new husband Eiwa. After so many years, we finally had the pleasure of meeting Martha Mazerov, Mike's step-mom and Alyx's grandma, a most delightfully happy and beautiful lady who we look forward to spending more quality time with!

Mike and Connie Mazerov are home now, living and working in Pittsburgh again after decades spent in Houston Texas. I think the heat and the hurricanes and the Texans finally won out! We will have many opportunities to enjoy the love and company of these old and dear friends, residing only 50 miles from us now instead of 1100!

It was indeed a pleasure to meet a new friend, Jonathan Bronitsky, the nephew of David Ginsburg. He and David stopped at the farm for dinner and a break from the road on their way from DC to Pittsburgh this week. Jonathan is relocating to Cambridge UK to study for 3 years and earn his PhD. His Uncle David, induced by the promise of a free 42" LCD TV, drove to DC to help Jonathan move his earthly belongings back home to Michigan. How's the TV working David, and how's your back?


MIMI IS BACK!! and Mo is sooooo happy! Mimi's pretty happy too, and everybody is sleeping very soundly at night with all the hard-charging exercise they are getting. The cooler weather is giving them even more of an energy boost and they run and play until they drop! Art and I only have to watch......no adults are needed in this game of "chase me, catch me, steal my toy, eat some poop, sniff a frog, chase a cat". I wish I had their stamina, endless energy and pure joy of the moment. At my age I know I will never have the stamina and energy, but I can certainly work on attaining the pure joy of living in the moment......and I shall.