Tomatoes, continued

This is a lame attempt at "Food Blogging". 

Really, it's just Before, During, and After pictures of roasting tomatoes.

The finished ones (below)  are slightly darker than I  wanted them, but that's okay. They don't taste burnt. I think they are better described as"dried"rather than roasted. 

I like to keep these in my freezer. I can slice/dice them to add to pasta, sauces, soups, salads, veggies, stir fry,  etc. They add a big ZIP of flavor to whatever. Cool. I like 'em. And it's a good thing because a have a few boxes of green tomatoes on my garage, ripening. 

It froze last night, so yesterday I picked and saved some of the green tomatoes , and FILLED my trash can with the vines and rest of the green tomatoes off my ten 🍅 tomato plants. (Sure do hate to waste so much food.) 

So long, Summer! Welcome Fall. 

Power in Pink, October 9, 2021

 This was a first for me this morning. They have been doing this for 9 years now.

 I went to the canyon park and gathered with others in support of Breast Cancer Awareness  and support for those going through treatment. There are many. There are many who did not survive, so we walked in honor and memory for them, too. I happened to meet up with a friend from campus, so we walked the canyon trail together. I think we did a couple of miles. Running or walking a 5 K was an option, but it's best that I not push too hard on these old hips of mine. I did okay, but did need to slow down the last little while.

There was a program and speeches before, the walk, treats and prizes after. Fun group. Good cause. Glad I went.

Thanks, Camille (or, Dean Thomas), for being my walking buddy and sharing travel stories, LISTENING to my travel tales and educating me on how to better breathe as a runner. Because, maybe someday  I will get back in shape and be able to run! ( Said the old fat lady as she waddled down the walking path...)

Lots of signs were placed along the start of our trail to honor those who have fought or are fighting breast cancer. 

It really was beautiful morning. Cold. Wet from rain the day and night before. We even had hail at 2 am that woke me up!

Note the sweatshirt? It's the pink Alaska sweatshirt that Laura bought when we all were there for Dad's 80th birthday in 2011.  If you are reading my blog and don't know my family, Laura is my sweet sister-in-law who died of metastisized breast cancer last year. David let me have her sweatshirt. I thought it was the perfect PINK thing to wear for this event. (And it was warm!) 

Out participation medals were square metal --aluminum?-- tags on a lanyard. Kind of different. They look like conference badges, but are metal.

This poster has a photo of Gail's dear sweet friend from High School, Christy Perkins. She also did not survive.  She is a noble soul who also left way too soon. She chronicled her cancer journey in a blog I tearfully followed. She was a  very  talented writer.

BUT-- there are many, many of my friends, co-workers and loved ones who HAVE survived a breast cancer diagnosis, and I'm grateful for them all!!

Cousin Christi, neighbor and friend Nancy, co-workers Susan and Marsha and Donna...and so many more.

💕💕💕 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

Blooming artichoke

 These grow in a little garden down the road from my house. They are lovely. I wonder if I could grow them?

Tomato oops

Roasting tomatoes. Slow-baked with olive oil, sea salt and garlic. Basically, they caramelize and the flavors intensify. I have done them before successfully. Just not THIS time. Ha.

Sort of what they are supposed to look like. Above.

How they really looked. Guess I need to watch them more closely.

Ahhh... THAT'S more like it. These are grape cherry tomatoes from the Heaton's garden. Slow roasting works best.

 

Fall is in the air

 And we were not paying attention to the weather, and our tomatoes plants were nipped by the frost!!! Boo hoo!. I was not done bottling and drying them and eating them. Luckily, the plants were so thick and tumbled and tangled together that many are under leaves that are not frozen. I hope some will survive enough to ripen a bit more. I'm sure we have plenty of warm sunny days remaining. 

Mom and I have been out "leaf peeping", which is a thing back east, I believe. But ours were not ready yet. This week, we went out on Wednesday and Friday. She had another shot in her back this morning. (Friday) Her blood sugar had soared to over 400 by the time they had dinner tonight!!! Yikes. She seems so un concerned about it, as it is so common. Double yikes!

It's rather nerve-racking that they have active COVID-19 Cases at Our House Assisted Living, formerly known as Brookdale. But I'm so glad they are not shut down. They have merely isolated the infected ones. And everyone who comes in must wear their mask at all times. 

Mom and I also went out on Thursday for a lecture on campus about ecosystems and hawks. It sounds dry, but the speaker was really good and I think we both enjoyed it, and enjoyed a close up look at the screech owl who was there, too.

Friday afternoon, Mike and I went to St George for a few things, one of which was a car show and lunch with our financial advisor's company. It was a fun little out door event. They used to do monthly things, (called "First Friday") but I worked, then the pandemic hit, but this was easy to do today. I love retirement. 😁 We also dropped off some jam for Matt and Eric, but missed Eric at his work. He was at lunch, but also going to a funeral of his friends father who died of COVID(!). And Mike got some shoes. If you would have told us we would be spending so much for ONE pair of tennis shoes, we would never have believed you. But our old feet must be kept happy and apparently that is what it takes!

We looked at Quail Creek reservoir water levels on the way home. Low, low, low. What happens when we turn on our faucet and no water comes out? 'Tis a concern here in the desert.

Here are a few photos of our doings.