So here's the short of it, 
Tomatoes.

And here's the long.

Tomato season won't be lasting much longer.  We were commenting on that at dinner today. It's awfully hard to even think about buying tomatoes from the grocery once we get our taste of good home grown ones from the back yard tomato garden. The picture is the harvest from today.  They have such a great flavor.  The green ones might get fried, but I think they'll probably just get to ripen.

I'm also freezing some of them.  That's really easy to do and they are excellent to use in soups, stews, and sauces!

Maybe you can see that a few of the smaller "cherry" type tomatoes are larger than others.  Mom had some seed from the TFI's that was a few years old.  She started those seeds and shared some of the starts with me. The little tomatoes from those seeds are bigger than the ones we had gotten in the past few years.  We noticed - or thought we noticed that the size was diminishing.  They're also have such a great flavor.  No wonder Mom and Dad brought those seeds back.

Don't know what I'll do about a garen next year, but for sure there'll need to be a few tomato plants!

So here's the short of it, 
Tonight's the Harvest Moon. 

And here's the long.

Well, the Harvest Moon doesn't really mean so much to us in these modern times it seems.  When I googled it there was more about social media games than the real story about the Harvest Moon.

I suppose for an awful lot of people a social media game about planting corn and raising sheep is as close as it will get to experiencing farm life.

When I looked up at the moon tonight, I thought about how my ancestors lived on the land and were connected to it in ways that I can't even imagine.  I recall stories about my grandparents and great grandparents - and I recall spending time on the working farms they lived on.  Sometimes I think I'd have been happy as a farm girl.  Other times I realize that my more modern life probably suits me much better - I can do things like grow tomatoes because I want to, not because I have to!

So here's the short of it, 
I'm really grateful that the weekend is here!

And here's the long.

Mom had us down for dinner this evening.  Last night when we were at dinner I tried to order pinto beans in a vegetable plate and they were out of them. I said something about having a craving for pinto beans -- and mentioned that I would be making some over the weekend since they didn't have any.  Mom called and said that she was making us some beans for dinner.

I'm pretty lucky to have a Mom down the street who still likes to cook for us!  She made beans, fried green tomatoes, cole slaw, and cornbread.  Yummy.  As Dad used to say when she'd make that meal "this is food fit for a king"!

Hoping to sleep in tomorrow morning.  And hoping to get to sleep early and easy tonight.

So here's the short of it, 
Today is the anniversary of my Dad's death.

And here's the long.

I can hardly believe that three years have gone by.

This afternoon after work, Alan and I picked up Mom - We stopped off at the Bi-Lo Grocery and picked up some beautiful fall flowers.

It's such a short drive to the cemetery and we were there in no time.  The weather was just absolutely beautiful.  They've been hard at work all summer long on the maintenance and Dad's section looked especially good.  They've laid down new sod and raised Dad's headstone so that all the lettering is clearly visible.

Mom had one of the cemetery supplied flower containers and there on the spot made such a beautiful arrangement. We sat there and visited for a bit.

We all miss Dad so much.  It's been so hard on Mom to spend these last few years without her life partner.  They were certainly a pair.  I used to tell people that between them they probably knew the answer to most everything! There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of Dad. Of course some days more than others, but there's always something that reminds me of him and causes a tug at my heart.

Anyway, after the cemetery, we stopped at Wally's - opened in 1937 - and had dinner together.  Now somehow that seemed to be a good way to end the evening.

So here's the short of it, 
Reflection and napping are good things. 

And here's the long.

There's certainly a level of reflection that the Yom Kippur service inspires that I don't think I've ever encountered in any other space or ritual in my life.  Today was no exception.

Today during the mid-day break, I came home while Alan stayed at Temple.  He has more difficulty  fasting if he comes home during the break.  I on the other hand came home and crawled into the bed and had a long nap -- something I normally don't ever do during the day!  I had no trouble snoozing off to sleep.  And it seems that I'm still sleepy enough tonight that I'll get to bed before too late.

Tomorrow is another work day, and it's another opportunity to take today's reflections and use them to make my little piece of work to make our schools a better place.  So that's tomorrow's task.

So here's the short of it, 
Yom Kippur began tonight.  

And here's the long.

We had a nice supper of salmon and scalloped potatoes, and finished in plenty of time to get to Temple for a good seat. It was great that Liga was able to be with us - of course we missed all the other family that couldn't join us.  Mia and Clyde also came for dinner and for the first few minutes of the service a the Temple, but something came up and they had to leave before the service really got started good.

I did a bit of research and discovered that in much more ancient times, Yom Kippur was the day that engagements were announced, and that perhaps even fertility rites were observed.  That's funny, there's little about the contemporary liturgy that would even suggest that marriage or fertility have anything to do with the holiday.  Nowadays it's about setting things aright and beginning a "new" year, with attempts to be a better person than we were in the year before.

I suppose I should head to bed, so I'll be ready for a day of observing the holiday.

Love to all.  And for my Jewish friends and family - may you have an easy fast, and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

So here's the short of it, 
Sophie's been getting out of the fence. 

And here's the long.

Sophie found a way out of the makeshift fence we have going in the back - Oh, and it's not just out she could get right back in as well! I wonder how long she's been getting in and out.  Apparently a couple of the times she got out our neighbor told her to go back home - and she did!  I think that's pretty funny.

Alan thought he'd fixed the spot the other day.  He said to Sophie, "show me".  That's the command we use when there's something she's barking at and we want to know what it is.  She ran right to the makeshift gate in the makeshift fence and Alan could see how she could get in and out because the catch had come loose.  So he fixed that.  I suppose he should have said "show me" again, because there was also a place on the other side where she was just coming and going as she pleased.  Alan figured that out and got it fixed today.

I'll have to say that any other dog that we've ever had would have been out of that fence and all over the neighborhood.  We'd have known within a day that there was an escape route.  Sophie, on the other hand, may have been cautiously using this escape route for days or even weeks and just making sure we didn't know it.