Goodbye summer

Canning is a sign that summer is nearing its glorious, bounteous close. I love fresh garden food, blue-skied, breezeless days, my carton of berries in the fridge, the bustle of everyone being at home, but I love fall. And so it isn't so hard to tell summer goodbye. 

Canning forces me to enjoy summer's last hurrah, as I'm elbow deep in blanched tomatoes, & have burning knuckles from the jalapenos. But it prepares me for the winter too, when I dream about warm tomato soup I'll enjoy from all these canned tomatoes. To survey my pantry with its rainbow of mason jars is pure satisfaction & almost makes me excited about winter.

I'm so glad I don't have to do it alone here. I've been a little more homesick lately; I think it's because Fee is growing so blazingly fast, & it just doesn't seem fair that my family has to miss out. That, & when I do talk to my sisters, they are in the thick of canning & preserving & kids, too. And I'm missing out.

 But I at least have Dar's family. They are a pretty wonderful family. Always there. Not just willing, but expecting, to help out. So it is with canning. I don't have to cry in frustration at home because Fee's needing me when my jars have to be packed rightnow. The daunting empty jars fill much faster at Edith Sinn's. For a pittance, I get to take home a dozen jars, which is a mere fraction of what the canning wonder that Edie is turns out.

My pantry is full. I can tell summer goodbye triumphantly-I am prepared for fall! And Shara comes in less than a month, so take that, homesickness.