Long live August!

This August was one of the most beautiful we can ever remember in our 12 years in Ohio. The weather was mild, often accompanied by cool nights, so we rarely had to turn on the AC. That was quite a difference from last year when we had almost a month long of temperatures in the 90s with heat indexes in the 100s! The humidity in these parts, so different from the tropical breezes of Puerto Rico, makes such temperatures hard to bear and greatly diminished the summer fun. But not this year, thankfully.

As part of my push for healthier living and eating, I've made a point to visit more farmer's markets more often, and not just so I can make peach cobblers. In fact, this summer I've eaten more fresh peaches and baked less cobblers, which is a good thing. Our last visit to Branstool Orchards, our favorite peach orchard in Ohio, turned out to be yesterday after we went to Granville, about 40 minutes away, only to be disappointed by the fact that their peaches (they take a truck-full there on Saturdays) were already all sold out. My wonderful husband, however, persevered and said we should just drive up to the orchard itself, since we were not far away. And so we did.

And the bounty was wonderful: apples, peaches, corn, and potatoes. All fresh and grown on their farm. In Granville, I was able to get about 10 lbs of juicy Brandywine tomatoes from an Amish farmer who gave me a great deal since most of the tomatoes were bruised or split. When he found out I wanted to can the tomatoes, he said that's what his wife would have to do with anything he didn't sell because it wasn't in perfect shape, so he was happy to sell me the less-perfect fruits at a cut price.

Thanks to my mother-in-law, who last time we visited them bequeathed on us a huge canning pot, several glass quarts, and a how-to canning manual, I was able to, finally, after so many years of intending to do so, can two quarts of my own homemade tomato sauce. Ever since I moved to Ohio and learned about canning (mostly from the stories my husband and my mother-in-law told about their family), I've wanted to do this. But I somehow never found the chance (or the equipment, to be fair).

Once I had the canning pot and the Mason jars, I determined that this would be the time to do it, in honor of the waning summer. The attempt was a success! I now have two quarts of my own tomato sauce, ready for wintertime when getting locally grown summer fresh produce is nearly impossible.

Another treat from Branstool is their corn, which is simply the best I've tasted in Ohio. I didn't get a chance to can any this year but I might try my hand at it next summer. The next canning project: the peck of peaches I bought there yesterday.

Also in keeping with our "we're in our fifties and need to keep healthy" kick, we joined our community's 5K to raise funds for ALS research. I found walking the three miles surprisingly easy and finished about 20 seconds short of the hour (59:38). My husband, who ran, did it in less than 28 minutes (27:53)!

With the end of summer came the start of classes this past Thursday and I appear to have two good groups in my 100-level English class and in the Honors seminar. I am so grateful that this year the Honors class is about half of what I had last year. Quite a relief.

But, you can tell that it's busy time when I'm away from these pages for long stretches, and when my desk needs a intervention because it's so crowded with books, papers, notes, notebooks, etc. Darwin, of course, makes himself useful by sitting right smack in the middle of everything.

Though I am not ready for the year to start (definitely won't be working so much next summer), I am looking forward to a good academic year. And I am profoundly thankful for the lovely, lovely summer of 2013. I will miss it! Long live summer!