Weather journal: the last warm rain

Sunday, August 9th, Michael took me fishing for catfish on the St. Croix.

The raindrops made little splashes that caught the light: sparkles!

The heron caught more fish than we did.

Trees are beginning to turn, even without a frost. The weather man says it will be a late autumn. The leaves say different.

We had a magnificent time in the warm rain, even though we caught no fish.

We did get to inspect the flora of the small islands in the stream.

We have been making time for fishing lately. Perhaps we, also, are feeling like this past Sunday was the last warm rain of summer. Today’s rain is cold.

The farmers are gathering a last crop of hay.

The popcorn has tasseled and the cobs are forming.

The winter squash climb and produce prolifically.

The tomatoes grow taller than me. We have yet to see a ripe tomato, but we direct seeded due to lack of space for starts. We could have bought starts, but we like the varieties we grow. They are highly acidic. We are always disappointed in the tame tasting tomatoes grown by others.

We have plenty of other vegetables with which to invent dinner.

The cabbages need to be harvested. We have 16 this size.

Think of it as a cabbage calzone, but with sour cream instead of cheese.

We race the birds for the elderberries. This year we use the apple pectin we canned last fall: a byproduct of making apple butter.

Just to reassure his adoring public, Michael does tend to catch fish whenever we go out.

Just to reassure my adoring public, I can fillet anything Michael catches. I hate bones in my fish.

We fed the sunfish I caught to Irene. Mung bean noodle and sautéed kale completed the meal.

I am hoping high summer continues long enough for me to build the cabinets for the addition. I am closing in on being ready to paint. In the meantime we hoard all the warmth and sunshine we can.