Long weekend, late summer

I can't believe Labor Day has come and gone. Nor how much this past long lazy (obligation-free!) weekend helped us to recharge the batteries. We could stand to have more days like the past few - puttering around the garden, house and kitchen, with time just to enjoy it all.

Late summer might just be my favorite time for food - peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and squash galore. One of the surprises has been the lack of locally grown lettuce here, though, during the hot season. It's just too warm. Instead, we've been having lots of cold soup. Gazpacho, chilled melon and cucumber, what have you. Yum! Other weekend highlights were grilled king salmon (and a lovely salmon mousse the next day with the leftovers. We've had some solid eat-outside-weather, too, and the cicadas are subsiding. Last night we enjoyed a perfect mix of gentle rain and crickets.



There was also a bit of time to tinker around the garden. H painted some old pots, and we prepped some patio furniture we found last weekend (at a garage sale around the corner the weekend before - they even delivered it for us) for staining.  It was warm and wonderful, but not too hot. Now I just need to come to terms with the fact that the leaves are already starting to fall.