Fired Up to Can

Today Joseph & I put to use the wood-fired canner I got at auction a number of years ago. I hadn't used it in some time, as it works best if you've got over 2 canners full to put up. It's a good tomato year when I can fire it up. Yesterday I joined the folks at Piedmont Biofuels for their Friday lunch. While I was there, Leif gave me some biodiesel glycerine to play with. I want to review some of the soap recipes that incorporate it, & see what I can come up with.

A Bounty of Hope

Joseph & I returned from Colorado last night, where we visited with family & friends & attended a Crimson Circle conference. Joseph's daughter & her husband live in Denver. It was great spending time with them & their Goldendoodle, Murphy. It was also wonderful catching up with my friend David. The conference was in Breckenridge, which is at 10,000 ft. elevation & full of flowers. It was just gorgeous. The conference uplifted us, & we got to listen to some great music. The musicians attending included Yoham & Anders Holte. The percussionist in Yoham created an instrument from a clay vessel, & got the most amazing sounds out of it. They said it's nothing for him to draw 1000 people in Israel. We returned home to a bountiful garden. I'll be spending time canning tomatoes & eggplant over the next few days. Trying to use up some of the bounty tonight, I created a pasta sauce with tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, onion, garlic, kalamata olives & basil. It turned out surprisingly well. It's a good time to be alive!

Bountiful Tomatoes & Hand-Painted Silk

It's been a great week. Circa Gallery now has Joseph's Star Turtle sitting in it's front window. Woohoo! I played at Circa with Cori Cagle, an artist friend, painting some silk that I'm going to turn into eye pillows. There's such good energy there; so many creative folks coming & going. It was great fun to be around it all. Cori is painting a silk poncho for a wearable art show. I can't wait to see it finished. I rinsed my silk this morning & hung it on the line. We attended the "grand opening" for Lumina Wine & Beer's new porch last night. Even with a few sprinkles, it was a lovely way to spend a summer's eve. Our garden is producing lots of good things, even with the lack of rain. The tomatoes are amazing. Joseph & I are canning the first round of them today. Still, we may just do a rain dance this evening.

Star Turtle

Joseph & I have had our creative wheels turning lately. I've got a new soap in the works & he's been gathering materials for metal art. His latest creation, Star Turtle, is made of an electric box, rebar & a ball hitch. Star is a friendly looking fellow. I got to visit with friends at Badin Lake after getting off work last night. As is often the case during holiday weekends, they had a full house. It was a fun way to begin the holiday. Happy 4th!