not quite sweater weather, but a sweater nonetheless

I have a new camera and it's so fancy!  I learned the basics this week, but it's too hot to go outside and play with it (mid- to upper 90s for days).  I do have a few things to report with the help of my lousy cell phone camera.

I finished a sweater!

I wanted to knit something basic, and I wanted to use up scrap yarn.  I had quite a bit of green, but not enough white, grey, gold, and blue to do much of anything.  It knitted up beautifully!  Yes, the sleeves are supposed to be short (they're 3/4 length).  I've got it blocked and hanging, waiting for winter!  Future note:  I don't think I'll ever knit a bottom-up sweater again (pattern is BLANK CANVAS by Ysolda).  I prefer top down, so the arms can grow naturally out of the yoke.  But at least it's done, and I've gotten rid of lots of tiny yarn skeins!

It's tomato season, and I have A LOT of tomatoes.  I planted around 16 seedlings, and they're bursting with fruit.  Todd brings in a few pounds every few days (our string trimmer is broken, lots of weeds around edge of tomato barrier, and I'm too afraid of chigger bites after that one disastrous episode two summers ago to wade through it).  At first I was just roasting the tomatoes, processing them into sauce, and freezing it.  But I read about another method that I think will be a winner.

Slice your tomatoes and drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Roast at 250 degrees for 2 hours, then turn up to 300 - 350 degrees for another half hour.  They dehydrate nicely.

These dehydrated slices can be frozen and thawed whole (unlike raw, which turn into sludge when thawed because of their high water content).  This means that they can be used in fresh salads all winter long!  

Last week was a long, slow week, because I had a constant headache and nausea due to a prescription lapse.  I dragged through work and mainly worked on puzzles (when I wasn't laying down).

Since I certainly wasn't out taking photos, I've been looking over photos that didn't make the cut over the past few weeks, although I certainly liked them.

Lots of flowers...

small sweet pea crop this year...

...but tons of zinnias!

love yellow zinnias in bouquets

amazing 5' dill crop this year!

insane hydrangea blossoms this year...photo doesn't do it justice!  

Cute kittens...

Frances on laundry pile

Frances again

...and some pretty things found on hikes.

incredibly vibrant slime mold!

ditto the blue on these butterfly wings

pickerel weed, beloved by deer, muskrats, ducks, and other aquatic animals!

trumpet vine flower just about to open

I've seen some gorgeous sunrises...

...and some less-attractive things.

horse fly...painful bites!!

All in all, it's been a pretty nice summer with a lot of nice views.

horses across the street

Excited for fall, though...and to get some good shots with my new camera.

Have a great week!  

a-chick-metic: 1 poor plan + 2 crossed fingers = 0 exotic chickens

My new camera came in the mail, and it was like picking up a brick.  Why hadn't I checked the weight before I bought it?!  My old camera weighed 1 lb 2 oz, and this new camera is 2 lbs 6 oz.  Too, too much.  I sent it back and I'm still waiting for the (15.6 oz) replacement.  But my cell phone is too painfully bad, so when Todd and I went to the Indiana State Fair last week, I brought the point-and-shoot business camera.  

I love the fair.  I used to live nearby and went at least once every season, sometimes many times.  I love the exotic chickens, the vegetable contests, the butter sculptures, the 4H insect collections, the dog and cat shows, all of it.  I guess we timed it poorly this year, though.  The chickens, the pigs, sheep, goats, horses, and cows...either already gone or not yet at the fair.  We couldn't find the butter sculptures or the insect collections.  It was a lot of this:

Thankfully, there were a few sheep, there for a random junior show:

There were a couple of pigs at a birthing exhibit:

There was a small goat petting zoo:

One exhibitor brought a few ducks and chickens:

There was a midday horse race:

Of course, we checked out the quilt exhibits.

The baked goods...

...and the veggies.

I love checking out the oddities, though.  Who has the best antique clock?  The best old record?  The best vintage doll?  Or...what about the best Christmas decoration?  The ugliest lamp?  The best scrapbooking page??  Oh, they've got it.

Todd found some treasures too!

Next year, I will CHECK THE SCHEDULE to make sure that the exhibits I want to see are open.  I need those exotic chickens!!

(past chicken pics)

Have a great week!

grainy photos = strain and drain on brain

I bought a new camera!  I had to order a special memory card that won't be here for a day or two, though, so...I had to rely on my terrible, terrible cell phone for photos (seriously, why is it so bad?).  

A week in grainy photos:

Sunflowers are finally huge!  Do you see Todd in there?

He's getting ready to pick tomatoes.  The tomato/2nd sunflower patch is pretty big, and it's bursting.  Finally.  I've got to crack the formula for starting seeds indoors early enough to have tomatoes all summer long!

Apples are getting close to being picked...within a month, anyway.  It's been so cool that it's hard to believe that it's early August!

The annual garden is popping.

Another view that my normal camera lens isn't wide-angle enough to get:

Still some color in the perennial garden too...

...and still some pesky critters around.

oleander aphids

The weather has been nice enough to set up our croquet set...

we have to take it down every other week for lawn mowing!

...but we're still inside playing new games, like Patchwork.  Patchwork is one of the great discoveries of the summer.  It sounds incredibly simplistic (use buttons to buy fabric pieces and make individual quilts Tetris-style, whoever has the most buttons at the end wins!), but it's layered (get it?  quilt?  layered?) in strategy.  It's for just 2 people and it takes around 20 minutes to play a game.  Perfect.

Speaking of "patchwork," I also did a bit of patchwork sewing for the first time in months.  I'd picked up a "cat cave" at a thrift store for $6.  Looked new, but I washed it several times.  It did not fare well in the wash.

I hate wasting money...even $6.  So I took some spare fabric, put on an episode of Law & Order, and whip-stitched around the edges to cover the foam.

It was so cute that if they had loved the cave, I would've patchworked the entire thing!  They showed an initial interest...

...but then got bored and ignored it.  Sigh.  They're spending some time sleeping in these late summer days...

...but they're mostly still rambunctious and getting into trouble...climbing things they shouldn't, scratching things they shouldn't, and chasing things they shouldn't (Calliope).  I'm hoping that they'll be more relaxed soon...right??

Have a great week!