It is slowly but surely getting colder out. We began the week in the 80's and are ending it today with our first dip into the 30's this morning. Around the neighborhood, there are many signs that it is cooling off. Yesterday, for the first time this fall, I came around a corner in the car and almost nailed several turkeys who found the middle of the road a nice place to gather. I don't know why they do this (I think they might like the warm pavement in the sun, but I'm no bird expert. In my opinion, this is just further evidence of the stupidity of poultry).
Also, our apricot tree starts dropping gorgeous yellow leaves onto the grass (as you can see in the picture - not seen in the picture are a few gopher holes. We are officially at war presently with a few gophers. It's always something here!). The walnut tree is also dropping nice big walnuts for us (Ha! Take that, evil squirrels!).
Soccer season has started at the high school, which I personally love, because it gets chilly out and I have an awesome orange coat to show my school spirit, and a hat and mittens, too.
I harvested some horseradish from the herb garden today, washed it, peeled it, and put it into a jar of vinegar. This is what the web site said to do... I have no idea how to actually use it, so any suggestions are welcome.
I also canned some plum-cherry jam today - delicious! I was waiting for it to cool off enough to have two pots of boiling water on the stove, and the oven on (I keep the lids and jars in there so they remain sterile). I am starting to feel more confident in my canning ability after this, batch number 6. The bag of plums pictured is the second bag from the summer - and I still have another bag down in the freezer, so I am anticipating more jam making at some point. I need to get more jars. As I made the jam, I thought about my Aunt Betty, who makes the absolute best sour cherry jam in the entire world. My jam turned out pretty darn well, if I do say so myself....but it's no Aunt Betty's sour cherry jam. I wonder how many batches of jam she has made, not to mention all of the other stuff that my aunts have canned over the years (they have it down to an art form!). I am just happy that it's cool enough now to practice - because practicing is quite delicious with toast and a cup of coffee!
