Today at the Farmer's Market it was so cold that I could have worn mittens and a scarf as I browsed all the organic fruits and vegetables. I find most of the prices at the Market to be quite high - $1.50 for one peach! $3 for a big red tomato!
I settled for four medium size yellow zucchini for $2 and a big bouquet of fall dahlias and zinniahs for $7. (I've already cleared out most of my dahlias, to get a head start on fall cleanup.)These prices really convince me to get back into gardening again. Grow my own like I did for so many years. I just picked 6 nice tomatoes off my one plant in our backyard, and about 20 more are ripening - if the blight doesn't hit them first. In this part of the country, where early cold temps and moisture prevail in September, often the blight will set upon the plants, and everything has to be picked green and stored indoors to ripen.
But, just thinking of all that work, and driving to a community garden plot, and hoping that people will not come by and steal our crop...it brings back a lot of memories. Perhaps in the end it is probably not cost-effective, but I think I'll try to do it again on a very small scale and see what happens. Community garden plots are only three blocks away at Franklin Park.
W've been helping Taraz and Megan move out of their apartment here in Tacoma. Packing and cleaning, feeling wistful that they'll be a little further away down in Olympia. Megan is pursuing her Masters at Evergreen State College. Taraz will continue commuting to his job here in Tacoma. As a commute goes it is only about a half hour or so, and I'll still see him every week. The longest commute I ever had was a fifteen minute commute by bus. It took me eight minutes to walk to the bus stop, and once on I had only a brief chance to visit with 'the regulars' and the driver, who lived just a few houses down from us. I always enjoyed this commute.
I drove to work during my last job as a caregiver in assisted living, at 5:45 in the morning, and I was usually there in 10 minutes. No traffic, dark empty streets. My walking commute ten years earlier was 20 minutes to the nursing home where I worked. If I rode my bike, it was a 5 minute commute in summertime, and I'd be there in a flash. Of all the commutes I experienced, whether by bus, car, bicycle, or walking, I enjoyed the walks the most. Got to know so many neighborhood dogs, kids, and the yards were always changing due to the season. I loved smelling the autumn leaves and the fresh air of early spring.
We've seen a little color - deep red, on shrubs up in the North Cascades. It is getting cold up there. We have one last camping trip planned when our daughter Ruhiyyih comes home for a visit next Thursday. Just being out at the Farmer's Market this morning makes me realize that mornings will be a real challenge if it is really cold. I can just see me wearing gloves to boil water for coffee, and once the food is served on the plate it cools down real fast, within moments in the morning. Rue, Rahmat and Taraz would like to join us for this 'one-nighter'. Let's hope it won't rain. It will be our last camping trip until next spring.
