project 52: week 3

What is Project 52? It's a little like Project 365, but instead of the goal of posting a photo each day, I'll post a photo or two each week along with a short update. Really I just need a little push to post something every week. Since I like to keep this space positive, posting every week forces me to look back and find something shiny to talk about (ten points if you get that reference). Some weeks that's a piece of cake. Other weeks it's more of a challenge, and those weeks give this task true meaning.

Looking through my classroom window at the signs of autumn.

The final harvest of tomatoes from my garden.

 What's New?
This past weekend I was super productive at home, mainly in the kitchen. I picked all the remaining tomatoes off of my plants, roasted them, and then made tomato sauce. I ended up with two 16 oz freezer containers full. I cut back and composted my tomato plants, as well as much of the rest of my garden, because it has suffered from a white fly invasion this summer. I made boozy applesauce cake, breakfast muffins, chicken stock, butternut squash soup, washed all the dishes, then washed all the dishes again (funny how that works). I also put my clean clothes away (what!?!). Shocking, I know.

I try to do so much on the weekends because I'm basically useless during the week. I come home from teaching, eat dinner, take a shower, and then relax in my pjs in front of the TV with my knitting. Sometimes I cook dinner, but if I can get away with it I just eat leftovers. That's one of the beautiful things about cooking a recipe meant for 4-6 people when there are only 2 people living in your house.

Currently Reading
Yes, I am reading 4 books at once. What that really means is that I've started all four books, and I trade off which one I'm reading. Sometimes I read one consistently for many days in a row, and sometimes I read a different book each day. My mother (and many others) often seem confused by this approach, but I find it fulfilling. Think of it like watching a different show each night. You are still "caught up" on the story from each show. You never confuse Walking Dead with Orphan Black (those are completely different stories, of course). Likewise, I don't confuse the different books I'm reading.

• The Fifth Sacred Thing by Starhawk
• The Midwife's Tale by Sam Thomas
• Rare Encounters with Ordinary Birds by Lyanda Lynn Haupt
• The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans and Heretics by Elaine Pagels

On the Needles
Progress on the Wood Hollow Vest is slow, for sure. I haven't knit very much since my last post (thanks to a sharp kitchen knife, a stubborn package of sausage, and my fingertip). But I have been making progress - one stitch, one row, at a time. Slowly, very slowly, I am turning yarn into a vest.

Looking Forward To

1. attending a Town Hall Event about climate change
2. picking up eleventy-billion pounds of apples for sauce and pie