Fun news

I have been dying to share some news for a really long time now and here we are, at the end of the first trimester, and I finally can.  We're expecting a baby!  We are 12 weeks into the pregnancy.  I wonder if any of my previous posts gave it away...I spoke about napping often, eating a lot.  I'm not sure what else, though I avoided any mention of nausea.  Falling asleep around 9pm - as mentioned yesterday - has become a common theme in my life too.   Are you even more impressed at my valiant effort to finish my degree?  It was hard at times but at least my morning sickness wasn't so bad that I ever threw up.  

I was surprised to learn that during the first two weeks of gestation, we're not even pregnant so that our gestation is actually 8 1/2 months instead of 9.  A friend of mine pointed out that someone could be 9 days pregnant without having yet ovulated...It felt like such a weird thing to learn this late in the game.  I mean, I'm 31!

Mum and Dad arrived yesterday, a day late after missing a connecting flight.  They've brought bags of baby clothes from my sister, as well as nappies and a nappy bag.  Mum and I are planning all the knitting we want to do for the baby too.  We're looking for a midwife and have finally found a lead.  That was the 'hard thing' I'd been putting off which I wrote about the other day.  Jbird and I are very excited and now that we're three months through, it's starting to feel a little bit more real.

A case of the wakefulness

I fell fast asleep at 9:30 this evening while I was reading a book, only to be woken by a phone call an hour later.  Now I am wide awake and can't seem to stop thoughts from running through my head.  Of course, the more annoyed I get about it, the more awake I become so I try not to be annoyed but then all that trying keeps me awake too.  I think I've been slightly grumpy for most of the day but because I didn't really have to socialise with anyone today and there is no reason for my grumpiness, it has had no place to present itself.  Until now when it's 1am and all I really want to do is sleep so I can wake up in a better mood. 

The truth behind my excuses

When I don't really want to do something, I often use my favourite cultural barrier excuse: They won't understand me when I approach them because even though it sounds like we speak the same language, there are so many nuances that are different, it feels like a completely different language.  It's my favourite reasoning to not doing many things and it sits on the tip of my tongue many times a day.  Pathetic, huh?  I use it more here than when I was living in Bangladesh and people legitimately came from a very different culture and spoke a very different language.  When I was in Bangladesh, everything felt like an adventure and I loved opportunities to throw myself at them.  Catching the local bus, for example, which many expats never attempted.  I would have to cover my head with a scarf and practice the little bit of Bangla that I possessed, sitting up the front with the ladies, or just squeezing in where ever there were two centimetres for space, nervously watching out the window and wondering if we were headed in the right direction.  I take that back; others were far greater adventures than I.  They understood more of the culture, were far more fluent in the language, and were more willing to get to know the locals.  But compared to some of the expats, living in their expat world, I was Tarzan.

Have you ever put something off for so long that when you finally went to do it, you realised you didn't really want to do it at all?  That in fact, all your sensible reasoning was really avoidance?  I'm currently putting something off.  This time, my verbal reasoning {what I tell people} is that I've been too busy and I have been waiting to finish school to get to it.  My inner voice reasoning {what I tell myself} is that this is a cultural thing: I'm not sure how to go about it here in the States.  If I were in NZ, people would do it in a similar way as I want to, and it would be easier.  But I realise now that the true reason is that I'm just a tiny bit nervous.  Actually, I'm significantly nervous.  But.  Others have done this before me so surely it can be done.  Plus everyone tells me now is the time!  And I will do it.  First thing in the morning.  You catch me if I don't.

A change in status

For the first two years that we lived here I was obsessed with my label, with being something {somebody} more than I was.  When we met someone new, the conversation would often start with how Jbird was here in the States to play the piano.  But then the person would turn to me and ask the big, sad question: "and what do you do?"  I grew to hate that question. 

When I pondered on what to answer, I tried to mix it up a bit.  Sometimes I'd start with: I go to the library multiple times a week, I've taken up crocheting, and I cook a lot.  I've put on 5lbs since we got here.  Or...I watch reruns of [insert current favourite show].  Because in that first year, I watched a lot of TV.  It was disgusting.  We haven't had cable TV since then and my life has been all the better for it.  I did often say I'm a teacher. But that was my least favourite answer because then I'd have to add on the visa pointers: but I'm not working at the moment because to get a job, I need to be sponsored by the company for a work visa...No, there are two types of international student visas, Jbird's doesn't allow me to work.  The other visa, the one he didn't get, allows a wife to work. etc. etc.  I made it too complicated because it was too important to me. 

Since we arrived in Bloomington last August, this hasn't been an issue because I could answer I'm a student.  It was a much more satisfactory answer to give and it also reflected how I felt about myself.  I have been doing something that helped my career and it has been great.  From last Wednesday, I'm no longer a student - so long as I pass everything.  However, I don't think I have the same anxiety that I had about who I am.  I kind of like just being me in the here and now.  At least, I hope I do.  I suppose week-one of my big status change is quite early on in the game and it's easy to be optimistic right now.

Maybe I will get some pointers by watching Jason Segel on the Five Year Engagement again.  Have you seen it yet?  You really must.  I know I've talked about this movie before but it really is my favourite.  Jason had to learn how to be himself away from the context he thought made him happy for his fiancée.  And he got really good at it, except that he didn't realise so he didn't let himself be happy.  Anyway, they work it out, and I think we've worked it out too.  Right now, I'm going to enjoy the sudden lack of deadlines with sleep-ins and not really very busy busy-ness.

Long awaited visitors

My parents arrive in the States today and I am ecstatic as I feel in desperate need of some family time.  We don't actually get to see them until Monday night but it will be all on from there.  Andy and Nicole (the newly weds) are coming to see us the following Sunday.  I tell you, this is better than Christmas.

The non-wedding parts of the weekend

The rest of our trip was as hectic as I thought it would be.  All Jbird wanted when we arrived around 9am was Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  By the time I decided I wouldn't mind it either, we seemed to have passed the last one.  We had settled on Waffle House, even pulling into the driveway for it, when I realised that that driveway was shared with a Cracker Barrel.  He was a happy man.  I was happy when we found a $4 skirt for me to wear at the wedding at the local outlet mall.  We spread the happiness a little further by also buying some jeans and a new top.  

We met Jeff (the groom) just as he was starting a tour of the Battle at Antietem.  Jeff is a guide tour for a living so it was neat to see him at work.  It was the bloodiest battle on American soil.  23,000 men died and neither side won the battle.  I believe they took some photos there with the wedding party.

Saturday morning, we made a mad dash to DC to visit Alana.  She fed us and we talked our heads off.  Alana was one of my bridesmaids.  We met in Bangladesh and she made the trip from the States to NZ to be there for us on our wedding day.   We were excited when she got a job in DC and we found out we were moving to Baltimore; we lived out of each others' pockets while we were there.  This trip was a bit hairy because getting in and out of DC is a nightmare, roads were closed on both journeys.  We left at 5am and got back to the wedding shortly after 12, just on time to start serenading guests as they arrived.

That night we slept a full eight hours and felt much better for it.  We left for Baltimore before anyone else was awake and made it into town in time for a birthday party of the little boy I used to babysit.  His parents had become our gaming couple as they also love settlers and introduced us to a number of games we'd never heard of.  Our day started with the party and was full of appointments for brunch/coffee/tea/lunch/coffee/dinner.  By house number three, I requested no food and no drink: let's just talk.  It was a really special day for us as we revisited this city we had grown to love and saw some people who are very dear to us, having shared those two years with us. 

While the day time driving was glorious with the colours of fall everywhere we looked, we were handicapped by only having printed google directions for all of our destinations.  For the most part they were fine but there were plenty of times when we had to call people and ask them to help guide us somewhere.  Next time we'll definitely hire a GPS.

A perfect kinda day

The wedding rehearsal was at dusk.  The lake was as smooth as glass, surrounded by fall foliage, and a fine mist was beginning to settle on the water.  Someone suggested music for the parents and bridal party.  This was a surprise for us but we'd prepared some extra tunes and started playing Ashokan Farewell.  Reportedly, Jeff turned to Marie and gave her a big hug saying "this is my favourite song!"  We were chuffed.

Afterwards, we attended the wedding rehearsal dinner.  This is a tradition that we don't enjoy in New Zealand.  It was nice to be able to sit down with our friends and catch up on the happenings of the passed 18 months.  Marie and Jeff spent some time introducing the people involved in the wedding, including the guy who fermented a keg or two of beer in his bath tub. 

The wedding itself was lovely with spectacular scenery.  A week before, Jeff had driven near the site to get the marriage certificate.  At the time, the trees were still mostly green.  By Saturday, their wedding day, fall colours were out in their full glory for them.  Lunch afterwards was a traditional American picnic with pulled pork, mac 'n cheese, chicken, coleslaw, and hot apple cider. 

Later that night we attended the after party.  It started in a space they'd set up with photos of their experiences on the Appalachian trail.  We enjoyed cocktails and hors d'oeuvre.  After the first dance and some speeches, we moved upstairs to enjoy cake and dancing.  They'd brought in their favourite bluegrass band to help us dance into the night.  Jbird and I had a blast.  The wedding cake had a special touch: Marie and Jeff had made a huge model of the Appalachian trail with desserts corresponding to each state.  They shared a piece of blueberry pie.  

Congratulations, Mr and Mrs. Sellenrick!

Home James and don't spare the horses

We survived the driving, arriving back an hour ago at 9am.  This return trip was the most dreaded trip out of the whole weekend because I knew we'd both be tired after our busy weekend and who wants to go home when you've had so much fun?  We had less time to get home so we took the driving in shifts and it worked surprisingly well.  Jbird turned the back seat into a very cosy bed, with a sleeping bag and pillows and we both slept quite well when we weren't driving.  He hung jackets over the windows to black out the street lights.  I took the 7:30-10:30am shift and the 2-5am shift.  We both slept from 5-7:30 so we made pretty good time.  Cruise control is amazing for trips like these. 

I've had a bath and unpacked my bags.  I'm in bed now and am going to take a nap before I face the day.  My essay is sitting in my inbox with some great feedback from pre-reading so I need to work pretty hard today and tomorrow to turn it into a better essay than it is and that's foremost on my mind. Wedding and trip details will come in future posts.

*the title of this post is something my mother always used to say when we were on our way home.  I thought I'd explain it because you may not recognise it as something someone might say.

Pre-reading

It's the end: I've handed in two out of three papers and am proof-reading the last right now.  I'm not sure about this last one; it's not my best work.  I hope it's not my worst, I want to pass and be done with it.  I have found the style of writing for this class all but impossible.  It's a psychology class and the detail they're interested in reading is not the detail I'm interested in writing.  I've tried to come to a compromise of sorts, where I write what they want and not what I want.  If you could call that a compromise.    But because I know I'm probably off the track, I've also sent it into a great service at my school to be pre-read.  I sent one other paper in and they gave me all sorts of great advice, and pointed out some errors I'd made in formatting along the way.  I was interested in that paper though, and enjoyed improving it further.  The problem with this paper is I probably won't want to take the advice once I get it.  Somehow my motivation was lost back in June for this class and there was no getting it back.  It's interesting to me because for a little while I was throwing around the notion of doing a doctorate in Educational Psychology.  There's no way I'm touching that with a barge pole now. 

Some special music

We have been charged with choosing any music we want for the aisle walks at the wedding on Saturday.  What a responsibility!  The couple are special people.  They bonded over the appalachian trail.  He walked it in 2011 and she walked it in 2012.  Do you know of the trail?  I recommend Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods to get an idea of the feat of walking it.  It takes months to cover.  Marie went through four backpacks and I can't say how many pairs of shoes. 

Back to them.  They started dating after she had decided to make the walk and he became her trail magic while on the walk, bringing her treats and necessary equipment, taking her out for restaurant meals, and walking with her for long stretches.  She walked all the way from Maine to Georgia and he walked from Georgia to Maine.  That's 1400 miles one way.  It's not a completely comfortable walk either.  If you'd like to read about her journey, or see some of his photos, you can go to the blog she wrote - Southbound.  I was an avid reader.  He decided to propose to her on a special peak during the walk, his timing was a complete surprise to her.  Unfortunately, the weather was awful and she just wanted to get off the mountain and wasn't sure why he was waylaying things.  An exciting surprise. 

I heard a pretty Scottish violin duet on the radio one afternoon and I quickly found the link on the internet.  It's called Leaving Lerwick Harbour.  I could only find the melody line sheet music so I had Jbird listen to the duet and transcribe it onto sheet music.  I'm glad he did it quickly because the link was erased the next day.  Unfortunately it's not there for me to share with you.  I wish you could her it though, it's really nice.  And it happens to be very fitting for the music that has come out of Appalachia.  I imagine people first came there during early settlement, people from such places as Scotland and England.  For the pre-wedding music, I have had to piece together any duets I could find and thanks to my Irish band, I have a lot of bluegrass type tunes as well as some classical pieces.  Marie and I bonded over bluegrass, she attends a festival every year.  I'm not completely sure about the end of wedding music yet but we have a few options.  It's been fun to prepare for this together and we're both looking forward to seeing some lovely friends from our time in B'more.

Driving to B'more

We're heading off to B'more tomorrow night.  I am making some bacon and egg pie for the trip.  We'll sleep when we need to.  Our plans are hectic.  We'll spend the day at the wedding venue on Friday with the wedding rehearsal that night.  Then on Saturday we'll drive to DC to visit the lovely Ms. Strong.  Back to the wedding venue by midday so that Jbird and I can get ready and play some pre-wedding duos (violin/viola).  We'll enjoy the celebrations for the rest of Saturday, head to Baltimore to visit friends on Sunday and drive back Sunday night.  The plans seem crazy to me, with 1,403 miles to cover and 25 hours of driving but Jbird tells me to stop thinking about all the driving and enjoy the weekend.  He has been instrumental in his positive planning within the presented time challenges.  I am packing an ipod full of songs, snacks, coupons for Dairy Queen, my travel pillow, one essay to proof read, and a sunny smile.  I'm a-ready to go!

Haunting horn

Would you like to hear something beautifully sad?  Have a listen to the third movement of the Brahms Horn Trio in Eb.  I have been informed it was originally written for the valve-less horn because Brahms played it as a child and his mother loved to hear him play (and probably pushed him to play more).  Then when she died  he wrote this for her, knowing the eerie sound that only the valveless horn can create.  So his grief was expressed.  Sophie had a friend over from Switzerland yesterday and they sight read it with Jbird while I worked on an essay.  I love those moments in life.

Nearing the end

Two weeks ago, I wrote about my currently rather dull existence.  Since then, I've been camping, baked some, and bought more fruit.  I am guilty of promising myself that I'd spend at least thirty minutes outdoors everyday but this didn't happen.  It got cold and I couldn't be bothered.  When I think of my life right now, despite little respites, it has been worse than ever.  I wear the same clothes every day and my days are spent watching t.v., playing computer games, eating, and studying.  In other words, NOT MOVING.  I have become a sloth.  There are days when I only leave the house to get the mail.  Sometimes that is the most disappointing part of my day because it's then that I realise what a lovely day it is but I have no incentive to stay out.  Yesterday I got up and got dressed for church but decided I would stay at home to work.  It was a surprisingly productive morning so I was happy despite my lack of human contact.  The eating seems especially bad because it involves my whole day.  I am a hobbit with morning tea, and elevensies; lunch, and second lunch.  

But the end is REALLY CLOSE.  I can TASTE IT.  I handed in the first assignment two days ago.  I can hardly believe it.  I am finishing a draft of another today and then I will be writing just for the last (and most stinky) class.  And that's it.  Between now and becoming a Master, we're driving to Baltimore and back for Marie and Jeff's wedding.  It will be a lovely crazy week. 

Don't drive over the soup

The weather is getting noticeably cooler which leaves me wanting soup for lunch.  Every day.  Today I made some spicy butter-nut squash and carrot soup.  With a dollop of sour cream and some buttery toast, I was a happy girl.

For the first three months of our marriage, we lived in the flat in my mother's basement.  It was winter and every Sunday, I'd make soup and home made bread in the bread maker.  When you have a bread maker, it's barely a job.  We'd often have it for dinner that night and then for our lunch at work during the week.  One Sunday we were going over to my sister's for lunch and I had offered to take the soup and bread to share with everybody.  I think my sister made a quiche.  Anyway, we were kind of running late.  I had everything at Jbird's car but I needed to get something from inside so I put the soup in its pot on the little curb by the car.  The bread was on top, wrapped in a clean teatowel.  While I was inside, Jbird started to gently back the car out of the drive way, trying to avoid all the other cars that were parked there, when I heard this kathunk sound.  What was that, Jbird?  He didn't know but when I got to the soup, the bread it had rolled (in its teatowel) onto the concrete driveway.  

As we drove to my sister's, I did some detective work.  The pot was looking a little bit out of shape.  Not unusable, but out of shape.  I came to the conclusion that as Jbird was backing out, he'd driven over the top of the soup, brushing the bread off the pot.  Nothing had been lost - the soup was safe inside the pot, the bread had remained wrapped, clean, and unsquashed - but I'm not sure I've ever eaten soup which had been driven over in a car for lunch before.  It was still very delicious.  The pot itself is a beautiful pot, a present from my sisters and brother-in-law for our wedding.  For those first three months, I used it for many of the meals I cooked, and it survived the ordeal of being driven over.  Now it is linked to a little piece of our story. 

Midweek cheesecake

Have you ever made cheesecake just because it was the middle of the week and you weren't sure if you would make it to the end of the week without?  That's what happened to me today.  I had everything in our pantry and fridge except the oreos to make this oreo cookies and cream no-bake cheese cake.  As it was shopping day, I put those oreos on my list and made them when I got home.  They turned out very cute, I made the mini version in cupcake liners.  I only made half a batch and I still might have to freeze some because there are only two of us and I'm not sure how long the cheesecake will keep in the fridge.  Such a decadent midweek treat, made even more delicious with strawberries on top.

What would you do if you holidayed in the Mid West?

When Jbird first auditioned at IU, my reaction was: but we won't live there, will we?  This place was at the bottom of my list for desired locations.  I thought the Midwest was the in middle of nowhere and I couldn't imagine not being on the east coast.  I figured Jbird would go to his audition, have a good time visiting his sister, and that would be the end of it.  All things considered, it's not such a bad place to be.  I've never lived in a town before but without a car, it's nice that everything is so convenient.  People will say on the other side of town which sounds far away, but it turns out that's just a 20 minute bike ride away.  My parents are visiting in a few weeks and I've been wondering what to do with them.  Chicago's just up the road, and I think Dad has some interest in going down to Nashville, TN.  I'm going to convince them Louisville and St. Louis might be nice towns to visit two.  They're all just a few hours down the road.  It'll be a Midwestern adventure.

Music from heaven

In early September, we drove to Indianpolis to watch this concert.   Professor Pressler is on the piano faculty at IU.  Have I told you about the reputation of most of the music faculty?  Whenever I ask a student who they're learning from, they say their teachers' name and always follow it with a significant pause because invariably their teacher is fairly famous.  I'm no good with famous classical musician's names but I'm getting much better at offering an impressed smile even if I've never heard of them.  Anyway, Pressler is another such fancy piano teacher at IU and I've seen him play a few times.  His playing is like...silken caramel.  I bet he has made a lot of recordings if you wanted to find something pretty to listen to.  

During the concert, they played some music that could only have been formed in heaven, it was so beautiful.  It was the Schumann Piano Quartet in E-flat Major for violin, viola, cello and piano, Op. 47. The third movement is particularly stunning, have a listen.

Having a say in what you learn

I am still mulling over democratic education and life.  In face, two of my final essays will offer a thesis that students ought to have an interest in what they learn.  To do this, I suggest they are offered the choice of what to learn, based on their own experiences of life.  Part of this is based on a growing awareness that I have often portrayed that I own knowledge, and that it is my students' role to (passively) receive that knowledge from me.  I do this by telling them what to learn and how to learn it, as well as by only teaching things I think I know the answer to.  Don't blame me, it comes from what I had mostly subconsciously observed through my own education.  I learned that my teachers knew because they told me they did.  It also comes out of (my AND the students') fear of the unknown.  

It doesn't seem so complicated when I write it here, but it is, and it reaches into all factors of life - not just the classroom.  For now, I'm going to get back to writing about it for the classroom. 

Funnies from the Simpsons

My friend sent me this clip about grad students from the Simpsons.  It is our life!  I love the scavenging for bread.  It's not exactly like that, but if there's free food, Jbird is there with bells on.  If there are any left overs at said free food function, he tries to bring some home for me.  Marg: Bart! Don't make fun of grad students, they just made a terrible life choice.  

We don't hate this phase of our lives, there are lots of good things about it, but I definitely hold onto the 'phase' because that means it will end one day.

Changing my grocery shopping routine

I have been feeling blah about our diet recently.  Waffles, cinnamon/raisin bread, cake, cheese toasties.  Smells like white flour and sugar to me.  Then of course, white flour does the same thing for you as sugar... So I've decided to challenge myself to only buy produce at the supermarket this week*.  I never buy more than I need because I hate throwing it away, but I think I have only been buying us one serving of fruit a day instead of 2.5 (the point five goes on my breakfast in the morning).  Fruit always feels a bit pricey to me so I am stingy when I buy it.  I find cooking dinner easier if I have lots of different vegetables to choose from that I can add to the the meal so if I buy the right things, I should find it easier to cook.  I feel better just thinking about it. 

 

*I can never make it to the farmer's market because we have busy Saturday mornings.

Toaster oven envy

Yes, I have it!  My friend has such a fancy toaster oven.  It's amazing, you can press what ever temperature you want it to be and it doesn't need any heating up time, it's ready to go straight away.  I'm always heating up the oven just to cook one little item for a really short time.  It can be really annoying if I forget to pre-heat it before I do my prep.  With the fancy toaster oven, there's no waiting to be had.  I love cooking bacon in her toaster oven.  We put tinfoil on the tray, the bacon cooks beautifully to the perfect crispness, and then the foil just gets wrapped up and thrown away.  No mess, perfect bacon. I imagine it would be fantastic in the summer.  Our oven heats up our flat so much that I often found myself putting on the AC to counteract its heat. Unfortunately if we were to get a toaster oven, our kitchen's bench space would be all gone - covered in a jungle of appliances.

Glam campers

We spontaneously decided to go camping this weekend with some friends.  It was a great weekend for it, the gorgeous was gorgeous and though fall foliage isn't yet in abundance, it was starting to sneak its way into the green in the forest.  

Jbird and I lack good hiking equipment and because we'd been told it was only a 45 minute walk into the spot, we went for comfort in our packing.  We took our big double blow-up bed and a three man tent not designed to be carried far.  We had ice for our drinks, a whole rotisserie chicken to share, pillows (they were small and obviously very light), and a lantern.  Owning only one pack, one person ended up carrying both the bed and the tent.  Because I'd been so convinced we had to be comfortable, I staunchly put my hand up for that job.  Oh. Boy.  I regretted everything only ten minutes from the car. Not to say that Jbird had it easy. Unfortunately, it was actually a 90 minute walk - I'm glad I hadn't known this. The thing is, I never sleep well the first night of camping so I really didn't want to spend many uncomfortable hours lying awake on the ground while I waited for everyone else to wake up.  As it was, I spent the hours very comfortably staring up into the trees through the mesh roof of our tent, snuggling with Jbird, quite happily listening to the early morning bird calls and the rustle of the leaves. 

We arrived a little after dark but our camping companions had already set up the fire.  Our chicken sandwiches with avocado and tomato were  delicious camping fare.   Jbird and I had brought the fixings for smores.  And we sat around the campfire making smores and telling stories.  Smores are not my favourite so I melted marshmallows and ate them with chocolate instead. 

The next day, we took an off-track walk down to a meadow by the lake, meeting some other happy campers on the way. It's interesting being in the American woods, you could be mistaken into thinking you're walking through trees that are all the same.  Tall and green.  But when you stop to take it in, you begin to notice different leaf shapes, leaves turning colour in different ways at different times, different characteristics of the trees. Jbird got distracted by all the pretty mushrooms and took hundreds and hundreds of photos, he's put the best pics on his facebook page.  I was distracted by conversation and definitely used my word quota up with our buddy.  

Jbird offered to take the heavy pack on the way out.  I was really glad, I think I would have died if I'd had to carry it again.  He also saw a snake in his continued photography expedition.  Apparently he called to us to come and look but I guess we were still too busy chatting to notice.  It was all around a very successful camping expedition, full of nice people and pretty outdoorsey things to look at.  It has helped prepare me for another week with my head in the books.

Pickled green tomatoes

My friend invited me over to help her pickle some green tomatoes.  In my endeavour to experience 'play' more, I happily took her up on the invite.  Canning at this time of year is a necessary, happy activity where you can take stock of some of the abundance of produce you have worked so hard to grow.  The temperature has dropped so drastically, we're finding our tomatoes are taking a long time the redden on the vine.  She picked all of hers recently due to a frost scare in her part of town but mine are sheltered enough, I'm going to leave most of them a bit longer. I have been enjoying watching how big my beef steak tomatoes can get, a few have been the size of grapefruit.  I'm hoping to make and freeze some pasta sauce if I get enough ripe at the same time.

She has all the canning gear, so it was a nice afternoon of catching up with each other and following fairly simple recipes.  She even has a mandolin which sliced them all beautifully and efficiently.  To be honest, the idea of pickeled green tomatoes doesn't sound very appealing to me but both she and my mother swear by them so I'm willing to give them a try.  She sent me home with five jars, including one from last year to compare to a recipe we did this year.  And I only nicked myself very slightly on the mandolin.