September is 2/3 past and I have again this year come down with a cold. This ritual began when I worked in the school system. When the students came back with a variety of ailments, I always came down with a cold. NOt a bit convenient with the opening glitlches, and one of our key people taking several days off to attend the US Tennis Matches in New Hampshire. It was a given if they wanted her capable services the other 50 weeks of the year at least one week would be spent in NH in September. Anyway, it isn't quite as critical that I be well in September, but it is still a nuisance to have a cold.
The weather is beautiful! In this area everything is still green. The apples are ripe (and they've gone from $6 a bag of utilities to $10 three years.). I have been making apple sauce and have enough in the freezer to last about two months, which is fine, because by then I will be ready to face another cook off. I don't bake pies or crisps. I don't peel the apples, just wash them, core them and cook until tender. Then the Foley Food Mill, that marvelous invention, comes out and I set about grinding the pulp to a fine sauce. A little sugar (doens't take much) and a shake of ground cinnamon finishes it off. I put the end product into little 1/4 cup containers, as many as I have, and the rest in whatever I have handy. When my mother was making apple sauce, she peeled and cored and the apple sauce had chunkier texture. Next time around I might do that. Somehow, I think there is goodness in the cooked peels. OF course, she used to "boil down" the skins and cores, drain off the liquor through cheese cloth, add some pectin and make a fine jelly. Too much work for me. Smuckers is just fine.
Well, the hibiscus is still blooming as are the roses, Rose of Sharon and the purple and white butterfly bushes. The butterfly bushes are sometimes laden with Monarchs, and smaller similar butterflies. I would think if they are going to go somewhere for the winter, it is time for them to gather and leave.
Today the ground crew mowed. I think this has to be the very last mowing this season, but I did notice the sprinklers are still on in the early a.m. I think growing season is over, however.
I have seen a few skeins of geese flying over the marshes. And the egrets are still in town. I have not seen a great blue heron this year, but I haven't really just sat and watched for them. The marsh grasses have yellowed and the heather is purple. The scent is salty and smells more like straw than a month ago. We have had some really high tides and lovely "rollers". The surfers are having a bonus year.
Here in the Creek several neighbors have already gone south. Makes me wonder why they come at all - if they come in May and leave in September they miss a lot of nice Maine season changes. This time of year inspires an "end of season" outing, so the ladies of the Creek are meeting for lunch Saturday.
There are less than 50 days left until the Presidential election. I am truly sick of the vitriol, the lies, the flip-flopping and the endless phone calls. I had a call last night from Brunswick, ME. which was a four question quiz from the Angus King people They have a litany to read from and you can't throw them off course or they have to start over again. I thought I would give the young man with the deep voice and slight accent which I couldn't identify, a few minutes of my time. I've done those phone banks and it's a miserable way to spend an evening. But after asking did I know Mr. King was running? Yes. How likely are you to vote for Mr. King? Not likely.
May I send you some material which I think will help you understand him and how qualified he is? No. I was here when Mr. King was Governor King.
But if I send you some material, you might find it interesting. No, thank you, I don't want the material. I have seen a lot of the commericals and read quite a bit in the papers. (Big sigh) But that material may not be doing him justice and is probably slanted adversely. WHAT? THE ads which Mr. King "approves" might be adversely slanted? No, the opposition ads. I don't want any material. It will only ad to my recyclables. At which point I did hang up. You know, today's young people really don't know the meaning of the word "NO". That's sad.
We must make the most of the next few weeks which will bring us into fall with it's new palette of colors. I had been thinking I would take a trip into the middle of the state somewhere to really see the colors of the Rangely area.
But I am taking a three day trip to Massachusetts for a music event, so I probably won't, Big ideas, no action. I took a trip into the White Mountans a few years back by myself and the problem was, there was no one to OOH and AAH with. I did get lost, but I wasn't worried. I knew if I didn't drive over the edge of the road into a ravine, I'd eventually find my way out. But I did take a left turn at one point and ended up in a farmer's yard. He looked at me. I looked at him. I waved, smiled and said, "Sorry, I took a wrong turn." He nodded and walked toward his house with his Heinz 57 dog at his heels.
Enough. Unless we have something spectacular weatherwise, there isn't much happening to write about.
No matter when happens in the rest of the world, and right now horrendous things are happening, we circulate in our own sphere which here in Maine is reasonably peaceful and calm.
jmajor2@maine.rr.com
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