que pasa at the reluctant casa

It's harvest time, and I'm in the process of canning dilly beans and green tomatoes, drying herbs, and slow-roasting cherry and plum tomatoes for freezing. We had a rough season in the Willamette Valley, I'll confess. Cold nights that really never broke 60 degrees for more than a few days, even in 90-degree heat spells, a late last frost, and a relatively cool summer. Made for some really unfriendly growing conditions. Still, I got a decent crop of tomatoes, some great paprika peppers (pictured, my new drying method) and an oddly happy bumper crop of tarragon!

Mr. Reluctant pulled in the watering hoses yesterday. If that's not the sign of the end of the season, I don't know what is.

We've done very little on our growing list of remodeling projects lately. I've been struggling to finish an article that took much longer to write than I thought it would, and Mr. R. has been engaged in finishing his own article and his book, and traveling. Plus, we've been entertaining quite a bit, and experimenting with the BBQ. Priorities, yanno.

I did manage to cut down the hateful wisteria next to our grapevines and buy replacement handles for the laundry room cabinets, recaulk the kitchen window, and buy more curtains and shades at Ikea. Mr. R. got a few quotes for the roof replacement and ordered replacement panels for the storm windows, and I bought exterior paint. Not so much to report, no?

Part of the delay is that I'll be going to southern California for about three months starting next week. I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging from there, since I won't have a home to remodel, even reluctantly, and I won't be cooking much for myself. I think that I'll probably be an occasional blogger for a while.

In other news, the turquoise WWII cottage down the street, it turns out, sold for $300K. Woo-hoo property values! They immediately put in a white picket fence around the front. I had my doubts, but it turned out rather cute.

Hope you're all having a great fall!