What Happened?!

Before leaving on my oh-so-wonderful vacation to Rome (will definitely share pictures later), the weather here in Doo-dah was lovely:  sunny and warm days followed by fairly brisk nights.  It was enough to give me encouragement that cold weather was possibly several weeks away.  I was even a little concerned the tomatoes still on the vine might ripen while I was away.

Ahhhh, and then the weather in Italy was just as spectacular – for 7 glorious days the temperatures ranged from the upper 70s, to low 80s.  Yes, pictures… will absolutely be sharing pictures.

But when we landed in Kansas and walked down the ramp to cross the tarmac, we were greeted by cold wind.  C.O.L.D.  

The next couple of days weren’t any better.  It was cold and rainy; and the forecast for Saturday included a freeze for that night.  Why??!!!  This isn’t supposed to happen yet!  I’M NOT READY!  (lots of drama, huh?)

So I spent Saturday morning (before it “warmed up” to 45 degrees) attempting to save my “crops.”  By the time I had finished gathering all the remaining tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, and parsley, my hands were almost numb from the cold.

The good news though is I turned all of this (and there was much more parsley than this pictures shows):

into 8 lovely pints of parsley pesto (should have taken the picture though before putting them in the freezer) using Pam’s recipe that you can find here…

We now also have 8 quart-size freezer bags of chopped, home-grown, heirloom bell peppers; and all that is left to do is turn all those green tomatoes into salsa verde.  Yum!

I know we are going to enjoy the pesto and veggies for months to come.  But I can’t help feeling bummed that we seem to be jumping straight from summer into winter.  I like autumn.  I would really like to experience autumn before having to endure the winter cold. 

But all my whining isn’t going to change anything, so…

I want to share with you two great contests that have lifted my spirits a bit, in case you need a lift too. 

The first is here at Mrs Schmenkman’s.  Scoot on over there now because you too will want to win those luscious fabrics she is giving away!

And the other is here :

In the winter, I practically live in my Uggs.  So I’m hoping to win a pair, ‘cuz it’s nice to have options, and a girl can’t have too many pairs of Uggs!  Especially when it’s looking like it could be a very long winter.

Good luck!

Iva