PlazaJen: Passion Knit

OK, so all I do now when I'm outside is sweat. It's awesome! It's like, TOTALLY cleansing! My pores are the size of nickels, and I prefer to think of it as a moist dewy glow, not a slick salty sheen.
Yeah, what-fuckin-ever. Welcome to Missouri, where sometimes we call it "Mizzery" because that's what 100-degree weather IS. Hell's waiting room.

But this is actually a happy post. It's a good thing. Martha would rip that poncho right off over her head if she was out here in this heat, but I'm sure she'd whip up some homemade ice cream and sew us all some cool icee bandanas to tie around our necks.

Tuesday night, JWo was on a canning spree. He'd bought some cauliflower & carrot slices at the grocery store & all the rest was from the garden - banana peppers, jalapenos, onions, zucchini, & cukes. The first round of canning had begun, and we were making Hot Mix. The air was heavy with fumes from the apple cider brew, as it bubbled with turmeric and mustard seed. It burned our eyes and replaced oxygen in our lungs, but the payoff came later, after I'd packed the jars full of vegetables, and he'd hot-water processed them.

Every few minutes, a metallic "pop" sang out from the dining room table, telling us that another jar had vacuum-sealed shut. We didn't say anything, just looked at each other each time we heard it, and smiled. An official start of the summer harvest.