Starting Fall/Autumn

 

Moringa Pods (left), Moringa Leaves (center), Curry Leaves (right)

Over the weekend, we went from summer to fall, here, in the northern hemisphere.  The weather, which had been unseasonably cool for summer, last week, corrected itself over the weekend and turned warm, again.  Today, Monday, we reached a high of 94F and I was so happy!  

I had been calling my Sri Lankan friend S and leaving her messages, the past several days and she finally called me back this morning.  I offered to bring her moringa pods and she wanted to know if I had any leaves, too.  She was getting ready to leave for work, but, she said her daughter would be home in the afternoon.  So, I picked a dozen moringa pods, a few sprigs of moringa leaves, and some curry leaves, too (although she didn't ask for them), and dropped them off at her house.  I called her daughter and told her I was leaving them on the doorstep, so she could collect them later.  There are more moringa pods and I will pick them and cook them tomorrow.  You have to peel the pods and cut them into shorter lengths to cook them.

A little later in the day, after I had returned from dropping off the produce at friend S's house and had taken the trash cans to the curb for pick up in the morning, I picked a few lemons from the Meyer lemon tree:

Meyer Lemon

One of them is almost as big as an orange!  The lemons are coming to an end - many of them got scorched for the sun during our heatwave.  I have a few quartered and frozen lemons in the freezer and they will have to do until the new crop of lemons ripen later this winter.  I squeezed the juice from one of the lemons I picked and made myself a glass of lemonade, today.

Brunch was a croissant with tuna salad and I had some tortilla chips with it and drank the lemonade.  I haven't had dinner yet; Might just have some fruit (the bananas must be eaten before they get too ripe) and maybe a slice of bread and peanut butter.

Today, I am grateful for:

- More fresh produce from the garden
- Being able to share some of it with a friend
- A safe drive to friend S's house and back (and finding parking in front of her house)
- A warm, sunny day
- Being able to play my vinyl records

Today's joyful activities included sharing the garden produce with friend S, a nap on the sofa, listening to some of my vinyl records (I only have 5, so it's not a big collection and I think I might be down to 2 or 3 by the end of this month).