Rainy August

This is one of the rainiest summers we have had in Highlands in several years.  Our garden, which does not receive much sunlight under the best of conditions, has finally been extinguished, I think.  I was surprised earlier in the week to find one perfect zucchini hiding under its huge leaves, about ten inches long, but I think that is the last we will see this year.  Alas, we consumed it so quickly that I neglected to take a photo of it.  

There are many ways to prepare zucchini, but this time we spiralized it.  We had been to a Center for Life Enrichment program at Lakeside Restaurant last summer - back in that bygone time when we could actually attend programs like that, packed tightly into a restaurant for a cooking class - where we were shown how to turn zucchini into long spaghetti-like strands by using this tool, and we immediately went to the Dry Sink and purchased our own.

It's a simple but clever little device, and the "spaghetti" that it produces can be boiled, pan sauteed in a little olive oil (as Martha did), or even mixed with pasta.

There will be no more zucchini or yellow squash or tomatoes or green beans, all of which we enjoyed from our little garden this year.  The three inches of rain on Thursday and two inches on Friday left the garden beds looking bedraggled, ready for the first frost to finish it off so I can pull up the stakes and cages and put everything to bed for the year.

Last night it rained again, waking us from time to time as it intensified, died away, and then roared back to life again all night.  The forecast did not look promising this Saturday morning for our long run of the week, but I arose at 6:00 a.m. in any case and went outside under the covered porch for my Tai Chi.  It was raining pretty steadily at that time, but in an hour or two it had tapered off, and by 8:00 a.m. it had stopped. 

We are sharing a vehicle until we pick up the vehicle we found in South Carolina to replace our Mini Cooper – a pre-owned Honda CR-V like the one we have but ten years newer and with low mileage – so I drove to Town for a quick run and promised to return before 10:00 a.m. so Martha, who likes to get started a little later, could also run.  I was surprised that the sun had come out by the time I started, but in a mile or two it disappeared behind Sunset Mountain and thick fog began drifting down across the road.  Fred and Karen joined me at 9:00 a.m. and I completed another two miles, but by the time I had finished it was lightly misting rain again.

Fortune sometimes favors runners, though, and when I returned to Town with Martha the sun was shining again.  While she was running I ran some errands, and then was able to complete two more miles myself.  Once again we congratulated ourselves on finding an open door of opportunity and going through it. 

After lunch, it began raining again.  And so this long wet August continues.