Wow, that was some show!  Thank you to all friends near and far who made the journey to enjoy the evening with us.  We were blown away that so many people turned out to pack the Freight & Salvage, and what a glorious treat it was to play on a stage with such exquisite sound.   I'm still basking in the glow.  Here are a few pics of the show, courtesy of my pal Michael Z.

There was so much work leading up to that show that I hardly had a moment to think or cook or clean my filthy house for weeks on end leading up to the big day, and so it was a huge treat to have nothing much on the calendar for the rest of the weekend but sleeping in, spontaneous brunches with friends, and lots of playing in the warm sunshine with dogs, as well as a birthday celebration for my sweet friend Monique, whom I've been lucky to know for the entire 5 years of her life!  Icing on the cake, or pie, as it were:  Monique's dad Steve  made incredible homemade pizza at the big birthday bash.  What a perfect way to finish off a perfect weekend!   By the time I collapsed into bed on Sunday night, I felt so satisfied and serene and just plain giddy, and it still kind of felt like summer.

And then, just like that, all of a sudden, seemingly in the blink of an eye, summer slipped away.  But the tomatoes in our garden didn't seem to get that memo yet.  I'm happy to report that the last dregs of our Bloody Butcher heirloom tomatoes are still making a valiant attempt, and I can hardly believe it, since it's nearly Thanksgiving!  But somehow, we still keep plucking red, ripe, juicy, gorgeous beauties from the plant that I was sure would never even see enough sunlight to produce anything at all.  I am SO happy to be proven wrong!

Still, the days are suddenly so much shorter and it's hard to bid farewell to those long, lingering summer days and all the glorious  rewards that come with them.  I take sweet comfort in the fact that the lemons on our tree are starting to turn from green to yellow, and I start to get excited about things like winter squash and brussels sprouts and leafy greens, a few of which are doing their best to grow in our garden.  Well really, only chard and potatoes are growing at the moment, damn the critters that destroyed and ate the rest of it!  I figure this is a good opportunity to let the soil rest & replenish, and instead, I find myself spending more time indoors playing with a crazy silly puppy and getting some really good use out of the oven and the stove top.  Slow roasting tomatoes, baking bread, roasting squash, braising vegetables, and making lots of soup.  Nothing really remarkable to report, just enjoying the chance to hunker down and slow down and enjoy the moments as they come.  And I'm happy to say that so many amazing moments have been coming, one right after the other.  It's been an incredible year and it's not even over yet.  So I don't mind so much that summer is gone, because I know there is still so much to look forward to.  I'm happy to be able to catch these moments as they come.