Summer into Fall in the blink of an eye -- Part 2

Chile harvest isn’t the only harvest that’s been abundant.

This summer, we bought a share in a CSA – Community Supported Agriculture – called Frisco Farms. We bought in with 3 other couples, so that every other week, we split the take with one couple and the opposite weeks, the other two couples split. Interesting to see what goodies were included from week to week: stuff I love like earth-fresh carrots and sweet lettuce and then stuff, well, let’s just say the other couple got more than their share of the beets, turnips and rutabagas. As the summer progressed and the bounty grew, I found myself picking up our share, and then shopping for more. Until finally, I had to buy a second market basket. And we didn’t throw a leaf or a stem away!

El Niño continues to play out.

The monsoons started pretty much on time. We got rain, and more rain, and then more rain. For variety, we got hail, winds and flash floods. In the desert Southwest, you never complain about the rain. But the humidity! And, OMG, the mosquitoes!!! There’s been drought here for the last several years, but between the heavy and lasting snows of the El Niño winter of 2009-2010 and the heavy and soaking rains of this summer, I think we’ve probably caught up a bit.

The rains have greened the landscape. Even the driest, brownest, barest land has been brushed with green. The hillsides have been soft and lush and the meadows and fields, verdant. A friend of my friend says it’s just like the East Coast – rather “garishly green” says he. More than green, though. The wildflowers – the year’s second coming of wildflowers – have embodied the state’s emblem: Zia. Zia is sun, and the sun has bloomed yellow everywhere you look. Imagine entire fields – acres full of sunflowers. Not the large sunflowers from which you might harvest seeds, but sunflowers with blossoms about the diameter of a tennis ball. Fields and meadows and roadsides and pastures and gardens – all ablaze with brilliant yellow sunflowers grown head-high. To give depth to the sunflowers, imagine ground cover spreading yellow butter inches high and still another yellow of pure gold winding around the sunflowers’ knees. And now imagine the yellow spiced with orange globemallow, brilliant salmon and red Indian paintbrush, blue and purple and pink penstemmons and other colors topping plants I have yet to learn. Now, though, Fall has begun its inevitable change. One day the landscape reflected the sun and the next, the grasses are seeding, giving hillsides a tan complexion and the cottonwoods are minting their own gold leaves. It’s still raining, though. It’s October, and most days, the skies are turquoise and the cumulus is billowing white. But every few days, those clouds turn black and serious and the rain pours for an hour or so.

San Diego for Labor Day

On Labor Day weekend, we left Nutmeg with a trusted house and dog sitter and headed for San Diego to visit Ami and Bob, aka daughter and son-in-law. They recently bought a somewhat down-at-the-heels house through a foreclosure – is there any other way to buy, these days? We saw it when they just bought and before they restored and could see its terrific potential. It had “good bones.” Now, they’ve mostly completed the work and their little 1920’s California bungalow is a knock-out. Combines a sweet sense of origins with a good dose of personal taste. Took them a little pottery from a local artist as an anniversary gift and, what else?, some fresh green chiles!

I’ve visited my daughter in San Diego a number of times over the years; she has, after all, lived there fully one half of her life and, dare I say, one-third of mine! But we’ve never done the “tourist thing.” We usually go birding at the refuges or the lagoon, or walk the sidewalks of La Jolla and look at the seals (or sea lions, Ami?). But this year, we took in the harbor along with hordes of camera-toting tourists. The tall ships were in port so we toured a couple of those and then we took the full 2 hour harbor tour that cruised the Navy yards and out by the point where the sea lions (or seals?) haul out, and at this time of year, have their babies. I loved the juxtaposition of the canvas sails against the high-tech military sails. Was fascinated by the variety of military ships to be seen. Every ship had a story and the captain, a former Navy ship’s captain himself, knew most of them. Went to the zoo at night where the only critters stirring were a lazy polar bear, an arctic fox in summer dress and the lions. Went to a Labor Day party at which the main course of marinated steak disappeared from beside the grill, which lead all the guests to speculate on the nerve of uninvited neighbors to sneak in and steal the beef. Platters of uncooked dinner later showed up stowed in the bottom of the fridge, covered with foil, but no-one could remember putting them there. The grill was still hot and the guests still hungry, so we had rare steak for dessert.

Oh, and I was definitely one of those hordes of camera-toting tourists. Here’s what I saw on my summer vacation…