Heavenly Tomatoes!

I was a bit late getting home last night, and hungry, and wanted supper in a hurry.  So I headed out to my balcony and picked the day's crop of little cherry tomatoes ... a good two big handfuls and this nearly the middle of September! ...

...brought them in and tossed them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a few fresh oregano leaves.

 Popped them in the oven, but ... oops!!  Forgot the garlic!

 While the tomatoes and good stuff were baking at 400 degrees F, I put some water on to boil for pasta.  Once the pasta was cooked ... I used rigatoni ... the tomatoes had "exploded" and released their sweet goodness.

 I tossed that with my pasta and sprinkled on some fresh chopped basil.

 YUM!!!
 
Miss Boots and I had an unexpected visitor last night.  After supper dishes, I was in the "reading room" with a book, and Boots was in the "reading room" with me -- cuz we share those kind of special moments, don't you know -- scratching her chin on her hair brush.  All of a sudden, we both heard the sound of a cat eating kibble!  ANOTHER cat eating BOOTSY'S kibble!
 
I had left our balcony door open because it was a warm evening, and the kitty from two balconies down had come a'calling!  The only way she could have accessed our apartment was tiptoeing along balcony railings - 3 floors above the ground!  YIKES!  Poor Boots just stared with great big shocked eyes -- she couldn't figure out what to do!  I scooped the kitty and returned her down the hall to her rightful apartment / human. 
 
Made both Bootsy and I think about OTHER critters in our neighbourhood . . . . . .

Sunday Afternoon

Ah ... fresh brand new sheets!  Tried to get Miss Boots to pose there, but had to call in her understudy, Annie, at the last minute as The Boots was having a "I can't do a thing with my fur" crisis.

Oh, and the human had a lovely and luxurious sleep once Annie and Boots settled into their own respective beds!  Had I remembered brand new sheets were so wonderful, I would have treated myself long before this weekend!

September ... and the harvest begins!

In order to tell y'all about HARVESTING my balcony garden, I must first back up a couple of weeks ... this video was taken (I DISCOVERED MY CHEAP LITTLE 10 year old CAMERA RECORDS VIDEOS ... COMPLETE WITH SOUND!  HOW EXCITING IS THAT???) on August 13.  Not sure if the video is going to work or not - this is an experiment!  It was a dreary foggy day, and I was quite sure it spelled the end of summer.

 However, we've had a couple more mostly glorious weeks of summer, and my tomatoes and hot peppers went GONZO!  I was picking a "shirt-tail" full of little tomatoes every evening!  I was taking my toast and tea out to the balcony every morning and standing beside the tomatoes chowing down on their sweetness!  (Which is rather amazing cuz this gal HATED raw tomatoes in the early part of my life!)

Yesterday was Labour Day here in Canada, so I got busy harvesting some of my bounty.  18 jars of tomato basil jelly ... all from my own tomatoes and basil!  12 jars of shrieking HOT pepper jelly.  And just cuz I was in domestic gear, two different batches of cookies for the freezer and a couple of loaves of lemon bread, one for the freezer and one for coffee/tea at work today.

 In the process of all this, I discovered a great way to take one's mind off arthritic aches and pains ... process Thai Dragon Chili peppers without wearing rubber gloves!!!  I swear my hands were still glowing radioactive red at midnight last night!

Of course, one must SAMPLE the goodies ... quality control don't you know ... so enjoyed a mid-day crackers, cheese with tomato basil jelly and a glass of Chardonnay!  Yum!

 In an effort to retain some summer sunshine, I knit up these sunshiney yellow socks.  Here is one beside a pot of carrots on my balcony railing.  It was early morning ... VERY early morning so this photo doesn't do the yellow wool justice.

 THIS is a better shot of the yellow.  Note to self:  if you want to take a picture of something sunshiney yellow, wait for the sunshine to appear!  It's an easy arrowhead pattern ... the "arrowhead" can point up or down.

 For these socks, the arrowhead is pointing up.

Will be eating tomatoes for awhile yet, unless we get a killing frost ... that could happen here any night now although the forecast for the week ahead is warm.  Lettuce, peas, and some herbs are now history.  Next weekend I plan to pickle peppers and harvest the carrots and potatoes.

Have a sunshiney great week, ya'll!