It’s getting chilly. I picked a load of parsley and pulled up all the basil plants yesterday, and spent the evening processing them and stocking the freezer with pesto.

I’m still in squirrel mode. I have half-ripe tomatoes sitting around the house and they continue to ripen on the vine as well, where the zinnias compete for the most colorful award, poking their heads out above what has become the tomato hedge.

According to my journal, last year’s first recorded frost was on October 19th. I can feel it creeping closer…

Last time I was in the city M and I went to the Maker Faire at the New York Hall of Science, where once upon a time the World’s Fair was held.

I’m having trouble describing quite what it was. Sort of nerdy school science fair meets etsy meets Cirque du Soleil.

There were large groups of people milling around, talking to the inventors of weird, cool, technical stuff.

That turned out to be one of the highlights, talking to earnest, excited entrepreneurs. We met the inventor of the egg-bot, and talked to one of the guys behind the book liberator, an accessible book scanner.

There were also crazy crafters.

I love crazy crafters, they are my people.

And of course there was lightning!

The insane group Arcattack performed with their Tesla coils which produce lightning in time with music. Nuts! (I did not take pictures during the performance. Too busy keeping mouth closed.)

We had a wacky, fun time, and if you get a chance to attend a Maker Faire, you should go.

It’s raining.

Across the street, two men in bright yellow slickers are assembling a huge trampoline. Standing on the porch above them is a small red-headed boy in what looks like a superman t-shirt, shouting out his excitement.

In the spirit of “try something new”, M and I went for a bike ride on the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail yesterday. Yet again, I had fun. It would seem that my instincts for routine and the familiar have been serving me ill.

The weather was perfect, not too hot, and when pedaling along the breeze felt mighty fine.

The trail crosses an old steel bridge where there are now benches, and we took a break and sat and enjoyed the view and the passing characters.

By the time we got back to the car we’d covered just shy of 10 miles — I had a sore behind but lunch tasted fantastic!

For the last fortnight the hummingbird activity at the feeder on the porch has been intense. A couple of times I’ve seen ten birds at once.

For such tiny creatures they have big attitude, reminding me of New Yorkers with their fast moves and “You lookin’ at me?” moxie.

(It was raining when I shot this, which made for noisy background, accentuating the traffic sounds.)

Indoors there’s been a lot of silent, focused, staring.

One morning I was standing looking out the side door at the garden. I was waking up, sipping my coffee, with Noola draped across my shoulders (she likes it there).

A hummingbird perched on the fence next to the tomato plants. All of a sudden he flew directly towards us and stopped at eye level, a foot away, hovering and checking us out, and then just as suddenly flew off into the trees.

Noola and I were both blown away by the experience.

The Shawangunk ridge above Ellenville is covered in wild blueberry (or huckleberry) bushes, which a hundred years ago supported a berry-picking industry.

While living in New York I never went to Times Square or Central Park unless friends were in from out of town; to this day I still haven’t been up the Empire State Building.

It’s the same here, there are unbelievable hikes and views just minutes from the house but we never seem to go unless we’re entertaining visitors. So it was a lucky coincidence when family came to stay at the peak of the blueberry season, and got us out of the house.

We went up to Minnewaska Preserve and followed a narrow path on the far side of the lake, climbing down the side of the mountain to where the blueberry bushes were plentiful.

Look down and see blueberries all around. Look up and see this view. Pick, pick, pick.

Afterwards we sat high up on the rocks where one of the hotels used to be, looking down at the lake and some long-distance swimmers cutting through the water with perfect form.

A couple of days after our guests left I cooked up a small batch of intensely-flavored blueberry jam.

So good. So unbelievably good.

When I got home from the city on Monday, there was a wonderful still life of old objects set up on my kitchen table, left for me by my friend Susan who takes care of the cats when I’m away, and has been cleaning out her basement.

Treats!

She gave me this lovely, simple, old apple corer. I love the way the handles are a twist in the wire frame.

This useful jar lifter with soft wooden handles. Feels so much nicer than plastic.

And two little flower frogs, of which this round one is my favorite. The shape is so satisfying, I want to keep it where I can look at it all the time.

Thanks, Susan!!

The first cucumbers and tomatoes are in. Or I should say, they’re gone. Gobbled up after passing feline inspection. But there are more on the way.

I’m growing two kinds, Boothby’s Blonde (described by a friend as a naked Kirby), and Suyo, which is pretty spooky-looking but delicious.

Last night I picked some of each and made them into a salad that was made for me when I visited Serbia several years ago. I don’t have a recipe, it’s so simple you can make it however you like it. More or less garlic or dill. Creamy yogurt or low fat…

I sliced the cucumbers thinly using the slicing side of my box grater and put them in a colander in the sink, salted them heavily and let them drain for a while.

In a bowl I mixed some plain yogurt with a couple of cloves of garlic, crushed, and some chopped up dill. I rinsed the cucumbers, dried them a little, and tossed them in the yogurtey mix.

All done. Simple and refreshing.

I thought I’d post about it today since it’s Cukes & Zukes day on the cross-blog Summer Fest. Find more cucurbit recipes and info on Summer Fest at awaytogarden.com.

I love it when “water garden” is on my list for the day and I wake up to the swishy sound of tires on wet road, and the patter of drops in the gutter above the bedroom window.

Can’t help feeling pleased with myself when I’ve crossed something off my to-do list before getting out of bed.

Last October I planted half a pound each of four types of garlic. I haven’t grown garlic before, being as this is my first year with a year-round garden, and I had no clue how much I’d be harvesting. Granted, the garlic took up more than 10% of the raised beds, which was kind of a clue…

This is the Inchelium Red softneck garlic, just one third of the harvest. The hardneck is still in the ground, waiting to be dug up.

I used the compost sifter M built for me and laid them out to dry in the shade on the patio.

It’s been 2 weeks and they’re looking ready to braid.

When all 4 types are harvested and cured I’d love to have a garlic tasting but I can’t figure out what dish would be a good comparison vehicle. Aioli? Garlic bread? I don’t think I’m up for crunching raw cloves.