The apple tree is having a good year.

It’s perhaps my favourite time of year – sunny late summer. Today I spent a few hours in the garden, cleaning, pruning and weeding. In fact I was already thinking about various activities coming up in the fall, and realizing that I have to start the fall clean-up now.

I was also thinking about how I don’t seem to have time to blog or to get exercise. Walking is my exercise of choice, but it is simply SLOW! It takes hours to get anywhere and hours to reach a reasonable exertion level. And my employment takes a large chunk out of my day, 5 days a week. I am entertaining the idea of a serious walking vacation in October-November so I need to start training.

At the end of the day I picked some dill (it grows on its own every year since I deliberately planted dill once) and my husband got pickling cukes at the produce store. My hands now smell of dill and garlic and this jar is sitting on the counter. Next weekend we’ll start eating them, and I’ll prepare another jar. Here’s my recipe.

Next weekend will also be time to start picking blackberries and making wine. You can see why this is my favourite time of year.