A Lovely Morning

As you can guess from the title of this post,it is a lovely morning. There is a nice breeze,and it is very comfortable outside-no humidity. On our screen porch it is 70 degrees,and it feels like an early Fall day. I love it! We did have to go through some nasty weather last night to get here,however. Terrible thunderstorms rolled in,but the worst seemed to be to the east and north of us. I haven't heard any confirmations,but there was word that tornadoes touched down around Ossipee Lake and over in Wakefield,which is the next town over from us. I still find it amazing that here in NH we have tornadoes. Growing up,I never heard of any.Now it seems they are very common. I guess the theory that we live in a hilly state and tornadoes only exist in flat states is a crock. I do admit that I get more cautious than I used to be when we have thunderstorms with a tornado warning or watch. We had a bad tornado rip through the state 2 years ago- and the path was suppose to go right by our house. We were down in Newington at a BBQ for Rick's PTSD group,and when we got home,our neighbor informed us that Channel 9 was warning that Middleton Corners was in the path of the tornado (we live in Middleton,but Middleton Corners is in reference to the four corners that is right down the street .If I stand in the road in front of my house,I can see it).The tornado decided to go more north west. Our weather patterns have been very bizarre the last few years,though in New England,we have a saying about it:"If you don't like the weather,wait a minute,it will change."

Today I am going to try my hand at canning pickles. Hmmm. Should be interesting. I haven't tried any canning since my sad attempt at making blueberry jam last year,in which I attempted to make jam with less berries than was called for. Those of you who are seasoned canners know that doesn't work so well.When they say don't deviate from the recipe,they aren't fooling! I had to buy a decent scale,so while Zach and I were out buying him school supplies yesterday,I picked up a digital one. I can use it for canning and making soap,so it's an investment.

I do need to cut back my Sweet Basil,and I should pick some other herbs to dry them for the winter months. Thank goodness my corn has been staked,I don't think it would have made it through last night's storm. My rain barrel is running over, so we have at least 60 gallons. We need to get the second one up and running soon.

Enjoy this gorgeous day!!!!!