Peppers and Potatoes

There are fewer stalls at the farmers' market each week. Peppers and squash, kale and onions prevail. One stall had a few nice lettuces and the mushroom man is still going strong. we went to the bakery stall and got some lovely croissants to go with our coffee. Then we fumbled around with market bags, coffee cups and pastries as we wandered around. 

We chatted with the carniverous plant guy who said the two things that pitcher plants don't like are chlorine and salt. City water has chlorine and our well water has salt in the water softener, but the softened water only goes to the house, so John won't have to keep lugging home distilled water from the store. I'm sure he will continue to feed it with flies swatted in the house. We also bought a small succulent which is hardy to 28F for the rock garden and we may buy one or two more before the market closes for the winter....

Our neighbors on one side (Janet and Paul) came last night for a drink and a catch-up, and I was happy for them as they look forward to moving in quite soon. The appliances arrive next week and then they have only to wait for the county inspector to sign off. Janet said she was finally getting excited about their house. She couldn't let herself do it until fairly recently and we rarely saw her. "You're finally ready for the fun part now", I  said as she told me about a new hand knotted living room rug and a mirror discovered in an antique store.  We got quite emotional as we shared stories about those diffiuclt days and weeks after the fire... the evacuation, the fact that we didn't know for a few days whose house burned and whose didn't. We talked about what it was like to lose everything and what it was like to live in a construction zone, surrounded by debris.

We all got through it, and they're looking forward to being back in the neighborhood as much as we are looking forward to having them back.
There is a man at the farmers' market who does laser cut pieces of metal.* There is a gate between our two properties at the top of our driveway which has been hanging open from a burned gatepost for two years. It is going to be rebuilt in a couple of weeks and I think I will look for an interesting metal sculpture to put on it.

Posole for dinner tonight in honor of the season. The pork shoulder has been simmering slowly all afternoon with some of the above peppers, onions, garlic, hominy and spices. We bought some handmade tortillas from the enchilada man to go with it. 

*See second extra here