Tomato Shapes & Shadows

Right now, my kitchen smells heavenly. We harvested today's bumper crop of heirloom tomatoes from the garden, and now they are slow-roasting in the oven so that we can freeze them and enjoy a taste of summer throughout the winter. They have been dusted with a pinch of salt and sugar, brushed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, dotted with thin slivers of garlic, and sprinkled with fresh thyme. Here are some of them just after they were rinsed, and just before they were sliced in half and put on the pans, casting their summery shadows on the counter top.