late summer madness

it's august, which always bring tomato processing and canning to the staple house. we've got lots of tomatoes, salsas, marinara, and tomato soup stored up for the winter.


canning may seem a simple, comforting and easy domestic experience. it's not. it's hot, it's messy, it occurs at the expense of keeping an eye on your children, or, more likely, after your children have gone to bed. it is a machine with unstoppable forward momentum.

and it has risk of injury. every year, a bit of a finger tip is sacrificed in the kitchen in the name of tomato chopping. this year, the injury was particularly brutal. i have pictures, but i will spare you the horror.  let me just say this: my thumbs are not now, nor will they be in the future, the same length.  however, this sacrifice makes the yield all the sweeter (especially because i found the severed thumb tip, and can thankfully verify that it is NOT in a jar of salsa).

anyway, i'm not the only one who required emergency medical treatment last weekend. earlier the same day, little miss ramona hurt her wrist (we don't know how, and it magically improved, and every thing is totally fine) and got to have xrays. she is very brave, and was very proud of her wrist brace. (i was not aware of just how tiny and precious her wrist bones are).
 

despite all the tertiary medical care, we still managed to get to a festival and have some good times with good friends in a good park. this photo is stitched together and has unfortunate seams along peoples' faces. trust me, our friends actually have heads and faces.