SO much going on and so little time.
David and I had been talking for a while about getting camping but hadn’t really moved on it. Suddenly it’s the end of summer and he is going to have to go back to school and we have the students coming back to MCAD and I won’t be able to take time off at the end of August.
Talked to my boss and decided to go camping this coming Wednesday even though it’s short notice. Since the trip is coming up we have much to do before we go.
The Fringe Festival started this weekend and now we have to cram many shows into a few days. We saw two last night, we will see two tonight and one each on Monday and Tuesday. All this and we still need to get our camping gear and food packed before we leave Wednesday morning. We’re thinking of bringing Chester with us. We’re reasonably sure he’ll have a good time up there and not be a jerk. If we were going to Voyaguers National Park I would say no, bears are much more common there and dogs don’t mix well with bears (they try to protect you from the bear and then when they realize they can’t win they come running back to you for protection with an angry bear at their heels). While it is possible to see a bear in the BWCA, it is far less likely. We saw evidence of bears when we were there, but we never saw them.
We are also thinking of bringing Chester because he’s in the midst of his jackass angsty teen months and I’m not keen to thrust that upon Anna. Ghengis went through the same sort of thing but he was less Jackass and more Whiny Attention Whore. Let’s just hope that Chester doesn’t freak and try to jump out of the canoe and get attacked by beavers.
And I still need to finish up my State Fair entries.
State Fair entries are not going so well. I mentioned earlier that the chutney turned out but I felt it was not great by any means. The first batch of cherry jam failed miserably and while I can salvage it as a pastry filling, I cannot enter it. The second batch of cherry jam seemed to turn out until 24 hours later when I checked it and realized that all of the cherries had separated out of the gel and floated to the top. The gel part became super gelled and the cherries are just loose at the top. Since ‘Distribution of Fruit’ is part of the judging criteria, this will also not be submitted. Let’s hope the Def Strawberry Jam and the Salsa Verde turn out.
What I need to find out is if the problems with the jam are an error on my part or if it has something to do with the pectin, a brand I’ve never used before. I’ll ask around and see.
Also there’s laundry and dishes and vacuuming to be done.
Over and out my peeps.