September 24

.

Farmers' market.

Squash blossoms.

Summer squash, and tomatoes.  We are feeling the urgency of the season.  This stuff will not be available much longer.....

Eggplant and pepper.

Sunflowers, onions, peppers, cabbage.

Flowers.

I was waiting outside a conference room for a meeting, on Friday.  The person whose cube was near the conference room had a big bouquet of mixed snapdragons on her desk.

I complimented her on them, and her response made it clear she wasn't born here.

I told her we called the flowers "snapdragons."

She said she was Russian, and that they call them "dog flowers," because they look like bulldogs with snapping jaws.

I suppose it isn't a surprise that everyone has discovered that those flowers "snap".....  But I hadn't known, and I liked that we had the same thought about them.


At the market, we seized the time, and bought makings for ratatouille.  I wanted to take pics of the eggplant, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, onion, and garlic, but the light did not cooperate.  The purple, green, and red, with the paler centers of the eggplant and zucchini are appetizing, both before and after they are cooked with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and herbs.

This batch had the last of the herbs de Provence hand-imported from Provence last summer.

Herbs are both an excellent souvenir, and a difficult one.

Excellent because they bring home a taste of vacation, and difficult because they don't last forever.....

.