Day 263 of 365

Who could have predicted that something that happened in 2007 in Indianapolis combined with something that happened in February of this year would come full circle today.

Back in the summer of 2007 we took our cross-country tent camping trip across the United States. From Idaho to Maine and all the way back. Lots of miles, lots of campgrounds, some hotels thrown in, restaurants shown on the Food Network and Travel Channel, and touristy-stops along the way. And in particular, lots of sports-themed stops.

Turner Field for an Atlanta Braves baseball game. Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. National Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The Field of Dreams (from the Kevin Costner movie) in Iowa. Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was of particular note. Being a non-race car fan I've watched the Indy 500 a couple times but haven't been too interested. But when we stopped at the raceway and a Richard Petty Driving Experience was happening, my husband made me take lots (and lots) of pictures of cars. He especially wanted Tony Stewart's car. I had not a clue who Tony Stewart was.

Fast forward to February of this year. Recovering from shoulder surgery, in a sling, unable to drive, sitting at my daughter's apartment while she was at work, and no cable TV. Flipping through the channels and finding the Daytona 500 about the only thing on. I sat there and watched that race. And enjoyed it. (Granted I was on pain pills at the time.)

Right before I started this blog in March I was able to move back home. Told my hubby about enjoying the race. He suggested we start watching those NASCAR races. So we did. Every weekend they've raced since March, I've settled myself into my recliner to watch the races. For the first few weeks, I always picked who I thought would win the day's race - based on who had the prettiest car. Wouldn't you know it, for several weeks in a row I was always right.

After a couple months, I started liking one driver over the others - Carl Edwards. He won quite a bit and had great poise off camera. So I started rooting for Carl every week. My husband kept rooting for Tony Stewart, even though he didn't win a race all season - until these last few weeks.

Tony and Carl have been close in points through these few weeks. Today was the last of the Sprint Cup Series Championship races. Who could have predicted that the two drivers - my husband's longtime favorite racer and my driver who had lots of pretty cars throughout the season - would wind up in a tie in points. Except...

A tie in the series goes to the driver with the most wins in the Championship Series that was held these last few weeks. That would be the driver who won today. Tony Stewart.

So congrats to my husband who has been cheering his driver on for years. Now I know why I took all those darn pictures years ago.

I don't know why I took today's picture out my den window, though. Sun rising in the east shining on the dusting of snow on the mountains to the west.

Day 262 of 365

At the end of every gardening season we take stock of what occurred during the year. Since we hadn't grown a vegetable garden for a while, the past several years have focused on the lawn. This year is different.

As we looked back on this year's vegetable-growing season, we knew some things needed to change for next year. And some things needed to continue.

Our keepers:

• Using the high school greenhouse to get a jump start on our vegetables. We would never have had big, beautiful beefsteak tomatoes so early - on July 18 (Day 138) - this year.
• Keep the kale. My husband loves it and is still picking it now. It sure looked pretty all picked and washed back on Day 218. His favorite way of eating it - in a peanut butter and kale sandwich - isn't nearly as pretty.
• Plant jalapenos again, but we'll also add in another variety of hot peppers.
• With the red potatoes we might consider doing a couple different plantings so we have them throughout the summer instead of a bunch all at once like we had on Day 145. Same with radishes, arugula, and spinach - several plantings throughout the season will keep us in the salad-making business for the entire summer.
• Having our daughter help with the planting. If it wasn't for her we wouldn't have had a garden. And if it wasn't for the garden, she wouldn't have gotten fresh produce to take back to her place, either.

Things to change:

• No more russet potatoes. This is Idaho after all, and potatoes are easy and cheap to find around here. Might as well save that garden space for something else.
• Probably no corn on the cob. It took up a lot of space, and there were people all along the roads selling it out of the back of pickups during corn season.
• No more watermelon. Although the greenhouse jump start was beneficial, we had late frosts here and had to replant them. They came on, but much too late. My daughter and I wound up doing watermelon bowling with the smallest ones on October 27 (Day 239), but even the biggest ones weren't edible.
• I want garden beds. This year we planted in rows and sections, but the organized part of me would like actual beds laid out. We have some old landscape timbers that line our rose garden that we've considered replacing so we may move those old ones into the veggie garden to give us true "beds". Although raised beds would be my preference, the old landscape timber idea would certainly be much cheaper.
• No more pumpkins. Between them, the attempt at cantaloupe, and the late watermelon, the vines were just too much. Neither of us is great with our balance and we were always tripping over the vines in the garden. Yet...

After yesterday and today, I think I've changed my mind on one of those items we were planning on changing. Pumpkins. As much as the vines were a pain in the you-know-what, the beauty of the pumpkin puree compensates. I'm sure my husband isn't complaining about the pumpkin seeds we did up, either.

I still have several pumpkins to work up, but some of  yesterday's puree became very tasty, gorgeous (in my opinion) pumpkin bread. You can even see the pumpkin in there.