Planetary Appreciation Post

Since gratitude is directly tied to health and happiness, let me begin with some thanks to the universe that our wifi is back up, and I can get this post out. Our family is also happy to be home from our little road trip to Salem (eclipse!) and eastern Washington (in-laws!) and that today is Market day.

Homegrown goodness

Homegrown goodness

The fridge and cupboard aren't totally bare, as you can see by the tomatoes and raspberry above, provided by my farming husband, but we're out of nectarines and peaches and apples and all vegetables. Collins Family Orchards reports that Regina peaches will be in this week, for those of you waiting! And I saw the first Red Bartlett pears last week at Amador Farms, for those of you missing fall fruit. And Martin Family Orchards had two kinds of slushies. For this we all give thanks.

If anyone went down to Oregon for the eclipse--and a lot of you did, judging by the return traffic--you know how awesome an event it was. One to give you a new appreciation for the excellent placement of our sun in relation to our earth and our moon in relation to both. Good stuff, with happy results, for those of us who get to enjoy them all for the next umpteen zillion years until the moon tries to fly off into space and the sun burns out

Check out the sharp delineation of light and shadow, shortly after totality:

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Don't notice anything? Well, compare that picture to one I took a few minutes later, when the eclipse was just about over, and we were back to having loads of sunlight:

Much murkier

Much murkier

Who knew there was so much more to see? Nice to know there's more going on than we realize, even if we can't see it.

Speaking of things going on behind our backs, let's also have a round of applause for the work of bees. We stopped by the Cascade Natural Honey booth last week to pick up a jar and went for a new flavor: Wetlands Wildflower. Lovely and tasty. Interesting to hear that Cascade is no longer trucking their bees down to California to help pollinate the almond crop because it was too stressful for the little guys. Imagine what eclipse traffic would have done to them.

Glass jar 4/5 full

Glass jar 4/5 full

Show a little appreciation for your planet and come enjoy its bounty this afternoon. My salmon-loving brother-in-law is visiting this weekend, and I plan to check out new-to-me vendor Sena Sea for some filets!