Welcome to canning 101. We took a canning class at Brook Farm last week and it was fantastic. Stephanie, the canning expert, took about 8 of us through our paces and we produced many pints of salsa. She learned how to can from her Mom, who learned from her Mom, so it has a nice, Mom-to-Mom feel to it. Also stuff - and you all know how much we like to buy stuff. So far, we have everything but the centerpiece - the canner - which includes the twongers (to lift the hot bottles out of the hot water bath), the jars, the funnel, the pickling spices, and of course the pickling cukes and the many, many tomatoes rapidly ripening. The canner has been ordered from the in-our-neighborhood True Value and should be here Wednesday. Midge and Jay are coming on Friday and will be here until Sunday. She offered to help. One of my goals is to can peaches - which are glorious around here. I never thought I'd find the equal of a Michigan Red Haven peach, but voila! The Hudson Valley has wonderful peaches.

Ken is off to Elmhurst in Queens this morning and I am off to the start of the 2008-2009 academic year. Our classes start today and thousands of new and returning undergraduate and graduate students will be flooding the campus. My chorus class has its first meeting on Wednesday. Just in case you are early planners, our concerts are November 18 and 22 and December 9.

Have a good Monday.