Last Batch of Peppers Before the Freeze

 

Right about the middle of August every year as the heat and humidity peak, of course after I've sworn all winter long that I would never say it again, the words just uncontrollably come spewing out of my mouth..."I can't WAIT until winter!!".  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE living in Florida, even though I threaten every August to inquire if Santa is hiring live-in elves.  I love that I am assured every year as the temperatures rise, that the laundry pile will significantly shrink to almost nothing for at least a guaranteed six months (if not eight or nine) as our wardrobe changes from seventeen layers to swimsuits and flip flops.  That cuts a good 10 hours a week off my work load (5 hours in sock matching alone) and frees my time up for enjoying all the blessings that come along with living at the beach.  Ah, how I love summertime...

So, as I sit here warming my fingers between pauses in typing with the biggest cup of coffee I can get my hands around, I will vow, one more time, that I will never say that "I can't wait for winter" again  (while I somehow figure out how to cross my frozen fingers as I type those words :) ) 

I say this, because last night I could have sworn my house was ripped up from where it sits so peacefully warm and transplanted right-smack-dab into the middle of Iceland.  It was COLD...VERY cold!  In case you haven't figured it out yet, I just don't "do" cold very well (note to self, don't put that on the elf resume).   And, like myself, most of our veggies don't "do" cold well either.  Surprisingly, the bell pepper plants had lasted through fall and now into winter until last night.  Luckily, I had grabbed the peppers that were left on them the day before when we heard a freeze was coming to intrude on our warmth.  There was a few just ripe keylimes out there too...love it when I get a bonus!

I love bells peppers.  Especially the pretty mix of colors we grew this year.  There was red, green, purple, orange and yellow.  It makes me think of the warm sunny days we would get a full basket of bell peppers and pretty little fairytale eggplant.

They were so yummy sauteed up with some onion and our own sun-dried tomatoes from the spring...

Ah, spring...I can't wait until SPRING!!!!