Smoky skies and pesto in the works

 

The view from my window this morning, about 8am. The eerieness of smoke-filled skies. I just came in from a quick trip to the trash and garden, and the air is filled with particles of all sizes, from tiny to good-sized flakes, all swirling around. All over my garden plants, cars, every other surface. I don't plan to go out again today.  And thank goodness for AC, which I dislike intensely, but which comes in  handy when you need to breathe.

This stuff is mostly coming from old fires in Oregon and Washington. We just  had a major wind shift late yesterday afternoon that brought it to us, rather than away from us. Not supposed to last long, thank goodness.

On the good side, I picked a bunch of basil -- probably enough for a double recipe of pesto. This is a good thing! There's probably this much more left out there, too. Shook the ashes off before coming inside, then washed them. Should make for lovely pesto for the freezer.