The weather in August has been rainy and quite cool unlike Russia and Pakistan. It is Sunday the 29th of August and the daytime temperature is currently at 54 degrees. I am wearing fall jackets and sweaters. The prognosis for Monday is a high to 50 degrees and I am looking at the temperatures in the 90's in New Jersey. This is not unusual in Germany particularly in the region of Northeastern Bavaria where I live and my first year in Hof was similar with cold rainy weather up until October. This has been a good year for certain fruits such as apples and plums. They have a small plum here known as Mirabellan which is primarily used in jams and jellies and is mostly yellow in color. I had my first taste of these preserves when I was working in Austria. The lady who rented rooms for singers at the time made jam from these from the orchard from her backyard. The house stands on a former farm in Gars am Kamp in the Kamp Valley of which its river of the same name (again Kamp) flows westward to the Danube River. I still have a few of her preserve jars in my cellar. I have 2 gardens with plum trees and have had good success with the fruit making jellies, a type of canned plums in syrup and even dried prunes made in the oven. The first year I made plum jelly, I had to give away jars as it was enough for at least three years supply.

I have a large field near one of my gardens where I take my dog for a walk. The farmer usually cuts a grass strip alongside the crops which is perfect for all sorts of dogs with a brook running in the middle into which my labrador loves to plunge. Afterwards back at home I have to hose her off which doesn't phase her in the least.