Cool weather vs. summer chores . . .

Every summer, I seem to find something to can. There is always an overabundance of some type of summer fruit that I like to hang onto longer by way of canning it in pretty jars to admire before eventually eating the contents. I always have hopes that the contents will be devoured in the dead of winter. In California, however, we never get a winter that drastic and I can be sure to find that at least two of the newly canned fruit will be opened within a day. Kind of makes you want to yell, "Why didn't you eat the fruit right from the tree?"

In spite of all the stupid and scary stuff happening in our government and world today, it is calming to go through the process of canning the surplus from our garden. It makes me feel that life WILL go on in one way or the other. The world that exists while I bottle fruit today may change and even improve by the time the summer harvest is enjoyed in the later months. I kind of bottle fruit AND hope.

How come . . . ?

I can understand going out of one's way to make someone feel welcome and not intimidated but if you are visiting another country, you are required to show passports/documentation when going over one border into another country. I'm having trouble processing why this is a problem in Arizona. Everyone carries identification of one sort or another. If non-citizens aren't required to show documentation, does that mean we have a choice about showing our driver's license when stopped? Isn't that just as much an invasion of OUR privacy as asking someone for their proof if identification, whether as a citizen or not? Shouldn't the citizens of a country be of first priority when it comes to protection and services? Very confusing, conflicted world we live in right now.