We are at Bard to pick up Stewart's van. It had been sitting in a lot all summer and wasps had built twelve nests: in the exhaust pipe, the roof rack, under the hood and around the hinges of the doors. We literally used a ten foot pole to swat them off -- a frightening operation. Then we pumped up a flat tire with a bike pump, mostly Stewart because I don't have near his strength.

We are staying the night at a vegan coöp and made two batches with this variation on our recipe:

approx 1/2 cup whipped earth balance
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 squirt of agave nectar
2 capfuls vanilla extract
splash (amount equal to 1 egg) homemade peach jam
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup coconut flakes
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chilled vegan chocolate chips OR 4/3 handful dried cherries

Both the chocolate chip and cherry batches came out surprisingly well and were a hit with a boisterous group that arrived just as the pans were coming out of the oven.