Hello, September!

Where did August go? The time really wasn’t flying by, though, as we waited for our computer to be repaired. When we left it with Mr. Repairman he told us ”you’ll have it back in two to five business days”. Well, let me tell you, he counts a little differently than we do. It’s been a total of ten days – and they were long days. You know how it goes – if you don’t have it – of course, you absolutely, positively NEED it NOW. (After all, we have banking to do, and things to research, and people to ‘touch’.) Not to mention that I am so far behind on blogs that I’ll have to sit here for three days to catch up! We have a desktop Gateway, but somehow lost the power cord for it in the house cleanup done when we came back this last spring, so it wasn’t operable either. We did order a new power cord from Gateway – which arrived the same day our laptop was repaired!

Our Toshiba laptop is a great machine- but it quit reading and writing CDs. I was so afraid of losing a years worth of pictures before I could get them downloaded. And the power cord would sometimes stop working and use up the laptop batteries. What a surprise – three years later – we were still under warranty and the repairs didn’t cost a thing. Well, except for the cost of the external hard drive we purchased so that all our pictures, documents, etc. could be downloaded and then reloaded after our laptop was restored. We lost a lot of software that has to be reloaded now – and that is such a pain.

After our little touch of autumn in the air, the weather turned lovely again, and I’ve been enjoying the yards and garden. I love to ‘piddle’ (as T calls it) with my yard and gardens. Sometimes when I’m out there, I’m not even working - except in my mind, where I have reworked some of my flower beds, decided where to move plants, etc., and now all that’s left is to decide whether I’ll do the actual work this fall, or wait until next spring. Guess I’ll see how the weather is and play it by ear.

I’m still loving my peas – eating them every day. I don’t remember ever having them this late in the season before. Am anxiously awaiting my very own spaghetti squash now. I’ve still got green peppers, onions and beans. AND lots and lots of tomatoes! After thinking my tomatoes would NEVER get red, and envying everyone who was posting pictures of red tomatoes - now there are so many ripe tomatoes every day that I am giving them away like crazy. Yesterday I decided I’d make my own ’stewed tomatoes’ and freeze them. I chopped up about a dozen tomatoes, three of my green peppers, and some of the onions. I threw in garlic salt, salt and pepper, and Italian spices, and boiled it all. It looked so good and I just wanted to eat it – so I took the juice off of it and threw in some cut up chicken I had cooked. I chopped up a bunch of left over angel hair pasta I had cooked the night before for T’s spaghetti, and threw it in. I sprinkled it all with parmasan cheese, and it was DELICIOUS. And I have left overs and will eat it again tomorrow – I’m happy.

We took my son, his wife, and the four grandbabies to the museum down town to see “A T. Rex Named Sue”, as the exhibit was only here for the summer and is now on its way to Alaska. “Sue” is the most complete , best preserved, T. rex fossil ever found. It’s pretty amazing. Besides the life size cast, there were many interactives. And even a small room where the little ones could dress up in T. rex costumes. I don’t know who enjoyed it most – the kids, or Terry.

It’s STILL a mystery. And a short hiatus.

I still have not figured out what this ‘mystery’ plant is. I do not even know where I got it. All I do know is that it is taking up a lot of room in the front of a bed – and if it doesn’t show me something pretty impressive, pretty soon – it will be relocated. At a good 2-1/2 feet high, and wide – it’s covering a lot of prime real estate.

Below is a picture of one of the blossoms on the plant- it is beginning to open. So to what little I do know about this plant, you can add: I know it has pink petals.

Does anyone have any ideas?

As for the HIATUS: our Toshiba needs to visit the computer doctor. It will no longer read or write our CD’s, and we’re fearful of losing all the pictures we’ve taken over the last year. I’ll be back in a few days. I hope.

I’ve been Cookin’ here!

I’ve been pretty busy the last week or so. T’s brother came from El Paso to visit – for the first time in years and years and years. I had to get the yards, gardens, and house all spiffied up before he got here, of course. And then I cooked. Yeah, me.

My girlfriend and I went to one of the orchards last week, where we picked  fresh peaches. Ummmmm, so sweet, they melt in your mouth. (We got a lesson on how to pick, and how to carry peaches.) The woman who owns the orchard,  gave me a box of plums when we left – gave them to me! – because she didn’t have time to put them up. I came home and baked a peach crisp. Then got up the next morning and while T took his brother sight seeing, I made plum jelly.

Years ago, I bought a ricer at a garage sale, just to make plum jelly, because I’m so lazy I don’t want to take the pits out of the plums. And I LOVE using the ricer. I washed and stemmed the plums, then boiled them 6 or 7 minutes, and poured them in the ricer. (Actually, I boiled three large pans of them.)  With the ricer, all the good juice comes right through, and the seeds and any pulp that didn’t cook down, stays right in the ricer. It was kind of fun making this jelly. Not that I’d want to do it for a living.

I still have rhubarb – and decided I wanted to make something with it- so dug this recipe out of my recipe box. I don’t know where I got it; I don’t think I’ve ever made it before this; but I know I will definitely make it again. (T won’t even TASTE it – does NOT like rhubarb. His loss.)

Usually I don’t like making anything that has multiple steps to it. I’m your basic lazy cook. (My idea of baking is a recipe I have which is called “Dump Cake”. You ‘dump’ all the ingredients into the pan that you will bake it in, and stir it a little with one of the lids from the cans you’ve dumped in the pan. Oh yeah, that’s my kind of cookin’.)  The three step squares  looked easy, even though they had THREE steps - so I decided I was up to washing multiple bowls. Here’s the recipe in case you just need ONE more recipe for rhubarb!

Yummy Rhubarb Bars 

Crust:  1 cup flour, 1/3 cup powdered sugar, 6 tablespoons butter

Filling: 1/4 cup flour, 1-1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 eggs, 3 cups diced rhubarb

Topping: 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/3 cup butter

Mix crust and press into bottom of 9 inch square pan. Bake at 350 degrees or until light brown.

Mix filling ingredients and pour over partially baked crust.

Mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over filling.

Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until light golden brown.

(Yeah, yeah. I know. That rhubarb is sliced, not diced. And that pan is a rectangle, not a square. Just stop being so picky!)

While T’s brother was here, we picked our very own corn for dinner one night. And had our very own sliced tomatoes, and my very own squash casserole – that no one but me would eat! Oh well, more for me.

We had a great visit. When T’s brother left, I went to my sister’s house, where I’ve spent the last three days helping her with a garage sale, and loading what was left. T and I took some things from her house to my son’s today, and then took a load to the dump. (One dump run won’t do it. The woman has way MORE stuff than will fit in her new condo!)

And now I am just TIRED. I’m going to curl up with my blankie, and my Sunday paper, and a cup of coffee - and not do another thing tonight. I’ll be visiting blogs and catching up – tomorrow.

Our new flag pole has a history.

We are now the proud owners of a 20 foot, collapsible flag pole.  T installed a sleeve for the pole, in the front of our home, and puts our flag up each morning, and takes it down each evening.

A local contractor originally put this very flag pole up, in the yard of the home that he built for his family. When both the contractor and his widow passed away, the contractor’s son sold their home to my sister, Caryl. Now Caryl is moving to a condo, and has given the flag pole to T. He is so grateful. He said that he has always coveted it.

You see, the contractor that first installed the flag pole at his home, was a Wake Island civilian survivor. He was working on Wake Island with 1, 146 other civilian contractors  in 1941, when the island was attacked. The civilians volunteered to fight side by side with the Marines, and were captured as POWs with the marines, and held until their liberation in 1945. Seventy civilians lost their lives at Wake Island, and twelve others were wounded during the battle. I understand the Wake Island civilian survivors are the only civilians that we ever given military benefits.

T comes from a family who had members who served in the armed forces. He also lost his younger brother in Viet Nam. And his son served in the Marines. Anything to do with the military, is very dear to T’s heart. Having this flag, that belonged to a Wake Island survivor, touches him deeply. And that touches me deeply.

Do you know what this is? Do you know what this means?

Do you know what this is?

This is a photo of my sedum, Autumn Joy, which shows it is beginning to get it’s color! 

I have one of these in the side yard, one in the front yard, and one in the secret garden. And all three of them are doing the same darned thing!

 Do you know what this means?

It means that autumn is on it’s way! I do not want it. I love my Autumn Joy, they are beautiful when they are in color, and left in the garden all winter, they add a nice accent. But, I am just not ready to see them begin to color.

I was going to say that this is my only plant that I DON’T anxiously await the blooming of – but that isn’t true. I also have an autumn clematis (purchased without knowing it was an autumn variety) and several mum plants, which herald the same change in season, by their blooms.

Actually, it isn’t just the color in my autumn bloomers that tells me a season change is on the way. After nearly six weeks of high 80s and low 90s, it has cooled off here on the hill. The last two mornings have been just a little nippy. And the last two evenings, I’ve put a flannel shirt on over my tank top when I went outside.

Oh, my. What’s a gardener girl to do? Keep gardening, I guess. After all, it isn’t here yet. And it was still in the high 70s today. And expected to get warmer again. (Relax, Jackie). And we always have some really hot weather in September – I’ll get more summer! But not enough. Never enough. 

8 things you don’t know about me

Alison (with one el) is passing along a meme, so I’ll play. But then that’s more than enough about ME and mine – and I’ll get back to the garden!

Eight Things You Don’t Know About Me

1. I couldn’t carry a tune if I had a bucket to put it in. Yet, I love to sing. And I’m not shy about it. I will sing anywhere, in front of anyone. Much to the dismay of my family members.

2. I am anal about colors matching. Whether it’s my clothes, or things in my home. T caught me yesterday, transferring facial tissue from a new box to an old one, because the new box did not match the colors in our bathroom. (The exception to this is my garden – where I love a riot of colors).

3. I do not care to watch sports. Any. At all. Not even ones being played by children. Boring. In situations where I must attend a sports event, I take a book. I read at car races, horse races, ball games, hockey games, you name it.

4. I have a sweet tooth. My diet consists of 67% sugar. I used to eat LOTS of chocolate, but since the onset of gallbladder problems several years ago, (which having my gall bladder removed did NOT cure) I’ve had to cut out all fat. Now I eat most ANY candy I can find that doesn’t have fat or nuts in it.

5. I do not find slapstick funny. I find it all even more boring than sports.

6. I cannot go to bed at night without reading for awhile first. No matter how late it is or how tired I am. If I don’t take time to read, I feel like there was no “me” time in my day.

7. I am nearsighted in one eye, and farsighted in the other. I have to wear one contact lens if I want to be able to see any distance. I don’t wear it because if I do, I have to then put on glasses to be able to read anything or see close things clearly. And that all drives me crazy. I never can find a pair of glasses, and usually don’t have any in a store when I’m trying to read a label - and I’m sure NOT going to wear glasses around my neck! – so I just do without glasses and contacts and function in a little dimmer world.

8. I’m still afraid of the dark. Well, actually, what I am afraid of is what might come out of the dark.

I’m not much on tagging people (still smacks of picking teams in grade school) so just feel free to play if you have the time or inclination.

Then…and now.

My blogger buddy, Dave, has posted ‘then and now’ photos - click here to see Dave’s photos from 1972, and today.

Dave said that the ball was in my court, and I told him I’d get some pictures posted soon. Well, this was easy…since it seems to be the ’summer of the sisters’, we already had this old picture on the computer (not many are and I don’t have a scanner).

Here is a picture of my three sisters and me, taken June of 1980.  From left to right: Jean, Jackie, Caryl, Charlene(Quilldancer)     

                                                 THEN

And another picture of my three sisters and me, taken July of 2007.  From left to right: Caryl, Jackie, Jean, Charlene                                    

                                                        NOW

Now how about you? Do you want to  share your ‘then and now’?

Home from the San Juan Islands

What a great trip. My sister (Caryl) and I took I-90 West to I-5 and then into Anacortes, Washington. There we drove aboard a ferry and went to visit our sister (Charlene) at Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands, and meet her beau, Charlie. I was so excited to be visiting the islands – I’d never been – and living in the Northwest, of course you hear alot of people talk about the San Juan Islands. I know now, why they do. It is just breath-taking country. Here’s the ferry with Mt. Baker in the background.

 

Charlene and Charlie live, temporarily, in staff housing on the UofW Biology Preserve. OC has a PhD in Biology and is there teaching a seven week course to graduate  students. (Believe me, anything you want to know about marine life, or the life on marine life – he’s your man.)  We had a wonderful time while we were there, drove around the island, walked to the point at sunset to listen to Charlie play his trumpet, and just visited. I took this picture of a ferry coming into Friday Harbor while we were at the point. And took this picture as we were driving around, learning a little about the island. Charlene and Charlie had an extra bedroom for Caryl and me to stay in, so we were fortunate enough to spend a couple of days in the ‘wilds’. The biology preserve is a bit primative, unpaved roads/paths to the housing, and is home to many small animals… we saw black tail deer, racoons, and many birds. Charlie’s friend, Paul, who also teaches, is a bird lover.  When I mentioned that I saw some birds which looked like Juncos, only smaller, Paul said they were Juncos – and led me to this sight where mama was taking care of her babies under a rock. Paul had watched her build her nest, tend her eggs, and was now watching the little ones being fed. When Caryl and I left Anacortes, we decided to drive highway 20 over the North Cascade Mountains, and stop at our sister Jean’s house in Twisp, Washington. More beautiful country! I always feel blessed to live in the Northwest.

More treasure!

My blogger buddy, Suzan, at Bombshellomatic sent me this crochet pattern book. What a treasure! Can you see the price on it? 10 cents! It was published in 1946 – it’s even older than I am! Thank you so much, Suzan!

My oldest daughter, Cindra, has always wanted me to crochet her a bedspread.  Now, as soon and she decides which of these two patterns she wants, I’ll see if I can get it done before I die.

My sister, Caryl, and I are leaving early tomorrow morning to go to Friday Harbor and see our sister, Quilldancer,  and meet OC. I’ve never been to the San Juan’s and am looking forward to the trip.  And looking forward to meeting OC.  As they are moving to Hawaii the 18th of this month, this is the only chance we’ll have to meet him.

I’ll be back to visit blogs in a few days, and have some new pictures. (If I remember to pack the camera.)

‘Flipping’ a high-rise. For the birds.

I am addicted to garage sales. Well, garage sales, thrift stores, junk outlets – you name it. I’m a firm believer in the adage, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure”. I love finding treasures. I once had a house that was furnished and decorated almost exclusively from garage sale items (they fit my budget at the time). 

When we built the ’secret’ garden last summer, T put up a tall pole which was to be used for a bird house. We’ve thrown ideas around all year, trying to figure out whether we wanted a platform on top, with several bird houses on it, or just one large house, or just exactly what it was we I wanted.

I went garage-saling Friday and found this delapidated bird house – for the great price of $4.00!

And after some paint, and some assistance from T, this is what we have now… high-rise for the birdies. T put a blue steel roof on it, that matches our house, the shop, and our pump house, which both have white, steel siding and blue roofs. Left to my own devices, I’d have painted some flowers and ivy on the high-rise, but as T is more on the conservative side, I restrained myself.

Oh, and for only $10.00, we got a cart exactly like my old one. It’s handy in the garden, and light enough for me to use.  When we had the shop built, the contractor mixed cement in my old one and a leg broke off of it. I didn’t want to spend $35.00 – $45.00 to replace it. But $10.00? Sweet!