Elvis pins, Garage Sale Find, and Apple Pie!

I got to create!............ an order for 6 Elvis pins, to be worn at a big Elvis fan gathering next spring. A farmers market customer........hope she likes them! 6 gals meet up to rock and roll and she wants one for each of them including herself!

A one and only find this last week, no sales for me on Saturday, I went to do the farmers market, but I managed to pick this up on Friday (for a song!!) on my way back from grocery shopping. It's a round crochet tablecloth, like new! I put it on Ebay, the auction ends on Monday...(already a bid, surprising as Ebay has been desperately SLOW for months! )

Only a couple more Wednesday night golf games. We have to start at 5:30 now, as it's getting dark earlier and we want to finish our 9 holes while we can still see the ball!

Taken last week.......sun is starting to go down and still one hole to go!

 

The flower bed is getting tired looking but there's still some color there to enjoy. The apple tree right behind the flowerbed is bare now, had to pick what was left on the tree before the WASPS got at them!

Many buckets of apples have come off of that tree and I have lots of peeled, chopped apples in the freezer for pies, apple crisp and muffins .

I really do NOT enjoy baking, but made a few pies and apple crisp the other day. I usually buy frozen pie shells, but this time made my own........hmmmm.....I know now why I buy frozen pie shells! What a mess I had in the kitchen! Pie was really good though, better than the frozen shells!
YES, that really is apple pie.......my husband likes the apples chopped fine with lots and lots of cinnamon!

I made 38 pints of these Crisp Pickle Slices and at least 50 quarts of dills! If I didn't give away most of them I'd only have to make about 5 pints and 10 quarts!

I am done, done, done and glad it's fall......just stop fall from going into winter and I'll be very happy!

off to golf shortly..........have a great evening!

2nd post today, 2 hours later, pickles on the go and recipe

It is now a couple of hours since my last post and yes that is ice over the sliced cucumbers, etc.

This is the BEST recipe for pickles that are like a yum yum or bread and butter pickle but they stay really crunchy and the flavor is really yummy!

Since I had the recipe on the computer from sending it off to friends and family who request it, I pasted it in below.

I really think the secret in making these so crunchy and that they stay that way even after a year in the cupboard is that you sprinkle pickling salt over the veggie mix and add cracked or crushed ice and leave it for a few hours.

This is after digging in and tossing the whole lot with my hands......you can use a big wooden spoon, but hands work better and faster!

oops, I forgot the garlic.........this is from the garden, and has done well this year, unlike alot of my other veggies......

I love large cloves......so much easier to peel, especially when I'm making my very garlic-y dill pickles and I need to peel alot of it.....

ANYWAY, HERE'S THE RECIPE, try it, you'll LOVE it!

While they're sitting I have to clean up my mess and go out to the garden and pick cucumbers! If I get them picked today, I can make some dills while they're small and I'll be caught up for a couple of days on the cucumber patch!

 

Crisp Pickle Slices

Makes 8 pints

3 qts sliced cukes (med size)

6 med. onions sliced

3 cloves garlic

1 green pepper

1 sweet red pepper

1/3 cup pickling salt

3 cups white vinegar

5 cups sugar

1-1/2 tsp turmeric

1-1/2 tsp celery seed

2 Tbsp mustard seed

Slice the cucumbers thin, (not too thin) add sliced onions, garlic and the peppers cut in narrow strips. Add salt, cover with cracked ice, mix thoroughly.. Let stand overnight or 3 hours (I never tryed leaving overnight, just 3 or 4 hrs). Drain. Combine remaining ingredients, pour over cucumber mix. Heat to boiling, seal in sterilized jars.

What a weather change and a monarch butterfly

I want to put the heat on! From sweltering humid hot days this week to rain and low temps.......

The farmers market yesterday was windy,cloudy, and we did get a few showers, but the turnout was good and we managed to get packed up in record time before the real rain started!

I captured this picture Friday after seeing this butterfly coming back and forth to my purple cone flowers. I had to sneak up on it and only got the one shot before it fluttered away, but it turned out decent!

I stood still waiting for it to return, but no luck! The bee took over the territory!

We had Kiera for dinner and a visit through the evening. It was one of those gorgeous summer evenings,no wind, comfortable temperature, so we just had to take a walk up the road and round the corner to the little playpark. Oh, what energy..........Kiera must have swung back and forth on that piece of playground equipment at least 75 times!

We let her sneak an apple from the tree overhanging a fence by the park. I know, I know......but there were tons of them laying on the ground, the owners were certainly not picking them!

The little playpark is right beside this creek that runs through our development.

We would have loved a walk on the footpath, but the mosquitoes were starting up so we headed for home!

I zoomed in on the ducks  swimming around in the creek.

And another shot of the bumblebee that I just could not get blogger to move to the top....!

CLICK TO ENLARGE ANY OF THE PICTURES

Rainy day, so maybe I'll get something done inside.

Happy Sunday!

An empty nest

We missed the first of the three baby robins leaving the nest, but the second one just wasn't quite ready to fly and made his way to a spot under a tree where mama and papa tended him/her

I kept missing the best pictures of course......like the feeding.....

They sure grow up fast!

 

The last one........gone now as I write this post.

Poor little robin....walkin', walkin', walkin' to Missourri.....remember that song? LOL, I'm dating myself! Can you see that tiny little robin making his way across the grass? That little dot?

Off he went and stayed at the edge of the flower bed for about an hour....when I next checked, he was gone, probably to the back of the yard in the bit of bush, hiding in the underbrush until he could use his little wings. I could hear mama and papa, chirping at him over the course of the day and evening.

While we're at the flower bed, a few pictures for you.

The heat and humidity we've had lately and rain on and off have really pushed the blooms!

The sad thing is, then we will be on the downward side of summer!

I was very happy with the way the flowers planted in those big plastic swans spread and really made a very colorful display.

I will definitely plant these low bushy zinnias again next year. They have really been looking good. You can see some yellow ones in one of the pictures above this one. They are great!

SORRY, if I haven't been visiting, I really miss dropping by to your blogs and seeing what you've all been up to. I will catch up one of these days, meanwhile, I'll at least try to keep on posting!

Don't get too close to the nest! An explanation too!

I'm so behind, and here is a post that was intended for over a week ago! There has been alot going on around here, out of town visitors, cucumbers to be pickled, and .........a husband with a bad back that couldn't golf for 2 weeks.....hanging around the house........get it?
So here is the first of a few posts that I am now taking the time to do. Cukes are picked and ready to pickle in the morning, husband thank goodness golfing again and gone for a while longer so here I am posting!

Daddy Robin was NOT happy when I bent over and was peeking through the cracks of the deck to check on the babies! I wish I could have got a better shot of his head. His feathers/hair was standing on end, he looked like he'd spiked it!

The nest can be seen when you peek through the boards......

Sunday morning I weeded, and weeded..........

See all those bare spots in the garden? Well, that's how bad it is this year, as usually there is hardly a spot of dirt to be found!

More later!

UPDATE.........as I post this I can't get over how the bare spots have greatly filled in.......those cucumbers are going crazy!!!

Yummy handmade lace!

A couple of doilies I picked up at a garage sale. I never know what to call this type of handwork so I inquired on the Ebay Vintage Textiles discussion board. There are some really knowledgeable people on there that will help out. Yes.....it is HANDMADE......

can you believe it?

Where would you even begin to figure out how it's done??!!

I'm going to put them on ebay tonight.

My flower bed is weeded now, and looking better but I'm still missing alot of my taller perennials that froze out over the winter.

Bare spots........not a good gardening year....but the whole bed still looks good from my kitchen window!

Have a great day. I hope to visit and catch up with everyone in the next couple of days!

Those cheeky bunnies, yard and garden update

Just a little update on what's going on around the back yard. I hope to take a picture each week of my big flower bed, so you can see the progress. We have such a short summer season and it's amazing really how quickly the plants and flowers grow!

The little chair I was hunting for and found last week, is now placed in the flowerbed, along with the old kiddies; wheelbarrow and a few other favorites.

I went back to the greenhouse and bought MORE flowers to transplant, the bunnies ate all the petunias and pansies that were in the flowerbed! I will miss those favorites this year, and hopefully the marigolds, dianthus, portulaca and zinnias I picked up and planted will give me the splashes of color that I want.

Look carefully at the above picture......you can click to enlarge.....just above left of the wheelbarrow....

caught in the act!!!!!! bent over who knows what floral delicacy!

......little bugger!.......I had just chased him away  5 minutes before and he headed for the bush!

Now he's following the sign.......to the GARDEN......

Check and see if the coast is clear.......

..........he's just waiting to get at what's left of that lettuce.......cheeky bunny!...and there was another one in the garden at that point too that scurried off when I was approaching!

We've had so much rain, the mosquitoes are getting really b-a-d......! I wish the rabbits would change their diet and eat the mosquitoes!

Sunset and I LOVE Onions.....my own, that is....green onions from my garden

I still have more yardwork to do today, I didn't quite get finished with the flowerbed. We had a beautiful day for a change and a lovely sunset!

The garden is not doing all that well, but I did pick my first green onions yesterday while I was out there.

I love onions! ....I love all kinds, but there is nothing more tasty than green onions from the garden.

 Each year, I wait for them to be big enough to pull, while sneaking off the greens and munching on them!

I cleaned 'em up, wrapped them in a damp paper towel and put them in a plastic bag to get them nice and crunchy. ..........(those white marks are from HAIL......) I leave the whole green part on them.....
'cause I eat it all, yum, yum, crunch, crunch....

I kid you not,  I have to get more from the garden today..... I ate at least 8 or 9 last night, and that much again just now with a delicious salami on fresh rye bread sandwich. LOL..there are only 3 left!

Well, lunch is history, better get some ebay parcels in the mail and then back at the yardwork. It may just rain within the next 24 hours......

Have a great day!