Thursday, August 23, 2012

our garden harvest~


our garden has struggled this year

but we are grateful for the food it has produced

we continue to get tomatoes & kale

the peppers are almost done but produced enough to pickle a batch

the egg plant looks as though we'll get 4 or 5 more

this was our first year planting corn & while we have fought with the raccoons

we have been enjoying some very sweet corn

sadly,  we won't have enough to put up because we keep eating it!

our first planting of green beans was lost to the heat but.....

a big thanks goes out to our friend rich for giving us his surplus of green beans

he & my mom even helped me snap & can the beans!

~i am one lucky girl~

the hubs re-planted beans so 

we're keeping our fingers crossed that fall doesn't come too quickly & we'll have more beans to can

rich also gave us apples & my daughter & i  canned several pints of applesauce

i can't tell you how thrilled i am that she loves growing & canning as much as my mom & i!

she helped me can grape jelly from our concord grapes...our first harvest!

so we traded jam for apples...a fair trade indeed!



nothing smells as delicious as concord grapes


we planted pimento peppers for the first time 

and they are doing well

i've been looking up recipes & idea's of how to can them 

having our own canned pimento's to add to our homemade pimento spread

 would make it extra special

all in all, considering we've had very little rain this season

our garden will feed us into the winter

a huge thanks

 to my mom for passing onto me her love of canning

and to rich for sharing his bounty

and to my sweet girl for always helping out her mom & dad


how did your garden do this year?

~*~

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

tuesday afternoon love~

welcome to our tuesday afternoon knitting group

i look forward to this day all week

it is the day i meet up with friends at our local library 

we have several things in common

our love of needlework

knitting

crochet

rug hooking

quilting

along with being moms, daughters & wife's

and mostof all

friends

it isn't a large group

and our ages vary as much as the projects we work on

we are different in many ways

but one thing we share

is our love of snacking!


check out this spread


homemade bread with pesto,homemade jam or local honey

homemade
mocha brownies & chocolate chip cookies

sweet tea

fiesta cheeseball & crackers

fresh fruit & dip

we eat & catch up during the first of our three hours together

there is lots of munching & chatting

but we do eventually get to our projects

(of course eating & chatting all the while)

ok...enough about food, lets meet the group and see their projects!


rachael.....working on a plate of munchies



ruby..rachael's daughter
she's knitting a sweater for herself 
she has many talents, cooking, sewing & knitting
 my favorite thing about
ruby is her sweetness


rosa & her son luis

rosa hasn't decided what her project will be in the end
but with such pretty yarn, whatever it becomes, will be soft & sweet

while we haven't convinced luis to knit or crochet,
he enjoys snacking & conversation
and even washed our dishes for us!


and you met rachael earlier
 she's cleared her plate and is hard at work
on bunny slippers
cutest pattern ever!


and here we have kim working
on a teeny tiny preemie hat
she is the queen of hat knitting
and donates many of them


and bea is working on baby booties
her smile is as infectious as her laugh
she ferments & dries the best goodies to share with us


and here we have megan who is kim's daughter
she can knit, crochet, quilt
 and
 she & her siblings often bake the goodies they share with the group
there's a lot of talent in this young one!


and last but not least, we have ruth
she does such beautiful work
 be it crochet, knitting or sewing
she also bakes goodies to share with us

not only do we have needle projects going on
the past several weeks, we have shared our room with the chess club
and those who desire to learn the game


price, our local honey producer
teaches chess to anyone that wants to learn
because we have shared our snacks with his group of chess players
he shared his honey with everyone in our group
how sweet is that!!!!


this week he was teaching the children of the knitting group

emilina is beside price, she is bea's daughter (also a knitter)
next is ellen, kim's daughter (knit s& reads like crazy)
 &
 megan, also kim's daughter

the young man in blue & white is owen
who is kim's son
he also knits!

then we have egan & william
such sweet boys
they are bea's sons

and on the end is rex, rachaels son
our resident cookie tester

all of the children are home schooled allowing them to be a part
our group


i can't finish this blog without mentioning barbara
she is the reason we became a group
she wasn't with us the day i took the pictures for this post
 as she travels and spends much of her time in canada
but i found a picture of her when she was home
she is teaching us how to make yarn into a hank  

we miss her & look forward to her return in october


if you are in the area
stop by, have a snack, and hang out
with a great group of people

and thanks to our librarian Nancy
who encourages us & shares a wonderful place 
for us to be a family

~*~

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

blue blue beautiful blue




it's been glorious in the morning

that must be how they got their name

~*~

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

cheesy smiles & sheep in pajama's~

we headed to our county fair
last week
it's the same fair i went to as a kid
and the same fair my mom went to as a kid


so keeping in tradition
we took our kids, grandkids & great grandkids


my big kid!


gigi (my mom) strapping the littles onto their cycles
she wanted to ride but she was too tall!


again, again, again!



we saw lots of cheesy smiles through out the day



and first time drivers


we also saw sheep in jammies


and other mama's who also brought their littles to the fair


and chicks with puffy hair do's


we ended our day with the littles having meltdowns

mama's trying to remember where we parked our cars

and the big kids ticked because we were leaving before dark

all in all

a great day at the fair!

~*~

Sunday, August 12, 2012

a visit with our bestie~

my daughter & i took the two littles

&

the big one

to our bestie's

 little farm

i call terri st. francie

as she is a lover of all things animal


(aren't her little barns adorable!)

she let the littles pet, brush & love on her babies


then she treated shelden to a ride on her big baby

he has never been on a horse before!


i believe the first words out of his mouth were

"mom....can we get a horse?"

lol


while they were walking about

the littles made some new friends

(one little made some friends, the other was uncertain of all this animal business)


she hung back and observed 


and did a little photography


this little wasn't afraid of anything


thanks for treating us to a day of fun!



we love ya!

~*~

Saturday, August 11, 2012

irish for a day~

my son & i decided to celebrate our birthdays

by being irish for a day

the hubs & i met up with

our son, daughter in law & grandgirlie

and headed to the irish festival in dublin

dublin, ohio that is!

we chose this festival to celebrate

because gaelic storm was playing


we enjoyed fish & chips

&

sausages with all the goodies piled on top


the grandgirlie had the best time


her & dada raced lawnmowers


she loved playing with all the toys


and she modeled eye wear for everyone


and danced the night away!

around 9:30 she was all danced out

they hopped the shuttle & headed home


the hubs & i stayed behind

as

the best was yet to come!



if you haven't had the chance to listen to

or

see gaelic storm live

you are missing out on a truly entertaining group!



we he comes on stage with those bagpipes

the crowd goes crazy!

they played for two hours to a crowd who never sat down!

find out if they will be in your area


~*~



Wednesday, August 8, 2012

finally!


we have grapes!

we planted them 4 years ago

and waited

and waited

and waited

and....well you get the picture

just this morning i picked 3 pounds of concord

just enough for one batch of jelly

yum!

~*~