Night Visitors

Yes, it's blurry-- but the best I could do under the circumstances.

The dogs went wild with barking, so had to go and check what all the commotion was about. 

About 25 of the neighbors black angus were all munching on my grass in the front yard.

They were all safely corralled back to their pasture......

GOODNIGHT, COWS!

Farm in the Mist

My Favorite Tree

Web

Nest in the Myrtle

Dandelion Spider

Maple tree

Hollyhock from seed

Spanky

Mushroom

Pecan trees

Turnip Greens

Old house

Morning Glory

Goodbye to My "Laughing Corn"!

Here yesterday.......

.....gone today!

I am obsessed with my "laughing corn"!

It entertained me all summer,

providing me with music to my ears all through the season.

Now, all the ears have been harvested,



and we will await winter...

 



Even’s Glo’ - A Poem of Longing

When the day winds down

and the clock gets slow,

the daylight dims

to even’s glo.

I sit and look past 

the fields below

watching the clouds lying low....

And wish you were mine. 

The clouds in their splendorous light-

I wonder if you see it so?

Here on earth or in heaven’s gaze

I wish you were mine,

to have to hold for tomorrow, next year.

But you are not here.

There’s the colors, do you see?

Lavender and pink and grey.

It’s in the sunset and the sea.

How can I keep this grief at bay?

Are you in the even’s glo?

I think of the time, when you

were mine, and the places we would go.

You belong to the ages now,

timeless as the sea.

It will be my turn one day. 

But for now, I still long for the time

when you were mine.

Even’s glo has turned to dark.

See the stars in the sky?

Big Dipper, Milky Way,

then comets fly. 

I reach out my arm as if to touch.

It’s only a shadow in the air.

This grief is almost too hard to bear.

It’s cool now and all the colors of the day 

have melted into night.

Like a baby, I draw your quilt around me,

and I dream.

Suddenly, I see you waving to me in the

even’s glo, an outline in the fading light.

Your arms are real now.

You reach, we embrace.

At last, you are mine.

I awake, and know the dream,

We have been here before.

Now I can go, go in peace.

You’re here beside me, and in me,

and around me.  

You’re in the light,

the day, and the night,

as I walk into even’s glo.

Madly Canning, Pickling, and Drinking Iced Coffee

Let the canning begin!   Well, it’s already begun and has been going on for a month now, since the green beans and cucumbers have ripened.

It began with these, the crock dills, now in the refridgerator.  Oh My, Oh My- are they good!  Simple to make, and another crock in the works right now.

 The second crock needs to go into jars into the fridgerator today.  We are having so many cucumbers, that we had to get a second refriderator– which is coming soon, so it is none too late!

There have been oodles and oodles of the green beans, so we have not wasted any, and have canned them all.  These will soon be done in the garden, I think we’ve gotten the best of them now.
No so for the cucumbers– they are going to explode again, soon, and MUST be picked every day, or at least every other day to keep them from getting too big.  I love these cucumbers for pickling, and three got big, by being missed accidently from picking, so two went into the relish, and one got made into refridgerator cucumber salad.  Oh My- these are so crunchy!

And we’re not done yet!
There’s going to be tomatoes, and corn to can and freeze.

I think we’ll do some jalapeno’s today too- I can them whole.
And there’s going to be watermelons- two types, and some rogue cantaloupe.

Then we’ll plant some turnip greens and some pumpkins for fall.

Canning is work, takes me lots of iced coffee.  My favorite and simplest “recipe” is to use Starbucks VIA, which comes 6 packets in a box, and at approximately $1.00 a packet, I think it’s a bargain.  I mix 16 oz water along with the packet of coffee, which is lightly sweetened, then add about ½ cup or 4 oz of 2% milk.  It’s great.  Now, if I want to make my own, I use my Mr. Coffee Latte Machine, which has a frother in the pot.

 I use about 6 oz. Of 2% milk in the bottom of the pot, along with 2 packets of Truvia, and 1 teaspoon regular white sugar.  Sometimes I add ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract.   Then in the top, goes 6 tablespoons of coffee, and 8 ounces of water.   The pot makes a nice foam.  I’ve found that skim milk makes the most foam.  I can’t tell the difference in the foam you get at the coffeeshop and this foam– so I love it!    To make this hot coffee into iced, I simply let it cool off a bit, then add crushed ice.

My dear mother canned every summer while growing her family, and I think she got weary of it after years of doing it.  That’s how I’m beginning to feel about these cucumbers.  Nobody else seems to want them.

We have an abundant garden this year, and so much to look forward to- namely the cantaloupe that is a rogue seed, but its growing great.  We’ve shaped the vine in a horseshoe shape around the tomatoes.   We made a string trellis this year for the tomato patch, and it’s working– the tomatoes are off the ground and you can actually walk between the rows.

 There’s these pretty Crimson Sweet watermelons, and a new one for us this year, the Jubilee watermelon.  These are so pretty!  It’s been perfect weather for everything, including the corn, which will be ready soon.  I’ve heard you can add a few drops of BT to the tops of the corn to ward off earworms.   I don’t have any now, but wish I did, as they usually will have worms.

 I like canning, but it makes for chaos in the kitchen.  Washing pots over and over again, and utensils and jars and jar bands.   The kitchen never gets clear of all this paraphernalia until all the vegetables are in.   With such a long growing season here, that’s not anytime soon.   No wonder my mother was dying for a vacation from all this every summer!

~~

Here's a tip for some nice music to listen to while doing your bean cutting or kitchen work:  The group name is "First Aid Kit" and they are two Swedish sisters. I really like this album "Stay Gold".   They have a country western flair- and I like it!

 Here's a word about Walmart's Mainstays brand of canning lids and the Ball brand:  I like the Ball brand better, as I had a problem with two lids bending and not sealing properly of the Mainstays.

 Mainstays is on the left, Ball on the right.  I think you can see the Ball brand is  little better quality.

The Garden

The pantry is getting more full by the minute.  And I’m getting tired off all the cucumbers.  Want to get back to sewing– very soon- but that’s not going to happen......Oh well, the respite from sewing may inspire new projects– who knows?

Happy Canning to you as well....!