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Month: June 2017
Pure Bliss
Fresh homemade bread with butter and some fresh homemade triple berry jelly. Man, I’m in heaven. I think I’ll adopt Leslie’s suggestion on cutting back on the sugar tho. It still tastes mighty fine. 🙂
I wonder if these are skills that I can put on a resume?
Sunday Morning
I grew up in a small town in southern Iowa. And our neighborhood, like many other neighborhoods, had it’s share of older women that grew up on the farm and survived the Great Depression. All of the farms were the same: small, their were a lot of kids and everyone had their assigned chores to do to keep the farm running. And of course the ladies had a good number of stories to tell about growing up on a small farm in Iowa.
The farm girls had certain chores that they had depending on the particular day of the week. This day was for making bread. This day was for washing and ironing. This day was taking eggs to the grocer for egg money. Every day was for tending the garden and then there was canning to do during the summer and the fall whenever fruits and vegetables could be harvested.
So they knew how to do canning and it was something that they taught Momma. They also almost always had the answer whenever something didn’t go according to Hoyle. It was fascinating to stand there and watch them wield their expertise in the kitchen. I’d ask them how come they knew so much and almost always the answer was “Momma and my sisters taught me.”
So here I am making jelly this weekend and my strawberry jelly isn’t exactly going according to Hoyle. Sure I’ve got Google to search for some answers but I sure do wish that I could go across the street to Sally’s or Pat’s house and ask what I did wrong. They’d know the answer and the cure. Then they’d probably have some chuckle about “Men in the kitchen. They need to stay in the barn and fields where they belong!” I know the teasing would all be in good fun.
Art Sunday #128: Georges Seurat – A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (French: Un dimanche après-midi à l’Île de la Grande Jatte) painted in 1884, is one of Georges Seurat’s most famous works. It is a leading example of pointillist technique, executed on a large canvas. Seurat’s composition includes a number of Parisians at a park on the banks of the River Seine.
The Island of la Grande Jatte is located at the very gates of Paris, lying in the Seine between Neuilly and Levallois-Perret, a short distance from where La Défense business district currently stands. Although for many years it was an industrial site, it is today the site of a public garden and a housing development. When Seurat began the painting in 1884, the island was a bucolic retreat far from the urban center.
The painting was first exhibited in 1886, dominating the second Salon of the Société des Artistes Indépendants, of which Seurat had been a founder in 1884. Seurat was extremely disciplined, always serious, and private to the point of secretiveness—for the most part, steering his own steady course. As a painter, he wanted to make a difference in the history of art and with La Grand Jatte, succeeded.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Jatte
So this chore is done
I like listening to the sound of the “plink” whenever the lids suck down and seal just like they’re supposed to. I’ll be adding 14 jars of strawberry jelly and 4 jars of triple berry jelly to the cupboard even though I know they won’t last very long. A few of the smaller jars will go out as presents and I know the gummys and their Mom will be taking some of the larger jars home with them.
Hopefully my strawberry bed will keep producing like it has so far so I can put up some more jelly later on this summer. I need to keep an eye out whenever I’m at the farmer’s market for some different types of berries so I can try out some different types. Anything that I can add has got to be a plus up as far as I’m concerned.
Looking out my door this Saturday Morning
The weather broke cool this weekend for central Minnesota. It feels like late September in some ways. It’s going to be a pleasant 64F (18C) which makes it a great weekend to make some jelly. I have someone making a market run for me today so we’ll be making a batch of strawberry jelly and a batch of triple berry jelly as well. We’ll see just how long these two batches last for me.
Now I just have to finish off this last cup of coffee and then motivate myself to get the grass mowed. I wonder if Buffalo Tom would let me borrow the Bat Boys to do my yard???
Throwback Music Saturday #129: Jim Stafford – Your Bulldog Drinks Champagne
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Five for Friday
So here we are playing our cat and mouse game between my brain and me to decide who wins once again. I really hate the way my brain toys with me.
1. I love early mornings this time of year. The weather is usually nice, the birds are singing, the temps are usually good. I know it will heat up soon enough to where I have to close up the windows due to the heat and humidity but I love sitting here in sucking in the cool morning breezes while sipping on a cup of coffee.
2. God I have to get out of this house. I’m going stir crazy being pretty much confined here. There are a lotta benefits to working from home but there are also some detriments. I’m getting a lot of on-line training done at least.
3. I think I have enough strawberries to make some strawberry jelly this weekend. That may be my Saturday project if I do. The batch I made last year didn’t last long. It didn’t make Christmas before it was gone.
4. The rumor at work is that I won’t be coming back. I’m not sure who started it or how it even got started but I’m feeding it. One of the ladies that I work with is using my office (because it’s warmer) while she recovers from her bronchitis. I told her to put her name plate on my door just to see what kind of reaction she gets out of it.
5. Miss Lily is being a total pain this morning. She’s already been fed twice and she’s complaining that she’s starving and is extremely neglected.
There ya have it. Feel free to comment and/or to do a vigorous wave and leave a nice Swedish “Hallå!” when you pass thru.
