Tag: Stuff I Make

The Journey

 Many of my friends and acquaintances are going through transitions, major life changes. Marriages that I thought were rock solid are crumbling, careers are being tossed or tweaked, children are growing up and roles are changing.  DREAMS are changing.  Time is ticking and not necessarily or dependably on our side.

 When we’re young, it’s easier to throw caution to the wind, jump off the dock into the deep waters to pursue a dream, to pursue genuine fulfillment. There’s less to lose and time to change course yet again. The reasons why we don’t always take advantage of that period of life elude me.

  I’m meeting up with a fellow blogger later this month as she drives up the coast, embarking on a journey to enrich her life, to leave behind what she knows isn’t working and  follow her long-time dream.  It’s a huge leap of Faith she’s taking, her courage astounds me.   I’ve made this for her as a symbol of good luck in her future endeavors.

I haven’t a clue as to how my story will end.  But that’s all right.
When you set out on a journey and night covers the road,
you don’t conclude the road has vanished.
And how else could we discover the stars?
author unknown
The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own.
No apologies or excuses.
no one to lean on, rely on, or blame.
 The gift is yours –
it’s an amazing journey
and you alone are responsible for the quality of it.
This is the day your life really begins.
Bob Moawad


Patio Ladder

Yesterday I filled the pots and arranged
my old patio ladder, which I got at an antique market for $15.

In my tea and coffee tins I put Sandwort, which is normally ground cover.

I love English Daisies…

These are my new favorite perennial… Starry Night Viola
They are a large leggy pansy flower…


Today, rose bushes around the greenhouse
and a ring mowed out of the hayfield so we can ride without
tripping through the tall grass.
This is the first of our three farms that does not have a sand riding ring…
and I think I like riding in the grass better.
Glorious weather out there today… I hope you can get out and enjoy it 🙂

Pickles

 My first attempt at pickles was an epic fail. I used a six-week pickle recipe out of  Trisha Yearwood’s cookbook, and I shoulda known right off the bat it was gonna flunk.  I could not find two of the ingredients – cinnamon  & clove oil.  I tried health food stores, pharmacies even (which is where she says to look for it) … and the pharmacist said.. “I wouldn’t sell it to you for a food product!! You don’t eat it!”… and so I tried the recipe with cinnamon sticks and whole cloves instead.  For whatever reason, they were terrible.  I love Trishas cookbook and use many recipes from it, so I will not lay blame there.

My next attempt was yesterday!  And I think we have a winner. There are plenty of pickling methods, but a fellow blogger, Lisa of Two Bears Farm,  recommend using a packet she found in Walmart in the canning section and loved. So off to Walmart I went, and I did find it.

  What’s kinda humorous is… it says right there on the label that it’s  “Canning made easy”.
Let me tell ya, the easy part is mixing spices together.
The hard part… is all the boiling to sterilize lids and jars,
cleaning and cutting up of 5,273 cucumbers
ok that’s an exageration. but not by much!
and then the stuffing, sealing and boiling of the jars in the canner.
LOOK AT ALL THE POTS & UTENSILS
IT TOOK FOR JUST SIX QUART JARS.
The husband said ..
“Well, this was the sole job of women
back in the day. Preparing food all day!
And seems to me it was pretty relaxing work!”
HA!  
As if someone ELSE were doing the laundry beaten over rocks in the stream,
 tending to the kids, cleaning the homestead and feeding the ranch hands
and farm animals, nursing the sick, darning the clothes,
tending the fires and … and… and….
You know what?  Pickle making was a breeze  🙂

A Jarring Experience

 My heart goes out to those in southern states who are suffering at the hands of the weather. It’s getting downright eerie… the weather patterns and distruction this year.. everywhere. Makes me wonder if the Earth has had just about enough of our abuse and is ready to shake us off like a bad case of fleas.

Anyway… on to a Jarring Experience of a different sort.
Me and my big ideas.
I’m all FARM GIRL and BACK TO THE LAND now,right?
I’ve been cooking for as long as I’ve been married
and I make a mean apple pie…
but I have never made applesauce from scratch, or canned/jarred anything…
So.. today is a rainy misty day…nothing outdoors is do-able.
This gave me the idea to go ahead and break in my
brand new canning/jarring boiler so that I can start stocking the pantries.
I decided to start with Applesauce, as I had two big bags of apples in need of use. 
These were Empires and Macintosh..
I peeled and cored and quartered.
I cooked until softened,
Then threw the softened apples into a food processor.

 I couldn’t help but notice the amount of “sauce” was starting to look like
it was not going to fill all six of the quart jars I was boiling for sterilization.
I put the processed apples back in the pot,
added just a little brown sugar,  just a little white sugar and cinnamon.
Then brought it back to boiling, and after five minutes, started filling jars
that came straight out of the jar sterilizing pot.
Then I covered them with lids from the lid sterilizing pot.
It tasted delicious.
 And I got  – Two – quart jars. 
That’s all I got after all the prep of two big bags of apples
and a ridiculous amount of pots on my stove
(who knew I OWNED that many big pots?).

 Then I threw the two in the boiler, rolling boil for 20 minutes, per recipe…

 And took them out to cool.
All two of them.
SO… all you canners out there … 
Does it really take 
two jar sterilizing pots, a lid sterilizing pot
A cooking apples pot, a boiler,
and a DUMP TRUCK LOAD OF APPLES
to make a few jars of apple sauce? 
And how do you know you’re not gonna give your family botulism or something down the road? 
Back to the Land indeed. 

And then there were Two

  So I told you about the new fish, and the demise of poor Henry.  Today it was a miserable 15 degrees by the time the sun warmed everything up and I had it up to here with the hybernating we did over the weekend.  So… I got to thinking…. I had an old fish bowl that we used in the Artisan Gallery sitting under the sink…and I also had a need for something GREEN to counter all that WHITE outside (more to come….hey Al…what  happened to global warming??).

   I hopped in the car and gravity pulled me right down to the TJMAXX parking lot. Once I’m there I might as well go inside…and so I did.  I found these awesome crackled flower pots for $7.99.  Perfect size for my two Christmas cactus that were in need of more breathing room.   Then I got back in the car and  that darned gravitational pull kicked in again.  This time I found myself at Pier 1 Imports!… might as well go in.  And I found this awesome wooden tray, my most expensive buy of the day at $30.  Back in the car I go heading home, and wouldn’t ya know…gravity – right at the doorstep of JoAnns fabrics – where I found this awesome moss and moss covered rocks for $3.99.  Joann’s is right down the street from an aquarium supply store….well I couldn’t leave a fish bowl empty…and I had this plan, you see.

To make this…

 The two kings in their side by side kingdoms  have already exchanged sentiments…..

If I could only find a mini three inch version of one of these….

Precious

  See.. this is one of the awesome things about blogging…

 Beth over at  – Be yourself, everyone else is taken – casually mentioned that she’d be at the beach for the next month.  Seeing as she resides in a snowy state,  I was curious as to where the heck she went.  The lucky girl  is currently a resident of Seaside on the Gulf Coast Pan handle of Florida.  If you’ve never been…  the waters are the most beautiful shade of emerald green/blue and the sands are sugar white.  My grandmother lived nearby in a gulf front condo on Panama City Beach and we visited Seaside often.

 “The original vision of founders Robert and Daryl Davis, Seaside is the heart of Northwest Florida’s Emerald Coast along the scenic Highway 30A corridor. Beautiful, unique residences and guest houses blend seamlessly with pristine beaches overlooking the crystal clear waters of the Gulf Of Mexico. Seaside is designed to reflect a simpler time, when meals were shared, stories entertained and walking was how people got around.”

  I had a dream of one day owning one of these awesome seaside “cottages”… their vibrant colors and big porches and quaint walkways are so welcoming.  There’s an awesome artisans outdoor market in good weather. The problem is real estate is at a PREMIUM down there on the gulf coast and it’s only gotten more expensive in recent years. 

  There was, however, this tiny pink/peach cottage that I adored. It had the name “Precious”.  I thought.. well, some day… perhaps Precious will fit the budget.  I was so enamored with Precious when I last visited that I took photos and came home to paint a small portrait with my then four year old daughter standing in front.  Now I’m not a true artist in the paint medium, my work tends to be flat. But I still try now and then for the joy of it and I do cherish this little painting from 17 years ago.

  

When Beth told me where she was I gave her a photo assignment. It’s been 17 years since I last saw Precious. Could the tiny house still be as it was? Seaside has grown tremendously and it was quite possible she no longer existed. This morning I glanced at my blog roll.. and… THERE SHE WAS!!!
   Beth found her, in need of attention and now a mere guest cottage to a much larger home.  She is still… Precious.   And so is Beth…   thank you, thank you for finding my old friend.   Now that Precious is a guest cottage, I know for sure she is out of my league.  One can always dream.
 
 

I’ve been unfaithful

  We’ve been together for a long time, not really sure when it began to go sour.  So many good times – picnics at the park, family gatherings, The Vineyard, St. John, long walks with the dogs,  romantic sunsets on the beach.  I thought it would never end, the pure joy when we were together.

But …relationships change, needs change… and I began to want more.  I grew, but the rebel didn’t.  What we had was a comfortable existence, but it wasn’t enough.   And so…  when tall, dark, handsome and extremely well equipped showed up on my doorstep, I let go of the past and grabbed  hold of  the future with reckless abandon.

   While the attraction was instant,  the relationship is still very new.  I’m treading lightly here. There are fits and starts as we get to know each other, not sure if I’m pushing all the right buttons – but already there is music and I am in love.  I can no longer deny my feelings… and … we’ve  been photographed together so the Jig is Up.

 I guess this is it… good bye, my rebel friend.

And HELLO CANON EOS 7D. 

(God help me.  Or atleast give me a dummys encyclopedia on HOW TO…. in english)

  Tonight I’ll be sitting fireside with my new beau… and his instruction manual. 
 If only they ALL came with instructions.

 

I always knew I’d land in Purgatory

   I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints…the sinners have much more fun  – (On a side note – I’d like to thank Billy Joel for a truly great song, it always gets me in a good mood)…  

  Of course, I’m not there YET , although on some days that’s debatable… but one of my “shoes” hoofed it to Nova Scotia, and that’s exactly where it landed.

  This is the screened porch of  Sara Harley of Dream Big,  an artist in several mediums that has a very generous heart.  Visit her blog and check out her Paws for Charity work. You’ll also see her incredible stained glass window creations and calendars.  I think I have convinced the husband that we should take a road trip to this beautiful land some time in the near future so that I can purchase one of these windows and call it my very own. Plus, have you seen the rugged beauty of Nova Scotia?  Sara also wields a mean camera, her photos are beautiful.