Canning Season

What would fall be without a post about canning? This year's unique weather brought all the peaches and pears on at the same time. Fortunately and unfortunately, there is not an abundant crop of either peaches or pears. The storage room is empty of pears, but still has lots of peaches from last year, so the the pears on the back porch are getting top billing. I've done over 10 dozen quarts of fruit since last Saturday. I'm tired. I'm afraid I'll lose some fruit before I can get it all done, but I'm going as fast as I'm able--and that's all I can do.

Mono and Coxsackie!!??!!

Here's a surprise: I ended up with mono and the coxsackie virus over Labor Day weekend! I think the mono has been around for a while--I've been slowing down gradually over the last few weeks. But the coxsackie virus, which has symptoms like strep throat and the flu combined, hit hard for the holiday. Thanks to great homeopathic treatments, lots of rest, and loving care from my family, I've now recovered to the point of just having a bad head cold, and am improving by the moment. I missed two days of school and felt so guilty leaving my kids in care of a sub, and so guilty leaving a sub at the mercy of my kids :) Can't wait to be back to normal. We're so grateful no one else caught it...at least no one that we know of. We've offered some pretty powerful prayers of protection, and I think the Lord was merciful to us in that regard.

School Is In Session

First week of school is now behind me, I'm totally prepared for next week, (unless I change my mind about some lesson plans) and canning season is about to commence--the corn is on. I'm debating about freezing some of our overabundant chard as well. The summer was short, but eventful...that's an understatement...but the school year has lots of mini-vacations in it. I don't think a month goes by without some kind of 3 or 4 day weekend in it. With school starting, my mind is telling me that I must now be super busy. But if I actually look at my schedule on paper, I'm not overloaded. I just need to budget my time and choose which things are most important to do at the moment--same as always.
Have a great 2010-11 school year!

SCORE!!

Imagine having so much fabric that you could stack it 18" deep on six banquet tables, as well as piling it to overflowing onto five round banquet tables, as well as spreading a vast selection of notions, patterns, lace, and elastic on sheets spread on the lawn, and do that for 3 weeks straight at a garage sale on a busy street corner! That's the kind of fabric supply I found due to a thoughtful phone call from a neighbor.

While a Lindon family was in process of cleaning out the house of a deceased relative, these stacks of fabric were found. Supposedly the woman didn't really even sew much, she just hoarded. The family in Lindon is emptying the house gradually and selling all the fabric for $1 a yard--and if the fabric is in multiple yard lengths, they round down to the nearest yard! What a find for someone like me--I couldn't believe my good fortune. The yard sale went for two weekends, and they say they'll do it again in two more weeks. Unbelievable.

Those of you who know me may laugh at my purchases...I do have (what I thought was) a sizable fabric stash of my own, but this opportunity was too good to pass up. Plus, I'm about out of kids' fabric. Not any more!! As you can see, I scored. And I didn't even include pictures of the cone thread I was able to buy as well. Huge cones for $2 each. I'll be serging freely for a fair while, and even longer.

I'm sure you realize that these fabric purchases were actually completely altruistic. I do have grandkids to sew for, you know. If I happen to get a darling red skirt and a pretty white knit top out of the deal, well...that's just lucky for me :)

Information Overload

Ever since John's heart attack we have been inundated with new information...about heart disease, heart physiology, cardiac rehab, diet changes, medications, exercise routines, recipe searches, research into treatments and meds, etc. My brain is reeling. We have read so much and learned so much, yet I am constantly amazed that there is still room in my brain for more input. I wish I had more time to absorb and marinate, though! We just press on, adjusting to changes, being grateful for progress.

John graduated from cardiac rehab with flying colors: he set a new record for number of steps walked in the final 6 minute walk-off. The previous record-holder had been a 42 year old marathoner. John beat his record by 50 steps. He is free to work and progress at his own rate now, letting his body be his guide. His stamina is the thing that holds him back these days, but he's bound and determined to regain full strength, and I think he really will.

Still More Broccoli!!

Another 10 quart bags into the freezer, and then we pulled up the two long rows of broccoli and planted Swiss chard (and parsley) in their place. John is supposed to have lots of calcium 'from the right sources' for one of several health conditions he is overcoming right now. We had a crop of chard in Bountiful for a year or two. John used to tell the kids it tasted like candy. I don't really remember if they fell for it, but I do remember cooking it frequently. I like it alot better than fresh spinach, so I'm anxious for it to mature enough that I can start to harvest it.

More Broccoli...

My broccoli plants decided to keep producing. This morning I did 7 more pint bags, plus 5 quart bags. The freezer is filling up.