Our Fun Life!

Blackberry Picking Adventures

Helen and I went to a local farm that is only 10 minutes from our house to go blackberry picking. On the way there a white crane flew right in front of our car and then we saw a huge buzzard on the side of the road. I stopped to get a photo but it flew off too fast. Up the road a bit we saw two beautiful horses on the top of a hill by the road. I wanted their picture.

We got to the farm, picked up our berry basket and went to the rows they told us that had the ripe berries. The farm had thousands of berry bushes in multiple rows that were extremely long. It was so cool to see. I had no idea that unripe blackberries were red. I ate one and promptly spit it out~ whew~ sour.

I took a few pictures and Helen filmed a video of me talking about blackberries that I will show my foods students. We picked and picked and ate and ate. Good thing I brought damp washcloths with us to wipe away the sticky juice.

On the way out we got some fresh peach ice cream that we gobbled up. As we drove home I stopped the car on the side of the road, climbed the hill and took some pictures of the horses. The spotted one kept snorting at me to go away while the brown one came right up to me. Beautiful- love his eye lashes.

 

One year ago...

I adopted the best kitty in the world from the shelter. Here's Lizzie waking up from a cozy nap.

Soldered Charms

I made these soldered pieces a few years ago for a magazine project that ended up being canceled. As I was cleaning out a box from the move the other day, there they were. Wire with flowers, beads, and the soldered charms that I made in the 'home' theme that they requested. I'm not sure what to do with them now- maybe tree ornaments? Suggestions?

Fresh Garden Tomato Salad

Fresh Garden Tomato Salad

To help use up my fresh garden produce, I took this salad to a party and it was a huge hit. I ran out of fresh mozzarella so put some cubes of that in yours.

Toss together:
Yellow pear tomatoes, halved
Sweet 100 tomatoes, halved
Husky cherry tomatoes, halved
Roma tomatoes, quartered lengthwise
Zucchini, chopped
Kalamata olives
Green olives
Fresh basil, chopped
Dried basil
Dried dill
Your favorite vinaigrette

Chilled Summer Peach Soup

I went to the downtown farmer's market and bought all kinds of goodies that I am not growing in my garden. Fresh peaches were everywhere. I haven't made peach soup in over 10 years. Forgot what I was missing!

Chilled Summer Peach Soup

8 fresh large peaches, peeled and sliced
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. water
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. half & half

Directions:
1. Place water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil
2. When the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the cinnamon and vanilla
3. Chill syrup
4. Place peaches and syrup in a food processor and whirl till smooth
5. Add half & half and pulse till combined

Serve chilled with fresh berries and/or pound cake croutons

Makes 4-6 servings

Burning Chemistry

Helen and her friends have been planning to celebrate their minors in chemistry by burning their lab manuals that they didn't need to keep. Two of the three girls spent the weekend at our house and one of the nights Bill got the fire pit going. The roast was pushed till Saturday night because of rain. Holly requested my chicken tortilla soup so I made that Friday night for the girls. They roasted hot dogs (you can see 3 that fell off the sticks in the fire) and made smores. Then the fun began by ripping page after page out and watching them burn.
The neighbors house and their garden is in the background and the corner of my garden is on the top right.

Freaked

So the other day I was in my garden chatting with my neighbor. She was telling me about this huge green worm that was eating her tomato plants when she looked up at the top of one of mine and said that it looks like I may have one too since the new growth was chewed off. I hadn't noticed the minor damage.
So we started hunt for it and a few minutes later I saw the beast. It was about 1/2 inch thick and about 4 inches long. I was freaking out trying to get it off of the plant but then ended up breaking the branch off. I put it in a jar w/ lid to show Hunter when he got home later that night. We didn't know what it was so after some research, the beast was a tomato horn worm except mine was missing the horn.
I forgot about it until the next morning until I walked in the kitchen and saw the jar open w/ the lid on the counter. I assumed someone let it go. Boy was I wrong. I don't know how it got out!
We looked for it for several hours. I was so freaked out that the green monster was roaming my house and that it might crawl on me at night....eeeeewwwwwww.
Later in the day I noticed Kitty (aka as inspector gadget) was following something and there it was, crawling quickly along the kitchen baseboard. After Hunter got a good look at it, he put it back in the jar, walked across the neighborhood and let it loose.
Lesson learned- never bring creatures into the house!

I think the hornworms win as the nastiest thing I have found in the garden. So far I have gotten rid of 5 of them! Ick. They are hard to see but their poo is easy to spot on leaves or the ground since it looks like round ribbed grenades. Very unique. I have noticed they like to feast on the upper new growth. All were found on my Sweet 100 tomato plant which is actually my favorite small tomato since it tastes like sugar.
Other creatures that I regularly battle with insecticidal soap are beetles, cabbage worms, white flies, and zucchini bugs which look like stink bugs to me. eww.

Here's the small guy (compared to the other 4) I found today...oh the goosebumps.

Fresh Figs

I tasted my first fresh fig two summers ago...oh yummy! I saw some at the store so of course they went into my cart.

Fresh Figs with Brie, Strawberry Jam and Honey

Trim the tops off of the figs and cut an 'X' 3/4 of the way down the length of the figs and gently pull open without splitting the bottom open
Place figs in a baking dish
Top each fig with a piece of brie cheese, walnuts or pecans, and a few sprinkles of blue cheese
Bake at 350* for 10 minutes or until heated through and the cheese is soft
Remove from oven and top with chunky strawberry jam, fresh black pepper, and a drizzle of honey
Serve warm

Fresh Figs with Goat Cheese, Raspberry Jam,  and Caramel

Cut half way down the length of the figs and gently pull open without splitting the bottom open
Place figs in a baking dish
Top each fig with a Tbsp. of raspberry jam and some chunks of goat cheese
Bake at 350* for 10 minutes or until heated through and the cheese is soft
Remove from oven and top with a drizzle of caramel
Serve warm

Which one was my favorite? The top recipe!

Felting Fun Creatures

I remember as a child sitting in front of the Christmas tree and staring at all the cute ornaments. I wanted to get rid of the ugly ones. Now that I am older I have wanted to have a Christmas tree with nothing but cute handmade things on it. Something that would be fun for the little kids in my family and future grandchildren to look at when they visit and to help decorate with their own creations. Making ornaments happens all year long whenever the inspiration strikes. I have quite a few doodles of other creatures to make soon.

Last fall I started to felt a little green bird and got bored with it before I finished it and moved on to an idea I had for a mouse. I gave the mouse who suspends from beaded and twisted wire to my friend Annie during a handmade ornament exchange. I do plan to make another for myself. In the picture it's hanging on the pink tinsel tree I have in my art room that I decided to keep up all year so I can play around with putting things on it here and there~ it isn't too big and sits on my counter.

I looked at some of Jenn D. creations for inspiration and then went back to the bird and added feet, a hat, and felted a nest that it sits in.

The last one I made was a little spunky monkey. He's sitting in my post card rack that I just painted red. Some of the cards on display that you can see have been sent to me over the years by my friends. The top right and bottom left cards are from Tracy, the bottom right from Barbara, and the top left from Konni who passed a couple years ago. I think handmade items are the best! Don't you?

Garden Veggies

Oh boy oh boy oh boy are we enjoying our first garden! All of the hard work has paid off.
It's been an explosion of zucchini and tomatoes! Well over a hundred pounds of zucchini and probably 75 so far for the tomatoes. This garden tastes so GOOD! I have shared w/ neighbors and co-workers too. The big tomatoes are really coming in now. Most of the tomato bushes are almost at my height but many have trailing stems that if extended would be over 7-8 feet long. Next year I will need to get much bigger cages. We used the biggest ones but also had to stake them since they got so large from the 'magic dirt' but now I am thinking that we'll need to make our own cages so they be sturdy and tall.

I've been keeping track of most of the loot with photos. These are a few taken on different days.

You can see my first picking of German queen and Mr. Stripey tomatoes at the top right:

This cabbage is the only one that has not been chewed on by cabbage worms! It's a beauty and is still growing.

 

I think the purple bush beans (that turn green when cooked) aren't all that good. Next year I will put in some other kind of bean. I would like some that I don't have to stake. Suggestions?

The brussel sprouts haven't produced anything yet but are still growing. The beets and carrots are growing really slow (maybe because it is so hot) but they are chugging along. We had baby beets the other night with dinner and Helen couldn't get enough.

I want to try making fried zucchini blossoms. The recipes I have seen looked pretty good.

Well the radishes sure looked pretty but were hot hot hot and we didn't eat them! Oh well.

Building an Organic Garden

Bill and Hunter built a me a garden. They started last fall making two 6x20' raised beds and filling them with super rich compost dirt that was trucked in. This spring they drilled big holes with a rented auger and buried each eight foot post two feet into the ground and added concrete. 

Tilling was fun to watch as the machine dug up all kinds of rocks from the ground. Chicken wire was laid in an 'L' shape under the ground and up the sides of the posts two feet to keep out digging animals like rabbits. Deer netting was put all around the posts. In the fall pickets will be put up to surround the garden.

Eventually after we get more of the magic compost dirt, I plan to have three foot deep beds in front of the fence on both sides of the arbor for herbs and other plants that the deer won't eat.
I would like to have some kind of climbing plant for the arbor after a little gate is built and attached. I still haven't decided if I want the fence to be white or brown. What do you think would be the best color?

Inside the garden will be flowers in the ground and vegetables in the raised beds. A little stone path walkway will be made coming off of the deck and to the garden.

In the raised bed on the right side, I planted all seeds:
zucchini, brussel sprouts, purple bush beans, three kinds of beets

In the raised bed on the left side, I put in all plants and a few seeds:
three kinds of carrots, three kinds of radishes, 10 tomato plants in eight different varieties, fennel, white onions, six kinds of peppers, eggplant, okra, cabbage, 20 herbs (will move these when the front bed is ready)

Been Painting!

It's been fun making things to decorate our new house. Our last house was all windows in every direction so there was hardly any wall space available to hang stuff. 

I bought a bunch of canvases at a local art convention and have been experimenting with a variety of paints and texture.  I like wrapped canvases so I can choose to frame them or leave the painted edges. I really have no idea what I am doing but it sure is fun. 

This was my first painting of a Monet scene from a couple years ago that I framed:

Here's my second of another Monet scene that I framed but haven't put on the wall yet:

This one of Wild Poppies is very textured and quite tall. The fabulous Carol Nelson posted a tutorial of her wonderful poppy paintings so I experimented with her techniques and this is the result. The edges are textured and painted so I will not be adding a frame.

Here is a close up. I had a hard time trying to smear the texture right:

This one is not finished as I haven't figured out what to do next. Ideas? So far I think it looks like a flame.

This one I did a few months ago and it is also quite tall. I call it "Into the Fire":

Bill and I like to visit art galleries and one day we saw some rectangle paintings that were $3,000- way out of our budget. He wanted that type of painting for over the piano so I made this for him. He wants to frame it but I am not sure I am done with it yet. So there it sits.

I like to take pictures of poppy pods so this one is a funky version:

Just playing around with some different textures. What is it? I don't know! Kinda looks like the bottom of an ocean to me:

And this one I did in 20 minutes and I think is my favorite one so far. It is of my kids mom who has been gone nine years. This is her as a child walking along the shore:

Lizzie

She almost didn't make it.

Little Lizzie got terribly sick after she came home. She caught something from the shelter.

She could hardly breathe and would make panting noises. Her nose was clogged up so she couldn't smell food and quit eating and drinking water. The vet gave me syringes to force feed her mushy food and water. She was on several medications and vitamins that I also had to force feed her. She would just lay on us for hours and not play. Bill even slept on the floor with her at night. She was too small to get up on the bed and looked so sad unless she was cuddling with one of us. She likes to sleep on your pillow and cuddle with your hair.

We took her to the vet constantly but she remained very sick.

After a week of this Bill had a funny feeling at work and came home early to find her laying on the floor. She was alive but would hardly move. He rushed her in and they told us she had a 60% chance. An IV was put in her front leg and she was pumped full of nutrients, fluids, and medication. After two days she was allowed to come home.
She was nursed back to health for two months. To this day she still has some sinus issues but is now healthy.

Lizzie is THE BEST pet any of us have ever had. She is so loving, sweet, tender, and playful and we are so happy that she is alive.

Happy New Year!

Here's to a fresh new year! I'm looking forward to learning more technology, creating more art, and slowing down. 

Bill is doing well and loves his job. He's been recording and writing songs on the side.  He finished up his latest one and it is fabulous. He is sending away for the copyright.

Helen got to skip her sophomore year of college! She went to summer school and had many AP credits from high school so she is finishing up her junior year this spring (unless she changes her major). She also will have a minor in chemistry now.

Hunter is wrapping up his senior year of high school and will be the editor of the high school magazine again and has been training for spring track.

My new teaching job has kept me busy, busy, busy. It is a lot of fun though. We have been working on decorating the house and planning what's next for the yard and garden. I have a lot of projects to share soon and an update on our sweetie pie Lizzie.

Little Lizzie

Meow....
I was trying to hide in the corner of the back of my cage when I saw my mommy and her family walk in on Sunday. She was talking to a lady about something scary so I decided to let out the most pitiful cry I could muster up when my mommy looked into my cage. I was the first 'kitteh' to be picked up and held. I tried really hard to snuggle and look really sweet. It must have worked because my Mommy started to cry when she held me.
It was closing time soon and I saw my mommy tell the worker to leave a note that she was coming back the next day so the big scary person would not come and get me in the morning.   

The next day my mommy and Helen showed up when the shelter opened. They came right up to me and gave me a big hug. I got to snuggle with them for over two hours in a little room. They did check out a couple of my friends one more time but I knew deep down that I was already picked.

I had a few fleas so the workers let my mommy give me a bath in the back with some foamy flea shampoo. I tried really hard to be good and I didn't even scratch her even though I did try to climb out a couple times. Helen and mommy wrapped me in some towels because I was shivering. I was dry and fluffy in twenty minutes and even got a new clean cage. Mommy signed the paperwork and left. The next day I was spayed and given a microchip.

I was allowed to go home on Wednesday. I talked to mommy a few times in the car and enjoyed the ride.  When we got home, I got really excited when I saw that I would have two sisters. I think it will be a lot of fun to play with them someday and I think Gidget will let me snuggle with her. My daddy thinks I am so cute and he spends a lot of time petting me.

I am staying in the master bathroom until I have my stitches out (but mommy and daddy take me upstairs sometimes). I decided that I didn't like my stitches because they were itching me so Hunter and daddy drove all the way to PetsMart to get me a collar but they didn't have one small enough for my petite neck. Mommy made me a soft one from fast-2-fuse and sewed it so I can't take it off. I actually don't mind it because it is a little flexible and I can still eat and drink without help.

I met my vet on Thursday and had my check up to make sure I was healthy. All of the workers came to see me and told me how pretty and well behaved I was. The vet said I am about 10-12 weeks old and 2 1/2 lbs. I went back Saturday morning because I caught a cold from the shelter and I have a fever and the sniffles. I am taking some medicine and it's making me feel better. Other than that, I am very healthy. I go back in a week to get my stitches out and then mommy will take off my collar.

I like my new name- Lizzie. I was named after Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.
I like to snuggle with my mommy and daddy. Sometimes I will lay on their laps for over an hour.
Mommy says I have a fox tail and face.
My back legs look like fawn legs and my eyes are a bright almond color.
Daddy says that I have hairs coming out of my ears like a gremlin.   
I think I need some practice with learning how to meow. Right now it kind of sounds like "ehhh."

Tender

When the volunteer told me that the cages marked with an "x" would be the first ones to be put down, I broke out in tears. Cage after cage, I saw an "x" marking those sweet babies. I am still shook up over it.
I guess I am a bit naive since I figured they did that once per month but not three times per week! I asked how they picked which ones would be marked and she said "the ones who are more shy or scared and don't come right up to the front of the cage and want attention."
Oh my.
We found my Gidget (in pic) four years ago at this shelter and she was shy. I wonder if we didn't pick her, would she have received an "x" as quickly as some of these kitties? Probably.
I honestly think the calmer cats are the sweeter ones like the little orange and white kitten I bonded with today. She was scared out of her mind. The papers said she arrived yesterday and she already had an "x"! Not fair! Of course she would be scared. She was the first one I held and was the prettiest one too.
Bill and Helen were checking out some other kittens. We ended up playing with around 15-20. There were two others- a spotted tabby (with an "x") and a white w/ a bit of light orange who were Bill's favorites but both have colds and maybe ear mites. He didn't really get to play with the one I first liked.
It's going to be hard to pick one of the three. The shelter was closing so I asked the lady to leave notes on the two of the three that we liked so they would not be put down in the morning. Not a guarantee, but I will be back tomorrow when they open. 

Vacation

Last summer Helen and I took a vacation to NYC and had a blast. This summer Bill went to Nashville and Memphis and Hunter went with his friend Melodie and her family to Ocean Isle Beach. Helen and I went early to the beach and had a vacation before picking up Hunter. We ate some tasty crab cakes, crab legs, shrimp, clams, and handmade ice cream and relaxed on the beach between jumping in the waves. We wore our black crocs like we did last summer but this time they were covered w/ sand instead of baby powder (NYC had a heatwave when we were there). Wish I had taken a new picture but I decided to leave the camera at home.
Our last morning there we got up at 5 am and sat in two chairs along the shore, wrapped in blankets to keep warm to watch the sunrise. We had no idea what time it would come up so we decided to go out early. We were a bit nervous for about 45 minutes since it was very dark and you couldn't see a soul in either direction. At one point we were watching this thing that washed ashore in the distance. It sure looked like a head!  After 20 minutes of debate we went to see what it was....just a fabric screened bucket. LOL
The deep orange sun came up and we headed in for breakfast and a nap before checking out.
We decided that we should do a girl vacation every summer.

7 things

Well I was tagged by two of my friends Sue and Linda a while ago to list 7 things about me.

1. I seem to do things in cycles that last for a few weeks or a couple months~ organizing, painting, cooking, blogging, photography, home improvement projects, sewing, etc. For the past month I have been doing home improvements and organizing. Now I am shifting to painting and trying to decorate. Pretty soon I will be getting ready for the new school year and making lesson plans.

2. I procrastinate over certain things. I love technology but I procrastinate using it. For example, it took me four months to open my ipod that I got for Christmas. Now I wonder why? I love it! I have a hard time buying something that costs more than $100 and will procrastinate on buying it (even when we really need the item) until Bill encourages me a thousand times to do it. I have wanted to do a painting for three months now but finally sat down this weekend to do it. Why? I dunno.

3. I love to shop for food, art stuff, and books but really dislike clothes and shoe shopping.

4. When I travel I like to visit art galleries, museums, and the local eating spots.

5. I will be starting my 11th year of being a teacher and will be teaching a new subject~ Foods! This will be my 19th subject that I have taught. I have six teaching certifications. Also, I taught six different subjects during my first year. Every class period was different plus we had a homeroom and study hall before lunch. Whew. My favorite subjects to teach were exploring life skills (home ec.) and leadership. The worst were computerized accounting and exploring career decisions.

6. I can't leave the library empty handed. If fact, I take a large bag with me and stuff it full. Right now I think I have 43 books checked out. Most are cookbooks and gardening books. I usually don't have time to read novels and prefer to flip through books and read only the parts that are interesting. Novel reading is saved for the summer. So far this summer I have read Friday Night Knitting Club, one other book that I can't remember, and started a third that I quit reading because it was so cheesy. It's hard to find a good novel.

7. We seem to have a lot of critters. We have two indoor cats and four beta fish. There is a lizard that lives under the column on our porch. Three toads and one frog hop up the stairs and sit on our front porch from dusk till early morning eating all of the moths and bugs that flutter around the lights. I named the fat one George. He keeps coming up to the floor length window and looks at my cat Gidget every evening. I think they are friends. A raccoon, deer, wild turkeys, and one squirrel have been spotted. An eagle flies by daily through the backyard. Pretty cool.

Felted Rings

I have been thinking of taking these felted sparkly rings and making a rainbow necklace by laying them down flat and tying on beads between them with some fun skinny ribbon or maybe with black thread....hmmm....or maybe I should turn them into some kind of funky belt...can't decide so there they sit LOL...ideas?

Giddy Up!

When I get really excited I sometimes say "giddy up" LOL. My friend Candy sent me this funny stamp. I found three of these wooden crate things at the thrift store~ perfect for my wooden stamps. I might paint them someday...probably orange!