Summers end

I always think of Labor Day as the official end to summer.  Everyone is done vacationing and kids are back to school.  For me it is the end of the big gardening season.  Time to put the garden to sleep and start cleaning up the dead flowers.  I officially put the flowers to bed in October.  We have a late fall and late frost here in Mid Mo, compared to NE Mo where I grew up.  I get to enjoy the fall colors longer and the late flowers bloom longer.  I have this interesting perennial daisy like flower that has just started blooming in the last few weeks.   I  no longer remember it's name.  I enjoy the surprise of the blooms in August.   Most of the garden is done.  We have some late stragglers of tomatoes.  The last of the Peppers were picked today.  The sweet potato vines are still green and vigorous.   We are having friends over for a barbecue tonight.  We dug into the sweet potatoes.  The picture is of one plant that the Husband dug.   He started the plants from a sweet potato we purchased in the store.  Just one potato sprouted over 30 plants and a great big vigorous row of vines.   The potatoes look to be excellent.  Not many potatoes to a plant but the size is outstanding.  We purchased a buschel of pie apples from the local Organic garden store.  On Friday ( my day off) we froze eight 8 cup bags of sliced apples.  I made two small apple crisp as give away gifts and made an apple pecan spice cake with cream cheese icing.  I took the cake to the church carry in dinner yesterday.  After church, I went to the Marys Home church picnic in Marys Home, which is near Eugene.  I have to say I don't know when I have seen so many people crammed into such as small town.  The entertainment was Bingo, a quilt auction, a country store and of course the dinner.  Fried chicken, roast beef , lots of deserts and vegetables.  They serve it home style.  You sit and they bring bowl, after bowl, after bowl, of good hot, home cooked food.  They serve mashed potatoes with sour kraut mixed in.  I was a little afraid of it, so a I took a small spoon ful to try.  I like sour kraut but wasn't sure I would like it with my potatoes, but I do.  Very good and unusual.    This is the last Catholic parish picnic for the year.  Now they start in with the fall suppers.  If you like to go there is a dinner about every weekend in the summer with lots of good food and good people to see and visit with.  Quite the Mid Mo experience.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  Thanks for stopping by.   GOD BLESS.  In God we Trust. 

Radical changes

The longer I live the more I know that life changes from year to year and day to day.  Nothing last forever. Be thankful for what you have while you have it.  Tomorrow might find it all gone or changed.  I am so thankful to have a job as some in my workplace do not.  This past weekend my DH and I drove up to see the daughter and her kids.  Her husband is working out of town and he did not make it home before we left to come back on Saturday evening.  The youngest grandchild has achieved the august age of 8.  And as all young children as they age, has become more interested in his friends than his grandparents.  His little friend was over to help him celebrate.   As soon as the cake and presents were done, they were off to ride bikes and holler.  Fun to watch.   I have been working on my coding class slowly.  I have a three day weekend coming up and hope enjoy a couples day with my husband as well as getting another chapter and test completed,  Hope this finds all well.  God Bless  Beverly

Antiquing Weekend

Hello, and less hot this week.  My best friend and I are here in St Joseph Missouri shopping in some of my old favorite stores and also checking out the antiques along the way and here in St. Jo.   We have a lovely room, have eaten at some good food and laughed a lot.  Laughter is good.  Last week was a very sad week as we lost a dear young friend and nurse that I work with.  She died in a terrible accident.  We will miss her every day.    This weekend I was able to find two Christmas presents.  I am always happy when I find just the right gift early.  I have several projects that I am sewing away on, just need some sewing room time.   Maybe next month.   The peaches are nearly complete.  My husband has been freezing them all week.   Only about 50 peaches left on the tree and then they are done.    Be back home tomorrow and back to work on Monday.  So hope that you all have a great week coming up.   Be safe , tell those you cherish that you love them and stop in again soon.

This week

Had the best week.  I worked over 45 hours.  ( that is not the good part although every day I thank God I have a good job).   I was able to spend a few hours with some good friends over lunch yesterday and caught up with what everyone is doing.  Time flies quickly and the afternoon did not last long enough.  But to you Kelly, the lunch was wonderful and I enjoyed the visit. Then I stopped by the Neighbors to wish Anna Marie a happy birthday.  Love Anna and Ed.  They are special people.    Then it was home for canning.   I made 10 quarts of V-8.  Although, I guess technically what I make is V7.  Anyway we  like it.  I also use it to make my beef stews in the winter.   I also had peaches ready so, I made a batch of Peach jam this morning.  The trees are loaded as you can see by the picture, so I will have more than enough to put up peaches to eat and more jam.  My husbands favorite  are peach jam and grape jelly.   Grapes are doing to well this year so we will be happy with peach jam.  On Wednesday, I helped a friend make some accent pillows to go with her new bedspread.  She is a novice sewer and it was very fun to help her make three pillows, using material on sale and some embroidery designs.   We made the three pillows for a little more than the cost of one purchased accent pillow.  She was very happy.  It was fun.   My reward for my hard work this week ( other than the wonderfully colorful jars of food on the pantry)?   I am going to eat Mexican for lunch and then on the the new Angelina Jolie Movie.   Then this after noon I will probably do some studying on my Medical billing and coding class that I am nearly finished with.    See you all soon.  God Bless and thanks for stopping by.   And don't forget, if you are of the mind,to add "In God we Trust", or "One Nation Under God" to your emails, snail mails, and any other means you might have to keep our founding principals upper most in peoples minds. 

Long time since last hello

Where have I been you ask.  Why working in the garden, the yard, and the Hospital.   Mostly in the hospital.  Lots of overtime and some extra shifts.   Have to make ends meet.  When not working an extra shift.  I am canning or freezing the vegetables that are ready.  We are done with the cucumbers, the green beans and now the corn.  The Zucchini cooked in the heat so it is done.   The tomatoes, beets and peppers are just beginning to get ripe.  Really, what is better than a vine ripe, nice rich red tomato?  So in the next few weeks I will make salsa, V-8, spegetti sauce and some whole tomatoes.   Then the canning will be done, fall will be here and I can relax and enjoy some nice weather before winter.  The rain here in Mid Mo seems to never stop.  It stormed yesterday and again this morning.   Rain is good.  Keeps the pastures green,but really the small streams have been flooding all summer, so enough for a week or two.    I have posted two of my works in progress.  The only sewing I have managed this summer.  I am finishing a block of the month called the Queen and her Court.  The pink pieced block is the center block.   I am also working on the primitive applique as a Christmas gift for someone I love.   I always start early on those homemade gifts.    Now I need to get on with the day.  I only have one day off and lots of work to get done.  Stay cool.

Up to my eyeballs.

  This post was from May 25.  However, I put it in  draft instead of publish.  So what the heck.  I am going to publish it now.  Heavy rains throughout the night with vivid lightening and loud thunder, all of which I slept through.  This morning  I was keeping a close eye on the newly fledged baby blue birds.  Four fat and fluffy little blue birds leaped (or fell) from the birdhouse into the flower garden.   They had a treacherous journey through the flower bed, around the water feature and up the drive to reach the safely of tall grass in the neighbor's lot.   Two were still in the grass at 5 pm.  I hope they figure out how to fly before the coming thunderstorms drown them tonight.    The Husband  picked our small strawberry patch this morning.     We have had enough berries in the past week to eat  two strawberry shortcakes.  Yum. Today, he picked two 4 quart buckets full.   So I froze two one gallon vacuum sealed bags of halved berries(although I am sure they did not hold a gallon)  With the remaining  berries, I made two batches of strawberry jam.   I took four still warm jars to my quilting girls.  We  five get together once a month to catch up on the news of one another and share in some sisterhood.   Great gals and I love them dearly.  It was nice to share the bounty with them.   The past two weeks I have been busy planting the flower beds.  The peonies are blooming now.   They smell so lovely.  Between work and the yard/garden  I have had little time for the computer and reading blogs.  Rainy days are always nice for catch up time.  

6 week update

And how fast the time flew.  After the prom, I have been gardening between the rains.  I have all the beautiful flower beds planted.  I had them all weeded at one point.  Now I need to weed again.  The colors are gorgeous this year because we have had so many nice rains.   No need for extra watering.   I also had a bumper crop of strawberries and asparagus.  I made several recipes of strawberry jam, froze strawberries, gave away 5 quart buckets full of strawberries, took strawberries to every carry in event, and ate more that I ever wanted.    It was a bountiful year.  Our little patch has never produced so many large berries before.   It was wonderful.  And now I am glad that season is done.   The husband has enlarged the garden.   We have a 15 ft  x 30 garden.  And now we have a 16 by 16 foot area with the vining plants.   Not a good year for bean and corn plantings.  He has had to replant twice due to all the nice rain that has made the flowers so wonderful.  He plants and cares for the garden  I do the flowers and herbs.  Together we pick and preserve-either freeze, can, or dehydrate the produce.   Since I work full time I am most appreciative of his help.   Our neighbors like to stop in and view the yard and the progress of the garden.  I think because they know they will share in the bounty when we have more than we can eat.   
  So the spring rush is over and I can settle down into the summer routine.   I have purchased the new EQ7 upgrade, which I installed today.  I hope tomorrow I might be able to spend some time playing with it.  I do enjoy designing my quilts on this program.   I did spend Wednesday with my Quilting friends.  We had a road trip to a nearby town to shop for fabric, eat lunch, talk and laugh.  We  have a grand time together.  I also went to the Missouri River Quilt Guild quilt show last Sunday.  Very impressive.  Many beautiful quilts.  Seemed to be a very good attendance.
    Now that I am caught up on the outside work, I hope to be a more faithful blogger.