fruits and todays labor for tomorrow....

Pumpkins from the garden ready to be roasted

Sauted seeds... sweet and savory

pumpkins post roasting

4 pies... lemon meringue, apple tart

chocolate and pumpkin.

this is the first year for this particular crust recipe. if it turns out good i will post it Friday. The pumpkin(scratch) and chocolate(jell-o cook'nserve) pies were made them with almond milk so my hubby and nephew can enjoy it, even added a little tapioca flour for insurance. the apple tart was made just like a pie, just no top and sliced thin. the lemon is from the previous post recipe.

enjoy your thanksgiving!

cookbooks

Over my short life I seem to have collected quite a few cookbooks. All of them quite different in scope, few by celebrities most rarely used. I come by this fever quite honestly, I blame my Mom. Haha.

For as many as she may have owned she only really used one. The Modern Family Cookbook by Meta Given. Her copy is from 1964 and has seen better days but I doubt happier ones. It is slowly disintegrating, the binding barely holding together with tape that is now flapping, a cover that has been bent, pages that are falling out, yellowed with age and stained with decades of spills. It is simply the greatest.

Mom uses it for her famous Lemon Meringue pie that was always requested for gatherings, usually two or more. For as many times as she has made that lovely concoction the book is always referenced. It is still my favorite desert.

There are a TON of recipes that we never used and only a handful that we did. I plan on making a few of the ones we never tackled and I'll post them here but for now here is the
Lemon Meringue Pie (my cometary):

1/4 C Cornstarch + 2T flour (i leave out the flour)
1 1/3 C Sugar
1/4 t Salt
1 1/2 C Boiling water
3 Eggs separated
1/3 C Strained fresh lemon juice
3T Butter
1/2 t grated lemon rind (zest)
baked 9-inch pie shell
6T Sugar

Mix cornstarch, flour, sugar and salt in top of double boiler; add boiling water, blend thoroughly. Cook over boiling water, stirring constantly until mixture is thick and clear(mom does this in the microwave, with out boiling the water first, 3-6 minutes. always cover with cling wrap) . Beat egg yolks and stir in a little of the hot mixture(temper); pour back into the double boiler and cook 2 minutes longer with constant stirring. Remove from heat; slowly add lemon juice, butter and lemon rind(zest)(again in the microwave for an additional 2-4 min); mix well. Cool, pour into cooled pie shell. Beat eggs whites until barely stiff, add the 6 tablespoons sugar gradually and again beat until stiff. Swirl over pie filling so as to touch edges of crust all around(once pie is covered, touch with your spatula and pull away quickly to create peaks these will brown nicely). Place in a moderate oven (350 degrees) 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to cake rack to cook before cutting. 5 or 6 servings

how to tell its no longer summer

• the sun sets before 5pm

• the scenery is gold and red instead of green

• all the fruit is off the trees, with the leaves

• fire in stove required to keep the house above 60 degress
  

• the cats don't stay out side more than 30 min and spend the rest of the time sleeping by the fire or you.

• when washing dishes you notice more mugs, bowls and spoons instead of glasses, plates and forks.

• baking is almost mandatory

• knitting is no longer a heat inducing exercise
  

• crocodile skin... must moisturize.

• cleaning the pool requires socks, shoes, coat and gloves

• the pool is a balmy 44 degrees.

• the calendar reads November

sigh. i miss it already. but hot tea tastes great again

So...

its that time of year again when i feel like bloggin'. i always seem to be more inspired in the fall than spring and summer. mmm

anyhoo, harvest is in full swing around here. the pears were harvested in the middle of august! and the apples are almost done. last year they didn't do pears until mid Sept and apples sometime in Oct. the heat this summer really speed up ripening. I've been wandering the apple orchard and collecting my snacks. soon I'll get a box or 2.

it's been cool enough here that we have had a fire at night for the past week or so. got wood for the winter stacked and ready to go. its even frosted already, my gourds and pumpkins bearing the worst of it. tomatoes still producing believe it or not. beans loving this cooler weather and cucumbers still plodding along. we had so many beans there for a while i canned like 10 jars! mmm pickles.

went in to the hills for the first day of fall it was lovely. ran into mergansers(late season ducks) some cool spiders, frogs and a couple of weird hikers. it was even warm enough to wade in the river.

this past weekend we went to our local "fair". it was really cold, wind was steady and the occasional rain drop really made standing in line for those rides tiresome. but the things you do for family eh? saw some friends and did a lot of walking of course. the barns were open and we made a few friends with some adorable goats. i love goats. when i was little my grandpa bought 2 for us at "the sale", livestock auction. their names were Snowball(white) and Cinnamon(brown), ah good times.

did you see the full moon last night? she was magnificent. first full moon of fall.

house

so after the mess that was going on this spring. i of course took some photos but only of the mess they left behind. so photos of the room are the secondary focus in these.

In this first installment... the basement. dum dum dum

the stairs leading up and out, i don't think they ever vacuumed. with this kind of carpet on them they were really slippery, i can't begin to remember how many times i slipped and fell on these. you can kinda see the drop ceiling in this photo its actually the only one i got of it.

the yellow wall is actually the foundation, in this home the basement walls have a "shelf" and here is where the pipes run. in this one you can get a good shot of the carpet. when we bought it (10 yrs ago) the carpet was not only in here but also the whole upstairs except kitch/baths/laundry rm. it was pretty gross.

this is the chimney that we never used. it has a hearth pad but apparently wasn't used by the previous owners either.we had to use that expando foam to fill the hole, otherwise it was always cold down here. the stove was gone from upstairs too.

this is the infamous "red room" my hubby always wanted one. so he picked the color his own self even had to use a pepto pink primer(say that 10 times!). it was used as the office. it was in this room that the previous owners daughter hung herself in the closet.

this was our bedroom at the end. we replaced the carpet from the brown nastyness in the rest of the house and painted 2 shades of brown. it was my crafting/ guest room before that. the renters did some weird shit in that far corner there was a huge dark stain on the floor and walls. it looked like puke.
i don't even want to know.

and here it is now (almost) finished

stair well... we used indoor/outdoor carpet and just glued it straight down. its really stable and not slippery (yay!) and if you notice... the ceiling is finished.

this is the view from the stairs. notice the foundation has been sheet rocked and now we have a small access panel(yet to be put up). that is the "red room" ahead.

the paneled wall hides a craft project of mine. i used music posters (i had a ton from an old job) as a collage wall paper. i thought i looked cool but prospective buyer might not, so instead of removing i covered it for future homeowners to find. see the pretty ceiling?

the chimney has been encased(looks much better) and we put a door on the hot water heater. the carpet here in the main room and the "red room" is commercial grade so it is high traffic and super easy to clean.

this is the no longer red room, painted the same color as the main room

here is the opposing view of the same room.

the carpet got a good steam clean and the walls a coat of paint(same color). most of the mystery stain came out so that's good.

and opposite view

we still have closet doors to put up in each room and a new door for the lg bd room but that's it for here. next installment... upstairs

Good news!!

the house in town is almost finished. the construction bits are just about done with finish work. we go in today for general cleaning inside and out. hopefully it there will be someone to rent it in oct.

i'll post pictures soon of before and afters.

july

wow july has been busier than expected! lots of birthdays, weddings, remodeling and traveling. Lets not forget this god awful heat! this july has seen more upper 90's and 100 degree days than i care to remember. to make matters worse we have a swamp cooler, which we LOVE, but the humidity has been unusually high so it just ends up making the air thick to breathe.

we also seem to be noticing more bugs than usual, weird ones too. the garden is chugging along nicely with the corn now taller than me and tasseled. the tomatoes have great big green globes and the Matt's wild cherry has given up 10 or so wonderful tart fruits. the eggplants have finally bloomed! the gourds are chugging along, pumpkins are blooming but not yet fruiting. and the scarlet runners have given up a pound or so of yummy beans. i love summer.

oh lawdy, the other morning i was sitting here at the dining table when my mighty huntress kitty made her plaintive, "mom?! my mouth is full of something(sometimes a toy sometimes not) where are you so i can show you what i have" i called her name so she knew where i was. she came around the corner with a SNAKE in her mouth!!! talk about waking you up! thankfully it was small(12 to 18 inches, smaller than a dime in diameter) so i covered it with a towel after she dropped it and took it outside. at least it wasn't dead and didn't seem to be to damaged.

last nights/this mornings moon

its a little shakey, but i thought it looked good.
considering i was parked along the freeway at 1 am!

harrier hawk

So to the east of the house stands 2 tall old cedars. whose tips in years past meet with drunken college students and handguns. not a pretty sight. these poor old trees are beautiful until you look up and then they are a bit scraggly. well the birds absolutely love them. everything from starlings(which the cherry farmers hate!), chickadees (mountain, black capped), ravens, mourning doves and a ton of others.
the other day there was a giant bird that came swooping by, so i ran to the window and noticed she landed on the cedar. so down the stairs and to the camera to get at least one photo of that magnificent beast. gasp, my battery was dying but i did have the back up one fully charged. turns out there was no need to rush as she stayed in that tree for 3-4 hours. doors were opened and shut. people got on the roof. general outside activity not to mention my sister talked to her a bit. didn't seem to faze her at all.

this first photo is right after she landed.

I looked her up and it turns out to be a Northern Harrier. The trees were all a chatter with the robins and finches were chittering and flapping their wings trying to scare her off. she pointedly ignored them even when they were doing flybys!

when she finally looked at this little guy he jumped back quite a ways! wonder why?

setting sun

Finished

I have been working on this shawl, Sarah Blanche by Cheryl Oberle, for about a month. Made with the most amazing Mohair/wool/nylon(for strength) fiber. Finally completed yesterday, washed, blocked and dry by this evening. I got my hubby to snap a few shots in the evening light.

Click to embiggify.

Soft and light. Warm but not too much.

oooh artsy fartsy.

Here soon i'll send it to my very good friend in California. She is going to be so surprised!

pictures?

So you may have noticed that there has been a noticeable lack of photos lately. Or maybe not.
Anyhoos, the ScanDisk card that i have been using, for what 4 years now, finally like split in two. Of course along the "data read" edge, but thankfully I was able to get the info off. So off i went and got a shiny new 8GB memory stick, whooeee. Been using it now for a few weeks, come on 8gigs is hard to fill, put it in the computer to transfer a few pics and tragedy strikes. i forgot to format the thing before i started using it. now i need to find the cables to transfer all the pictures, then format the disk so it can be used it on the dang laptop. sigh.

on the bright side, this is the biggest drama in my life now. so thank the gods for that one.

stagnation

so I am at a bit of a standstill.

we have a house that we are not living in, paying the mortgage and it is sitting empty. we had it appraised at 3000 over what we paid, as is, 10 yrs ago. if we do the work, floors, main bathroom and a little in the basement, we could clear 30000 to 40000. now when i say "we" do the work it would really be me as my hubby is, well how do i say this politely, lazy. he would hire someone to do the work, which is nice but $$$.

holding us back? This home is negative. what i mean by that is you feel drained, headaches and the creativity flew out the window. When we bought the house we were told that the owners 16yr old daughter committed suicide there. yes there was some freaky things that happened, nothing that i couldn't handle. turns out it was slowly eating away at my husband. so the last year we lived there wasn't exactly pleasant. add to that the death of my friend who rented it from us. I am feeling a little wary to sell it to another unsuspecting family/couple.

the thing that is pushing us a bit is the current home we are renting the landlord is looking to put it up on the market soon. if he should sell before we can get that house sold, that means we would have to move somewhere around here again. I don't think i could bear it. we were hoping to get the house sold so we could move to hawaii. wouldn't that be nice?

so welcome to my brain. oh and i have a wedding to go to on the 4th. so i made a new dress for the occasion. i figured to make it a size larger than i normally wear because i have gained a bit. i measured twice before i made that decision as well. turns out i can't wear that either. i think i'm gonna cry.

can i just say...

i really hate family guy.

no one specific reason, it just gets on my nerves.

not funny.

sigh. the things we watch for the ones we love.

VICTORY!!!!

i feel as though i could scream and the east coast could hear me. i got me tub back!!!!

we went down to the PoPo, talked to an officer and we calmly explained everything. he had us call the phone # in the posting and i used my "alias". the officer followed us to the house and boy howdy did the fellow have a ton of excuses for us. "everybody else was takin' things - had to call my friend with a truck so some mexicans didn't strap it to their car - it wasn't on the lawn but the door to the shed was kicked in so we figured it was cool to take things" it wasn't the fellow we expected to see but we suspect they know each other. we'll find out in a coupla weeks if the house has some "mysterious" damage.

i feel so vindicated. i know its only a silly bathtub, but dammit its mine and i fucking paid for it. My close friend procurred it for us, he did the plumbing with my husband, even cut a hole in the floor for it. not to mention i did enough for those lousy people i'd be dammed if they were going to get one more thing out of me.

sigh. i feel so much better!!!

hehe

well i just found my bath tub on a popular site for sale. we will contact them and the police muuwwaaahhhhh revenge may be mine....

thanks karen for the comment, made me giggle and brought a much needed smile to my face.

Currently...

So for the past week or so its been pretty dang hot. i always feel the laziest when the mercury starts to climb. one positive thing is we are really enjoying the pool during this heat. phew!

as far as the shit storm... our cross-the-street neighbor, from where we lived for 10 years, is currently in his second divorce. and she is really doing a shitty number on him. she got him yoked up by the police and was in jail for 4 days so he was staying here with us until he got back into his house. It seems as though she took the oven, washer dryer, end tables, lamps, all the pictures in the living room and the bedroom set. after all that she left a note on the fridge saying she will always love him. what a cunt. she has been cheating on him for 6 months and even when he confronted her with the reality she couldn't admit the truth. i really wish he could find a nice girl who already has it together. he deserves that much. and to top it off for him his mom is on the steady downward climb. she fell, bruised internally pretty bad and has creeping dementia. sigh.

so... theres that. oh and the people we were renting the house to? the daughter died. its either suicide or murder by the suspect boyfriend. the coroner ruled it an accident but with the local police here who knows what really happened. so they trashed the house. it stinks like cigarettes and they NEVER watered or mowed the fucking lawn. not to mention they never cleaned the toilets either. yuck. and they took my corner jetted tub with them. saying it was stolen. i am just disappointed.

it seems as though i get burned every time i try to help someone out. sigh. but it will work out. i just know it will. keep positive and visualize visualize visualize.

and that is how my month has been.

dilemma...

remember all those wonderful heirloom tomatoes that i started a month ago? well i made sure to carefully and clearly label them. only problem is i used a felt tip pen and watering gets out of hand sometimes so they have all washed away. there are a few that i know which are which. but that leaves 5 kinds that could be who knows what.

sigh. i am so bummed.

suppose i'll find out in a couple of months!

apples anyone?

wandering the little apple orchard looking for bloomed blossoms...

i only found a few...

but found someone was watching me too!

silly i know, gotta love spring!

more blossoms...

pear in the foreground then apple then cherry

so cherry blossoms are about over. there are a few stragglers still but most have browned and started to fall away. now pears are in full bloom. its funny though the blossoms of a pear are pretty close to those of cherry.

another cool thing is the pollen that the bees collect is tinted green. i am pretty sure these are anjou pears, but i could be wrong. i wonder if bosc or red bartlett pollen has a pink/red tint to them?

pollinator in flight