Weeding

This evening in our dinner salads, we had some weeds.  I have a large amount of purslane growing down in the garden, which I have gradually been trying to get rid of.  Recently I realized that this is an edible plant, and in fact, I have read about people buying it at Farmer's Markets for $7/pound!  It is high in Vitamins C & E, as well as Magnesium.  Isn't this the ultimate form of revenge - to actually EAT the thing that I want to get out of my garden?

I spent a good part of the day canning peaches - 15 quarts and I'm not even half done!

Staying busy!

The Rain Day That Wasn't

Yesterday was the annual "Rain Day" festival in our little town.  Not only did the festival not occur due to COVID, but the link to the facebook page where it was supposed to be live-streamed was broken when I checked yesterday morning, AND it didn't rain.

We could really use the rain - it's been very dry.  My garden is suffering, although we've been able to keep it watered enough that it doesn't actually die.  In fact, lots of things are growing there (including weeds - haven't had enough grass clippings to mulch!)

I was at the bank downtown yesterday, during the time when every OTHER year, the Rain Day Festivities have been in full swing.  I did stop by the Farmer's Market for a delicious cantaloupe.  I also met 2 cute little boys with a lemonade stand.

Today, we have come by 2 bushels of peaches, so it's off to do some canning for me!

One of Those Days

It's been one of those days...you know, the kind where nothing seems to go right?

It started early this AM, when JP texted while I was exercising to tell me that animals got into the trash down by the road over the night.  I figured that I had better go down right away to clean things up before they came to collect the trash, so I cut the exercise short.

I was planning to work with my dad starting at around 9 this morning, but thought I could get the pickles canned that I cut last night and had soaking in salt water for 12 hours before we started.  I found out, however, that I didn't have enough mustard seed, so I ran into town to stock up, and got back right at 9.

I have spent some time over the past week staining and sealing backsplashes that my dad created for the bookshelves in our great room.  The bookshelves are right over the stairs, and we have lost things over the edge in the past.  I quickly removed everything from on top of the shelves so that we could install the backsplashes.  In my haste, I knocked the chimney off an oil lamp, which shattered and left glass shards EVERYWHERE.  

We got the backsplashes installed without further incident, and I went on to work on my pickles.  J called while I was in the middle of filling jars, and announced that she was supposed to leave her job early because of a COVID scare.  Once I got the canner going and finished cleaning up the glass, she was home and I did a bit more research regarding this incident.  It seems mostly unfounded.

Next on my list of things to do was to make dessert for this weekend.  We had half a bag of apples that were getting soft, so I decided to make an apple pie, ice cream, and salted caramel sauce that I recently saw in Cook's Country.

By the time the apple pie was in the oven, it was time to go pick up L from work.  I did get home before it was supposed to come out, but apparently our oven runs a bit hot, because it was a bit overdone.  I think we will still be able to eat it though.

I spent the next hour cleaning up the kitchen from canning, cooking and baking.  I found more glass from the shattered chimney.

The remainder of my day (from 4 PM on) has been relatively uneventful.  I'm grateful.

In other news, it's been very dry here.  Rain has been forecasted on several days, but we've gotten less than a quarter of an inch over three rain storms.  I had been watering the garden every other day from our 500 gallon rain water cistern.  This is now empty, and so I am at the mercy of the weather.  We had been getting many nice cucumbers and zucchini from the garden.  The cucumbers, however, have been very bitter.  I have learned that this is due to the dryness.  Live and learn.

the grass is brown

L has this lovely little watermelon growing - it's about the size of a softball.  I hope it makes it!

I just looked down and saw something reflective on on the floor - it was 2 more shards of glass.  I give up!

Back to Work

Well, they finally called me back to work last week.  I've worked 2 weeks, and it feels good to be useful again!  I will be training in telemedicine next week, so I will be adding some of those visits to my schedule as well.

The girls also started jobs last week.  J is working at the library for the 3rd summer in a row, and L is a junior counselor at a Christian day camp not far from home.  This is her first summer job.  They were both placed through a job training program, which typically lasts for 6 weeks during the summer.  L's job only goes through July this year.

We took a little day trip to go horseback riding the week before work started.  It was a fun diversion, topped off by ice cream at our favorite place.

I have been exhausted the past 2 weeks - merely adding the 2 working days a week seems to do me in.  I haven't stopped working on stuff at home though - I think you all would know by now that I am not one who tends to sit around for the most part.

My garden is in and doing well.  The strawberries are finished, and we have moved on to blueberries.  I have been picking 1-2 gallons every other day, but they are starting to slow down too.  I canned a second batch of strawberry jam, and have frozen 4 gallons of blueberries.  We have also harvested lettuce, radishes, zucchini, yellow squash and cucumbers from the garden.  L has baked several loaves of zucchini bread.  It has been very dry for the past 2 weeks, and even though I have used the sprinkler to water the garden from the rain water cistern every other day, the cucumbers have grown extremely bitter - inedibly so.  We finally got a bit of rain last night, so maybe things will turn around.

We have been getting in the pool as frequently as we can.  A hose blew the other day right before L and I got in.  I was able to patch it up with duct tape, and ordered a new one from Amazon, which arrived today.  I swapped them out, and we should be good to go again.

I cut up some more t-shirts into yarn, and have been braiding another rug.  I like the first one so well in my bathroom (it's very absorbent by the shower) that I want to make a bigger, more oblong one for in front of the sinks.

My dad has prepared some pieces to put a back splash on the bookshelves over the stairs - we keep so much stuff up there, that we wanted something to keep them from getting knocked over.  He also prepared a board to fill in the space between the mattress and the wall on the Murphy Bed that JP has been sleeping in for the past 4 months.  The void swallows his pillows!  I stained and sealed these (have one more coat on the back side of the backsplashes) and then my dad will help me install them next week.

We did some shopping for summer clothes for the girls, and since J's idea of shopping is at the thrift store, I usually end up with some alterations to do after that - I've been getting through that slowly.  I also sewed some more masks so that the girls would have enough for at work.  The governor announced mandatory mask orders about a week ago.  

We had a fun July 4th celebration here - made what I am calling a "Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pie" for dessert and set off some fireworks after dark.  One night, before it got so hot, we made s'mores outside and then watched a movie on the veranda.

So...life remains a bit upside down, but it has honestly been a big relief to return to some sense of normalcy.  It is extremely hard that JP is still self isolating, but he is seeing positive COVID patients every day that he works, and for safety, he should quarantine for 14 days after each one.  I feel very alone, and I'm really tired of feeling this way.

I hope you all are remaining safe and healthy!