Words and Phrases

Some people choose a word to concentrate on every year but one word isn't enough for me. I decided to tackle a phrase..."Organize My Use Of Time". I am so bad at this I'm compelled to improve. It's hard to believe how much time in my day is wasted. I know this because I can't seem to accomplish much and with a blink of an eye, it's already next week. Sigh.... With determination, I'll put that in the past and share my progress with you over the coming year.

In the mean time, even though it's close to the middle point in January, already the snow thing is getting old. No, I don't have cabin fever but I need a change from white to green so here are a couple of pictures that were taken in the summer months this year at a local park.

Now doesn't green look better than white to you. It does to me! This last picture was taken in my backyard this summer. We live in the country and wild life abounds here...sometimes.

An unexpected visitor.

Next week I'll share what else I've been up to. Hugs!

PS: I forgot to say returning to blogging is more uplifting that flowers and chocolate, but my husband doesn't need to know that! :) Hugs again!

Did You Miss Me?

Okay. I admit it. I've been neglectful of my blogging. While I've been posting on our quilt guild blog  twilightstitchers92.blogspot.com on a regular basis and I've been reading the blogs I follow, I've been doing everything else imaginable...well almost. So, you ask, what else have I been doing?

The veggie garden came first. We had drought conditions this summer so the weeds didn't get ahead of me. My DH hooked up the hose and I watered the veggies every day. Still, the tomatoes weren't very good. I didn't get many useable for the second year in a row. My beans weren't as good as last year. I didn't have enough to can at one time but I did add what I harvested to the freezer. There wasn't as much summer squash and zucchini as last year but I did get enough to make a batch each of pickles and relish. The one veggie that did well was the carrots. Most of them had the diameter of tennis balls! And tasty...oh, yes! I canned 14 pints and had some leftover. Also I canned 19 quarts total of spaghetti sauce, tomatoes and tomato soup base.

Canned tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, patchwork and sketching.

Zucchini pickles and zucchini relish.

One day I went picking tomatoes with a friend. We were charged only $12 a bushel.

Next year I'm growing mostly pear tomatoes. They make great sauce. My sauce cooked for two days in the crockpot. Yum!

There is nothing as good as soup made from the veggies you grow yourself!

This summer's quilting projects:

I made two of these hot mats for a guild project. Then I got to keep them for my own kitchen.

The pineapple block. Another guild project.

Our block exchange this year. This week was red and black.

 

 

I went walking with my youngest daughter a number of times. Sometimes we walk around the neighborhood and sometimes at the park by the local lake.

Next time I post, which won't be as long as last time, I have a wonderful treat to share. One of my fellow quilt guild members and I went to a quilt show at The Old Forge Art Center, about a 2 hour drive from where we live. Lots of wonderful quilts to share with you!

Now off I go to run errands and get the weeks groceries.  Next week is forecast to be wet and stormy so I'll have plenty of  'inside' time to blog. Ta-ta for now.

It's Gonna Be A Hot One!

The weatherman predicted temperatures up to 98 degrees today. Whew! I was outside tying up more tomato plants at 6:30 this morning to beat the heat. Watered the rhubarb and came inside escaping from the flies and mosquitoes. Then it was an omelet for breakfast and on to the computer to check out my email and the blogs I follow. I was planning to go to our local nature park with the grandchildren but rescheduled our visit until tomorrow when the temperature will be more bearable. We don't want Gramma to be hauled away for heat exhaustion do we. Today I'll stay inside and finish up my SAHR with the binding and take a picture of it for my next post.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, so they say, I purchased a fig tree from a local nursery this spring. It's sitting on my front landing and producing figs already. This fall it will go dormant and I'll insulated it well and store it our unheated shed until next spring. At last count I have 7 little figgies on it. LOL

It's Raining Shoes!

Remember the saying 'waiting for the other shoe to drop'? Without going into great detail, I've had a lot of shoes dropping on me during the past three weeks.  It started when I backed into a car. No worry. I'm fine and so is my car. Then a series of other happenings: appointment canceled without notification (gas and time wasted), health crises of two family members, husband's work slowdown (picked up now), propane leak in the furnace (repairs the cost of a week's pay-ouch!), and finally ANTS in the kitchen. Whew! I think it's finally over. So now when I here the phrase 'it's raining cats and dogs' I will always think of 'raining shoes'!

Now for a 'walk in the park'. The following shots were taken a few years ago of a local 4H center park, my favorite place to take a walk. I haven't been able to visit there in about 4 years and I really miss it. And no, I didn't doctor these pictures...it really is very 'green' under the tree canopy there. I have many more pictures of this wonderful woodland that I'll share in the future.

Me Bad!

I know I promised in my last post that I would post every week. Okay, I've let you down. I wish someone would tell me how last week passed by before I knew it. I offer my apologies to all.

This morning my daughter and I went walking at Onondaga Lake Park just out of Syracuse, NY It was an absolutely gorgeous day! The temperature was kept down by the wind and didn't warm up until we got close to the end of our walk.

Walking trail next to the lake.

     

Another view of the trail.

I have this thing about roots. I love to photograph and paint pictures of them. this one is pretty gnarly! (Is that a word?)

I tried to capture the shimmer on the water on this shot.