A Day for Remembering...

And appreciating life...

And beauty that still is...

And being a refreshing fragrance in this world 

for those who still walk in it...

THANK YOU TO THOSE OF YOU WHO 

GAVE YOUR LIVES FOR THE SAKE

OF ANOTHER OR WHO RISK

YOUR LIVES TO KEEP US SAFE.

A PRAYER FOR COMFORT AND PEACE

FOR THOSE WHO LOST

A LOVED ONE 9 YEARS AGO

OR IN THE STRUGGLE SINCE THEN.

A CHARGE FOR THOSE OF US LEFT BEHIND

TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR THOSE

WHO ARE NEAR US OR

COME AFTER US.

Monster Tomato and Okra Plants

Here's an update of my

crazy tomato plant.

As you can see, it is now

taller than me in some spots.

Note:  I have my oval doily in my hand!  :)

CRAZY!

Here it is next to the okra:

Actually, the okra is getting HUGE too.

I think it is the Lasagna Garden effect.

I went with that philosophy of just

pouring in layers of kitchen and

yard waste and not touching it

and planting right into it.

The plants seem to LOVE it!

I'm having a GREAT time

with my friends!

I hope for time of

good fellowship for

you as well.  :)

The Bomb

There is always some kind of fun going on at our house.  My boys invent games all the time.  One they have played off and on through the years is The Bomb.  

They have all sorts of board games.  Some times they play by the rules and sometimes they make up a completely new game that doesn't even resemble the original.  

That's how it is in the case of the The Bomb.  In this game, they use our game called Perfection.  (If you are not familiar with this game, it is a battery powered square box in which you depress the center and set the timer.  Then you place shapes of all kinds in the correct spaces with the goal being having all pieces in place before the timer buzzes and the depressed insert pops up and throws the pieces out.)   

They place the game ('bomb') in different rooms throughout the house in strategic positions.  They then depress the insert, reset the pieces, and turn on the timer.  

Then it is all chaos as they run away and hide, waiting for it to 'explode'.

Then, of course, when it goes off, there is much screaming and laughing.  And then they fetch The Bomb and cart it off to a new demolition site and start all over again.

I love their inventiveness.  It makes up for the screaming (usually)!

First (and so far, only) Quilting Project

I mentioned in my afghan post that I don't seem to be able to start small on anything.  My quilting experience held true to that M.O.  I learned to make a log-cabin quilt pattern from a friend's grandmother.  (This same wonderful woman also taught me how to quilt it by hand when I got that far along on my project.)

Picking out the color combination was the first task at hand, and quite daunting to a crafting novice I might add.  Thankfully, that same friend was embarking on the learning-to-quilt venture with me.  So she helped me out with my color choices and by persevering through the process with me.  So I jumped in with both feet and got started.  This same friend, another friend, and I started a once-a-week sewing night.  This helped motivate us all to work on our projects.  :0)  (Friends are worth their weight in gold.)

To help me in my endeavor, my mother gifted me with a quilting kit for a gift, complete with rotary cutter and cutting mat.  (My mother really is quite wonderful!)

Well...

as I got started, I noticed I had way more materials strips than I was going to need for just my quilt.  Hmmm.  The next thing I knew, I was planning to make my sister a quilt that looked almost exactly like mine except for the edgings and backing.  So...now instead of learning to make a quilt and persevering through that, I had upped the ante to TWO quilts.  And I did end up going and making a few additional fabric choices to that end.  (Why, oh why do I listen to myself???  This was back in the day when I was not smart enough to consult the calm, steady DH and get his astute judgment in the matter.  Frankly, I'm still not always that bright!)

I'm glad to say that I did persevere and my sister and I do have matching quilts.  But I really do wish I would not go into overdrive so easily!!!

Here are the pictures of the quilts.   The first quilt is mine.

 In this picture you can tell that the backing on mine is 

the same fabric I used on my final trim.

Side view.

My sister's quilt, as I was giving it to her:

It was worth all the extra trouble!!!

XOXOX

Dried Apricots

 Yesterday was all about drying apricots.

It was quite a process.

I borrowed a food dehydrator from a friend.

Then I commenced to slicing, pitting, and de-stringing

the apricots.  I pushed their backs forward and

tore the halves in half, making quarters, of course.

These quarters had to go in a citrus bath for 5 minutes.

Then onto the dehydrator trays...

And into the dehydrator,

Then came lots of checking and WAITING...

and checking and nibbling and WAITING...

and checking and switching trays and nibbling

(as you might suppose, nibbling

was the BEST part!)

and taking a few out

and turning them and nibbling

and WAITING...

and so on and so forth,

until...

finally,

they were dry,

(around 10 hours later).

Was it worth it???

You'll have to ask me later,

when we start eating them!

Right now, I'm not sure.

With all this, I haven't had too much time

for hook work, but...

I've made a start on a pink pair

of Kay Meador's crocheted sneakers.

I'll let you know when I get to the pink part!

Floral Beauties - Roses

Roses are my favorite flower of all!

And Red Roses are my favorite of favorites.

My wonderful husband bought me this rose bush

for our 17th wedding anniversary and

it has been an amazing parade of roses.

For about the same price as one bunch

of roses from the flower shop, he gave

me flowers all summer long, yearly!

A great investment, I'd say!

Hubby's Handiwork

My husband is always looking for

ways to bless me.

Yesterday, as I was canning
the apricots, I was reminded
of a very special one that
continues to be one of my
favorite gifts ever.

A couple of Mother's Days ago,

he (and my boys) made me a

spice rack

to hang from my cabinet door.

I LOVE IT!

And I love him!!!

Fireworks and Apricots

Today we had a great and productive family day!

We had the fun of firing off fireworks together.

Then we finally started to harvest the apricots.

As you can see they are small,
but there are a lot of them!

After washing them, we started to cut them up.

But given how many apricots we have,
I knew that was going to take forever,
so I decided to use my chopper to
speed things up a bit.

The older boys helped with the pitting process.

8cups apricots (pitted and de-stringed)
1/4cup lemon juice
5cups sugar

Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 30 minutes,
stirring FREQUENTLY.

Apricot jam bubbling; water-bath coming to a boil.

Almost ready!

Time to fill the jam jars:

Now for 10 minutes in the water bath.

That's beautiful!  :)

One of my readers asked what I was going to do
with my apricots.  Well, this is the first step.
We're going to try drying some as well,
as well as get another batch of jam going.

Plus, we're just going to eat some
of them FRESH, of course!!!