Lots of Apples

When we purchased a bushel of apples ~ it didn't look that big in the baskets.  But that was a lot of apples....and they may have multiplied on the way home.  

Of the bushel ~ 1/2 granny smith and 1/2 winesap ~ about 15 or so were eaten.  And the rest are stored in jars to be enjoyed this winter & beyond ~ or used as gifts.

We've got 11 jelly jars & 17 pints of apple jelly. There is probably another jelly jar size of jelly in my fridge stored in Tupperware ~ I ran out of the small jars. Also, 7 quarts & 5 pints of apple slices ready for apple crisp.  There is also 2 large Tupperware containers (cereal keepers) absolutely full of apple pulp from making the juice for the jelly, that I will make into apple butter. 

The apple pulp containers are frozen for a time in the future when I have time to figure out how to make apple butter.  I would imagine it would be about the same process as the pear butter I made but with lots more cinnamon.

The jelly is made from the recipe included in the boxed fruit pectin.  We are crediting the success of the jelly to using the powdered pectin that we bought in New York from the Amish Bulk grocery store.  I am totally thrilled that every jar sealed and every jar jelled ~ no runny jelly! 

my sister bought me the cool green lids & rings and blue lids & rings!

yummy in a jar ~ I used 1/2 water and 1/2 unsweetened apple juice for the liquid

jelly ready to be stored in the pantry

Thankful for

apples ~ one of my favorite fruits
Amish bulk powdered pectin
every jar sealing & jelling
the 5 apples trees Greg bought to start our own orchard
help with slicing the apples from Greg & Amy

I also shared this post at Farmgirl Friday bloghop ~ http://deborahjeansdandelionhouse.blogspot.com/2015/10/farmgirl-friday-blog-hop-208-and-happy.html

Happenings

Right now, its cold and nasty and rainy outside.  Perfect day (yesterday & today) to work on inside projects, drink hot spiced tea and hot chocolate, and cuddle under quilts.

Now that our doggies flea infestation is eradicated, we've let them come in to warm up too.  My sewing room has been puppy proofed so that no fabric will be damaged due to a hiked leg from Chip or Oreo.  Amy has started training because they have forgotten how to act inside ~ cheerios are the treat.  Licorice enjoyed sitting in my lap today while I was at the embroidery machine.

Our crockpot has been getting a workout.  The convenience of putting dinner in it in the morning and then having it cooked by dinnertime is great.  Today its cooking one of Gregs favorite soups ~ split pea.  The recipe came out of my "Fix it and Forget it" cookbook.

Gregs got our bedroom painted and the pool table is put together and in the sunroom.  Which caused some rearranging of what was already out there.  He has worked hard on the garage.  About 1/3 of it is now his 'man cave".  It contains a sofa, 2 easy chairs, coffee table, tv and WWii system.  That section of the garage has been insulated, pictures hung and on one wall there is pegboard for tool storage. 

Yesterday, he deleted everything off the laptop that is for the embroidery machine and reinstalled windows and the embroidery software.  I haven't been able to use the machine since we moved because the laptop and machine weren't communicating.  I am thankful to have a handy, computer literate husband.

Amy and I are ready for Thanksgiving ~ me because everyone will be here and we will have lots of fun.  Her because Austin will be here and they haven't seen each other since August~  He and his parents are coming for the holiday & weekend.  We will all be volunteering for 2 shifts at the Operation Christmas Child center here in Atlanta.  Amys brothers and sisters and Granny are anxious to meet this young man. 

Blogging 2 days in a row!  I hope the 6 folks that read this blog are excited! 

Thankful for ~

puppies
no more fleas
cooler weather
crockpots
Amazon prime music (Manheim Steamroller was sewing music today)
hot tea and hot chocolate
warm clothes
quilts
at home days

Date Day

Greg and I had a date day last week.  We took last Wednesday and rode up to Ellijay ~ to look at leaves, buy apples, eat lunch, and enjoy our time together. 

It took us about 2 hours to reach Ellijay and start looking for an apple farm.  Actually, there are so many that we really didn't have to search.  We found one that we had heard about at church and bought 1/2 bushel of  winesap apples, 1/2 bushel of granny smith apples, and a box of sweet potatoes.  The apples will be made into apple jelly and apple butter.  The sweet potatoes will be devoured and thoroughly enjoyed.  And we were thrilled that they were Mississippi sweet potatoes which are yummy!

Many years ago, my dad co-owned a piece of property in Cherry Log (near Ellijay).  My boys and my sisters boys named the property "Bills Lake" for the trout pond in front of the cabin and the lake up the hill~ a lake large enough for a row boat.  There was lots of  fishing, hiking, stomping in the creek, and feeding the trout.  I wanted to find the property and see if it had changed any....the road that went to the property is now an overgrown path.  We didn't try to get up the hill but I'm confident that it was the right property.

We wanted to eat at a favorite barbeque spot but it was closed.  We found another one that was good but not fantastic.

Next we went to another apple farm that was a fantastic spot.  Besides apples they had fruit, vegetables, a bakery section, and gi-normous pumpkins.  This place had honeycrisp apples ~ my favorite.  We got mom a bag of sweet potatoes and we bought 2 fried apple pies.  I hate to say it, but we didn't think the fried pies were very good...needed much more sugar and the addition of cinnamon would have been tasty.  My moms apple crisp is much better!

After our apple shopping. We went to Amicolola Falls to explore.  We were thankful that we could drive to the top of the falls ~ however, standing on the bridge and looking over the falls was a dizzy experience!  Then we drove about 1/2 way down and hiked back to another lookout spot.  The trees were beginning to change colors and we got some gorgeous pictures!  The falls is the beginning of the Appalachian Trail.


view from the top of the falls

North Georgia Mountains

This old pickup did not have a good day~no telling how long it been leaning & rusting on these trees.

Thankful for ~
time together
fresh apples
the beautiful colors of fall
the Lords creations for us to enjoy

4 Grandsons ~ 3 yrs. & younger!

This weekend we had lots of grandson lovin'.  Lots of playing, riding the rocking horse, and hanging out with our little grand buddies.  Aiden brought his parents over on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.  Robert, Thomas & Alvin came from S.C. with their parents on Thursday night and stayed till Sat. night.

And of course....I took pictures!

Oldest grandson and his black eye, compliments of his stick toting little brother

riding the bucking bronco ~ in his cool Hawaiian shirt

playfood dinner time

looks like Thomas got a play stick of butter for dinner

Yay! This brave cowboy likes the rocking horse now.

Thomas & Alvin take a ride in PaPa's new wagon

Auntie Amy had lots of cupcake helpers!

Robert was the flour scooper helper

Thomas was the flour eater &

butter smasher

Thomas is in his great Grannys rocking chair ~ it was hers as a child

Aunt Jennifer holding Alvin, Aiden was not thrilled with that!

Pacie, closed eyes, thumb sucking ~ it was getting too late for a cousins picture!

The worlds cutest grandson are very wiggly!

Granny & Great Grandson #4

Robert decided to try out the doll stroller ~ it was Auntie Amy's when she was little

Good shot to give his future wife!

Thomas was not to be denied this thrill!

Granny & Aiden ~ he would much rather play than pose for pictures!

Thankful for ~
4 healthy little boys
time with them
a large sun porch for toys & boys
family time

Food in Hawaii

Food was my biggest disappointment on vacation.  What I expected and the reality were 2 very different things.  My expectation was "its an island....there will be lots of seafood".  The reality was actually, hard to find fish/seafood of any kind.  An the prices were astronomical. 

We thought we would eat a simple breakfast everyday, then go out for lunch and order our yummy meals off the lunch menu (prices are usually cheaper then) and then eat a cheap dinner (think Wendys or KFC or similar).  What happened was usually a simple breakfast ~ sometimes a drivethru biscuit, pb&j sandwich and chips for lunch and a search for dinner.  On the second island, we did have the breakfast buffet included in the package, so that helped.  We also switched up the sandwich variety to turkey and cheese.

We did eat 2 extravagant meals ~ we went to Benny Hanna's (probably not close to the correct spelling) for dinner ~ I finally got my shrimp.  And one night was a luau ~ the food was good ~ prices were way overpriced for the food but the show was spectacular.  Our last beach/pool day we decided to order from the "grill" at the hotel ~ we each got a burger, I ordered fries, Greg ordered  onion rings and we split a drink ~ the total.....$52.00.  Gasp.  And I thought our $20 tab at 5 Guys or Backyard Burger was pricey.  2 normal priced dinners were at Panda Express and a Thai Restaurant.

Here are a few pictures ~

my luau dinner ~ pork, rice, salad, taro salad & poi roll (lavender in color & delicious) & pineapple.
It was supposed to be all you can eat, but they ran out of food ~ I got salad and another roll.

Gregs plate included sushi.

Our Food Truck lunch at Pearl Harbor

The luau was part of the package we paid for at the Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu.  We were surprised to find out (after we paid for it), while we were reading the literature that the center and its employees and dancers were all part of the LDS church.  Had we realized this up front, we would most likely would have opted for a different luau option.  However, the dancers and the show were really good and we enjoyed that aspect.  The last show of the evening was in an enclosed, un air conditioned auditorium ~ it was HOT.  Then everyone started running up and down the aisles selling bottled water and at the intermission selling ice cream.  Good money making scheme ~ but there weren't even any fans to circulate the air.  We left at the intermission ~ the show was too loud, the music would have been fine, but the shouting from the dancers was crazy.

The fire twirler was outstanding ~ and he was 12 years old!

Thankful for ~
the experiences
trying new food
the bright beautiful colors & flowers
marking things off our bucket list

WAVES

With waves comes water and with water comes swimming attire.

So here is my take on bikinis ~

some ladies need to retire their skimpy bikinis

if you are 50,60,or older ~ time to retire the bikini
if you are 6+ months pregnant ~ a 2 piece is not for you (at least in public)
if your body is overlapping your bikini ~ its time for a one piece
Swimming attire is really for beach or pool or lakeside not walking down the street shopping attire.

that being said....here are beach pictures!

cliff idiot.....I mean diver!  I'm assuming it was a long way down ~ I didn't look!

we are thankful for ~
a good camera for pictures
Gods beautiful creation to take pictures of
digital technology ~ you can take lots of pictures but choose what you want to print