Nice surprises

Most days come and go. Now and then things occur that are unexpected and turn out to be a nice surprise. Yesterday the unexpected occurred when we received hail. It was very small, but did do tear things up in the garden and the flowers are a bit tattered looking today.

I picked peppers the last two days and needed to do something with the ones we have been referring to as pizza peppers all summer even though the tag was marked 'Anaheim'. Joedy and I were examining them and we knew they didn't resemble the pizza peppers we had grown the previous year, so he decided to roast one. Guess what??!! They are Anaheims AND we have a lot of them and we didn't think we had many at all. The really nice thing about the Anaheim discovery is that I know I didn't mislabel the plants during transplanting. I was really getting a complex about it.

The other surprise of the summer has been the tomatoes. I put up another 4 1/2 pints today. I didn't expect much out of them after the hail on the 17th of July.

I have made sourdough bread a number of times in years past, but always used yeast when making it and have been disappointed that it didn't have the sour taste of the commercial bread I have tasted. I have been doing a good deal of reading about sourdough lately and found out that the real stuff doesn't have yeast in it, just the starter and has to rise for hours. Those two loaves are the first two without using yeast. I am very pleased with how they turned out. I would like to improve the looks of the crust, but the flavor and texture is great!!!!

Remembering

As I mentioned in my last post, the importance of taking one day at a time has really hit home.

My aunt passed away. Fortunately she did not have to suffer the month the doctors predicted she might live after she found out she had cancer the first part of Sept. She was at peace with dying, she was not afraid, a great testament to her faith and the way she lived her life.


She chose to have a simple burial beside her husband who died
years earlier, bypassing the usual rituals we have come to associate with death and dying. I totally agree with her choice.

The flowers are in her memory. She was a special person in my life and I will miss her.

What a month!!

I knew September was going to be a little hectic, but didn't have a clue as to how crazy it would become.

It has been been more than a good reminder that one should take one day at a time and make the most of it, as one never knows what lies ahead. This will be for another post.

The other day I walked around the yard and found the most interesting growth, which I assume is some kind of fungus, on one of the railroad ties behind the pond. I have no idea what it is as I have not had time to look it up. It is very firm and I plan on watching it for awhile. I have not seen anything like this before in the yard.

The flowers continue to produce masses of blossoms. The gazanias are finally doing something. I think it was too cool and

wet during June and July for them. They are getting with it now along with the purple daisies.

Since the cabbages are maturing and we are not going to put any sauerkraut up this fall, I decided that I needed to figure out what to do with all that cabbage. So I made 26 Bierocks on Tuesday. The first time I have made these delicious little pockets filled with hamburger, onion and cabbage. Have no idea why I haven't made them before now. I was pleased with how they turned out. Didn't have time to get a photo of them sitting on the cooling racks and took this one out of the freezer this morning for its photo shoot.

I picked some sand hill plums this morning and will make some jam and I noticed the grapes were ripening. Not sure if there are enough of them yet. And I need to get that salsa going.

Fall is fast approaching

I thought I should post a blog in Sept. before the first week had passed. I have no idea where the first 8 months of this year have gone. But the signs of fall can be seen in the garden. The mums are blooming and the garlic chives behind them are a little late, but in full bloom as well. I saw some pasta made with garlic chives at a Farmers Market I attended on Sat. in Denver. Might need to gather a few for that. They smell delightful when crushed.

The asters are blooming now. We have others the color of the
mums in the above photo and some are white. Most need to be thinned and moved to different parts of the flower gardens. I enjoy seeing the asters as they herald the coming of fall, my favorite season.

One of my favorite smells can be found in our kitchen when I put up tomatoes. They have done better than I thought they would after the hail earlier this summer. So far I have put up 32 pints of stewed tomatoes and 6 pints of some very hot salsa.