My Dish is Half Empty

By that I mean the peach cobbler baking dish is half full now. This is BAD stuff! I only used three of the four large peaches to make it.

This is a bowl for the neighbor, who may stop by if the rain ever stops. It's a downpour out there.

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OH MY - Peaches!

Eat your heart out my friends.....A cobbler shall appear in my kitchen in a day or so and then it will magically disappear!

This is a large vegetable serving bowl!

Loring: large, round peach with attractive red-blushed skin. Yellow, firm and melting flesh with medium texture, moderately juicy with excellent flavor. Soft when canned or frozen; freestone.

Please click on my peach!

Summer's Best

I watched this mushroom grow from a little white blob at the base of the tree to this magnificent mushroom. Guess I should have done a growth progress series. It took two days to become large. Then! I broke it off because I wanted to see the underside. 

This is one of two tomatoes that I just got from my daughter's garden. It's almost a sin to cut into this beauty. The Oxhearts are meaty and non-acidic with few seeds (that I will save for her for next year). SOOOOO GOOOOOOD!!

The marinating salad was made from my brother's tomatoes and cucumber.

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Snail Mail Thanks

When I first open the gift wrapping of something that was thoughtfully mailed or given to me, my first thought is that I shall write a thank you note for this gift. I usually do. Several times I have used e-mail but a touch of guilt struck each time. I know I’m old-fashioned but I also know how wonderful it is to receive a hard card - one that I can hold in my hand and feel the vibrations of the person who actually sat down and wrote it to me.

Modern technology has taken over many ways to convey our thoughts and feelings, but I KNOW that efforts to give a gift of love is reciprocated ten times over when a little note is returned.

You might say that a personalized hand-written thank you note is no longer expected or necessary - i.e. passe, outdated, corny, obsolete, bygone. Personally I think it is required. 

So, my friends and relatives, please don’t forget to send an authentic gratitude handwritten note when one is called for. You know when that is! It’s never too late to say thank you.

I just received one and it was charming. I’m grateful and hope they never go out of style. They convey your appreciation in a way that lasts.  This one arrived today!

Family Fishers

The son of my recently deceased sister is here with his family from Rhode Island. Her daughter and  husband are here from Delaware.  Both of these young adults grew up here and have returned to to visit with their dad. It is very hot but down at the lakefront it is a bit cooler. Yes fish were caught.

Not this group, but "someone" left a fish on the grassy bank. It attracted a turkey vulture.

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Lemon Jumbos

It's too hot to go outside - amend that - it's too humid for me! So I just bake and it is comfortable in here! One batch makes 24 cookies and they freeze very well. Now for a glass of fresh lemonade with the left over juice. 

 

Click on image to taste the lemon zest

Peach YUM!

We took a ride out to the farm stand this morning to get corn for supper and I couldn't resist getting just a few more Red Haven peaches. Made a peach pie! WOW! Is it ever delicious!

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The power went out during the bake and my oven is electric. It didn't stay off long but that could have been a disaster. Thank goodness for the stand-by generator!

The recipe for my pie can be found at this link from last year's pie blog. 
Recipe Peach Pie

Little redskin potatoes and baby beets are ready too! We saw a green pepper as large as a cantaloupe, and the tomatoes in the bin are now HUGE! I have one of my daughter's left and two from my brother so bypassed purchasing these beauties. We aren't really big fans of watermelon but there are lots of them available there.

Hey, isn't it a great thing that I can bake when it is so hot outdoors? The new air conditioner is performing wonderfully and we are very comfortable. 

Just Nature

The first thing I saw at 6:45 this morning when I looked out while enjoying my coffee was these two doe and their fawns. What a beautiful sight! They saw me and scooted away but I SHOT THEM!

We have a mushroom farm here on the beachfront under the old and large Douglas Fir evergreen tree. The varied fungus feed on the roots. If you know me you know I am fascinated with mushrooms and fungus.

And...on the way back across the road to the cabin I spotted several of these White Admiral butterflies alternately flapping and gliding and sitting in the carport. These butterflies start out life as a caterpillar that looks like a bird dropping with horns! The blue is very iridescent and lovely.

 I LOVE where I live! Yesterday I saw the large blue heron and an eagle fly over, a little green heron was on the dock and, later on in the day I saw five - yes FIVE Kingfishers fishing from the dam bridge railing.

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Cuisine and Tomatoes

I really enjoyed the food that was served at the baby shower. It's not often that I have eaten at an authentic Italian restaurant. You might wonder why Italian? Well the answer is simple. My daughter married an Italian man. Their daughter, the mommy to be, married an Italian man. Everyone seems to be so hearty, warm and full of life.  Gioia di vivere.

 I learned several things at the meal served there.  First, there was no butter on the table. The wonderful bread was near a bottle of olive oil and a salt shaker. You just broke off a slice (pre-cut but not to the bottom) and dipped it in the olive oil and salt that you had put on your bread plate. It was very good. Politeness rules as far as the servers were concerned. They bent over backwards to please. Many courses are involved.  If you would like to visit the actual "Ristorante" web page just click on the link below and visit. Don't forget to look at the menu!
La Campagna Ristorante

Now for another topic - tomatoes. Every year my daughter who lives near me here in PA grows special meaty large tomatoes from seed. She then hardens the little plants and brings and plants them in her sister's garden in NJ. They are treasured by all of us. We look forward to our Oxhearts. This year the NJ plants were doing just fine, as always. Three large red and juicy globes were picked and enjoyed. I was told that they were as large as grapefruits and delicious. THEN! There was a squirrel invasion. Not just one squirrel but several and, though six or seven were humanely trapped and taken far away, more came. They decimated ALL of the tomatoes that were growing large and with great promise to be the best crop ever. Several attempts at discouraging their actions were taken to no avail. The NJ family is both devastated and angry. For next year they have already ordered a screen house/canopy for protection.

In the meantime, PA tomatoes from the little seeds saved every year by both me and my daughter are doing fine this year. Two were delivered yesterday; one ripe and ready, and one for a day or two later. There are more to come.  It almost seems sinful to cut into them! They are exquisite!

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New Experience

My trip to NJ went fine. On one section of the highway we did hit a very hard shower for about 1/2 hour and had to slow down like everyone else. Caution lights were flashing for miles ahead and behind us. The rains were torrential and it was a little stressful but my daughter is a very good driver.

On the return trip the traffic coming out of Pennsylvania heading back to NJ after a weekend of who knows what, was backed up for many miles, double lanes completely stopped. No accidents just not enough road for the multitude of cars.

As for the baby shower, it was quite an experience for this "backwoods" country lady. Today showers are over the top. I wonder if it stems from being too busy or even too lazy to have a shower in the home. I suspect it is a case of "Can You Top This?" Or maybe it's just the way things are done now and I have a huge gap between then and now. Some of us old school types would be just as happy with an in-home shower and light refreshments. OOPS! How would you sit forty five chattering ladies in your living room and serve them an entire authentic Italian meal with all the trimmings? Plus wine! There was an entire room at the venue filled to the brim with gifts, books and packages of diapers. (Each guest was asked to bring a package of them to be included in a raffle.) There was a 3 1/2 hour use of the venue scheduled as it opened to the public when this event ended.  I never heard of grandmothers-to-be giving the baby shower for the mother-to-be and including her in the planning of the event either.  Wow have things changed! I must be getting old. I am not at all understanding of such change. It seems to be a lot of hullabaloo to me. A grinch I must be.

Then there is the waste that blows my mind. We always used to save pretty papers and bows to be reused. These were all just stuffed in a trash bag. There were a good number of gift bags used and that seemed to be better for me to understand. The mommy to be received not just one but several gifts from a single guest. That too was surprising. All in all it was a wonderful, well planned event and I must change my attitude if I can. Things are different now - VERY different and hard for me, who is set in my ways to understand.

I did get to see my grandson and my great grandson, Dominic, age 2.  He calls me Uncle Grandma. OK - A cutie for sure. My 12 year old granddaughter attended the baby shower and is becoming a sleek and trim beauty who is full of know how, elegance and polish at her young age. I saw several friends from the past years and that connection was wonderful as well. It was a successful hen party and I'm glad I was able to have the experience. Now I have a goal to change my outlook on today's way of doing things and try just go with the flow. I guess it's somewhat like parting your hair on the wrong side. Uncomfortable.

Photos may follow. I didn't bring my camera on purpose and depended on photos from others being sent my way - soon! I eagerly await the news of the arrival a baby girl in Mid-September! The parents have picked out her name already but won't tell a soul until she's born.

The Weekend

My daughter who lives nearby will be picking me up shortly today to travel with her to another daughter's home out of state for the weekend. There is a baby shower planned there for tomorrow and we'll stay over. I'll get a chance to see other relatives and friends plus the Bengal Cat, "Snow" and Boxer dog, "Massimo."  Her other dogs are gone... "Guiseppe" and "Pasquale" were great pets.

I may also get to visit with my great grandson, Dominic who is almost age two. I hear he is a very busy little boy and a special "piece of work."

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The baby shower is in anticipation of my 8th great grandchild, and we already hear it will be a beautiful daughter to loving parents and grandparents. My family sure is growing! From my six children there are now ten grandchildren, seven great grandchildren, and one great great grandchild! 

Bean Report

Well I really don't think our growing season is long enough for these to reach production level. They will have to bloom and then each blossom will turn into a growing bean. The bean should grow to be extremely long and fat. Mine are not in the land of growing and producing, but they are giving it a good try, even though strong winds have ripped them from the tree twice.

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Sad Times.....

Mom always said there are things in life worse than death. Struggling with cancer is one. The loss of my twin sisters, one at a time, twelve years apart, who both were loyal wives, loving mothers and proud grandmothers is felt by many.

Jeanette(L) d. 3-29-04 <>Joyce(R) d. 8-02-16.