I can feel Fall in the air

Hello - Hope everyone has had a good summer.  The weather is starting to turn here and I can feel Fall in the air outside.  I even wore a jacket to work today.  I love Fall...only a few short weeks until I am no longer in my 20's!  I always look forward to my birthday and this year is no different.  Since I am entering into a new decade this year, I plan to spoil myself a little more this b-day.  I took the week off work and planned a spa day...I am getting a facial, a 1 hour massage, and a haircut.  I'm looking forward to it!!!

These past few months have gone by quickly.  My wonderful husband and I were busy canning each weekend.  Here is the total so far of what he have put up for this coming winter:

On the bottom are green beans and carrots

Then we have a spicy hamburger soup, chicken stock, and pickles

Then lots and lots and lots of corn and a few pints of peas

We processed 96 ears of corn and made 43 pints!

We also have some salsa, honeyed pears, and vegetable soup

Lastly, we have strawberry and raspberry jam

We are hoping that most of this will replace the produce we would normally have to buy in the winter.  It will be nice to have some summertime vegetable and fruit during the chilly months.

Other than the busy job of preserving food my summer was filled with reading, running, biking, and work.  I read some really good memoirs/non-fiction books.  

The first was "Mennonite in a Little Black Dress", which is about a women who is facing some life tragedies and returns home for some emotional healing.  Although the title makes you think the focus is going to be on the Mennonite culture, the book is more about how the author is dealing with the recent trauma in her life.  An interesting, funny, quick read.

Sometime after that I read "The Glass Castle".  This book was really good!  It is the amazing story of Jeannette Walls and her family.  I don't even know how to describe the story, but you won't want to put the book down because you just want to know how it ends.  I'm looking forward to reading her new book, "Half Broke Horses", soon.

I also read "Into the Wild" this summer.  This also was a book that I didn't want to put down.  I already knew how this story was going to end, but reading about all that Jon Krakauer was able to discover about Chris McCandless and possible reasons why he did what he did were very intriguing.  I can really emphasize with Chris's story of wanting to be in the wild and at one with nature and life.

Aside from those great books I did read some fiction:  "Valley of the Dolls", "Heartland" books, and "Little Bee".  Currently I am reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".  

With all of this reading, we have decided to get E-readers.  I bought one for the husband for his b-day/anniversary gift.  He decided to get the reader from Borders.  It's called the Kobo.  So far he says it is the best gift he has ever received.  I decided to get the new Amazon Kindle for my b-day/anniversary gift.

Even though I have been doing all this reading I do have to say that I have the knitting itch, especially with the weather turning colder.  I'm thinking of finally knitting some shawls or cowls.  I wish I was super fast and could whip up a nice cardigan or shell to wear at work...but I am not that fast.  I still have a lonely mitten that I finished earlier this spring.  Maybe when I start knitting I can make its partner.

Hope all is well in your world as the weather turns to fall.  Until next time, Ciao.

Pickles

I have been busy both with work and at home lately.  Last week I started riding my bike to work.  It was a nice change from running all the time.  I tried a new route the first day...staying on the road instead of going a little out of my way on the bike path.  I decided I did not like it...too many cars and stop lights to worry about.  So, the next time I rode I took my old route around the small lake in town.  It is a much better way to start the day.  The only bad things was that I think my bike seat wasn't at the right level and now my knee has been hurting since Saturday.  I haven't been able to run or bike and that just makes me feel so blah.  Hopefully I will be able to do something tomorrow.

Over the weekend we went to a movie, The Sorcerer's Apprentice.  It had Nicolas Cage and we always like his movies.  It was a good family movie to go to.  On Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market, as usual.  We are trying to can at least one thing per week and this week we did pickles.  We bought about 9lbs of pickling cucumbers and 14 heads of dill.  We were expecting about 9 pints.  The recipe we used was from the USDA's canning guide and it called for the pickles to soak in a brine solution for 12 hours.  This meant that we couldn't process the jars until around 11 pm.  It made for a long night.  We started canning and realized we had way more pickles/jars than expected.  The hubs had to take a trip to the grocery store to by dill seed b/c we ran out of fresh pickling dill.  In the end we had 18 jars...double of what we expected.  I think the main reason behind that is the size of our pickles.  We could only fit about 4-6 in a jar.  We have to wait 4-6 weeks for the pickles to cure before we can try them.  I hope they are good b/c we have 18 jars to eat over the fall/winter.

On Sunday we slept in late and then I even took a nap around noon.  It felt good to be lazy.  When I did get up I spent the rest of the day doing laundry and in the kitchen.  I baked a chicken and made roasted vegetables for dinner.  While the chicken was in the oven I made some leek and potato soup (also called vichyssoise).  I used my Martha book.  Martha says this is the best known cold soup.  It is really easy to make and it tastes really good.  I actually got the idea from a young boy at the Farmer's Market who was trying to sell me leeks and potatoes as a combo to make the soup.

This week I hope to get my exercise routine back in order and my body back in shape.  This weekend we will most likely be canning green beans.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world!

Peas and Carrots!

Flowers in the Garden

Flowers are blooming in our garden....hoping they turn into a bountiful harvest!

Pumpkin flowers

They only last about half a day once they bloom, but they are really big and beautiful.

One pumpkin starting to form.  We are hoping to get quite a few and are planning to make pie and possible can some for later use.

Potato flowers.  So tiny and cute.  We could harvest some new potatoes now, but we are going to let all of our tubers grow.  We have to wait until the greens dye before digging them out.

This tomato started growing a few weeks back.  So far we only have three growing.  They should get to a decent size before ripening.

Summer Vacation Part II: Winnipeg

This is the last day of our two week summer vacation.  I had planned this time off before deciding to go to Denver to see my sister.  It has been really great to have time off from work during June and July.  I think it will take me a bit to get back into the work groove...especially that 5:30 am alarm set for tomorrow.

During the last week of June we went up to Winnipeg, MB.  We had never been there before and had just decided earlier in the year to check it out.  I did a lot of research on general info on Winnipeg (the Chicago of the north) and on places to see and things to do.  Here's a little synopsis of our adventures:

We drove up through North Dakota...not too exciting.  A lot more prairie than I would have guessed.  Crossing the boarder was quite easy and there was a friendly Manitoba welcome center on the other side.  On our first full day in the city we went to a nature area called Assiniboine Park.  We went to their conservatory, English garden, Leo Mol sculpture garden, and the zoo.

Day 2 was Canada Day.  We joined in the festivities...downtown market and music, face tattoos, and fireworks.  It was a lot of fun.  Our hotel was downtown in the French Quarter.  We went to the St. Boniface Museum, which is the oldest building in Winnipeg as well as the largest remaining North American traditional oak log structure.  We also toured other historical sites around the downtown area.  There is a lot of history there because of early first nations settlements and because of fur trading.

On our last day in the city we went to a Blue Bomber game.  The Bombers are Winnipeg's team in the Canadian Football League.  Both CFL and US have similar rules but the CFL is a little different with a longer and wider field and only three downs instead of four.  The game was awesome!  It was one of the best parts of the trip.  Our seats were really high up and we could see everything.  The Bombers won so that made it even more exciting!

On our trip back to the states we went through Kenora, ON and Lake of the Woods.  That area is gorgeous.  Definitely want to go back!

For next year's adventures we are thinking about Rocky Mountain National Park and the Calgary area....can't wait!!

Growing and Canning

This year's summer projects are the garden and canning.  

Our garden is loving this hot humid weather we have been having since late May.  This year we planted tomatoes (heirloom brandywine and yellow brandywine), onions, potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, lettuce, and herbs (basil, sage, oregano, thyme, and rosemary).

 Late May

Late June

So far we have only harvested lettuce leaves.  Our tomatoes are flowering and our potatoes and pumkins are about to.  The pumpkins are really starting to take over the patio.  Their stems are hollow and very prickly and they grow vines that twirl and grab on to things.

The last two weekends we canned jam.  We bought a pressure cooker earlier in the springtime and this was our first time trying to can anything.  We have been using recipes from Ball.  The jam has been fairly easy so far.  Although I did burn my finger from the canner steam on the first try.  We made strawberry jam last weekend and both strawberry and raspberry this weekend.  We should have enough to make it through the winter (we hope)!

We plan to can other berries, lots of veggies (corn, peas, beans, carrots, etc), tomatoes, salsas, pasta sauce, and maybe some pickled things.

This week we are off on our Summer Vacation Part 2 -- to Winnipeg, MB.  Hope all is well in your world.

Cheers!

Summer Vacation Part 1

In early June we took a trip to Denver.  My sister was graduating from a Vet Tech school and my mom, dad, and hubby went out to see her and her husband.

It was awesome.  I'm glad we went.  My parents arrived on a Friday and we left the next day. The trip out there wasn't too eventful.  Lots of windmills in MN and Iowa.  Then nothing but boring road in Nebraska.  We did see a few CAFO's and that was sad.  I guess there use to be a lot more though, so it's good if they do not have as many now.  The drive was about 14 hours that day.  We went to see my sister shortly after we got there.  Then we went to the hotel and crashed.  

The next day we spent sight-seeing around Denver.  We had breakfast at Denny's (we ate there a lot on our trip b/c it was close to the hotel) and then went to downtown Denver.  They have a pedestrian shopping area called the 16th Street Mall along a whole street.  After that we went to the zoo.  We didn't stay there too long though b/c it was soooo hot.  In the 90's.  I felt like I was burning/melting and had to be careful about staying hydrated.  After that we went swimming in the hotel pool....sooo NICE.  It was the first time in 3 years that I had worn my swimsuit (besides the athletic one I wear to the gym).  Haha.  That night after dinner we went to a place called "Lookout Point".  We had to drive up a mountain (literally) to get there and it was kind of nerve wracking.  At the top there was a tourist shop and Buffalo Bill's grave and museum.

 

The next day we just hung around the hotel until it was time to go to my sister's graduation. She gave us a tour of her school, Bel-Rea, and took us to see all of the animals they have  there.  My sister graduated with honors, we were all so proud of her!  After the graduation we went to dinner and then back to her apartment for a while.  It was good to see her and get to know her husband a little more.  I wish we could have visited with her a little longer.

The day after that we started our trip home.  We decided to take a different route and go through Rocky Mountain National Park.  That was the best part of the trip (besides seeing my sister).  The park is awesome and sooo beautiful.  We were going to just drive through and then even try to drive up to Yellowstone in Wyoming, but we ended up staying at Rocky Mountain for most of the morning.  We entered the park at Estes Park, CO and drove on the Trail Ridge rode up to the Alpine Visitor Center.  This paved road takes you up to ~12,100 ft and is the highest altitude you can get to in a car in the US.  We passed through three climate zones.  On the bottom it was about 65 deg F. and at the top it was 35 deg F. and snowy.  We got to the top just before lunch was about to be served in the visitor center.  We all had chili and even though it was almost summer it seemed to be the perfect meal.  They had a gift shop at the visitor center (of course) and we got some t-shirts and a really pretty Christmas tree ornament.

 When we drove up it was really foggy and there were areas that we couldn't see.  So when we went back down it was like we were going through a whole new territory.

We only saw two kinds of wildlife:  some type of squirrel and elk.  There were areas that moose and beavers would have like...but we didn't see any this time.

My camera battery died right after I took pictures of the elk.  When we got back to Estes Park we luckily found a camera store with batteries.  We also had time to get a malt from one of the shops.  It was sooo good.  I still think about it from time to time.  Haha.  August and I already want to go back to the park! 

After our delicious malts we started heading home via Cheyenne, Wyoming and then across South Dakota.

Plateaus in Wyoming

We reached the edge of South Dakota around 9 pm and decided to go to Mount Rushmore b/c we were traveling right by it.

 That was actually more difficult to find than you would think.  It's kind of hidden back on some county roads.   We got a little lost and even had to ask for directions. We were only there for about 15 - 30 min. and then drove a little farther east, found a hotel in Wall, and slept a little.  Then on the last day we drove back to Rochester and my parents continued on home.

I can see why so many people I know live/are moving to Colorado.  It is so beautiful there.  I can't wait to go back!

Summer is Here!

Summer definitely arrived early here.  We had temps in the 80's and 90's in June, which made it feel like the middle of summer.

We planted our garden in early May and the Farmer's Market moved back outside, which was sooo nice.  Here are some early spring radishes and pics from Easter.

We had a nice and long Tulip season this spring.  Here are some pictures from downtown.

I meant to post this entry in late May and now it is already late June.  Geez, time goes by quickly.