Apple Butter

 "In an orchard

there should be

enough to eat,

enough to lay up,

enough to be stolen,

and enough to rot

upon the ground." 

Samuel Madden

We picked enough to 'lay up'

some apple butter & some dried apples

 they required very little sugar

added along with

cinnamon and nutmeg

 cooking in the crock pot all day

until it becomes a delicious

apple butter

 the dehydrator worked its magic

and with time 

these apples became tasty treats

Apples

apple picking time 

 means baking apple strudel

 and apple crisp

 and a bowl of fresh

Fresh & Colorful

I love when fresh fruit

is in season

even if I have to buy it at a store

 hand picked garden fresh tomatoes

 and cucumber sandwiches

from a new picking

 vegetable palooza

 topped with fresh herbs

 and some chunked kielbasa

roasted on the grill

 and a little corn on the cob

to finish off our vegetable laden meal

The rewards of gardening!

and more coming soon!

Monarch Butterfly About to Emerge

(click on pictures to enlarge)

Our good friends have a monarch

butterfly about to emerge

 she called to see if I wanted to take

some pics and of course I did

 its hanging off their

topsy turvy planter

Note the changes in the

following two pictures

the colors in the wings are showing

the emerging seemed to slow down

so we wandered around the yard

 I'm still snapping pics of course

 I love the ducks on this fountain

and the old wagon wheel topped

with the vintage window box

 and as we strolled along ...

 she found a new chrysalis

hanging on the garage wall

 and the remains of last years

hanging on the house

 after an hour of waiting, I headed home

Enjoy the remainder of the summer

the bees sure are!

Tomorrow I will check the progress on the butterfly.

For Your Enjoyment:

Old Advertisements:

some are funny

but others

 just make

you shake your  

head in disbelief!  

Thom and I took a hour and a half walk yesterday.  We started out by cutting across the lawn to check out the neighbors grapes.  He now lives in Florida so we watch over the place for him. The grapes are getting out of control, that along with the lack of rain this summer have caused the grapes to decrease in size and abundance. With so much foilage you'd think it would be loaded with grapes; but not so.  There are very few this year. 

 The plums seemed to be doing well this year. I can't wait for them to ripen. They are so sweet, almost as sweet  am!  lol

 The beginning of our nature trail walk takes us past a few medows.  We heard the sand hill cranes take off just before we came around the corner.  I guess they heard us as well.

 Dragonflies were flying around as if they had a full mission sent from head-quarters. I was able to capture this little fella as the big ones kept on moving about. 

 A couple of moths decided to land on the trail right in front of my feet. I guess this is how the little ones are made!  They didn't seem to need any privacy so I snapped the camera! Or maybe they were just wrestling!  

 Although we didn't see much of birds or animals on this particular walk, the dragonflies, moths and butterflies were all over the place. 

 The apples along the route aren't quite ready yet, I'd say about a month away from ripe.  But the dew berries were ripening.  They are like a bramble blackberry.  They grow close to the ground and vine about.

 We picked enough for a couple of fresh home-made dewberry turn-overs for breakfast.  Sorry no pictures because they went directly from the oven to our stomachs. But take my word for it, they were delicious!

 Then we headed down the road which took us from one end of 'the loop' to the other - back to home-sweet-home.