KEEP MOVING

This is a busy time for me, mainly because I decided to CAN this year. We have been canning tomato sauce, tomatoes soup, peaches, and other garden stuff.... With the littles here 3 days a week doesn't leave me a whole lot of time for kitchen detail (I get nothing done when littles are around.) I do get to knit a few rows when the kids are playing on back porch though.

My SIL celebrated his birthday with a wonderful picnic up on the river. Caitlin brought up a quilt for the ground, one that I made years ago and forgotten. I guess I have been making 'scrap' quilts for a very long time now and I still LOVE them! 

Betty sure knows how to enjoy chocolate birthday cake...ha!

Second Antarctic shawl more than halfway done. This is taking me awhile only because I'm allergic to this yarn -Suri Alpaca from Percussion Rock Alpaca Farm, (my sister's).  The yarn is sooo lovely and it saddens me that I cannot use it all the time. Good news though, soon this yarn will be sold in Colorado as well as Wisconsin! 

Fall is almost here with Labor Day straight ahead on the calendar. Oh sweet cool fall, how I am looking forward to you!!!!!!!!! 

GARDENING and WINTER EATING

 It's a busy time this end of summer garden thing. My garden didn't do as well as I had hoped, the tomatoes-sad, beans OK, basil-good, kale-great, lettuce-great, cabbage-very poor, beet and carrots_?,potatoes-horrible. Even with the less than expected harvest, I am putting up a lot for winter use. Pesto, freezing kale and beans, bought 4 cases of peaches and today bought a HUGE box of Roma tomatoes to roast from Native Hill Farms. Love it! 

This morning I am trying another sandwich bread recipe. I have yet to find one that we all like, (cuts well for sandwiches and toast, all suggestions welcomed). I am so tired of buying bread that is ungodly expensive and all packaged in plastic, not to mention ingredients I can neither pronounce or ever heard of. Oh, how I hate plastic packaging and am on the forever quest to use as little as possible. 

My freezers are full all ready, so am roasting a chicken from early winter that is the size of a turkey this morning as well, (this will free up a little freezer space). Will cut off all the meat for later meals and use the bones for the most amazing stock! 

I know I can go buy all this, but I love knowing how to do it myself...it's empowering to me. I love supporting local farms, keeping my dollars here and away from big food companies. Heck, with the trade war that T.....has started, prices are rising fast! Knowing how to make things from scratch gives me a sense of security, and my 'made from scratch' tastes a whole lot better than store bought. Tomato sauce made from tomatoes that taste like a real tomato....amazing! 

The Tumbler block quilt is pieced, needing borders yet. I sure love my Go Machine! 

Happy Monday and the start of another great week!

A LITTLE VACATION

Driving through Summit County brought back some fond memories of ski trips with my kids. I loved that age when they could ski the 'big' mountains , (and carry their own skies). We had soo many good times up on these mountains. Nothing like a long chair lift ride to have teenagers as captive audiences, I learned a lot what they were thinking and how they were doing. So worth the ski lift prices!

I can feel Fall in the air...YEAH! It has been a different weather wise summer here on the Front Range, either blistering hot 90-100 or wet with overacted skies. Not so on the West side of the Rockies in Colorado. We took a fast trip to the Western Slope! I have always wanted to head over to Palisade Co. for peach season, and this year we had the time so off we went pulling our trailer over passes and through canyons. The road grades were steep to climb and scary to roll down, always in low gears. But we made it, (both ways). Palisade was HOTTER than Hades, and the locales said it has cooled off! Had been in the 110's for several weeks in July.  I can't do heat over 90 for any length of time, air conditioning or not. 

And I might add that the 'mighty Colorado River' is not looking so mighty. The river was too warm to fish, not to mention too low. The Western Slope had a dry winter and a dryer spring/summer,  add on to that, fires!  {People, the environment is changing and not for the better. 

Earth is warming up!}

 We visited several orchards and bought  cases of peaches, bottled wine, and pie cherries.

The fruit orchards are beautiful and smell like heaven, the fruit trees and grape vines are planted right up to the front doors of homes. Being that the valley was soo hot we left a day early, having done everything we came over to do. Really, the big draw to this valley is visiting all the winery's for tasting the end product of grapes. We are not wine drinkers, only went to one winery to pick up some gifts and we were done. (90 degrees never felt so good as when we returned to the Front Range. No place like home). 

I did get a lot of knitting done on this short trip.

Antarktis Shawl

I'm so pleased with this shawl that I have casted on another using alpaca yarn from my sister's farm.

Two cases of peaches canned and two more to go!

A peach upside down cake, yummy!

GOOD BYE JULY-HELLO AUGUST

Eric and I headed out for an evening walk and I grabbed  the big camera. Oh, how I would love to really understand photography. Reading, and re-reading two of my photography books,

perhaps the info will really click for me this go around. 

The end of summer is in sight and my favorite season directly in front me-FALL. 

Fall here in Colorado will continue to be hot( anything 80 or above is HOT) during most of September and October, but the evenings are dreamy! Cool, beautiful evening skies and magnificient sleeping weather. But first, August... 

It's peach season here in Colorado and we will be going to all the orchards to get as much as I can put up. So exciting...squirreling food away for winter!

I continue to knit slowly on Gus's Ella Funt sweater. My knitting mojo seems to rearing it's lazy head. I'm saying it's the summer, hard to handle wool when its HOT.

Back to my sweater, Gus will need in the fall.

YARN ALONG--August

My sweet boy, whom is teething, drooling (all the time) and is loosing more snot from that noggin of his...but, I love him so!

Comes by this activity honestly, (her Poppa was a drummer for a band traveling the country and parts of the world). She is good too! 

Knitting:Ella Funt for my little man, wish I could say I am enjoying this knit, but sadly I'm not. It is most likely the yarn I chose.

I loved Moosewood Cookbooks in 'the old days'---(late 70's early80's) , saw this at the library and had to pick it up. I have spied several recipes that I'm going to try before summer is over.

On my walk yesterday morning.

Making mud cupcakes and holding a worm on a lettuce leaf.

That cat is the bane of my dogs existence! It's not ours but comes over and drives the dogs 'to drink' and me wanting to something unkind to it, (no, I would never hurt an animal, owner...maybe). That cat digs, poops and sprays in my garden and teases the dogs daily. I have found it in my house, in my car and under the car, ( thankfully before I backed over it). She belongs to a neighbor whom we like, but cats should not be allowed to roam and cause so much confusion and frustration. If I allowed my dogs to roam like some cats I would be given tickets and picking up the dogs from 'doggy jail'! 

Enough said about that! 

Hope you all are having a lovely week. Join me and lots of other knitters over at Ginny's and Yarn Along

I must confess, I was stunned this morning when I saw it was Yarn Along Wednesday again. What happened to July? And how can it be August all ready?