Pie-O-My

I love baking pies. I love eating pies. I could live on pies. (I once worked with a gal who was a tad overweight and she decided to go on a [yet another] diet. But this time she made the decision to restrict her eating to something she really liked so she could stick with her diet. You guessed it. Pie. I know it sounds crazy [and I truly don't recommend it . . . or do I? Hmmm . . . ] but she ate nothing but pie for a month and lost weight. Then she died. I'm kidding! About the dying part.)

I first dipped my fingers into the food business by making pies for a good friend at her restaurant. I would get up at 4 a.m. each morning, drive 15 miles into town, and bake pies before the restaurant opened. After I owned my own restaurant, I incorporated pies into my menu there. The best sellers? Raspberry-Cranberry and Chocolate Velvet, closely followed by Bittersweet Chocolate.

Our daughter tells a good story of going to school (she was in her early teens at the time) and complaining bitterly to her friends regarding the fact that she and her dad had had to sample three more pies the night before because of the constant experimenting with new recipes I was doing. Her friends looked at her as if she had a screw loose. Having to sample pies day after day? Omigod, what a cruel and evil mother she had!

What's my favorite pie? How long do you have? I guess it would have to be a fruit pie. (If I rule out Banana Cream Pie first which my daughter always makes me for my requested birthday "cake.") Rhubarb. Cherry. Raspberry. PEACH! Our good neighbors gave us some frozen peaches (from friends of theirs out of the area) last winter and I made a peach pie that was UN-BE-LIEV-ABLE! It wasn't my pie baking skills but rather those sent-from-heaven peaches. Mmm, mmm. Just thinking about them. 'Scuse me while I gain control of myself.

But, bottom line, can you beat a good, old-fashioned apple pie? Come fall each year, I get such a hankering for apple pie I can hardly stand it. I've been waiting for some newly harvested organic apples to come in at our local whole foods co-op and when I popped in there this last weekend, a friend and clerk alerted me to some with just the right amount of tang (we sampled one on the spot) for baking.

Here's what I baked with those apples this morning. And unless somebody drops in, Roy and I are going to eat the whole thing ourselves. Yessiree, we are.

Yarning and Yawning

At the end of each day, Roy and I try to take time to sit together to chat and wind-down before going to bed. Sometimes there isn't a lot of conversation, we just like being in close proximity while he reads (this man has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge often reading material that is highly technical and dry as dust --- or, okay, stuff I don't have the intelligence to understand), and I read (give me a good novel any day) or do handwork. During the summer when I'm so physically active during the day, I generally grab some handwork to do because within minutes of getting comfortable and sitting still to read, I fall asleep.

This is a new winter scarf I've been working on . . . and which last night came to a screeching halt. Ran out of yarn. I purchased only one skein as it's lovely, unbelievably soft baby alpaca, and was a wee bit pricey. But now that I'm well into the scarf, I just have to have more yarn to give me the length I want. The yarn shop is about 25 miles down the road but also on the way to The Big City where we will be going shortly (this week?) to pick up one of our vehicles we left there for repair.

Guess I'll have to rely on scintillating conversation to keep me awake for a few nights now until I can get more yarn.

Tour of a Tired Garden

I was going to title this "Tour of a Dead and Dying Garden" but when I started taking pictures, I realized the garden wasn't dead, just a little tired.

The canning and preserving onslaught has dwindled at last. Whew. Maybe (just possibly) another picking of raspberries. A lot of blueberries out there right now wanting to be harvested, but it's raining so they will have to hang on a bit.

I was very surprised this morning to see more green beans to be picked. When I harvested on Friday, I saw no more blossoms and just a few one to two inch long beans. It's been so cool that I didn't think they'd grow anymore. The bean plants still look good though.

Here's a shot of the first cucumber bed I planted. Its' still producing but starting to look a smidge tired.

Of the four cuc beds, this one went in last and, I think you can see, is still blossoming like crazy. Main problem is it outgrew it's bed (no foolin') and we can no longer shut the cold frame top to protect it from the much cooler temps we're now experiencing. Whoops. Who goofed there?

I had two trellises of Sweet Peas this year and they both gave us uncounted bouquets to have in the house and give away. You can see by this picture that the vines are pretty much done now. The bush zinnias at the base are still lovely. I'm gonna put in more of those next year.

Our experimental tomatoes in plastic wrapped cages are going great guns. I've severely pruned them at least three times but you can see how lush they still are. The cages are three feet high and most of the plants are way above that. Lots of green tomatoes. Only two (that's right, TWO) that have started to color up. Sigh.

An action shot of me gathering zucchini. Even in our now cool weather, they just keep on producing. Ya just can't keep a good zucchini down.

I threw the geese some too big zucchini Roy chunked apart with a shovel. They came running over, took a couple of big bites and said, "This doesn't taste anything like watermelon," and left.

I'm getting so much pleasure looking at our sunflowers. If we had just had a decent June, I think the heads would have matured for us. I'm 5'3" so the tallest must be about 8 feet tall. I planted a mixture of three different heights and they all did well.

Our poor, dilapidated potato rows. The plants have almost all died down and we could dig the potatoes but we're gonna give them a few more weeks for the skins to thicken a bit more. Sure am anxious to see what kind of a crop we get though.

I picked a really nice batch of pickling cucs off these slightly beat-up looking vines last Friday. And they have scads of blossoms yet. But how much more producing they will do . . . ? Depends on how much warm weather they require. I have all the pickles made that we need. Now my dear daughter has gone into production with any I have to share with her. She inherited the pickling gene from me. We both love to make pickles. She's much more adventuresome than I am and is doing some experimenting this year.

Here's a portion of the strawberry patch. We always cut our strawberry plants down to ground level when they finish bearing. A little late we were this year; they got mowed only about two weeks ago. But look at the growth they've made already. They'll be in great shape to go into winter.

My new-this-year pumpkin patch. Again, if June hadn't been so cold and wet . . . The plants are looking fantastic. Just don't know if the fruits will have time to mature.

Yes, there are pumpkins in there. Albeit a mite on the green side, wouldn't you say? Hey, there's always orange spray paint. And I won't hesitate to use it.

I have two beds of lettuce that are still doing great thanks to coverings of shade cloth in the past hot weather when lettuce usually gives up the ghost and calls it quits. This was the first year we used shade cloth and it proved well worth the investment.

My good ol' rhubarb plant. So many luscious pies and desserts this summer. And several bags of frozen rhubarb in the freezer for more treats this winter. It's been resting since I stopped cutting mid-summer and now it's looking a bit saggy and draggy. I think it's contemplating snow and hibernation.

Our day time temperatures haven't gotten out of the cool range this past week and at night it's been getting down into the 40s. Absolutely delightful weather for being outside, even if the sweatshirts have come out of the dresser drawers, and sleeping at night requires a few minutes of cuddling to get warm. Up here, we could get our first killing frost anytime in September (or August!) so anything we still get from the garden now is a bonus.

Evening Quilt Progress Update

Here's the progress I made in the quilt room this afternoon. Gosh, it felt good to be back in there creating again.

I thought I had a pretty definite pattern in mind for the whole design but as I worked and looked at the colors, I found new thoughts and ideas popping into my head. I guess that's why it's called "a work in progress." Need more length in the Flying Geese strips and probably one more strip set of them but I'm pleased at the speed with which it's going together.

And, no, the windshield repair guy neither called nor showed up. But I sure had a great day.

A Day Off and Itchy Fingers

Roy and I are taking a "day off" today. We were planning on recreating out and about . . . we have a favorite lake not too far from here (and close to a great place to stop for lunch!) where we planned to put in the canoe and do some leisurely paddling and sight-seeing. But, wouldn't ya know it, the guy who we've been waiting on to show up to fix a leaky windshield called yesterday saying he was going to be in our area today and might be able to stop at our place. Might? Not for sure, but might. Grmpf. That means we have to stick close to home all day hoping he will show up. Anybody out there want to make a bet?

So we decided to take our lemons and make lemonade. We'll still take a day off. It's just that we're spending it at home. We each get the day to do whatever we want for fun and enjoyment all day. Work type projects are off limits. Gotta admit, this is really, really hard for me to do. Guess it's because I'm the one who's mainly in charge of keeping the house and running the household. Every time I walk through a room, I see at least ten things that NEED to be done and it's hard to ignore. (A good set of horse blinders is helping.) But the best place to go to get away from all the "must-dos"? My quilt room, of course.

I mentioned in my last blog entry that I had purchased some fabric for my soon-to-be new fall shower curtain. Actually, I only bought the print that I plan on using as a border on either side of the Flying Geese strips and an ecru/beige piece that will be the background for the geese. This morning I spent a lot of time going through my stash picking out greens, blacks, oranges and golds that I'll use for the geese.

I know lots of quilters say that picking out the various fabrics for a project is their favorite part. Not me. Uh-uh. No, no, no. I think it's because I don't feel confident in my color expertise. (Okay, so I don't even HAVE any expertise in that aspect of quilting.) It takes me forever to make a selection that I'm happy with, and then . . . I still have my doubts. But it's done now, for better or worse, so let the fun part begin.

This afternoon I'll start cutting and piecing. My itchy quilting fingers are going to get some relief. Stay tuned for pictures of Flying Geese on my design wall.

A Year of Shower Curtains

A few years ago a friend was giving me a tour of her new house. In the bathroom, she showed me a quilted shower curtain she had made. How cool, I thought. The motif was a tall, beautiful pine tree with a moose standing at the bottom of it . . . what is called a landscape quilt. Very in sync with her lovely, log home in the North Woods.

I had always kept a plain white shower curtain on our shower stall because . . . well, it went with everything. But my Dear Daughter had given me a hard time more than once regarding said shower curtain, saying it looked too "institutional." Okay, now that I had the seed planted in my head, I would make a quilted shower curtain to replace my hum-drum white one.

The time of year happened to be summer so I picked fabrics with a "summertime" feel to them and went to it. Finished it lickety-split (I was on a mission) and hung it in the bathroom. Looked great, if I did say so myself.

(Sorry the picture isn't better; we've got a long, narrow bathroom and I couldn't get a shot of the curtain from the front.)

Decorating our house for the different holidays and seasons throughout the year has been something I've always done. So come that fall, as usual, I pulled out all my autumnal colored decorations (yes, I even do the bathroom), and put them out. Except . . . darn, but that quilted shower curtain just didn't look right now. So, you guessed it, I had to make one following a fall color scheme.

Well, this pattern followed me all through the year until it got back to time to put up my first curtain, the summer one. I now had five shower curtains; one for each of the four seasons and a special one for the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays. Although each curtain is up for only part of the year, there is a south facing window at right angles to it and the sun, over the years, has taken its toll on each one. So now I'm to the place where it's time to start thinking of replacement curtains. My fall curtain seems to have suffered especially from the sun so a few weeks ago, I picked out fabric and decided on a Flying Geese theme for the new curtain. Now, I want in the worst way, to forget about all of the end-of-summer chores that must be done, shut myself in my quilt room, and work on my new shower curtain. Priorities, Mama Pea, priorities. (Yeah, but whose priorities?? Tee-hee.)