In a Pickle

Two girls packed two pecks of pickled...pickles.

Yes! We finally got around to canning the Kosher Dill Pickles!!! I am so excited, it will be like popping open tasty little reminders of Mom this winter. Mmm, mmm, good! Huh, what is that behind the pickles? I think I will call my Mom and ask... Moving along now. Val packed the pickles into the jars and I filled them with brine and capped them. How many pickles can you fit in one jar? Lets ask Val. She has her own way of figuring it out! The Pickles are beautiful and I am looking forward to trying them!

Blast from the Past

My cousin Shannon was visiting for the weekend from DC and she and I went to Cambridge Springs for a look around. I lived in Cambridge when I was a child, so it was fun to look around and see what is the same and what has changed. The town was mostly the same. Some different shops and such, but over all it looked about the same. It did seem smaller, now that I am grown! We had fun reminiscing in a local thrift shop, Buttons and Bows! I used to go there with my Mom. It is a small space with a ton of stuff packed in! They have three floors and just about anything you might want to look at and everything you didn't know you can't live without. I was lurking down in the basement when I saw it from across the room. I scrambled through the closely set racks of clothing and tables of household items and stands of shoes. Like a crazy person in Wal-mart the day after Thanksgiving I shoved my way across the otherwise uninhabited basement to get it. I found the holy grail of thrift items. A perfect gift for my mother. ( I am so happy that it is not an insult to give thrift store items as gifts in my family!) I found a 9 cup Corning ware percolator! Now, I am not really a coffee drinker myself. I like the idea of coffee, but not so much the coffee. I prefer tea. My mother on the other hand does like coffee, and she likes her coffee with perk. She has been using an aluminum camp percolator while waiting for the right one to come along, and now it has! Thank you Buttons and Bows!

We spent a bit of time in the little park in the center of town. It is a cute place with benches and flowers, a gazebo and a fountain, some historical information markers and a time capsule. Yay for small towns. :)





After a stroll up and down the main street with few pit stops in an antique store and a thrift shop we made our way to the historic Riverside Inn. We went in and had a look around. Our grandmother, Virginia, worked there. We had a great time looking around. I had much more appreciation for the beautiful antiques now that I am older than I did as a child when I visited with my grandma. It is a very beautiful inn. They have lots of guest rooms, a few dining rooms, a play house, and lovely yards and landscaping. I had a very good time, thank you Shannon!

Nana Comes A Visiting

Long rides in the car, and two flights on airplanes, to our house Nana comes...

or something along those lines. My aunt Kathy came for a week long visit, and we had a great time. She was very excited to spend time with Samuel, and he was happy to spend time with his Nana!

Fun with Spaghetti Sam

Samuel likes spaghetti. Never mind that it is difficult to eat, in fact, that is what makes it so very fun! Samuel is determined to feed himself, even if it means picking up individual grains of rice with his fingers for an hour. That is almost what it was like for the spaghetti too, since it was cut up into little pieces. He was covered in it, from head to rump to feet! Actually, I think there was more stuck to his bottom than in his tummy! Children have such determination. I am not convinced that I would do the same thing anymore, if it was that hard to feed myself and someone was waiting and willing to help by feeding me, I think I would take them up on their offer! Way to go Samuel!

Salsa and soup and sauce...Oh, my!

Well, Val and I wanted to do some canning, so we went out to buy some produce. First we stopped by the home of an older coupe who had a sign by the side of the road advertising tomatoes for sale, so we pulled in. Bert and Ernie (Yes, that is actually their names, I am not just inserting made up ones.) had a bunch of tomatoes they were selling from their garden, so we bought all they had. Which was about half a bushel. We also bought some of their home grown potatoes. After Bert and Ernie's, we ended up at Al's Melons, a local market where they grow a lot of their own produce. They were selling bushel boxes of roma tomatoes, and the boxes were lined up on tables out in front of the market. Val and I looked at them, and chose two to take home. I went inside to start gathering the other groceries we needed with Sam while Val loaded the Jeep. Then when we checked out, it seems that someone (and I am not naming any names, Val) had put a third bushel into the car. After a stop to buy canning jars, we went home to can!

I Don't Think We're in Denver Anymore...

When Val and Samuel arrived I had to go pick them up in Pittsburgh. I didn't really know where I was going, so my friends John and Lisa spent the day with me and showed me around the city a bit. We had lunch a Primanti Bros. which is a Pittsburgh tradition I had not yet experienced, and the food was almost as good as the company! (Which means it was very good!)















After lunch they introduced me to geocaching, which was a lot of fun. I am excited about going again! While we were looking for a cache, I got a few photos of downtown Pittsburgh.

After our fun day out, John made sure I could get to the airport and home without problems by putting his GPS in my car! What a great friend! I did make it to the airport fine, and brought Val and Samuel home. It was a wonderful day!

On the Road Again

The drive went well. We were blessed with good weather and no problems with either vehicle the whole way. I guess that is how it goes when you choose the right moving team!