This Week

We are still getting plenty of use out of the easel that Mom and Dad gifted to us a while back.  Luci made a checklist of things for her to do during her day:

Slep  (sleep--get out of bed in the morning)
Et      (eat)
Play   (I think you can figure this one out!)
Slep  (sleep --go to bed at night)
Chorz  (chores)

Please, someone tell me:  How can she spell phonetically but not be able to read?

Luci grabbed my camera and had a photo shoot with her Barbie and Ken dolls...

Not too shabby of a photographer, huh?

I've been canning or freezing many things that John has grown in his garden.  I learned that I should not have cut the banana peppers because it looks a lot like canned calamari.

We have so many pickles (the cucumbers did quite well!) that I told John, "No more!"  He brought in two dozen cukes last week and I nearly cried.  We've started giving them away.

Wild Blackberry Jam

We haven't had wild blackberry jam since we moved to this house 4 1/2 years ago.  I was so happy that John found some wild blackberries in our backyard this summer!  He and Luci picked enough to make 3 pint jars plus have a little left over for tomorrow's breakfast, and enough to make a little-bitty cobbler just for John.  Since Luci didn't pick very many, John got rewarded, plus, there's that whole "I hate the seeds!" thing that Luci has.  :)

We also had a few jalepeños from the garden that needed pickling.  There are not enough yet to make many jars--just enough for one and a half pint jars (I don't have any half-pint jars; they are on my shopping list now!).  I added carrots to make up the space in the jar. 

Here are the recipes I used for the blackberry jam and the jalepeños.