Life happened!

Wow! It has been three weeks plus since my last post. I was just so busy with summer's end activities..... moving kids to college, organizing/re-vamping & cleaning rooms, gardening, freezing veggies, mowing the incessantly growing lawn, cleaning up our rental property left in shambles both inside & out by our less-than-stellar tenants!, taking bike rides with my hubby and reading lots of good books. As my post title states- life happened!! Things have settled down a bit, so I'll try again to be a little more consistent! I'll share some photos I've taken recently. Tonight I did the 'foodie blogger' thing and took pictures of our supper. Iowa fed grilled pork chops!, homemade pineapple salsa with peppers, garlic, onions, & mint fresh from the garden, garden fresh potatoe slices sauteed in pecan oil and then baked ALL washed down with a 'cool one', a 12 oz Leinenkugel Berry Weiss! TGIF!!!!!

We're starting to feel a touch of fall here! Refreshingly crisp at night with low humidity and great temps! Also, have had NO rain since Tuesday when we got a half an inch. The faucet has been running pretty full out all summer, and the river through town has left its banks an unprecedented three times- the last of which was in the second week of August! We were lucky here, unlike other parts of Iowa, and no major flood damage occurred.

I mentioned in the beginning of this post how I have been reading! I finished Steig Larsson's dark and suspenseful trilogy and just loved the whole series! It was amazingly easy to get quite attached to the flawed yet, at the same time, highly endearing characters. Do any of you feel the same? In a completely different, and I mean different!, genre, I finished "Take Four", the final book in Karen Kingsbury's Above the Line series. It was good. Looking forward to the Bailey Flannigan series which will be a continuation of sorts of the Above the Line series focusing on one of the main characters. I'm also completely taken by Alexander McCall Smith's "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series. They are just the cutest stories. Love them! Just delightful reads! So, as you can see, I've had my nose firmly in a book whenever I've had the chance! I usually try to limit my reading to just before bed.............. otherwise it is amazing how a day can fly by reading a book!!!! :-)

I saw my first movie on the big screen in ages recently! A friend and I caught a weekday matinee showing of "eat, pray, love" starring Julia Roberts. Julia did good job, but I must say I was not enamoured of the storyline. Maybe I should have read the book first- I just found it, shall I say, a little bit too 'new age' for my tastes. Anybody share my feelings or, in agreement with my sister, do you think it was the greatest movie ever and want to catch the first plan to Bali?! I really enjoyed catching a flick with a friend, however. I hope to do that again soon.

Well, I think I'll share a couple more photos and then call it a night. I've got more books to read!! First, an updated photos of the kitties!

Then a picture of my fall centerpiece in the formal dining room. Yeah, I'm definitely getting a bit anxious for a long, mosquito-free, beautiful fall season!

Good night!! Peace!

Plums and packing!

The plum tree in our yard is loaded this year, so I battled the mosquitoes and picked enough to make two batches of homemade cooked jelly! I tell you there is something extremely satisfying in hearing the 'pop' of the jelly jars as they seal after their hot water bath!!! I tried something new this year- reduced/no sugar pectin to make my jelly. I made one recipe the traditional way which took 6 1/2 cups of sugar to 5 1/2 cups plum juice- yikes, talk about a sugar high!!! The second batch I used Bell no sugar needed pectin. It appears to have worked great- set up well. I used 3 3/4 cups sugar for 5 cups of plum juice. (Yes, you can just cut back on the sugar- you don't need to go the no-sugar or sugar substitute route! Personally, our wild plums are too sour to eat without some sugar!) So, now I have beautiful jelly jars set aside for gifts for Christmas and other occasions, and I have a 'lite' option to give my more health conscious friends & family! Super!!!!

The other project I am doing now is helping my daughter with her "BIG MOVE" to graduate school this weekend. It will be her first apartment!- she was in the dorms for four years of undergrad. We are taking a two vehicle caravan, and that still won't carry it all! One vehicle is even a truck with topper! Her Dad has to go that direction on business in several weeks, so he'll take another load! It is an exciting but melancholy time!! I'm just happy I'll be able to spend about four days there helping her settle in before heading home. Dad is staying home to watch the fort, so to speak. If he came along we'd have to take the "Lucy" and there is no room in the truck for her kennel. Plus, since he has a job, he can't take the time off I can. :-) The trip is a good nine hours so here's hoping it is a safe and uneventful one! Peace.