Monday, August 15, 2011

Other weekend moments...

Friday, before leaving for the farm, I DID decide to load a quilt to the frame for it to be ready whenever the next available opportunity hit.

Hopscotch was loaded, the machine was cleaned and threaded with Aurifil thread....and I did a few passes trying out another new pantograph: Snapdragons (petite 4 3/4"). It's definitely a simple pantograph and I know it'll be a new favorite.

While I was doing that, Paul and the girls were out in one of the sweet-corn patches picking some baby-corn ears. It's hard to see, but there is a wheelbarrow plump full of baby-corn on the other side of the picnic table.



It was a family shucking ceremony in order to get all the corn ready for canning; and I really didn't want to be stuck ALL DAY shucking and canning when we needed to get to the farm SOMETIME before midnight!

This lil' critter gave us some entertainment for a few moments when it decided to hop off of Paul's arm when Candace was getting a little closer look. After a few dance steps from Candace (and myself when it jumped into my personal space), it hopped onto the siding of the house.

Still trying out the new camera, I snapped a few zoomed-in closeups before getting back to the shucking.

At 3:30, we were finished shucking so Paul headed out to pick up some more pig food while I started working on preserving some of the cobs in pints.

Outcome: 14 pints of pickled Baby Corn. This is the first year we have preserved our own baby-corn; we have intentions of using it in some stir-fries and other chinese food dishes.

And I barely made a dent in what had been picked! But, it was 5:00....and time to get packed up for the farm before it got to be TOO late. The rest of the corn was bagged up and taken up with us so that Paul could do some canning on Saturday.

Saturday......well, you all know what most of that day consisted of! :0) Later that afternoon, back at the farm, Bethann was relaxing with a good book on her Kindle while I started downloading/editing the pictures from the day.

We left quite early on Sunday; 9:30 AM! That's a new record, I think. But both myself and Paul were of the same mindset; the garden awaited and we had "things to do" at home.

Unpacking the car took a whole 5 minutes since it was a quick visit. We were out in the garden picking beans and cucumbers by 11:30AM, and done an hour later. It was quite warm.....Candace and Caitlyn both made sure we all knew how warm it was!

Candace: {{wiping hair from face, sighing loudly}} It's HOT out here!
Caitlyn: {{sighing even louder}} Oh, I KNOW! Can we go inside yet?

The whip was cracked and we stuck to the picking. Then after a short simple sandwich lunch, I said.....let's go boating and swimming! And that's exactly what we did for the rest of the afternoon.

Hmmm.......Candace, is it STILL HOT out here??? ;0) This pose just looks TOO relaxing! Can't you just see her brain saying...."THIS is the life, Mom!"

Or maybe she was talking to Dad? :0)

Last night I spent much of the evening relaxing in my glider while blogging about the Paavo Nurmi Marathon relay.

By 10:00, I was pretty tuckered out and looked forward to saying goodnight to the world. My camera may be pretty cool, but it can't quite zoom in to get a great shot of the moon. Shucks :0)

This post is complete enough, so I'll save my morning of bean cutting, cucumber slicing, pickling and canning stories for the next one. Then again, how many posts can one write about canning beans and cucumbers????

2 comments:

Andee said...

Glad there was a glimpse of a quilt in there..don't you hate it when life is too busy to quilt. But I am envious of the veges you are putting up for winter. Tons of work for you all, but good memories and good food...very worth it. That lake looks like the place to be on a HOT afternoon!

Quilter Kathy said...

Love that baby corn...how cool! Love how your family works hard together and then relaxes together....enjoy!