Books!!! Figs and Stitchery

My son has inherited a whole lot of books...books of all kinds, children's books, cookbooks, mysteries, fiction, how to books, you name it. A good friend of theirs is moving and had a online book business which he handed over so now Don is working on starting one. He's asked me to put some on Ebay so I'll be working on that soon..meanwhile our garage is full of books! They're trying to sort them out. Its difficult as there are so many. A few old children's books caught my eye from the 50s and 60s.
We're also canning and preserving

 

This is canned fig conserve, the recipe is in my canning and preserving page. Figs, crushed pineapple, lemons and chopped pecans, very yummy! So many figs!!

 

Still doing stitching also, and working on some fall items such as more of these cute spider candle mats.

 

also more tags...

I'm working on getting my second Etsy shop back open, Sweet Home Stitchery. I closed it last year as I just couldn't get it together to stitch much with the grandbaby here. I plan on reopening it this fall and filling it with lots of good stuff. 

and lastly a photo of my hometown, Oceanside, Ca

the beach and the pier

 

 

A Civil War site

Oh my gosh!!!
I ran into a wonderful website...its fantastic! many of the photos taken at the time have been destroyed, thankfully many  also been saved...
original photographs from the Civil War   

I knew how devastating the war was but it wasn't until I read "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly just how strong the feelings were and also just how many were killed, something like 750 thousand, more than any other war we've ever had. My own family was split up with three brothers for the North and one for the South. This happened quite often from what I've read.
My great grandfather fought in that war and my brother has his Calvary sword. He fought under General Custer and was at many of the major battles. He spoke of being at Appomattox and the soldiers beat their swords on rocks after the signing of the surrender. 
Here we are some 150 years later, and so many don't realize the sacrifices that were taken to insure liberty for everyone as the Constitution promised. Guess schools don't teach this. Hope you will visit the site and it will be a sober reminder. If you have children at home, please share the site with them also, but I want to warn that there are some disturbing photos, not for the very young.
I highly recommend "Killing Lincoln" also. He also has a second children's book called Lincoln's Last Days which is written for 5th graders and up.

Stitchery

I've been busy doing some stitching and thought I'd do a quick post to show you the new tags I made. These are from Primitive Stitches (the pattern that is) and I just need to add the ribbons. I think they turned out really nice. This pattern is called Winter Salt Box Houses.

These are older patterns but some of my favorites....

I have another new pattern with owls but they aren't finished yet. I do enjoy stitching them, they're all hand stitched on fabric and fun to decorate with. They make nice ornaments for the tree, wreathes, to hang on a door knob or other uses. Make great book marks also.
Its difficult for me to stitch with everyone in the house but I've been getting up early around 5:30 so I have some quiet  time in the early morning. Its about the only free time I have!

Monday Inspiration

Poinsettias in July and Mid Summer Crops

Something I haven't shared, last Christmas we got two poinsettia plants which we all enjoyed through out the holidays. afterwards, I planted both of them in a pot on our patio. One of the plants didn't make it but one did and its beautiful....

I'm hoping it will bloom this winter and it loves the heat of the summer as long as its under the shade cloth..I water it often as its a tropical plant. So it is possible to save this for another year and it would make a lovely house plant even if it didn't bloom. At least I think so. I don't have many house plants because of the cats and grandchild but I used to keep our house full of pretty plants back in the day. I know there have been rumors that poinsettias are poisonous but that is have shown to be false for the most part. No worries.
We're well into summer now, July, August and September are hot months and our heat goes well into October sometimes. The garden, except for the tomatoes are about done. We harvested the pumpkins and have them in the house, hopefully if they're kept cool, they will last for the fall. I've kept pumpkins for months that way. There are plants that we can start at this season, pole beans, winter squash and pumpkins to name a few. Carrots, brussel spouts and broccoli are good too. Here is an article from Black Fox Homestead about crops that be planted mid-summer.

Favorite things Tuesday

some things I really like...

vintage photos 

Fairy Gardens

 

Good Food!

Depression Glass

A warm country/primitive home

embroidery and patterns

you can find my Pinterest boards here

Peaches!

 

The dwarf peach tree in our yard was planted about 5 years ago and never did very well. This year was the exception  and its absolutely loaded with peaches. Alan noticed birds pecking at the fruit, so he put some netting over the tree.  Last week, we had a wind storm and the tree actually fell over! One small branch broke off but thankfully the majority are fine. We bought two metal supports and through some effort straightened the poor tree up. Its so heavy with fruit, hopefully the supports will protect it from further damage from the wind.

 

Today, we're expecting it to warm up considerably..supposed to be in the low 100s. By the weekend, its predicted to be 110 degrees. So glad we have solar panels now as it would have been way to expensive otherwise to run our AC. Last month, our electric bill was only 77 cents!

Monday, Grandchildren and New Appliances

I was sick all last week with a very bad cold and cough....so didn't post anything. Haven't been that sick in some time. I almost thought I had bronchitis but its going away now with just a small cough left. I spent alot of time in bed and got  needed sleep. The sickness had started with little Jayden and then progressed through the family, Alan got it and then finally it reached me. Thankfully its about over now.
Today we had two jobs in San Diego county, and then a Find a Grave assignment in Lake Elsinore. Yesterday we had a wonderful visit with our youngest and our new granddaughter!!!!! They live in a neighboring town, Hemet so we don't see them as often as we'd like so when we do, its a wonderful treat..she is 3 1/2 months so and so cute! We visited them in their new apartment and watched some old movies and had pizza.  Here is  Little Emma Grace!

She looks much like her daddy looked when he was little, she loved to be held and is very active. Cutting her first teeth too!
Jayden, our grandson loves her and asks to see Emma often. I think they'll have fun playing together when she gets older..here is Jayden..he's almost 2 now.

not the best photo as he moved just as I took the photo...typical boy, always moving. As you can see, Alan's grown a beard. I rather like it. Everyone says he looks like Santa.

Much of our garden is finished for the summer, believe it or not. We're coming into our hot season so most crops can't take the heat. The only thing left really are the tomatoes and they're coming into their own. We picked about 5 large messes of green beans and have eaten them all, they are so tender and good, everyone loves them.

I just steam them with a little salt and butter. Just yummy!

I've also been re organizing my kitchen, we got a windfall from SSI and decided to get some much needed appliances. Sadly, the appliances we bought when we moved in, some 9 years ago are now wearing out, first to go was the dishwasher so we got a new one last week! What a difference in the cleaning of the dishes. The glasses just sparkle now. We also bought a new stove. Our stove was always a lemon, it seemed like. We bought all Maytag appliances, thinking they would last but the repair man told us that they  were all built in China and had planned life of only 5 years. The first year, the stove glass front shattered into a million bits when I was making cookies, very scary. Then the heating element broke and had to be replaced and now we seem to have a gas leak when you turn on the oven so it was time to go. Needless to say I haven't baked or used the oven much! It worried us because our boarder works late, comes  home after we're in bed and makes himself dinner at midnight or so. We don't want to take the chance of an accident. It comes Wednesday. This time we got a Whirlpool and hope it lives longer than the Maytag did with no problems.
Because of the experience of the old stove, we did get the extra warranty on the appliances too. This has been such a blessing and I'm so thankful.

something new I've done and I did it while I was sick last week was join Pinhearst....Just learning how to use it and its kinda fun. I've created 7 boards so far...Be sure to see my Oh Yummy board where I've collected some great recipes that look fantastic. I can't wait to try some of these with my new stove!

Monday, Monday

I'm still working on my family tree and am constantly amazed of what I can find online. I just found this photo of one of my great aunts that I never met in person. She looks like she'd be fun to know. One of my grandmothers sisters.
I also found an absolutely gorgeous photo of my grandmother...which is below. Isn't she pretty?

We also got several more Find a Grave assignments over the weekend. The first one was disappointing as it was a hot hot day and we walked forever. Never did find the gravesite and today when Alan called the cemetery office, we were informed there was no stone at the grave. Rather sad.
The second one, which we went to this morning, was easy to find and only took a few minutes. Got a nice message back from the family too.

We 've also been enjoying our garden harvests. Yesterday we picked a mess of green beans and had  them for dinner...so tender and delicious. Not stringy or tough like you buy at the store. We're continuing to enjoy the potatoes we dug up too and I only wish we had planted more of them. They have a buttery taste with no butter!

Our roses have stopped blooming for the most part with the oncoming hot season but I did manage to find a few pretty ones. They'll shut down now until the fall when it gets cooler. 

and

I finally found the tiny fairy lights that had gotten mislaid, these run on a battery so I put them in with the summer arrangement of the washboard. I'm not sure if you can see the lights or not.
and now for a funny!!!

I was wrong!

What we thought was a watermelon is now revealed that its a pumpkin!

This is very great news for us as pumpkins here are very expensive come October time. This one looks like it will be at least 10 lbs. Which would probably be close to $10 or more here. There are several more coming too.
The potatoes were harvested today and we enjoyed baby ones this evening, I steamed them and then sliced and browned them in a pan with some butter..WOW! just delicious. Had them with some grilled Italian sausage and a 3 bean salad.  Alan harvested all the carrots also so tomorrow I'll do something with them.
We'll be coming into our hot season, it usually starts this month through October, time for grilling and hot weather meals.  We grill outside, but sometimes use the Foreman grill inside when we don't want to go to the trouble of starting charcoal. We got a new one this last year and I personally love it. I've grilled everything from hamburgers to fish to chicken on it and it always comes out perfect.
Yesterday, I fixed Tuna Croquettes after watching Good Eats with Alton  Brown.  They were wonderful and I highly recommend this for a nice summer meal. Here is the video of the recipe.