Tomato and Fig time + a Strawberry Thief

Its tomato time here at the garden and we're enjoying a good crop of  the flavorful fruit. We're harvesting not only regular tomatoes but also cherry tomatoes. Today, Jayden (who will be 3 in August) picked all these cherry tomatoes. He really is turning into a good gardener!

The fig tree is in full production too and I've been making a fig puree for the most part. Cooking the fruit down and adding sweetener plus some cinnamon. I then puree it well with my stick blender and cook it down to a thick sauce (like applesauce) and put it in freezer bags for the winter. This will make nice jams, and breads for later. 

I also took a break from Christmas cards and stitched this little bird getting into the strawberries. The pattern is called Strawberry Thief..

I plan on making three of these to sell as a set of note cards. I have the larger pattern too which features 4 birds and many strawberries.
That's about all the news in our neck of the woods. Its hot here most days, in the high 90s or low 100s. Cools off nicely at night though. Both the kids are working hard. Our oldest son who got the new job is still working part time at his old one, Del Taco. So he works most days, his better half works many hours too so we're left to watch the little guy. Its exhausting at times. and we both hope they can get situated to get their own place soon. At our ages its difficult to keep up with a soon to be 3 year old. He's very intelligent for his age and already has his own little tablet which he plays games and does art work on. Even has set of head phones. He knows most of his colors and is learning his numbers  too. Our youngest son thinks he's "scary" smart. All the more reason to lay down a good foundation for his future.

TV

I don't know about you, but I get really tired of the TV programing today. There are a few shows we both like but all the reality TV is getting worse and worse. I think the programmers are finding less and less good material. Where are all the good writers? Reality shows are cheap to produce and they seem to keep churning out more and more ridiculous shows.

Alan and I have turned to some of the old shows that are still playing. MeTV has many of them and we're enjoying Rockford alot as well as some of the old favorites like Dragnet, Perry Mason,etc. One thing I like about the Rockford series is all the scenes of Southern California way back when California made sense.  One episode even had scenic views of the old Las Vegas which was fascinating.  If you don't get MeTV, you can also find episodes on Hulu for free. I've always liked James Garner and am a fan of his on Facebook.

Of the shows on today, we both like Longmire and I'm partial to Major Crimes but that's about it.
Question, what shows do you like? Do you enjoy the reality shows?

Christmas Cards

As I promised, here is the fourth in the series, 4 Calling Birds. I like the way the musical notes turned out, more bead work on this one.
Here are two more Christmas cards I completed also.

and  

sorry my photos aren't that good, I'm having trouble with the focus on my camera. It got dropped too many times to count!

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone has a good 4th of July. We're staying at home, grilling ribs, with coleslaw, Texas toast and a tomato pie..I got up early and made a cherry pie also. The grandchildren are here and it will be a fun day, I think.
The weather is hot, hot, hot. In the triple digits. We're having to run the AC from early in the morning until bed time and beyond. The solar helps but we're using more than it generates right now which is a problem.  Having not be on the computer as often, trying to conserve energy in other ways. Keeping the lights off, etc. and not washing as much. Still we were $13 over yesterday. Sigh.

Below is a vintage photo of the hotel that used to be in my hometown of Oceanside, Ca. I remember it when my parents first moved there, back in the 60s. At that time, it was an abandoned wreck and soon after burned down but in its heyday, it was a lovely Victorian  building.

The Oceanside historical society has been posting many old vintage images of the area and I just love them.
Here's one of the early piers, called the Small Iron Pier about 120 years ago.There has been about 4 piers as several were destroyed by hurricanes, etc. Its much longer now and its the longest on the Californian coast.

Here is a recent photo of it.

There is a nice restaurant on the end of it and its a wonderful walk. I kinda wish sometimes we could move back there but its very expensive now. Still we're close enough to visit and enjoy the ocean. My brother has a home there and will be here at the end of the month for his 40th high school reunion. It will be wonderful to see him again as its been a number of years. He lives in Hawaii now.

I finished the next in the series of cards, the 12 Days of Christmas. I will post a photo of it in my next post. It turned out the best so far, I think. Its 4 Calling Birds.