Decor, cooking, organization, all the pretty things
October’s Party
by George Cooper
October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came.
The Chestnuts, Oaks and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.
The Chestnuts came in yellow,
The Oaks in crimson dressed;
The lovely Misses maple
In scarlet looked their best.
All balanced to their partners,
And gaily fluttered by;
The sight was like a rainbow
New fallen from the sky.
I would have to say Sara and my first attempt at canning was a success. Strawberry jam is a good beginner project.
We just followed the basic Ball Jar recipe and guidelines for making the strawberry jam. If you google Strawberry Jam you'll find all kinds of tutorials out there.
I think we got started a bit late in the season. Lucky for us we live in California and can get Strawberries late in the season. We are about 50 miles up the road from Watsonville, the Strawberry capital of the world.
I am kicking myself for not being on the ball during apricot season though. Mmm…apricot jam…. Here's a little useless tidbit about me – when I was pregnant with my youngest son I craved apricot pie and my boss used to go get it for me. She would just stop what she was doing and go to Marie Callendar's and get me a slice.
Here is another little known fact: Sara is a ghost. Her energy must have been kind of low last night because she is especially see-thru.
By the way, drinking a glass of wine during jam making is essential to the success of said jam making.
Except maybe when you are trying to pull boiling hot jars out of boiling hot water.
Or stirring molten hot strawberry goo.
The very best part is after you have put the jam in the jars, sealed them, boiled the heck out of them and then removed them and placed them on the counter is when you hear the lids pop! pop! pop! We made six jars of jam and one right after the other they popped to let us know they had sealed properly.
Next on the agenda is pear butter. Doesn't that sound like a good Fall project?
Invites for the annual Halloween party. I think I need better black paper. Maybe something embossed like the background paper. As long as I can still stamp on it.
I think the invitation part needs to be on lighter paper too – so that it's easier to read.
This is why I always do prototypes rather than impulsively buy reams of the wrong colored, wrong textured paper.
I couldn't get a close up that wasn't blurry but the costume contest info is inserted into a slit in the lining of the coffin.
I need to mail these this weekend so I best get cracking!
Thank you for all the suggestions to check the little local hardware stores. I'd much rather support them anyway.
I didn't find the kit but the teeny hardware store up the street from us had all the supplies I needed and then some. I found the big old canning pot, the rack, the tongs, a funnel and of course, all the jars I could possibly need.
Canning to commence early next week!
