Feels like Fall

A chilly rain is falling and it feels a lot like Fall. I took a quilt from my closet and folded it at the foot of the bed in case it gets too cool at night.  I'm not ready to change to winter blankets just yet because we're bound to get some hot days yet. The quilt is just there "in case". I'm not going to shut the bedroom window, that's for sure. I like the fresh air and even the sound of the rain is cozy.

Happy first day of September!!

Thanks for coming by!

Granny Marigold

After the Storm

We survived the storm and only had around four hours with no power while many others in town had none for 11 hours and apparently some still don't.  On my morning walk I took a few pics of the littered park with some smaller trees actually uprooted.

The ground was full of these strange clumps of what looked like Mountain Ash berries but all stuck together. I am sorry to have to admit I have no idea what tree they came from. There are many Mountain Ash in the park but they still had their lovely bunches of berries.  Can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks for popping by.          Granny Marigold

Strong wind storm and cactus

We certainly have had an interesting day weather wise. At 4:30 this morning we had an earthquake ( I believe it was a magnitude 2.6, nothing big, but at least 2 people in this house felt it).   Then we had rain and wind. The gusts were very strong and power outages everywhere. Traffic lights out. You know how that goes.  DH had  a chance to try out the  generator he bought recently with just this kind of storm in mind.

The Cactus part of my post is inspired by Debi at Barefoot Mom who posted about her Pencil Cactus. This summer I got a piece of a very big old Cactus and I managed to get it to root. It's only 5 inches high but if it is the pencil variety they grow very fast ( for a cactus).

Might as well post pics of my other Cacti. I'm not sure why I even like them because beautiful they're not. Maybe because they ask for so little.

               Then there's my Christmas Cactus. It's taking up a lot of space.

The wind is still blowing although not as wildly. Tomorrow there will be a lot of pine branches to pick off the ground and the porch is absolutely covered with pine needles. I am so thankful for a good vacuum.

I hope your Saturday was a pleasant one. 

Granny Marigold

In My Kitchen

I did make that apple/caramel/crumble pie that I mentioned yesterday.  The apples were so big it took only 4 to make the pie. I melted the caramels and poured it on the apples before sprinkling on the topping. 

                 The first piece is always hard to remove, isn't it.

 While the oven was hot I made a recipe of scones. When I was doing my grocery shopping this morning I noticed that the glaced fruit ( the stuff used in Christmas cakes etc..)  was marked down from 4.99 to 2.99 and that is what I used as my fruit in this batch.

It was much cooler here today and a perfect day for baking. What did you do today?

Thanks for visiting.     Granny Marigold

Apple Picking

On this very warm late summer day we went apple picking. My DD and my older GS came too.He's almost 17,  and 6 feet tall so he really came in handy for the high ones.

          Here we are he and I on one of the cute displays that the farm puts out every year.

                      We had to cajole him into standing in front of this height measure. It only goes to 6' !

We picked around 30 pounds of apples as well as a few late plums and also Asian pears.

               There are gourds for sale too. I needed a few more for my Fall decorations.

They had assorted jams, jellies and pies for sale in the little shop. At $9 a pie I wasn't willing to get any but there was one that was an apple/caramel/crumble  and I think I'll be making one of those as soon as  I get some of those wrapped caramels that are available around this time of year.

I will also be getting  out the dehydrator and hopefully have better luck drying apple slices than I did with Apricots.  I will be freezing apple slices for winter crisps and pies. I have my work cut out for me. It really is starting to feel like Fall!

       Thanks for visiting today.     Granny Marigold

My Big Day

My family made my 70th birthday so special!  Everyone was able to be there except for a son-in-law and one granddaughter.

There was a lot of fun and laughter ( and silliness).
The smile in front belongs to my oldest grandchild, K.  to the left is my middle son and my DIL      to the right is my middle daughter.

             
                        Here I am surrounded by all five of my children.

 

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

                                         Granny Marigold

Mostly Flowers

It has been a week of sadness and happiness mixed. A SIL who had been very ill for some months passed away and that was the sad part. Family came together...my husband's 7 siblings came to support their youngest brother. There were tears and there was also a lot of visiting because they haven't all been together since their mother's funeral and that was quite a long time ago. 

Our weather has temporarily turned coolish and we're thankful for that. I brought in the three gourds that were hanging on the trellis. Now it looks like the beginning of Fall decorating!!

I bought these two Fall arrangements in baskets and I tried elevating one on an upside down pot but now I find I don't like that effect so off it will come.
I'm hoping many of the individual plants will make it through the winter and I'll be able to use them in different ways next Spring.  The pink tinged grass in the one pot looks suspiciously like invasive ribbon grass. Must remember not to put that into the ground anywhere.

                  the zinnias are still blooming
 

           and the brown-eyed Susans

and the Rudbeckias.... So many of the late summer/fall blooming flowers are in shades of yellow it seems.

My DDIL was shopping this morning and brought me an early birthday present.  The photos for each month are so awesome. I love the annual ritual of transferring all the birthdays and anniversaries over to the next year's calendar.  Then I hang it next to the phone in the kitchen/diningroom and that is where every appointment or event is recorded.

Thanks for coming by and seeing how things are in my little corner of the world.

      Granny Marigold

This and That

Have you noticed how often my posts end up being called "this and that"?    I'm often stumped for a title since I rarely have a "theme". I guess my life consists of a lot of this and that.

Tea, flowers, and books are such a big part of my days.  This red rose is still from my DILs rose bed. She'll be back in a few days and then I'll keep my hands off.

I have many tea cups but Old Country Roses remains a big favourite. I have the complete dinner set for 13 settings. Many of them were gifts from my mom who also had this pattern.

  I brought in a variety of herbs thinking I would make herb butter. After tasting, I decided I only liked the chive butter.

With all the tomatoes ripening I thought I'd make a small batch of salsa.  Luckily my son had a couple of hot peppers in his fridge so I didn't even have to run to the store.  I added a chopped up peach which I've done before and we like that.    Those are shadows on the tea towel, not dirt.  just sayin'

                    Another rustic pie.  This time it was apple.
 

Last of all I want to show you three books I got from the library.  I finished "Fancy Feet"  and I started the Mitch Albom one The First Phone Call from Heaven.  I enjoyed his book Tuesdays with Morrie but that was not fiction. I hope I'll enjoy his fiction too.

Thats it for today.  I hope you have a delightful weekend.

     GRANNY M.

Aprons, vegetables, and a wasp

Do you wear an apron when you work in the kitchen?  I do, and have a nice assortment of aprons. My sister will recognize the two she sewed for me. The Company's Coming apron I won in a draw a number of years ago along with the Pie cookbook that came out that year.   I really like the red/floral one because it has three nice big pockets and those are so handy!

In the cool of the morning I went out to water a few things and do some deadheading. I brought in these luscious veggies that will be eaten before this day is done.

When I came indoors I sat down at my computer and felt something tickle my bare shoulder. I absentmindedly wiped "it" off but "it" turned out to be a large and angry wasp that proceeded to sting me. It's been years since I got stung. I ran to the kitchen to get an ice cube to hold on my hand. Later I went in search of said wasp, found him and now he's floating in the toilet bowl. I go check on him from time to time to see if he's moving. So far he hasn't shown any sign of life.

That is my day so far.  How is yours progressing?

Granny Marigold

Thrifty Tuesday

My first treasure this week is a pretty mug that comes with an infuser insert and even a lid to keep your tea hot. I have absolutely no idea what the writing on the mug says but I hope it's something lovely.  Cost me all of fifty cents.  Now if only I liked mint tea more I could use all the mint that thrives in the back but that I never use.

The other treasures are books. Aren't books the best treasures anyway?

Fancy Feet is written by a local young woman who was in a terrible car accident and was burned over 50% of her body. The accident ( caused by an irresponsible and speeding 17 year old) cost her both her legs. Although I've never met her, her brother has been a friend of my sons for many years.

Although the book is gripping me so far, it is not easy to read. You feel her terror as she lies there in the burn unit month after month. I know in the end she gets "better" and goes on to have a full life. As I read it helps to remember that.

I have a friend who speaks highly of John MacArthur so when I saw this book I bought it but so far haven't opened it. I'm sure it will prove to be very inspiring. 

I hope you have time to sit in the shade and read this week.

            Thanks for visiting,    Granny M.

Yellow Roses

I'm enjoying my DIL's roses while she's gone on holiday ( she did say I could cut them). These lovelies smell as wonderful as they look and I had fun taking photos of them in the dining room and then in the living room.  Hope you enjoy seeing them.

                                                    Granny Marigold

In my Kitchen

This bread was actually made yesterday but I didn't get around to posting because we were rather busy with all that fruit we got. DH was hungry for raisin bread so I made a batch of sweet dough in the breadmaker and when it was done I divided the great lump into two, rolled each one out, lightly spread some butter, then brown sugar and cinnamon ( plus a few raisins, it was supposed to be raisin bread after all). I then rolled it up best as I could and let it rise. Well, it sure did rise. I should have made three loaves instead of two. The sugary mess dripped down onto the bottom of the oven. But that is the best sweet bread I have ever made. It makes the best toast ( although it doesn't fit in the toaster and has to be made in the toaster oven.) 

I had a hard time rolling out the dough thin enough without it 'springing back' so I didn't get many swirls as you can see.   I'm just happy when my baking turns out.   While I was waiting for the bread to rise I quickly made a recipe of scones. Ever since I started to use my food processor for cutting in the butter for this recipe it's much easier. Due to arthritis I find some jobs more difficult than I used to.

I'm so glad I did my baking yesterday when it was a bit cloudy and cooler. Today it's back to hot. Also this was Airshow weekend here in Abbotsford so it was hot and very NOISY.

Tomorrow morning all those planes will fly over on their way home, making one last roar and we will again have relative quiet.

I hope you had a good weekend.          Granny Marigold

This and That

These roses came from my DIL's rose garden. She and the littlest grands are off to Alberta on holiday and while she's gone I get to cut and bring in her lovelies. Well, I didn't actually bring them in because it's cooler on the porch and I want them to last as long as possible.

Last Fall I bought an assortment of small gourds for display. I kept seed from the three that I liked the most and sowed them in Spring. This is one that came up and it is NOT what I planted. In fact I'm not sure if this is a gourd or a squash. Does anyone know how I can be sure which it is?  And, if it is a gourd, is it edible? 

This is a volunteer that came up in the flower bed. Looks like a Spaghetti squash, perhaps? Again, will we have tummy upsets if it is a gourd?

Now this one looks like the one I kept the seed from.  Nice and warty.

This is my teeny tiny salad box.  Third 'crop',  with Romaine in front and leaf lettuce being the sparsely growing row in back.  I've always heard that lettuce won't germinate in the heat of summer but this sure did ( maybe that's why it came up sparse though).

                                                Love this Dahlia with the huge blooms

                                            and this pink spiky one growing in a pot.

                                               I hope you are having a great weekend!

                                                            Granny Marigold