Saturday, July 30, 2016

Letter from home ...

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been a busier than usual week for me. So far, I have about 4.5 - 5 gallon of blueberries in the freezer. Very hard for me to fathom, as Uncle Jimmy got quite a few. #3 son - not so much. I made my blueberry pie yesterday afternoon and finished it off this morning for breakfast. I am satisfied now. Going to prune the daylights out of them this winter so there is not such a glut next summer and they will be bigger. (less picking) There are quite a few out there, but I'm done for this year.

Meanwhile, my little blueberry cuttings are doing well. Maybe in a couple of years they will be a small source of income for somebody. 

Son #4 sent me this picture and others. He's taking sailing instructions and seems to enjoy the ocean as much as I. Wish I could go there. The temperatures are much more pleasant there than here.
At Oceanside
I'm still reading Poldark. I always read fast, to find out what happens. I did a No No, I read some of the last book. I know that it's not the way, but I wanted to slow down and try to figure out more about the battles. I will have to read some history later, to see how accurate the research was in the book. In the book(s) the times then are so much like they are now without the ability to blow the world to kingdom come. I'm in book 8 now. Poverty seems the same now as then and so do politics. People will never learn.

I'm trying to cook a little more, spending a lot of time on the chair in the kitchen. My back doesn't like it when I stand. I noticed a lot of little flies in the kitchen, DH sprayed the other day and I was in bed the next, unable to breathe. Spraying was a bad idea. Thursday, I took out the vacuum cleaner and tried to suck the little bleeps up. Cleaning the sink and trash container hasn't helped a bit and they just keep coming. Have never seen the likes of it. Have those fly strips all over in there, two of them don't have a fly on. Sounds pretty gross, doesn't it? It is.

Had a huge flock of birds come and land in our trees. DH had never seen so many. I imagine they were starlings. I would hope it was that and not birds gathering to migrate. I did hear geese the other day, we are not in the flyway. I searched the horizon and sure enough there was a huge flock of them. Gee, it isn't even August!

Speaking of August, it's the day after tomorrow. What the bleep is happening to summer? It seems to be going the way of all things already. I remember summer taking a lot more time than this! We still haven't had our first watermelon yet.

We'll have to dig up what we can find of my Naked Ladies (lilies) and get them moved. I only had a couple show up. I'm sure it is because they are so crowded and the ground was so hard and dry from the heat and no rain this summer. I hope they are still viable. A couple of years ago they were lush. Last year sparse. Guess we should have taken care of them then. Sigh.

The mockingbirds have their nest in one of the figs. I sincerely hope that Tacky doesn't get at the babies. The birds picked a bad spot. There is a lot of noise when someone gets close. The swallows have their nests out in the lean-to on the garage. They keep the bug and mosquito population down. The sparrows and cardinals are busy at the feeder again. What would I do without my birds?

All for now, I hope you are enjoying the fruits and joys of the summer! I have pot roast going in the crock pot, if you can make it for supper, give me a call. We eat at six.

15 comments:

  1. pot roast! yum! and blueberry pie! be still my heart! i'd have had it for breakfast, too. the bugs don't sound fun. i hope they're just a passing thing and their 'bloom' is over with.

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    1. DH won't eat Blueberry anything, isn't that almost un-American or something?
      One can hope the Ladies will come out of it next year.

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  2. Oh pot roast and blueberry pie. Yummy. The weather has been crazy all over We are in for another Arctic blast next week. But there are signs of an early spring everywhere. Which is bad as these cold snaps kill off the new growth. Rest and take things easy

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    1. Yep, some of my favorite foods! Is son's birthday dinner, only he's not here to enjoy it.
      The late hard freezes can ruin fruit crops. Have had that happen a couple years since we moved in here. Stay warm and bundle up!

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  3. Two months before it starts cooling off here.

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    1. We should have about 6 weeks, but you never know ...

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  4. You're making me homesick for blueberry picking and fixing. We used fix and cook with them every day while in season. I miss homemade pies.

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    1. Sorry about that. I am fond of homemade pies too, my hips can attest to that.

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  5. Love blueberries! Pot roast too.

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  6. I wish I'd read this earlier. It's 3pm here already, I can't possibly make it in time for pot roast.
    Are the flies teeny tiny very black ones with round wings like tiny o's? I hate those. Apparently they're drain flies and only hatch when conditions are right. I had a few here last spring. Got a bit of exercise jumping up and swatting at them with a flyswat.

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    1. Ow, well, you have a standing offer to come on by for a pot roast supper whenever you can make it, just let me know. Not sure about the little flies, I will have to investigate further, I've already done the fruit search ...

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  7. I love pie!! Typically not a huge eater of sweets but homemade pie is wonderful.

    Things sound quite busy at your house. I haven't been doing anything in the yard due to the high heat. In a few weeks I will start fall clean up in all the flower beds but for now they can just look a bit "rough".

    Total aggravation about the flies. Hope you figure out the source and put an end to them.

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    1. Calm is over and goofiness reigns once again. DH is threatening to take me elsewhere next weekend with plans to bomb the house. Sigh ...

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  8. Ugh. Starlings. They're bomb divers when you're trying to do yard work and garden. I am not a fan. The swallows, yes. Those are keepers. Much like those blueberries and that blueberry pie. Sounds so delicious and I want some so bad now. - Oh. PS - I changed my theme so the comments are easier to find and I managed to find a font big enough that didn't make me squint and have a headache. :)

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