Today was canning day for pears. We usually hoard these canned jewels to last through the winter. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing the jars of fruit on the storage room shelf.
I have so many memories of canning for winter in Penrose in my childhood. First, in the late spring, Louise, Dwight, and sometimes I had to clean out the leftovers from the cellar. The example of our grandmother, who would can fresh food every summer and fall, and then eat the oldest things on the shelf, waiting for the new food to get old before using it really impressed Mother. There were never any leftovers; the cellar shelves were cleaned out. We dumped anything that was left over, washed jars, and prepared for the new, fresh food to be canned and preserved for winter. Everything was canned - vegetables, fruits, jams, jellies, pickles, etc. After WWII, when freezer lockers became available in town, we froze some vegetables, especially peas, and I didn't have to try to gag down canned peas any more. Frozen peas were deliciously more like fresh peas. To add to the cellar, all the root crops were harvested in their time, potatoes, and carrots, especially. (Carrots were covered with sand to keep them from dehydrating.) Cabbages were picked, and rather than making sauerkraut, they were kept for a time in the cellar. Baskets of Wealthy apples that we picked up from the ground in the orchards of the Andersons and the Harts were kept there for a couple of months. (Mother called them "windfalls", and said they were sweeter. The ones that we didn't can as applesauce were kept for eating. After school on a nice autumn day, one of the first stops would be the cellar to get an apple. If there was a worm sharing it, he was quickly cut out, and the rest was delicious. Or Mother might give us a treat for breakfast and fry some in the cast iron frying pan with butter in the skillet, and some brown sugar sprinkled on top. It was more like dessert than breakfast.
However, the process of canning then was very different from today's conveniences. The morning would begin by picking produce, or sorting fruit. The pitcher pump was kept busy pumping water, as buckets were carried to the house. Water was heated on the stove or in the reservoir at the end of the wood-coal range. Bottles were brought up from the cellar, the two dishpans came out, and we washed and drained many bottles. If the produce had to be pressure cooked to be safe, the old pressure cooker was on the stove, heating water, and ready for the prepared vegetables. (Tomatoes were still acidic enough that we could water bath the jars, as well as all of the fruit.) Then the big copper boiler full of water would be heating on the stove. (Mother had constructed a wooden lathe base so that she could fill it full of jars to save time.) We would set up an assembly line - each child had a job to do. The kitchen would get hotter and hotter - all doors and windows would be open, with screens keeping out the flies and other bugs. Exhaustion came at the end of the day. The reward was a cellar full of food to help us get through the winter.
Today? What a difference. Ron backs all of the vehicles out of the garage. He sets up the Camp Chef for the cooker, and begins to heat the water. I prepare the fruit, (bottles are washed in the dishwasher), bottle the produce, take the jars out to the cooker, lower them in and set the timer. Then I prepare the next batch while that one cooks. So different! (So why am I so tired at the end of the day?) There is still a wonderful feeling of satisfaction when I look at the beautiful jars on the shelf. And we are more ready for winter. Some things never change.
When oldest son, Brig, went on his mission to England in June of 1976, it took six weeks for his first letter to reach us in Wyoming. Now, with the miracle of the internet and computers, Seth can send letters and pictures instantaneously. We use dearelder to write to him, and he gets his mail within a week. Sending a package is a different story - we are told it will take six weeks to two months to get a package through. This is a picture of Seth and his companion, and new converts.
Seth said that this is one of the better streets in the area he is in. People do not have street addresses. Mail is addressed to the green house on the corner, or a similar description. This very tropical climate is difficult to adjust to - Seth will spend a vastly different winter this year than he spent at Laramie last year. 
Sometimes the evening eastern sky is more beautiful than the sunset in the western sky. This was what happened a couple of weeks ago. Strangely enough, there was very little color in the sky in the west. We are often treated to an evening show as the reflection of the sunset hits the clouds and the mountains to the east of us.
Today was canning day for pears. We usually hoard these canned jewels to last through the winter. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing the jars of fruit on the storage room shelf. 
Frost has been here, if only briefly, and the rain is drizzling down this morning. The whole world seems wet, and our precious summer is fading fast. We comforted ourselves when summer was so long in coming, that it would last longer into the fall months. Not so! Unless we are granted some Indian Summer, we are plunged headlong into cold mornings, garden clean-up, and preparations for winter. Too soon! Our neighbor's orchard is preparing for harvest. The crab apple tree is full, and ready for cider in about a month.
ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My mom and Rylee playing the Piano.
These miniature pumpkins were impossible to resist attempting to grow. (See the blossom above). The interesting thing is that they are growing on two upright plants, but there is also one sprawling vining plant that is forming these little fruits also. I don't suppose there is a pumpkin pie in one of these tiny marvels, but they will make great table decorations. Good thing there is other food in the garden!
This is the pole bean tower. The teepee of willow branches is completely covered, and the beans are really producing! Ah, success on one front.
Ron's hanging tomatoes are putting forth a few tomatoes, but we've been plagued with a wilt that has been difficult to overcome. Nevertheless, we've eaten a few tomatoes, and there will be more.
But, this is the triumph! We planted three plants, and they've taken over one whole section of the garden. Ron counts them every morning - the count is up to 13 - and there could be more well hidden. Some are beginning to thump beautifully - Almost ready! The little neighborhood kids haunt Ron because they are so fascinated with such a thing, and he's promised them a share in the harvest. (There are only 6 children.)
We were able to get Bethany to pose for a picture - under duress, certainly but you can't tell that by the smile! She is growing up very fast. A summer of working at Burger King in Cody and hoeing beans in Burlington really did some character building. Bethany said that the bean hoeing was harder, but far more lucrative. It's good to let another generation have that blessing.
And Rylee does a dance with Brittany - We really enjoyed our visitors. Denton never changes - I could just find an older picture of him, and we wouldn't know the difference. Benjamin has grown this past year. He contented himself with playing with toys downstairs for most of the time.
Brittany brought great-grandddaughter Rylee to see us this week. At five months, she is a real charmer. She is very active, although rolling over is her main moving accomplishment right now. This is the delightful age of playing with toes and hands, and making lots of baby noises. No wonder adults talk baby talk to babies!
This quilt came about because of peer pressure. Judy can talk me into almost anything! A few years ago, she called and told me that she had found the perfect quilt to make, and that I needed to buy a book by Vicki Garnas, a quilt designer. Portions of this quilt were on the cover, and it was enough to hook me - Oh, yes, Ann bit, too. Many books languish on the shelf until the right time comes along to get into production. This has been such a cold, lingering winter, that it was time!
However, there is a moral to this quilt - I did the binding during the Olympics - not good! I'll have to take it off and start again. Also, I used muslin for the borders to paint on, and find that it frays terribly - so, the quilt will be a little smaller when I re-finish the edges. Otherwise, I had a lot of fun making this quilt. I still have to find some kind of glue to stick down the part of the buttons that wants to move when hung upside down. (The wreath, the clock in the school on the bottom, etc.) And, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them.
This was a mystery quilt that our guild began in June. The teacher got permission to use a pattern called "Radio Flyer" as a mystery quilt, using quotes from Sherlock Holmes' mysteries. We had a great time beginning this top - it has taken me this long to finish it. I call it my "Better finished than perfect" quilt top. It was made from a bunch of scraps and small pieces that I had on hand - I didn't purchase one piece of fabric to make this top. I was surprised that it turned out to be red, white, and blue, with a little pale yellow. I just found pieces that were dark and light - and it seemed to work into a color scheme. Fun quilt to do. First we sewed two blocks that looked almost like a snowball block, then put darks and lights together, and sewed two seams down the middle - after cutting, we had the blocks shown here - joined together, there is a pinwheel or an hourglass block composed of triangles.
After seeing Dwight's posting on the Curmudgeonally Professor of the full moon rising over the Wasatch mountains, I decided to post this full moon over the Bear River Range. We only live 125 miles north of Riverton, but, as you can see, the sun goes down a little later. Can you see the Man in the Moon?
The only time we were at Steve and Mary Lynn's home in upstate New York was a few years ago (to say the least). I loved the bees on the blossoms, and didn't realize until later when I uploaded the pictures that it was a thistle blossom. Did they grow it deliberately for it's beautiful blossom? (We do have a bit of Scottish blood in our family - and if you don't know the connection between thistles and Scotland, well....) I had waited to put another posting on the blog, hoping that Mandy's posting about the possibility of a family reunion might stir up some comments, but I see that you are all either ignoring things, or are asleep???
