Trying not to be "too busy"

Back when I was teaching, working as a school media specialist, one of my goals every year was to work on my tendency to appear to be "too busy"--"too busy" to get to know students better, "too busy" to stop and chat with other school staff more, "too busy" to stop and smell the proverbial roses.

Well, not much has changed except that I'm no longer facing a year with 800 middle school students.  I still feel like I always have things I "should" do instead of all the things I planned to do when I retired up here three years ago, which mostly had to do with...reading.  But fortunately, most of the things I feel I "should" do here are as enjoyable as reading.

I have several times of the year here that I consider my favorites--maple sugar time in March/April, apple blossom time in May, fall color weeks in September/October, and the first big snowfall whenever it hits.  But maybe my favorite "favorite" time is right now when the gardens are producing and the flowers are beautiful.  We've started some canning already--six quarts of pickled beets, 4 pints of dilly beans, can't remember how many jars of strawberry jam.  We've picked our first cucumbers and had the first "gurkensalat"--cucumbers & onions in a vinaigrette, almost like Germany.  And the first tomato is just about ready to pick!

Here are some picts from our gardens:

Butterflies on the echinacea

Day lilies going strong

Monarchs on the milkweed in the Monarch Station

More butterflies 

Petunias happy on the south side 

Peppers, garlic & shallots in front - Tomatoes behind

 Herbs & peppers

Tall ones are the tomatoes - I had to go through and hack out all of the extra foliage so the tomatoes could see the sun!  Also with the cucumbers.

Impatiens are happy on the north side

Too much fun!

And Astro Bob from Duluth says peak night for the Perseid meteor showers will be Wednesday night.  Our guests saw a few already tonight and I think I saw one, too, but the sightings should be great by Wednesday!

Autumn - More fun in the sunshine!

No posts since September 23rd?  Must be the weather.  I think the weather was cloudy and rainy all last week.  Every day.  Clouds and rain and cold.  And on Friday many places in Minnesota and Wisconsin had snow.  In fact, Leann took this picture as she was going through Barnum, MN, on her way home from Rochester on Friday:

This weekend was the big Bayfield Apple Fest--a whole weekend of apple treats, apple orchards, parades, music and all in idyllic Bayfield.  The weather this year was almost a carbon copy of last year with the cold, rain and winds.  Not so idyllic for Fest visitors but Lake Superior was really showing off for all the guests!

And today, we had sunshine!  So we took the opportunity to start putting away some of our garden spots for the winter.  And here are some of our carrots.  We REALLY need a root cellar because we haven't even started with the potatoes.

Several times in the last two weeks I've picked what I thought would be the last tomatoes before a frost, but still no frost.  So we have tomatoes spread out in various flat surfaces around the house, all in shades of greenish-yellow to actual red, ripe tomatoes.  I canned another 13 pints yesterday and will be able to do that a couple more times.  And then we'll put the rest out by the road with a "Free" sign.

Late this afternoon, we took a ride in Cammie up into the meadow behind our house.  It was very wet from all the recent rain but we wanted to catch some last colorful maple trees before all the leaves are gone.  And the sun was shining, the sky was blue...in case this is the only sunny day we'll have!

 There are SO many apples up there and they are really good considering they are wild, volunteer apple trees.

I suppose the trees are just as pretty on cloudy days, but it was nice to see the sun!

Is September supposed to be stormy?

Big storms passed through Minnesota today, and moved on to northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan tonight.  And maybe it's thanks to the Lake, but it pretty much bypassed us.  There's a large farm and orchard west of Minneapolis in the town of Waverly that was pelted with large hail.  That farm supplies the Twin Cities farmer's markets and lots of produce stands with apples and vegetables, but not after today's storm.  All of their apples look like this:

http://kstp.com/article/127/

As we watch over our surprisingly decent apple crop this year, stories like this are so sad...and we aren't depending on our apples as income!  One radio interview we heard late this afternoon mentioned that they were going to start picking apples tomorrow.  Wow!

So our apples still look like this:

They are NOT ripe yet.  They are still at the point where you take a bite and it kind of sucks your cheeks in!  But we need that hail and those high winds to stay away.  And as of this moment, the moon is shining in the window, so maybe this batch of storms will leave us alone.

As promised, I made the basil pesto tonight.  That basil really has a strong odor!  Back in the day with I had bad headaches WAY too often, I was invited to a gathering of people from my school where they were going to make large batches of pesto.  I had all kinds of flashbacks tonight of that event and how I was trying to hang in there with that headache while trying not to let the smell of the basil get to me.  This was a smaller batch and I've "outgrown" the headaches, so all was well.  Now what should I try it with?

Tomorrow I'm scheduled for an appointment with some ear clinic in Duluth to check my hearing for the Veteran's Administration!  This is the "follow-up" to my meeting with the VA rep back on April 7th to find out about possible compensation for my near total lack of hearing in one ear and very limited in the other.   Whether my hearing problems began back with my years of listening through static and bad Russian back in those Army days is still to be determined.  I guess we'll just find out how bad it really is tomorrow.

Huh?

Harvesting onions & celebrating pottery

I celebrated this "first day of school" by signing up online to receive Social Security benefits following my birthday in November when the big 62 comes to pass!  First, cool that you can do it online.  I thought I'd have to make an appointment.  But, some day down the road I'm sure I'll regret not waiting until 65, or 66, or later, but, hey, YOLO!

And then we went out and pulled the BIG onions!  But we screwed up!  We cut off the tops.  Then when I drove downtown to pick up our CSA box, Mike had all his 7 boxes of onions lying there drying...with their tops still on and drying...  So I asked him, "Are we supposed to leave the tops on?"  And, of course, the answer was yes, leave them on until they dry completely.  Oh well, some day we'll get it!

 We ended up with about 60 white, yellow, and red onions about this size (minus the tops).  Our friend who gave us the little onion plants for these last May said today that they have harvested 400 onions like this!

Then it was time for today's kiln-opening at our friends, Gregory & Terese, who do the beautiful pottery (and sell books!).  At least we thought 1:30 was the starting time, but seeing no one, we headed down for a quick trip to check out Twin Falls.  (It started at 3pm, but first the falls.)

No pictures can show the real beauty of this spot because you just can't get high enough or wide enough for a good shot.  But above is the south side of the gorge that has been worn away through the years.   And below are the two falls--one at the top left and the other on the bottom middle.  

 The best way to view this is to walk up the creek from the parking lot and see it from the bottom...but not today!  That is a favorite painting spot for the Plein Air artists when they come to Port Wing.

And here are a couple of the fungi types we saw along the path.

And now, time for the Kiln-Opening!  The firing took place a couple days ago and the celebration and showing happened today.  The kiln is in a building to the right of the picture.  Here's my post from a similar event back in June.

 Here are some of their pieces from the kiln today.   They have added a couple new glazes and techniques so there is always a new tempting piece to add to our collection.

 Today we purchased a new mug and a smaller plate for serving breakfast items.  They always have yummy snacks to go with the celebration.

(I think it's time for some tea in my new cup!)

And below is today's produce from the CSA box.  Quite a selection this time!  We already had the beans and cucumber for dinner, but I feel the need for some vegetable soup so I can use that celery on the left.  And tomorrow...basil pesto for sure!

Labor Day already! Can you feel the gears shift?

If you come from Minnesota, Labor Day is the day before the first day of school.  There was always great anxiety in our house the evening of Labor Day with two little girls getting backpacks and new outfits ready for the next day.  And I probably added my own anxiety since I also was starting school/work that next day.  (Not a problem anymore!  Yay!)

I grew up in Wisconsin and Illinois where we started school late in August.  So any anxiety about starting school was past and it was a day to work around the house and yard.  I remember lots of car washing happening on Labor Day.  And, since my parents' anniversary was on September 7th, some years--when the dates coincided and they remembered--that became part of Labor Day remembrances.

Today we awoke to a rushing creek flowing in the ravine behind our house following the gully-washer of a storm last night.  Our guests wondered if we had arranged the evening's show last night, especially that one mighty CR-AAA-CK right near the house that we're sure took down a tree somewhere.  (More on our guests below) The rain gauge only showed 1 1/2 inches of rain but the creek showed more!

This has been a dried up bed of clay since June!  Like I said...gully-washer!

And this is the road up to our trails.  I don't think we'll be making any 4-wheeler trips up to the meadow anytime soon without tearing up the road.

Tomorrow we're going to try to remember to go down to Twin Falls where all this water leads.

So, we went with the "labor" theme today and took care of some veggies.   We made another batch of "Best Ever Sliced Luncheon Pickles," taken from my mother's 1966 edition of the St. Croix County, Wisconsin, Extension Homemakers Cookbook.  Can you tell the age by the name of the recipe?  You just don't hear the word "luncheon" much anymore!  They are really good though!  Cucumbers, onions, red and green peppers, vinegar, sugar and salt.  Not processed, just kept in the fridge.

Also, we made a first attempt at dilly beans.  Until this past year I don't think I've ever heard of dilly beans, but everyone talks about them around here, so we gave them a try.  Then we froze the rest of the beans, although there are many more out on the vines.  Tomorrow we'll try freezing carrots.  We have many more in the ground and no good place to store them over winter.  And...we're going to try basil pesto with pine nuts--you grind it all up, freeze it in cubes in ice cube trays, and throw in a cube or two into spaghetti or something similar.  Love this time of year!

If you check my blogroll on the right, you will see a new blog listed there called My Minnesota, and the author/blogger is John Harrington who stayed with us as B&B guests last night.  He and his "Better Half" were on a getaway and explored our part of the Lake and Wisconsin while they were here.  Check out his blog today to see what he discovered!

Finally, we "discovered" this mom and kids out on our ride tonight.  It was past dusk and almost dark, so they look like I've applied an effect to the picture.  No effect, but didn't they pose nicely?

Happy first day of school to all our school friends!

Insects, harvests and a Mystery Trip!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but there really hints that fall is in the air.  Besides the cold, damp weather we are having, a couple maples in our backyard are getting a faint gold tinge to the leaves, and the hummingbirds are sucking up sugar water at the rate of a cup every day...an amount that would have lasted almost a week earlier this summer.

And on the subject of hummingbirds, what was that other hovering "thing" hanging around our petunias?  It was a hummingbird moth, otherwise known as a hummingbird hawk-moth. Leann noticed them while sitting at her computer the other day and snapped these pictures.

The article linked above call these "day-flying moths" and that's when she took these pictures, but usually we see these in the evenings when it's almost dark.

And more about insects, that second chysalis we had been watching never produced a monarch.  We think it may have gotten too warm in the summer savory plant it chose to hang from and cooked.  Leann found another one today, though, hanging from the bottom board of our siding.

It's right near the other one that didn't make it, so we'll see.

August is a great harvest month.  Yesterday we made the first batch of "best ever luncheon pickles," a fresh relish of cucumbers, onions, green & red peppers that you keep in the fridge.  Today I canned three quarts of beet pickles.  And yesterday we harvested all the onions where the tops had fallen over and were shriveling up.  So now we have red, white and yellow onions drying in the garage...because there is no sun outside and it might not be back outside for a while.  Yes, the garage smells a little pungent!

And finally, the Mystery Trip.  Last week sometime Leann talked me and a couple of our friends into taking a Mystery Trip this week.  Tonight was the night and the only clues I got from her was that it was about 37 miles south of here.  Turns out the destination was the town of Lake Nebagamon--a little town on a nice inland lake.  Below is the deck of the Waterfront Bar & Grill where we ate dinner and enjoyed the lake.

 But I think the real reason for her wanting to trek to Lake Nebagamon was to make a stop at the Dairy Queen!  It's located in an ideal spot for doing summer business--right near the lake and all the young kids swimming there.  The joint was jumping!

And then we made our way back home in time to see the sunset over our favorite Lake Superior.

Who is going to plan the next Mystery Trip?

Retirement...again, and picts around the farm

It's all I can do NOT to begin these blog posts in a Keillor-esque manner..."It's been a quiet week in Lake...," and while I think it, so far I haven't actually done it.  But during most weeks, it actually is REALLY quiet!  Several of our recent guests have commented on it--quiet, serene, restful--so if that's the product we're selling, I guess we're doing our job!

Today we had the privilege of celebrating the [second] retirement of our friend and mechanic, Carri, down at the Town Hall with all of her friends.  Carri retired several years ago from teaching auto mechanics at two of the area technical colleges, and since that retirement has gone on to be our go-to person for ALL engine repairs--cars, boats, mowers, ATVs, whatever you've got, she can repair it!  

A year ago at this time, she announced that she was retiring from doing repairs; she even put an announcement in the newspaper.  She wanted to spend more time with the things and people she loves--daughters, granddaughters, friends, and airplanes! That was last year, but why was her yard still full of everyone's cars, boats, etc. etc?  (The word "no" is missing from her vocabulary!)

So THIS TIME her daughters held a surprise retirement party for her, hoping that will help make this retirement thing stick the second time around.  It was a great celebration with lots of her loyal friends from town, and we feel blessed to be a part of that group.  Of course, I pulled my phone/camera out of my pocket and it was dead, so I'm borrowing her Facebook picture.  Hope she doesn't mind!

Carri in the cockpit of an airplane - what she wants to do more of!

And on the homefront, we've been celebrating August with our gardens.  Yesterday for the Saturday Market we had beans, three kinds of onions, basil, parsley, kale, and carrots!  Really nice carrots!

This garden is on the south side of our red shed where we cook off maple syrup in the winter.  Look at those cute sunflowers!  Also in this bed, tomatoes & Roma tomatoes, yellow squash, and onions.  It's starting to look kind of wild now...hard to get through the rows to find the produce!

This vine with the pretty white blossom is growing out of one of our compost bins.  The leaves and stems are so soft compared to those prickly cucumber vines, and we didn't know what it might be that was growing from something that had been composted!  But now that we saw the first little object growing, we know...birdhouse gourds from when Leann was making birdhouses and had reamed out all the seeds and fibers from inside the dried gourds.  Unfortunately we don't have a growing season long enough to fully ripen these gourds, so we'll settle for vines!

This are our new raised beds--tomatoes in the back left, cucumbers and carrots back right, beets, peppers, eggplant (still with no sign of an eggplant) and carrots bottom left and a jungle of green beans bottom right.

This is me, scissors in hand, trying to get control of our giant tomato plants!  I'm trying to clear away a little green so the tomatoes can show through!  Finally our first red-(dish) tomato is almost ready.

And here is our silo pit garden with more jungly tomatoes and our monarch waystation flowers--milkweed, zinnias, others I've forgotten the names--and cucumbers.  We also have a bunch of volunteer petunias growing that came from seeds from last summer's petunias!  Leann dumped the old pots in there last fall and they sprouted from seeds this summer.  Now, if you planned for that to happen, it never would have worked!

August is such fun...maybe even September, too, as long as the frost stays away!

Even our wheels are blessed!

Yesterday at the Saturday Market, the women at the First Lutheran booth reminded us that today's church service was going to be a pot-luck picnic at the Pavilion following the "Blessing of the Wheels" service.  I had heard of "Blessing of the Animals" in the past, but this "wheels" thing was something new!  It was meant for all kinds of wheels, but we thought maybe our 4-wheeler, Cammie, might need to be blessed.

We finished up breakfast with our guests, jumped into Cammie and headed for the Town Hall...almost late, as usual.  We parked along with the other cars, but then noticed Pastor Nancy running over to us.  She motioned us to pull in over to the right a little...right next to the altar!

She focused her children's sermon on all things with wheels and even the woman in the wheelchair joined in! (but not pictured)

This was a joint service with Pastor Nancy's other church in Washburn, so it was a pretty big group of people today.  Of course there was a pot-luck dinner following the service and included in the food offerings was pickled herring and also smoked herring from the smokehouse here in town.  Yum!

Pretty quiet the rest of the day, but I found the first two cucumbers of the summer.  Yay!  Maybe the rain we're getting now (finally) will coax out some more!