A PECK OF PICKLES

As summer is winding down, it's time to make pickles. We have an overabundance of cucumbers again this year and so I made some pickles. What else is new?

Last Friday evening I went to check to see how my little pickling cucumbers were doing. To my surprise, I picked about a gallon. I asked George, how his cucumbers were doing at the farm. He said he hadn't seen any yet. I went to check and I picked two full boxes and had to come home because I  didn't bring enough boxes. There were so much more left in his garden.
That night, I scrubbed all the cucumbers and got all my ingredients ready and started to work on pickles all day, from Saturday morning till I went to bed at midnight. The house smelled like pickles and me too. I showered, said my prayers and fell asleep and I didn't move all night. I was so tired. Surprisingly I was well-rested in the morning.

 On Monday, I tackled digging my Irises. I had to tackle a hornet nest inside a hollow brick before continuing. It was hot and the sweat was pouring off my brow into my eyeglasses. I had to tie a bandana on my forehead.

I had to remove some bricks and the hornets were really mad. I had put on a winter coat with a hood, leather gloves and was well protected. I even had my face covered in case one would try to get to sting me in the face.

The Irises have been planted and I have put some in pots but I didn't take a picture of that. I dug another patch but I still have a few more patches to did up. Now I have to tidy these Daylilies. I have all the dead stalks removed.

I've finally moved the rest of the pile of soil by the road and reseeded that patch of lawn and done some more weeding as the weeds are going to seeds already. I used a lot of that excess soil in my Irises bed. No Photos.

On Wednesday morning I got the shocking news that my uncle had passed away. When I contacted my sister to tell her, she gave me the news that my sister in law had just lost two of her sisters a few days apart. I hope that it for a while.

Please keep the people of Florida in your thoughts and prayers. I have friends who live in Florida and I'm am concerned about them. I hope that Dorian loses strength as it hit land. Also if you are so inclined, please pray for a 4-year-old little girl named Abbey who is to undergo a 12 to 20-hour operation for brain cancer. I can't imagine what the parents are going through right now.

Stay safe wherever you are.
Thanks for your comments and prayers..
Hugs, Julia

CONTINUATION OF PREVIOUS POST

Today is a rainy Sunday. We went out to our favorite family restaurant for breakfast and now I have free time to post.

The last of the visitors have left and are on their way back home. It was so nice seeing them again.
I have had some expected visitors and some unexpected visitors as well. All were welcome. We had a great time and the house came to life for over a week which was very nice. Now, all is quiet again.

Warning. This post is photo heavy. Here are some photos of our visitors.

My husband's nephew and his wife from Quebec. Missing is his brother from Montreal. He went out when the photo was taken.

My brother and his wife from another part of Quebec stopped in on their way up to our home town.  This photo is out of focus. That's little old me on the right.

My daughter Christine and the boys relaxing on the swing. They have grown so much

Of course, the kitty must be included in the photos.

The grandkids were feeding oatmeal to wild ducks. The ducks were pretty tame.
We went to the lake at my other daughter and son in law's cottage and had a relaxing day but I didn't take many photos. It was a cloudy day so we stayed mostly inside.  The next day we went out on the lake and I found out I was getting out of breath. I need to start walking again or go to the public indoor pool. Weeding is too stationary...

To keep the boys busy, I got them to pound nails in the deck boards. There was a frenzy of pounding.  They had a great time and felt good about fixing my old deck. One of the boys found out that the little hammer had a neat screwdriver in the hollow handle.

I read these books that some of my friends lent me. Vatican has 823 pages and Piercing The Darkness has 441. Vatican by Malachi Martin was very eye-opening. I enjoyed reading both.

I harvested over 20 pounds of beets and filled 2 large pots to make beet pickles.

I never froze beet greens before but thought I would give it a try this year.

In all I made 18 pints of beet pickles. I don't have a single beet left in my garden.

I made 7 + jars of Rhubarb Pineapple Strawberry jam. It uses strawberry Jell-o which doesn't have strawberry in it so I can eat it. The extra went in the fridge. I only use a tiny bit on my toasts so this will last me a long time except if George gets into it.

I harvested a whole bunch of Basil and made 7 containers of Pesto base with olive oil for the freezer. When I need pesto, I just thaw the base and add the other ingredients. So yummy... I still have a tons of basil in the garden.

I've been harvesting all my cabbages, broccoli and cauliflowers and froze some.  They all grew so large this year with all the rain we had. Also, I froze green and yellow beans.  My freezer is full and I cleaned out the garden where the veggies were harvested. I still have kale, broccoli and brussel sprouts left in that garden.

And now for those who love flowers, here is fragrant Debbie Oriental Lily. Oriental Lilies are more fragrant in the evening I find.

This one was just starting to bloom. It's called Muscadet Oriental Lily, also fragrant.

Just starting to bloom is fragrant Dizzy Oriental Lily.

This is fragrant Golden Stargazer

And not to be outdone is fragrant Pretty Woman Oriental Lilies.

This is Bombshell Hydrangea which is getting crowded by daylilies.

Here is the culprit Daylily called Decatur Cherry. They are so pretty. I think they are one of my favorites Daylilies

This is one of the Fire Light Hydrangea that the deers ate some of the buds. I'm glad that they didn't eat all the buds. It's starting to change color already and will turn to pomegranate-red in late summer. Please don't look at the weeds in my lawn. Bad Creeping Charlie has taken over.

I started the taller red Impatients from seeds and our friendly plant nurseryman gave me a whole tray of mixed shorter Impatients this spring.

This is an old Houldini Clematis that has been having difficulty because the trellis on which it was climbing was taken down to work on the chimney last Fall. Unfortunately, it started to grow with no support and is folded in two on itself. I hope it will do better next year. It's a very tall climber.

I love these happy Rudbeckia. They add a bit of sunshine in the garden.

My only Lavatera that survived from starting seeds indoors. Next year, I'll plant directly outdoors. They dislike being transplanted.

Thanks for staying to the end. I enjoy your comments.
Have a safe rest of summer everyone.
Hugs, Julia

IT'S BEEN A VERY GOOD SUMMER

Despite a very busy summer, it has been a very good summer. The gardens have been very productive with the frequent rain, the haying season has been going well despite breakdowns in machinery, the hay barns are getting filled and farmers are picking large bales of hay from the fields by the transport loads.

I apologize for not being a good blogger but by the time I come in, I'm usually too tired to post. I sit at the computer, check my emails, watch a few podcasts and play a few games of Freecell and go to bed. I have had several people contacted me, worrying about me because I haven't blogged lately. Thank you for caring. Sometimes, I need to be reminded that people read my blog. That's a good enough reason to keep on blogging.

I took some photos of my flowers. I hope they don't bore you. Growing flowers is one of my passions.

These giant lilies are called Satisfaction, this is their second year. I wasn't sure they would survive the long period of being underwater during the flood.

My old Jackmanni clematis never fails to put on a show in August. The trellis was lift off the track up top during the flood and floated away by the shed. I just propped it up against the building and the Clematis gingerly started to grow to the top, keeping the trellis in place, even in the big wind we had.

A view from the shed where there used to be tones of soil this spring.

I can't remember the name of these giant lilies but the name is on a label in the garden. It's dark outside so it will have to wait.

My patch of hosta hiding a large decaying tree stump. I have some Marigold growing in the center but from this angle, you can't see.

A washed-out photo of my daylilies.  Taking photos in full sun is always disappointing.

A serendipity petunia that popped up between the patio blocks. I have several others growing between the patio blocks and they blooming without special care. They grew from seeds that fell in the cracks last year. I had two large pots of Cherry Ice petunias.

More serendipity Lobellias growing in the rocks.  This is just a small one. I have several that came up from last year. It has more blossoms now.

Some more lilies, Lavatera and Geraniums.

More Daylilies, red Salvias, and Allissums.

English cucumbers making use of a bare spot in the Daylily bed.  They are so delicious and tender.

Another view from near the gazebo.
It's getting late so I'll continue showing you what I've been up to in another post. I'm so behind... Remember, if you are a follower and you leave a comment, I will surely leave a comment on your blog. I don't spend a lot of time on the computer these days.

Stay safe and enjoy the rest of the summer.
Hugs, Julia