LOOKING BACK ON 2021

 

                                                  

In retrospect, we have a lot to be thankful for in 2021 despite all the misery, twists, and turns that Covid inflicted on us.  We've all had to suffer some time away from family and friends, we suffered having our churches closed for a period of time and then reopened with restrictions and rules that were imposed on us, like no singing in the congregation and only one person allowed to sing away from the people.  Having to register our names and contact information upon entering the church. Funerals services were not allowed, making it difficult to show our support to bereaved families, visiting sick family members and friends in the hospital was not allowed and many businesses have had to close while Amazon sales online soared.  We've had to forgo our fundraising Spring and Fall suppers and caterings, Christmas parties, many organizations have had to suspend their meetings and fundraising. 

Even shopping for groceries became some kind of maze we had to learn to navigate. A few idiots couldn't follow the arrows on the floor to the dismay of others who gave them the evil eye, or the ones who wore their masks below the nose.  Apparently, they never went to health classes and don't know that the nose is part of the respiratory system.

One good thing that came out of this isolation is that we discovered how efficient meeting by Zoom has been.   It has been so much more efficient than meeting in small groups and I've made so many amazing like-minded friends across Canada, the USA, and as far away as Singapore and Bali.  

 Health care is now overburdened with the shortage of doctors and nurses and hospitals running at overflow capacity. Covid is hogging the news and the world has gone bonkers. Still, there are some silver linings in all of this. People are now washing their hands more often and covering their mouths and colds and regular flu have been less frequent.  School children have had to resort to online classes and people have had to work from home with a lot of adjustments. One sad side effect of Covid restriction is that drug and alcohol abuse have risen and also family violence and spousal abuse which is so unfortunate.

Personally, we have had our share of losses and gains. On January 4th, 2021 we lost a good mechanic employee and friend to Leukemia and several close friends and acquaintances, two nephews lost their battle with cancer, and a third nephew died after complications with diabetes.  We quietly celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary. We were spared a spring flood in 2021 and I'm so grateful for this after suffering two devastating floods two years in a row.

In the spring, we got an abundance of spring flowers and fiddleheads. I shredded a mountain of office papers but still, another mountain needs to be shredded.   I conquered a beautiful pattern for a baby blanket after many, many attempts. 

Madison, my brother's grandaughter went missing in May on her way to school early in the morning and was murdered by a pedophile. Her body has still not been found although, they have found her cell phone at the bottom of a lake, some of her clothing, and her blood in the back of the truck. My brother, her grandfather, was paralyzing slowly and needed a walker to get around until he was totally paralyzed from a huge brain tumor. He is now recuperating in the hospital in his hometown after very serious brain surgery and many serious setbacks. He is our Christmas Miracle.

I successfully grew sweet potatoes in our short season for the first time, and also successfully grew sweet corn and used cotton bags to protect the cobs from birds and worms. I had a bumper crop of rhubarbs,  green beans, carrots, peas, potatoes and tomatoes, and many other veggies. I made the best-bottled salsa from a recipe from Mennonite Girls Can Cook, and plenty of it. I went picking apples twice in the country and bottled dehydrated apples. Made tons of assorted pickles, jam, and jelly and sold a lot to raise funds for the church. 

My son has been alcohol-free for over 4 months and is doing very well.  We lost our good family doctor and now have joined the rank of people without family doctors. I'm sure I'm forgetting some important events but  2021, sure has had its up and down and for the record, there are still two more days to go.

I successfully went through a 21 day Daniel fast and gain spiritual peace and graces for which I'm very grateful. Being away from social media has freed a huge amount of time that I used for prayer and reflection and got things done around the house.

Since Covid started, I haven't had either any colds or flu and I hope I can keep it up but my little great-granddaughter visited a few days ago and she had a runny nose. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but I suspect it won't do any good. So far, I've survived 2021, like I said, there are still 2 more days left. 

Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment and keep thinking positive, it's better for your health.

Hugs,

Julia

WOW! DECEMBER IS FADING FAST AND I ALREADY GOT MY CHRISTMAS GIFT

  My 21 days of Daniel fasting is done and has been a true blessing in many ways.  Even when there have been so many twists and turns with covid related cancelations and frustrations and serious sickness in my family, my prayer life gave me so much peace and surrender that I haven't felt stressed at all this December. I have no power to change anything so I just surrendered it all to Jesus. 

I lost a few pounds just eating veggies, fruits, nuts, berries, and a little bread and some water, but I know it will probably come back on during the holidays.  It's been a long while since I last posted and I never know where to begin. 

I got the news that my brother Leo was transported to the hospital by ambulance when he became paralyzed and confused.  Leo is the grandfather of the 14 years old girl, Madison Roy-Boudreau, who disappeared in Bathurst on May 11 of this year.  She has been declared murdered by a pedophile but her body has never been found. Her phone was found at the bottom of a river, some of her clothing and her blood in the box of the truck. This has been an extreemly difficult time in his life.

Leo had been struggling with his balance and had to use a walker since May. Then, he lost the ability to sit and walk and kept falling and could not get up. Leo is one year older than me. They found a very large tumor on his brain, 3in X 2 1/2 in, the size of a big egg on his right lobe. The biggest brain tumor his neurosurgeon ever saw. Leo's brain was swelling, causing other problems which complicated the matter. 

After some delays to transport him to a larger hospital because there were no beds available because of a sudden increase of Covid cases, he finally was transported, and to make a long story short, was operated on. His very risky operation was scheduled to take 12 to 15 hours and was done in only 6 1/2 hours. After the operation, he was awake and talking and even ate applesauce. He regained the movement in his arms and in one leg but his brain was still swollen. They were going to put him in intensive care for 3 to 4 days but after the first day, they were considering taking him out of ICU.  It was a very risky operation but he surprised the doctors with his speedy progress. I haven't received any updates today. He was very lucky to get in surgery as they are canceling scheduled surgeries because of a spike in new cases of Covid. 

This was the best Christmas gift the family could hope for. There were a lot of prayers by many, many friends, and family and surrender to God's will for the outcome. We are all so very grateful.

The only Christmas decorations I put up were a wreath on the front door, a poinsettia, and a nativity. That will be so easy to put away come, Epiphany. 

I've been hooking a little on Mary and Child rug but stopped when I didn't like how the blue mantel looked. I started to dye more shades of blue but had to stop to get my Christmas baking done. So, it looks like  I'll be pulling most of the wool on the blue mantel and try again with more subtle shading. I also will be ripping out the darker blue marking in the baby's gown. It's just too dark.  The baby's upper lips also need some proper color and a little tweaking.

This first picture was taken in the day time

This one was taken at night with poor lighting.  I got a little more done in this photo.  I really don't like how the shading turned out so it's all coming out. I find this type of shading very challenging to do. I'll try with more subtle shading when I get all my wool dyed. 

I started crocheting a baby blanket using a new pattern. I can't sit for a long time because it causes my back to ache. I really like to crochet and find it relaxing when it's an easy pattern. 

No family again for Christmas this year but we will have a turkey dinner with all the trimmings which we will share with two households. I'll prepare some care packages so they will be well fed at least.  I've got my Christmas baking done, but I still have to make more meat pies to give away.  I made two a few days ago, one for us, and one for my son Vaughan. They turned out very tasty and quickly disappeared. George and I  are not exchanging gifts as we are old and have everything we need. It makes life easier in this time of Covid. No need to go shopping. The rest of the family gets money to buy something they can use.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone. Wishing you good health.  Stay well and safe and find something to be thankful for and then, we'll hang our new calendar and start all over again.

Hugs, Julia

I'M GOING ON A DANIEL FAST FOR 21 DAYS

 Good morning my blogger friends, during Advent, starting today, I'm going on a Daniel fast for 21 days along with thousands of other people with the Shalom Media so this means that I will not be on social media and will not be posting and visiting my favorite blogs. I'll visit at the end of this period. I expect great blessings from this time of prayers.

I wish you all a great December.

Julia

A LITTLE PROGRESS ON MARY AND JESUS RUG

 I haven't hooked every day as I needed to dye some more wool or over-dye as needed. I also had to pause and think about how I was going to proceed to dye the color for the veil covering her head. I had some leftover Cushing dye recipes in jars in my dye cupboard and decided to use what I had instead of casserole dyeing. 

 I used some of the flesh color wool I had plenty of and painted it with a brush. At first, I was going to bundle some wool and tie it with string and let the color seep through but then decided not to go that route as the results might not be satisfactory for what I wanted. I'm all about using what is available if possible. 

The technique I used is painting the wool, which I never tried before, and I wasn't sure how to proceed. I decided on using the microwave for this technique. Again, this is a first for me. After painting the wool, I sprinkled the citric acid lightly to set the colors as opposed to the simmer in the pot method.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out. I wet the wool as required and layed it in a glass pan and painted the diluted barnyard red, then the diluted dark brown, then diluted yellow. I found it wasn't dark enough and repeated the process until I was satisfied. I dyed several darker pieces for the shadows. 

It's not exactly as in the picture and I don't think I could achieve the same look anyway.  My drawing is not even exact. I'm not sure whether I'll change Jesus's hair but it's a possibility as he looks kind of funny. For his hair, I used some worms from striped plaid wool I had left from my Julia Hen rug. Time will tell if I change it. I need to come up with a recipe for a blue dye for her mantel as I don't think I have any ready mixed. Not having the right colored wool can really put the brakes on a project.

I hope to have more to show next time or I may just do a wee tutorial on how I transferred the image on paper.

This is how some of my painted wool looked like once dried. Maybe there is a simpler method but I really enjoyed trying this type of dyeing. 

Another method I tried for the first time is cutting the wool and using matte scotch tape to attach all the worms as they come off the cutting wheel and marking it with an arrow and numbering each cut batches until the whole piece of wool was cut so when I hook, it has more of a pattern on the rug. I'm really enjoying hooking this rug even on Monk's cloth.

I celebrated a birthday this weekend and don't even feel any older. 

Thanks for visiting and leaving comments. I really appreciate your friendship.

Julia

MY TWEAKING RESULT

Happy Sunday everyone. I hope that you are all having a relaxing and pleasant day.

I wanted to show the little progress I did on my rug. I didn't spend much time hooking but did some tweaking and I feel that I need to do some more.

This is what I showed you in my last post.  Mary had a swollen nose and a bad case of swollen lips. She looked so miserable. Her eyes looked very black even though there is an outline of dark brown above her eyes. They didn't look up as they were supposed to. Even though I followed the line for the brow, it looked too thick that I had only one line for the right brow. I've never had lessons on how to hook facial.

This is hooked in a # 3 cut otherwise I would have to have the design a lot bigger just to get the details in.  Here is the before photo.

Here is the after photo.

I need to do some more tweaking on the lips and under the left eye. It will never be perfect, but at least, she is healing. 

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.

NOTHING EARTH SHATTERING BUT I PICKED UP MY HOOK AGAIN

 It's was too damp and cold to work outside so instead, I worked in my dye kitchen. I boiled some onion skins and dyed some wool to be used as flesh color in my new rug. It felt a little strange at first as I've forgotten how to dye with onion skins. I need to dye some blue wool, next.

I strained the onion skin juice and poured it in a clean jar and put some more water in the pot and put my wet wool in and simmered for about 20 minutes. Some pieces that  I wanted lighter were removed first.

Notice the 4th piece from the left is two tones. I dipped the end in a stronger dye bath to give me graduation of color on the same piece.

This is what I hooked this evening. I need to do some major tweaking or surgery as it seems that the features have grown and no longer look proportioned. I had forgotten how more difficult it is to do hook a face that looks sideways. I should have chosen an image that was looking straight. This one is challenging as there are so many highlights on the face. I like to look at the image on the computer to see what needs to be changed.

I wasn't going to show my work until it was more presentable but anyone who has hooked rugs, knows that sometimes, things don't always work out as we plan and we have to rip up the work and try again. Anyway, it's a work in progress and it's been so long since I've picked up the hook. Lauren, Saundra, and Cathy are putting me to shame.

One thing I've noticed is that when I hooked my last rug, I used this monk's cloth and hated it. I was used to hooking on Linen backing and did not enjoy working with monk's cloth. This time around, it didn't seem to bother me. 

I chose this image of the Virgin Mary and Child from the public domain. I doubt that I can do it justice. Anyway, I'm willing to meet the challenge head-on. 

After the hard work, I treated myself to a small piece of pumpkin pie. 

Thanks for your visit and comments. Stay well and keep positive. Some people have bigger problems with all the flooding and landslides in British Columbia on the west coast.

Julia

WORKING ON MY TO DO LIST

 As I'm getting older, if I didn't have a To-Do List, I'd get nothing done. 

I could no longer ignore my upright freezer.  It needed defrosting badly as the ice has been building up and reducing the efficiency of the freezer.   I put everything in a big box and covered it with heavy blankets and throws and everything stayed frozen while I placed pots of hot water on the shelves to speed defrosting. 

I've been wanting to do this but kept putting it off, but I couldn't ignore it any longer as the ice was really taking up a lot of room. I really regret buying that freezer because frozen packages often slide off the shelves and things get mixed up pretty quickly, especially when I'm in a hurry. So now, I've put frozen food in plastic gallon ice cream containers and labeled them so I can see at a glance what veggies I have and nothing is sliding off the shelves anymore. Sorry, I didn't take a picture of this new system but I like it a lot better.

The cardboard box holds the cold in and frozen food stays frozen longer with all the layers of blankets.

Another thing that I finally got done today, is mulching my daylily debris. It took me all afternoon with a little break in the middle.  Now I'm left with cleaning up the gazebo area, where I did the work. I'm always mindful of any debris falling on the carburetor as it could potentially cause a fire. I got 9 bags of mulch which I plan on using in the spring.

I've been getting a design ready for my new rug,  and when things slow down, I'll dye some wool so that I have something to work on when the snow flies. Sorry, I said that "s" word... but I'm still in yard work mode. 

The photo doesn't show all 10 bags of mulch, but that is how many I got from only the large bed. It was nice yesterday and I got a lot more done so I'll have less to do in the spring.

Thanks for leaving a comment and have a great day.

Julia

 

WE WILL REMEMBER🌺

 November 11 is Remembrance Day.  🌺  A day set aside to remember and be grateful for our hero soldiers who fought for our freedom and paid a dear price for that freedom which we see being eroded every day. They paid with their lives and limbs and emotions and left their families behind to serve their countries. We are grateful for their supreme sacrifices and we honor them as well all those who served alongside them. May we never forget.  WE WILL REMEMBER 🌺

Julia

I BIT THE BULLET AND CLEANED OUT THE LARGE DAYLILY BED.

 My hands are very sensitive to cold for some reason and I have to wait till it warms up a bit in the afternoon to work outside. I've been using disposable clear vinyl gloves as I wore out all my gardening gloves this summer. I still have lots of work left to do to put the gardens to bed but when my back gets sore, I come in.  We have a good stretch of sunny days left to come, thank goodness so I should be able to clean everything up. We've had heavy frost two days in a row. This morning it was -2℃ or 28.4℉. 

November is letting us know that it has arrived. I should go outside and blow some bubbles to see them freeze.  I think it would be pretty cool. Pardon the pun. 

I was cold during the night as I keep my bedroom on the cool side. I went to Walmart to buy a new blanket to replace that synthetic blanket that was falling apart but I only saw some duvets and comforters. The parking lot at the mall was almost full so I decided not to continue shopping and bought some socks and came home without a blanket. I might have to shop online. I'm just not a shopper.

The long daylily bed has been cleared. There are still a few weeds left to pull.

I cut down the daylilies and sundrops in this bed and now I can see the creeping Charlies making their way in the bed. 

The hosta will be cleaned out this afternoon. The frost really did a job on them to make it easier for me to do my job.

Even the skunks were busy last night looking for grubs along the path. They sure can make a mess in no time. 

Where someplace are still basking in beautiful autumn colors, our trees are bare all along the riverside. 

Not much color left around our place but there is still a bit of color left along the road to the city.  

This is what is left of our overgrown hedge. The next-door neighbor told my husband that he wanted to trim the hedge but I had no idea that this is what he had in mind. I was shocked, and it took me some time to come to terms with this.  I thought that he was going to pull the stumps out but he said no, they will grow back into a hedge. I don't know about that but I'm getting more sun on that side. I can no longer trim the hedge because of my shoulder injury from my falls on the ice. 

This picture was taken a few days ago and already today, all the leaves are yellow and wilted. I tried to remove the photo but I couldn't replace it with a more recent one. 

November is the month for the dead and a month to visit cemeteries. This is our daughter Nicole's grave and we miss her all so much. November is also my birthday month. 

I sewed up 16 heating pads that can be heated in the microwave or put in the freezer and used as a cold pack. These were made for our upcoming Christmas Craft sale but the event was canceled due to Covid.

I made some for my three great-grandkids this spring and they just love them.  

I came upon a molasses pie recipe the other day and I decided to try it. It was surprisingly delicious and tasted more like a cake and was not too sweet.  The husband loved it. I also learned that it was also called shoo Fly Pie. 

Thanks for your visit and your comments. Have a great week everyone and is well.

GOODBYE OCTOBER, YOUR VISIT ENDS TODAY

 TRICK- OR- TREAT,  HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone. I'm feeling really wicked tonight for some reason...

October was a breeze and is already gone. I didn't get done all I wanted to do in the gardens but I'm slowly getting it done. Everything is looking so drab with the bare trees and the ragged gardens and leaves littering the yard.  I can't show a decent picture of flowers because half of them are not picture-worthy. 

I've decided that Autumn isn't my favorite season after all. Everyone seems to say that Autumn is their favorite season but for me,  I think that Spring is my favorite season, even with the flooding... There are a lot of good things about Autumn I know, but right now I'm finding it easier saying what I don't like about it.

In his wisdom, God gave us this season to slow us down so I shouldn't complain and I should be thankful. I'm very thankful until I have to adjust the way I used to do things. 

 I love the beginning of Autumn with all the beautiful colors of foliage and cooler temperatures but's that's about it. It's the season of death. Oh, I forgot, no mosquitos. Yes, I love no mosquitos but those darn fruit flies have taken over my compost and even wait at the door to come in.  Pesky little nuisance they are.

Everything ripens at the same time and there are always veggies on my counter that need to be taken care of. The furry little visitors who are looking for a warm place to live rent-free, the mice, and their furry companions are coming into the garage and somehow find their way into the house. I make them pay with their lives, the little rascals.

I never know just how to dress.  I love wearing sandals and I hate to give them up.  The temperature varies constantly and I never know quite what to wear. I've especially noticed that wearing the right pajamas can be quite challenging. One day I have to wear summer pajamas and the next day and change to warmer pajamas and even winter pajamas, especially on cold rainy nights.

Then comes the work that comes with Autumn. The harvesting of root vegetables. It's plain back-breaking work digging out all those veggies. Then here comes the fruit flies. I have no love for those little buggers. Putting the gardens to bed is a lot of work also, especially for me as I have so many.

The sun is so low that it makes it difficult to drive with the sun is in my eyes and working in the garden without a sun visor gives me a headache. The heavy dark clouds are showing up more often.

The songbirds are flying away to warmer places so I miss their songs and the squirrels are planting butternuts all over my flower beds and are digging up my tulip bulbs. 

Then there's the body trying to adjust to the constant temperature swings.  Then, there's the wait for the killer frost and the clean-up after.  I almost forgot the frosty windshield in the morning. Driving in the fog in rush hour is a bit frightening. Autumn is also cold and flu season. 

Many people suffer from seasonal depression starting in Autumn with less sunlight. It's more difficult to get out of a warm bed and it's more difficult to get motivated. When we think we've finally adjusted, there is the daylight time change that everyone dislikes. 

Hello November. What will you bring?

Thanks for reading my Autumn rant. It feels good just to rant once in a while even though no one is listening. I hope that you didn't eat too many Halloween treats. We didn't get a single trick or treater this evening. Oops, I turned the calendar page too soon. Lol. Haloween isn't until tomorrow. 

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. 

BLOG BUDDIES, BLOG BUDDIES, WHERE ARE YOU?

 The other day, I was reading some old posts on my blog and felt nostalgic toward my old blogger friends who no longer post on their blogs or comment. I'm so thankful for the faithful blog buddies I still have and they are a varied bunch, but the list has shrunk through the years.  We are all getting older and me included and I'm missing my good old blog buddies and I wonder how they are. I know, sometimes, life gets in the way and we pull back.

I TOOK A LITTLE TRIP IN THE COUNTRY

 Seeing all the beautiful Autumn colors in their vibrant hues just made me glad to be alive. Apple picking was calling me back and so I made the time and went alone, this time.  Do you want to come along with me? 

It was a beautiful day and the place wasn't packed like the first time I went.  The first time, we went on a Saturday and it was crowded. George had a sore back so he picked apples from the trees and I picked apples on the ground. We didn't walk around the farm and returned home as soon as we could. 

It's a beautiful farm with lots of lands covered with a large variety of apple trees, big barns,  a big farmhouse and other buildings,  fields and horses in the pastures. This time I wasn't rushed and I walked around and took some pictures with my cell phone. 

The farm is situated high on a hill, off the highway, with the picturesque St John Valley down below.  What a gorgeous view. There are rows upon rows of well-kept apple trees and a constant picking of apples for market and people picking apples for themselves, like me.  I didn't want to take too many pictures of the people for their own privacy. 

Upon arriving I went to get a little plastic cart to carry the apples and I asked for three plastic bags.  These large plastic bags with string, holds approximately 10 pounds of apples when filled and tied. They weigh the apples, we pay and we can use the little cart to carry the apples back to the car and then we return the little cart to the kid amusement park. There are many carts, and this is only a small portion of the playground.

There were lots of these rocking horses, carts and other kids playground toys.

Don't you just love this old car with the HoneyCrisp licence and their Everettapples.com

Here is the front view and see all the rocking horses in the background and an old Ice cream truck canteen.

Two horses in the higher pasture.

Two more horses the lower pasture. The black horse is hiding his male appendage behind the post. I didn't want to embarrass my viewers.

One small section of the apple trees by the parking area.

This is the long road downhill. It's a very steep hill and I couldn't see the slope from the top.

Some of my dehydrated apples in bottles.  I use the largest wide-mouth quarts jars I had. I made about 17 jars and there are still apples to process. I'll probably freeze some for apple pies.

I dehydrate them at night and by morning, they are dry enough to bottle. It takes about 10 hours to make them nice and crisp.

I can fit more in the oven. My oven has a dehydrator function and I prefer this method. I dip the slices in a mixture of half bottled lemon juice and half water. I place them on a clean tea towel to catch the drips. I place the apple slices on cheese cloths to facilitate the removal so they don't stick to the cooling racks.

After talking to my daughter Christine, I decided to do like her and boil the apple skins and cores and make scrap Apple Jelly. I made 10 one-cup jars.

 A few days ago I made another 2 batches of Rhubarb, Strawberry Pineapple jam as I sold all two cases I made at the church Farmer's Market. Poor George didn't have a single jar left for him. 

We had the usual Turkey dinner with all the trimmings for Thanksgiving but somehow, I didn't take any pictures. I even made 2 pumpkin pies and between 4 people, it's all gone. 

Sorry for the length of the post. Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I appreciate your kind comments.

Julia

THE PROPHECY OF THE LAST POPE - Garabandal, Medjugorje, Akita, Fatima a...

Prophesies for our time. It's already happening.

St Michael the Arch Angel, defend us in battles against Satan and his demons.

Julia

OCTOBER CAME KNOCKING AT MY DOOR ALREADY

 Yes, October came knocking at my door and September got a little upset and whirled out of here, with leaves littering my front lawn. I went for a little trip uptown and the leaves are changing so fast. What a beautiful sight, the leaves are so colorful already. I was driving so I couldn't take any photos.

We are still harvesting nature's gifts. My son Vaughan and George are picking crab apples on the front lawn and almost filled a large box. George wants me to make some crabapple jelly again this year.

I got help digging and picking potatoes this year but they speared too many with the fork. This is the upper end of the rows. I was so busy digging that I forgot to take pictures of the helpers.

And this is the lower end. The center was picked a few weeks ago. We gave away a lot and sold some and put the rest in storage for the family.

I made another two large batches of salsa and in all made 35 jars. I'm sure some will go as gifts.

Here are some bottles of salsa in the boiling water bath for 20 minutes. Oh, yummy salsa.

My curiosity got the best of me and I dug up some sweet potatoes from my experiment. I was actually surprised to get some this size as our growing season is short and they need long season and lots of heat to grow.

I dug up the rest as it's been cold and they announced rain for the next three days. I got about 25 pounds.

A friend gave me a bag of apples and I made this apple pie and dehydrated the rest, then my sister-in-law, Pauline gave me 2 big bags of apples that she picked at a U-Pick and I'm still dehydrating some. They are so good, I eat them like candy in the winter. I would like to go pick apples to dehydrate more.

One of George's second crop of cabbage. He sold a lot but this one was starting to split. I put it next to the pie for perspective.

I deadheaded the Rudbeckia to prevent them from growing all over the lawn.

I dug up some daylilies and gave away a lot but I still need to dig up some more on the end of the rows.

I saved all the debris to make mulch to keep the weeds away. I still have so many plants to cut down.

These will need to be cut down as well and I have several other daylily beds to clean up.

That's it for this evening. I hope that you are all staying well and happy.

Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I appreciate your kindness.

Julia