Brand New Day

Like a dog to water

I was visiting with by brother at the farm last Sunday and I brought out my camera to show him some picture or another that I'd taken.  As I was scrolling through pics and passed these, he made me back up so that he could see them.  Then he laughed. And laughed. And laughed. And then he made fun of my over precautions and laughed some more.  I mean, I guess I can see the irony in putting a life jacket on a dog, but is it really so funny?

 

 Swimming is really  good exercise for Mac's elbow dysplasia. 

 

 

And sometimes that crazy pup gets winded and tired while he's in the deep end.  And now I don't have to worry.  And shouldn't  every person/dog  be safe in the pool?  And

 

 

oh, just fergedda 'bout it!

Thrifting

This morning I visited one of the two Goodwill shops in our little town.  Since we are in the crossroads of Dayton and Cincinnati, both cities have their Goodwill stores here.  Both stores have been built in the last 2 years--they're clean and organized.  I went on a mission to find curtains/drapes/rods for windows in Emma's apartment.  I am about to the realization that I need to purchase yardage and make them as I have been having no luck in the drape department. I did not, however,  come home empty handed.

 

Carhart jeans in Grace's size--new with tags. Carhart is all the rage in this 4-H community and is the brand of choice at the Tractor Supply Store. Score!

 Our family likes to play board games and I found one that we've never played before called "Life Stories."  The box looks like it's never been opened.  The back shows examples of cards that you draw that read like "tell about one of your best childhood friends" or "tell a story of a time that you laughed so hard."  This sounds like a fun game to play this winter when everyone's home for the holidays.  

I also found a pair of shoes in Emma's size in a brand that she likes.  She says that she's been looking for a pair of casual shoes to wear with jeans.  The soles are hardly worn and the little tassles are cute. 

What else?  The vintage thermos--I love these.  I have several and I take them to football games on Friday nights filled with hot chocolate.  They're so old school and so am I.

 Lastly, a Moosehead cookbook.  I bought my original Moosehead cookbook at Mother Earth Foods in Parkersburg, WV 20+ years ago.  This copy has been around for a few years and is filled with more vegetarian recipes.  I paid a little over $15 for these treasures!!  Sike!

 

Tomato Tomahto

Mac and I walked out to the garden this morning to see what was ripe.  The green beans aren't quite ready yet, but finally there are beans growing.  We have lots of peppers and I also picked several yellow squash.  We have lots and lots of basil and lots of tomatoes.

 

I picked an egg basket full of cherry tomatoes.  All of these are from two cherry tomato plants! 

 

 

All washed up.

 

 

Today I am roasting tomatoes.  I cut the cherry tomatoes in half and placed them on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.   I added basil leaves to one pan and some rosemary to the other.  I drizzled olive oil, added kosher salt and fresh ground pepper--then into the oven for 3 hours at 225 degrees.  I also threw in some cloves of garlic.  This is gonna be good!  Meanwhile,

 

these heirloom tomatoes and about half a bushel of their sistas are begging to be used.  We planted about 2 dozen tomato plants this year.  I've already canned 22 quarts of tomato sauce, plus we've had plenty for eating.  Last week I made delicious bruschetta.  Today, I'm making more tomato sauce since we have used most of the sauce on our shelf during the winter.  This tomato sauce recipe was given to me by a friend about 30 years ago.  I've used it over and over and it's become a family favorite sauce.  The pasta sauce on the Kroger shelf never measures up to the sauce made with our own organically grown tomatoes.

 

This little contraption has been a big help to us through the years.  We bought this almost 30 years ago and we use it every summer.  The tomatoes get washed, cored and quartered then added to the white reservoir at the top and plunged down through the strainer.  When the handle is turned, the juice runs out and into the bowl while the skins and seeds go out the side and into another bowl.  It eliminates the whole tomato blanching/removing skin step!   

 

Victorio Strainer! 

 

This receipt was in the bottom of the box.  We bought this for $37.54 in "ninteen hundred and eighty three."  (I thought I should talk like an old timer since the receipt looks so old!)  I just checked online and they still sell these gems.  Sears has them and I'm sure that the Amish store, Lehman's,  still stocks them.

 

Victorio Strainer--I sing your praises!   By the way, the kitchen is smelling amazing right now from those little tomatoes roasting away in the oven.

  

Okay, the tomato puree is  mixed with peppers, onions, garlic, tomato paste, sugars and lots of spices.  It's gonna be hot in my big silver pot!

 

After cooking on the stovetop for two hours, the sauce gets ladled into hot jars and then processed.

Remember those little cherries in the oven?  They are finally done and worth the wait--they have such wonderful flavor!  They're good for snacking right out of the oven.  I added some to pizza for supper, then stored the rest in a jar in the refrigerator for snacks, tossing with pasta,  or for a bagel topping in the morning.

 

Delicious pizza.

 

Yummy roasted tomatoes. 

We ended up canning 7 quarts and 7 pint jars of tomato sauce today--this brings the summer total to 29 quarts and 7 pints.  They look so pretty on the shelf.  With more green tomatoes on the vine and ripening, we should have more to can next week!

 

Ch..Ch..Ch..Changes

Our household shrunk by two last week as Emma left for Louisville to start her school year and we moved Bess to M.U. for her first year of studies. 

Emma was home for the summer to do two internships.  Since she kept her Louisville apartment, her move from home  involved carrying her suitcases to the car and driving off.  She started school yesterday and already is in the thick of writing legal briefs and selecting topics for a law review paper. 

Office attire was in order for Emma's summer internship at Sen. Sherrod Brown's office and also for her second internship doing immigration law paperwork for a local attorney.  Doesn't she look professional?  When she leaves the house looking all grown up like this I like to call out "did you remember to make your bed?" as she's leaving--I think it helps to keep her humble.

The move for Bess was not so simple.  We started months ago gathering dorm room linens, desk supplies, getting books, selecting courses--really, this move to Miami has been a year in the making.  *note to self--start Grace's college search her Junior year of high school.* 

 

 

 
Her pretty dormitory.

 

 

The place where she'll be receiving her mail

 

 
and the dormitory parlor where she may someday receive gentleman callers.  I know what y'all are thinking, but I've seen "The Help" twice this week and I've decided that I prefer the 60's attitudes and modesties better (not the attitudes before civil rights) so in my pretend college world, this IS the only place where young ladies will be receiving gentlemen callers!

 

 

Setting up her desk.  The room is Very small.  Since Bess is doing marching band camp this week, she is moving in 4 days earlier than the rest of the freshman class.  She'll get to meet her roomate on Thursday when she moves in.  As we were unpacking boxes and filling drawers and closet, Bess turned on the radio to the station she usually listens to.  She listens to classic rock almost exclusively, so I wasn't surprised to hear the Casey Kasem top 20 countdown???  Are you kidding me?? Casey Kasem is still around??  Bess tells me that she listens every Sunday.  Then the countdown started and they're playing Chicago--you know, ♫The feeling is clear, clear as a blue sky on a Sunday day, Everything was youuu...♫  Then Casey chases that song with ♫Please come to Boston♫ by Dave Loggins.  I can't tell you how strange it was to sit there and be listening to music from 1972 while moving into a dorm room.  Seriously, it was more than a little surreal.  When Casey started playing probably one of the most awful songs ever "Having my Baby" by Neil Sedaka, I felt a pimple start growing on my face and I started wondering if I would fit in.  Yep, all those good old insecurities feelings of 1972!

 

 

I'm standing in the doorway here. The beds are bunked and to the immediate right--this room is seriously small!

We've talked to Bess several times this week.  After moving in on Sunday morning, she auditioned for a spot on the marching field.  She just called to let us know that she got a spot and will be marching her trumpet this fall and going to New York to march with the Miami Marching Redhawks  in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. She's making new friends and says that college band camp is so much more fun than high school band camps.  She went to her first party last night, hosted by one of the band upperclassman.  Gulp. "Relax Mom" she tells me and even though it goes against every motherly instinct I have, I take a deep breath and tell myself that she's (I'm?) ready for this new stage of life.

So, all's quiet on the homefront here.  We're all trying to realize our new "normal."  Grace is wondering how life will be with "just Mom and Dad" and we're wondering that same thing ourselves.  Grace went to a friend"s house for overnight and Gary and I sat and talked about how empty nesters must feel and wonder what do they do?  Thankfully we will have a few years to think about that question and how to "re-invent" (Emma's words)  ourselves as a couple. We throw out suggestions-- Do we remember how to play backgammon?  Should we learn to dance?  Neither of us like to bowl.

We watch Wheel of Fortune, have a beverage and ponder life.  Umm...

 

 

 

Peach Pie

 

 

 

 
 

I made my first peach pie yesterday. 

Note:  For the first time in years I can add this disclaimer:  No Pillsbury Pie Crusts were harmed during the making of this pie.

Fair Week

The fair is going on this week and as is usually the case, this will probably go down as the hottest week of the year to date.  I am so...very happy that we do not have an animal there this year.  In fact, I made it a point to avoid the livestock barns altogether as I absolutely hate to see the animals being so miserably hot.  The 4-H kids do a good job of keeping their animals watered, but they  kick over their buckets and straw and bedding can really soak up the water too.  Anyhow, I stuck to the Home Exhibits and the Grandstands this year.  Grace did a gardening project and had garden veggies on display. She also participated in the parade with the marching band.  Again, a very hot evening.

For the first time, I entered plants in the flower show.  I am used to entering in the home exhibits--I used to enter special occasion dresses in the sewing department.  For the past few years, I have entered knitted socks.

 

These look huge, but I knitted them for Gary to wear with his winter boots.  Last years socks got a blue ribbon, what happened?  No dropped stitches, neat work, oh well.

 

This was the happening spot at 7:15 this morning when I pulled in to set up for today's flower show/judging.   Note the large tomato plants growing in front of the kitchen!  The fairgrounds is also the horse track, so the horses were being exercised this morning, as is their usual routine. As I was breathing in the smells of the horses, I looked over to see a large tent with a kangaroo eating her breakfast. Ugh! I really wish that animals could remain in their natural habitats--kangaroos, camels, exotic birds--they don't belong in Ohio!

 

 

 This painting was entered in home exhibits by someone very talented--wish I knew who painted it! It is so lovely.

 

 

As I was walking around admiring the posies, I  paused at this one.  It looks so exotic--so Hawaiian--the colors are so vivid.  This is a Rose of Sharon.  How many times have I driven by my neighbors bush (everyday) and never noticed the flowers singularly.  How pretty.

 

 

I've planted hydrangeas 3 different times at our home without luck.  I have a new hydrangea bush this year and so far so good.  I would really like to be able to pick blooms like this and dry them.

 

And one final image.  I took this picture this week while waiting on chicken crumble at our local feedstore.  The feedstore does big business when the county fair is going on!

 

 

 

 

 

What's blooming

I  took a walk around the house and wanted to share some of the plants in bloom.

 

 

I really like this bird bath, but everytime I fill it up the dog drinks it down.  And in all the years that I've owned it, I've never seen a bird take a bath in it.  There are two cats who live here, so it just seems wrong to lure the little guys in for a swim only to have a kitty cat make a sneak attack.  This summer I took the hangers off of a hanging basket, put it in the bird feeder and everyone is happy! 

 

 

 Only in my garden do the shade loving hosta and the sun loving Black Eyed Susans live in harmony.

 

 

Coneflower, one of my favorite perennials.

 

 

This is called Spiatica I believe?  The bees and the hummingbirds love it.

 

 

This planter likes the sun.  The little flowers have bloomed all summer and no deadheading!

 

 

Chocolate mint--very fragrant!

 

 

I think that this is called Million Bells.  The hummingbirds also like this.  This planter likes lots of sun and drinks lots of water.  It also likes a fertilizer cocktail every two weeks.

 

 

This little guy and two of his buddies have been in the pool all summer.  Bess catches them and puts them under the bushes, but they're right back in.  I like to know where they are when I'm in the pool--no surprises!

 

 

I really like this grass.  I'd never seen it before I bought it at the local greenhouse at the 1/2 price sale.  It twists and turns and is fun to pet.

 

 

This is the most fragrant herb--hot and spicy oregano--it smells like a spicy pizza sauce! 

 

 

And this rosemary is fragrant as well as pretty!

 

 

Lastly, a lovely gallery Dahlia called "Renoir."

I'm hoping some of these are fair worthy.  Next week is our county fair and some of these will be entered!

What a difference a day makes--24 little hours

 

Now you see them.

 

 

Now you don't.  And Grace couldn't be happier!

We are Family

Last weekend Emma and I traveled to Oak Hill for our annual Lahrmer Family Reunion.  The weather was beautiful, like it had been hand-picked for us.  Even though Emma has been home this summer, she has been busy and I really don't see much of her. It was a treat to spend the day together.  We chatted for miles, then popped in an Indigo Girls CD and sang.  (She sings Emily's part, I'm Amy.)  Before we knew it we were there!

 

My brother, Dan and Terri Ann--I love that Terri Ann is a newly recruited Reds Fan!

 

 

My Uncle Roger with his daughters, Janis and Beverly and Uncle Arnold.

 

 

Beverly is a shutterbug!  Every time I tried to take HER picture, she had her camera in front of her face!

 

  
 

Oh the fun that Tammy and I used to have at Grandma and Grandpa's. Hey Tam,  let's go play in that creek again, ok?

 

 

Kerri is showing off her new quilt top, a wedding gift, that different people in the family contributed blocks for.  Nope, we couldn't have a reunion without quilts.

 

 

Raise your hand if you're my Mommy! 

 

 

I not only get to meet Baby Mya, I got to hold Baby Mya twice!  She is the most adorable little girl from the top of her head

 

 
to the tips of her tiny polished nails!  Seriously, it just doesn't get any cuter than this!

 

 

Lori was giving back scratches with those perfect back scratchers of hers--apparently, you have to be pregnant to get one though!  I love my cousin Lori for lots of reasons.  She's a spark plug in the mostly quiet Lahrmer Family.  She laughs a lot, gives lots of hugs,

 

 

and she's a good sport:) 

 The End.

Zoom Zoom Zoom.

That's life at the speed of sound, baby.  The month of May was as busy as the month of December.  Birthday. Prom. Graduation. College Orientation.  Surgery. Party.--and all that's just for Bess! Since she always seemed to be at the center of activity, I'll make this post about her.  Even though I never sat down to document happenings, at least I kept my camera close.

 

Bess goes to Senior Prom and turns 18-- all in the same day!  She also had a 3 hour AP Government study review session that morning.  We managed to squeeze in a hair appointment for the "updo" and makeup, nails, etc. here before we ate cake and ran off for pictures with friends.  This was a fun day!

 

Earlier in the week we went to a Colin Hay concert in Cincy.  The venue was a small theater which proved to be very nice!  We had a table not far from the stage.  Colin was fabulous as usual--all acoustic.  We met him after the show.  I can't believe that everyone in the country knows who Lady Gaga is but not Colin Hay!  Gaga is cool and all but Colin is unbelievably talented.  We've been fans for 30 years now!

 

 

 

Bess graduated in front of proud parents and family!   So exciting! 

To round out the story of all things Bess, she also squeezed in oral surgery, Freshman orientation at Miami, dog sitting/house sitting for 4 days, a graduation open house of her own, and she's attended about 199 grad. parties of her closest friends--this all happened in a two week time span.  She's in NYC on a mission trip now--SLOW DOWN BESS!!

 

 Her Grandma came to help with the graduation party.  She brought cakes, oreo truffles and a QUILT?!! My lucky children get a handmade quilt when they graduate from high school.  This is an Irish Chain that Mom made several years ago.  Pretty, yes?

Here are some party pics.

 

Bess and friends.

 

Bess with cousins and sisters.

 

 

Bess and Mrs. Palmer, her second grade teacher.  A word about Mrs. Palmer.  She had an old painted piano in her classroom and when those children would get rowdy, she'd round them up around that piano and diffuse that rowdiness with songs.  Bess came home the first day of school and said that Mrs. Palmer told the class that there was one important rule in her classroom--To treat other classmates the way that you would want to be treated.  Mrs. Palmer taught Bess how to write cursive.  She also taught her the word "auspicious" which Bess managed to work into hourly and then daily conversation for the next 4 or 5 years.  I try not hold that against Mrs. Palmer.   Mrs. Palmer sent graduation cards this year to everyone who was in her classroom and she made the rounds to some parties.  Through the years she would show up at some of Bess' piano recitals.  Or we'd see her at the ballpark cheering on past students.  Or at school functions.  Do they make teachers like this anymore?  The Franklin Family Loves Mrs. Palmer!

 

 

Bess and Jimmy.

 

 

Friends getting their toes wet.

 

 

 

This guy has been hanging around here a lot this summer--I've been feeding him and he keeps coming back!  I don't think it's the food that keeps him coming though.  This is Emma's boyfriend, Alex.  He helped with set up duty and even stayed to clean up!

With all the festivities, I think that Bess is feeling like the most special girl right now--I can't believe how fast the school years went!  She will be leaving in a little over a month and moving into a dorm room.  She also tells me that she won't be home for Thanksgiving, as she signed up for marching band and they will be in NYC marching in the parade.  All THIS from the child who never even liked to leave home to go on vacation! I know that she'll be a good student at Miami and I know that I'm gonna miss her.