Dackel Princess

Nearly Harvest Time

Hubby came in today and announced that the peaches are getting close to being ready to harvest! Get ready!!!

What this means is, that I must get in gear and ready to make my world famous “Heavenly Peach Jam” as well as can some peach halves for the winter.

My peach jam is probably our favorite jam to eat in the morning. It just tastes so very good. So, I try to make a lot of that. Hopefully 2 dozen jars this year.

I also like to can peach halves. Some in simple lite syrup, and some in brandy. Yeah, I do like brandied peaches on a cold winter’s night!

After that we will be canning Plum Jam. I love that too, although not as much as the Peach Jam. Still I think at least 12 jars will be good.

I also went out and looked today at our Concord Grape vines! Friends and Family, you lucky devils! Looks like another banner year for grapes and “Grape Jelly”! I will make as much juice as I can and freeze some if I have to. Grape Jelly is probably everyone’s favorite!

Apple time doesn’t come until the fall, and then we’ll be making applesauce and I would love to make apple jelly, but we will see. That would be a first. I’d love to make applesauce for Savannah, for when she starts eating “people food”.

Of course my cucumbers are down stairs resting in their dill/vinegar/salt bath. We’ll check on them in two weeks and see if they are ready. If not we’ll wait another week and then can them.

Yes, August tends to be a really busy month around here. So glad Hubby loves to help in the kitchen!

What I Did This Past Weekend

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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Well, this was a crazy weekend. The highlight was the Greek Festival, where so much happiness and merriment was had. The Olympics began and after a little bit of frustration about not being able to watch things live on NBC and their affiliates, I discovered I could watch many of the events live on the internet! Yay!

On Sunday morning I watched the Women’s Preliminary All Around Gymnastics, from beginning to end! The only problem with this is that watching non-stop feeds, leaves no time for bathroom breaks! LOL!

One of our Gymnasts, a young girl named Gabrielle Douglas, is amazing!

They nicknamed her the Flying Squirrel because, she truly does fly! She is young, graceful and if she doesn’t get a Gold Medal this time, I think in 4 years she will be a seasoned veteran and ready for the intense pressure these kids must feel.

Meanwhile on the home front, I ended up with 10 pounds of ripe pickling cucumbers! What to do, what to do! I have plenty of bread and butter pickles, Plenty of the Moon Glow Pickles, so what do I do? I looked at Hubby and asked, “Well, how about we try to make Dill Pickles?”

Off I went to the grocery to buy some fresh Dill Weed. I also had a package to pick up at the Pharmacy, so I got that first then went into the grocery. I picked up the Dill and headed to the cash registers. That’s when the sky opened and the rain began to come down so hard, that suddenly the roads looked like ponds!

Of course, I had no umbrella, so I took my bags and ran to the car as fast as I could. Apparently I am not as fast as I once was, because I got soaked to the skin! When I got home and came inside, I looked like a drowned rat!

After putting on dry clothes, I proceeded to make lunch, and afterward we worked on Dill-ing the cucumbers! That done, we must wait for three weeks before we can can them! Stay tuned…

Happy Monday Everyone!

The Greek Festival

On Saturday I worked at the local Greek Festival. They hold it every year on the last Saturday in July. I love working on it, as I said yesterday and this year,we had great crowds.

Now the set up was so much better this year than in recent years. Usually we have people out in the street waiting for the Pastry Line. This year we had two lines to control the crowds.

This worked out so well, because people could see what we had, and then walk down and we would fill their containers.

As usual I was in charge of the bars. Lemon, Fig and Raspberry. These bars were huge! About 3X3 inches and just $1.50! I bought Hubby his, as well as some other goodies and tucked them away in the cooler I brought, to keep them cool.

I worked pretty much non-stop until Hubby arrived and once he was close to the Buffet, I slipped over and had lunch with him. He had a lamb shanks dinner, with rice, a Greek salad, and stuffed grape leaves, and I had Spanakopita, stuffed grape leaves, and Pastitsio.

There was singing and dancing and a lot of merriment! What a great day!!!

Greek Festival 2012 from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

I also had my coffee grounds read. Three years ago this woman read my coffee grounds and told me that someone close would recover from a serious illness. Well, my cousin recovered from cancer! yay!!! Last year she told me that someone new would come into my life…a month and a half later Mandy called to tell me she was pregnant, and now I have Savannah!!! So this year, I was interested to see what she would say.
“She saw a Bride in my cup. Wearing a long beautiful gown, but not a typical bridal gown. She said the bride had long flowing dark hair, and that she was very happy”

Well, she got it right. My Niece/Goddaughter is getting married and she is happier than I have ever seen her and yes, her gown is unusual, but that is all I will say. Once she gets married in April I will tell you how beautiful and stunning her gown is!

Meanwhile, By 2 PM, things were winding down, and yours truly was feel exhausted. Since my bars were practically sold, and I’d paid my tab, I decided that the best place for me was home where I could sit with the dackels and have a nice hot cup of tea.

Now I’m not sure what it is about hot tea, but it can be 95 degrees and when I am tired or not feeling up to snuff, I want my tea. Somehow a cuppa just makes it all right.

The Annual Greek Festival

Today is the Annual Greek Festival here in my part of New Hampshire. Although I am not Greek myself, I go every year to help out my neighbor, who runs the goodie table. It’s a long line of every sort of pastry and bar imaginable. I usually am in charge of the Fig, Lemon, raspberry and date bars. I scoop them up and serve them into boxes for the customers.

I guess I have been going to these for the last 6 or 7 years now as a worker. I love it! You see the same people from the community each year, and it’s the sort of festival that reminds me of what much of the country has lost. That small town, good old fashioned festival of food, crafts, and fellowship.

When I was growing up on Cape Cod, my church sponsored the Strawberry Festival. Because we were on Cape Cod, and the festival was held at the end of June, the booths with food would have finger sandwiches of Lobster! Every year we would go and get our Lobster Roll, and Strawberry Shortcake. I always knew most of the people attending, and many years I actually worked the festival.

I guess that’s why I value the Greek Festival so much. It reminds me of home, family and community!

Zucchini & Eggplants & Cucumbers, Oh My!

Remember a few weeks ago, I was lamenting the fact that the little chipmunk was eating my garden out from under me, and I would not have anything to eat or can? Well, I was wrong. In the last few days, all of a sudden, the garden is overflowing with wonderful vegetables!

I started cooking about noon, preparing a spaghetti sauce for the freezer. I also used a small amount in my stuffed zucchini for tonight’s meal. But I have to tell you, I had forgotten how much work went into making the sauce, making the stuffed zucchini, and then the worst part, cleaning it all up!

The sauce is a wonderful thing. I freeze it, and then in the winter when I do not feel like cooking, out comes a container of sauce, we boil up spaghetti and there is dinner!

Hubby made his German Cucumber Salad and used up about 4-5 cucumbers. Bless him! I am not a fan of that salad (cucumbers & onions sliced very thin, oil and red wine vinegar and salt, pepper and dill), but I am grateful he is using up the cukes!

TonightI am feeling pretty tired. Call me an old lady! But all the cooking and cleaning, has me looking at the clock just waiting for bedtime!

Worst thing about it all….I have to do more of it tomorrow! Oh well, at least the eggplant are coming in and I can have those sweet delicious goodies for lunch!

Happy Birthday Fritz!!!

Today is Mr. Fritz’s 9th Birthday! Can you believe that? It seems just the other day that Hubby flew out to Portland, Oregon and brought home our 8 week old bundle of fluffy white puppy fur!

Fritz from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

We’ve always felt blessed to have Fritz. He is simply, the very best White German Shepherd that we have ever had! It’s hard to believe that he is 9 years old.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. The Summer Olympics officially begin this Friday night…will you be watching? If you could see just one event in person which one would you pick?

I would go to the “All Around Women’s Gymnastics”. I think in the Summer Games, the Gymnastics are my favorite.

2.Do lazy days make you feel rested or unproductive?

Unproductive. Lately I feel like I should be doing more.

3. July 25th is ‘officially’ Threading the Needle Day…can you sew? On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being not at all and 10 being Betsy Ross-like, how would you rate your skill with a needle and thread?

I’m a 2. I can do simple repairs, but not much else. I recently bought a new “Smart Machine” and it makes doing things so much easier! I repaired Hubby’s shorts, with a really cute stitch. I was so proud how it came out.

4. ‘Threading the Needle’ can also mean to walk a fine line between two things or issues (think awkward social situation). When was the last time you had to ‘thread the needle’, figuratively speaking?

Recently I resigned from being a Library Trustee. I did this because I was really tired of “walking the fine line”. Goodness, this isn’t even a job I got paid for. And politically I was apposed to much of what was being said and done.

5. Kidney, pinto, black, or navy…your favorite bean?

Purple Beans! They grow deep dark purple, and then as you cook them they turn green.

The thing is, they really taste better, almost nuttier than regular green beans.

6. Have you ever hosted a garage sale? Was it more success or bust?

No, but I really should. Mostly, I give things away to the Salvation Army or St. Vincent Du-Paul.

7. What makes you roll your eyes?

When people tell me that they can’t do things, or make it through things, etc. After my daughter passed away people would say, “Oh I don’t know how you are doing this. I would just die if I lost my child”. Well, you don’t. It’s a crappy situation, but you somehow learn to survive.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

This is my 3000-th post on Dackel Princess! When I went to write this morning I noticed and it made me think, when I started this I had exactly three readers, and two of them I was related to. Now I get hits from all over the world! I feel so blessed to have made so many Blog Friends!

Savannah Rose

On Monday I drove down to babysit Savannah Rose. Mandy had asked me, as she had a doctor’s appointment. Well, you didn’t need to ask this grandma twice!

I got up really early because Greta was barking at the door to go out. I kept trying to get her to come back to bed, but eventually gave up. Her neck was bothering her and eventually I gave her some medication for that. She has two small discs back there, that bother her from time to time.

After that, I showered, dressed, made Hubby breakfast and was on the road by 8:20 AM!

It is amazing how much babies change at this time. When I walked in the door, Mandy was just doing a diaper change and getting her dressed for the day. After that I scooped her up to give her a bottle.

She smiled and watched me and I told her all about the fact that I was her silly grandma, and I will be here to make her laugh all of her life.

Mandy left to go to her appointment and Savannah found a comfortable spot on my shoulder and fell asleep.

She loves to watch everything, looking around at everything, and trying very hard to figure it all out. The brighter the color or the mobile moving above her makes her truly excited!

Mandy is such a great Mom and she adores her baby girl! It warms my heart to see her with her baby!

It was wonderful. I held her, I fed her, I changed her diaper, and eventually when her Mommy came home, we three girls went out for some lunch. I kept thinking that this was the first lunch that we three girls will share along the way.

Soon it was time for me to head home. It always seems that these visits go way too fast. I hope, once again, to make the trip down and spend time with my daughter, and her daughter! Wow! This is just the best!!!

Happy Birthday, Melodie!

Today is my sister’s birthday. She has been both my mother and father, and taught me everything from how to tie my shoes to what love is all about.

I am grateful to have her for my sister and best friend! How very blessed I am!!!

I love you!!!

Happy Birthday, Melodie!!! from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

Beautiful Saturday!

It was a beautiful day on Saturday. Bright sunshine, blue skies and temperatures that were so perfect for an out door gathering.

We’d been invited to our neighbors birthday party, given by all five of her kids and grand-kids! Oh my goodness, the food was wonderful and the company even better!

I have watched my neighbor’s grandchildren grow over the last 12 years and they’re now in their teens and such interesting people!

I brought my grilled garden vegetables, with onions, basil and cherry tomatoes. I think it actually came out pretty well, and many people said it was great!

I’ve been noticing lately, how many people want to eat healthy vegetables. Of course, we topped it off with the most amazing chocolate mousse cake! It was three layers high, with the most luscious mousse filling! I loved it, but only ate half a piece. I came home and made sure that Hubby ate the rest.

Let’s face it…is anything chocolate, really bad?

My mouth is doing well, and I am finding I need less and less pain medication. I actually went 12 hours between doses today, so this is very good.

I’m due to go and babysit Savannah on Monday and spend time with Mandy, so I want to be done with the pain medications by then.

Fingers crossed!