You Don't See That Every Day

99 jars of pears on the wall, 99 jars of pears. Take one down pass it around, .... Ok you get the gist. On Saturday my sister and my niece and I canned up 99 jars of pears. We had one jar beak so actually we only 98 jars, but still.... It was a long day. I did learn some things about my family though. My parents showed up in the middle of the day. They were on the way to the coast. Mom offered a few tidbits of advice, since she has been canning since she was a teen. It was interesting to hear how all four of us had different ways of doing things. I learned some new things, and I kept some of my own ways of doing it. Off my parents went to enjoy the cool ocean breezes while we slaved away in a very warm kitchen. Thankfully we did the actually cooking outside. Just as we were figuring out when to wrap it all up and if we were going to church that night, my parents show up again. They didn't make it to the coast because of a bad traffic jam. So they came back to our place. ...

Summer is all about water: splashing in it, painting in it, swimming in it, running through it, We've been up early most days, helping out at my dad's farm, then coming back for swim lessons, and the general daily work. But I've tried to get some good times in too. Water play, dress-up, puzzles, fresh produce and driving, Lots of driving. That has been our summer. And it's gone by way too fast.      

We seem to pack it all in on the weekends, making for a very full Saturday. This round included farming, canning, a trip to the town dump, and a county fair The beginning dawned brighter - and earlier - than I was ready for. I headed out to the farm with the kids before they even had breakfast. It was an in-the-car meal for them that morning. Two of the kids helped my parents with the picking of the garbanzo beans, while I headed to the apple trees with my younger two. I climbed into the trees to pick what I could while the girls played in the bed of the truck. It was like being a kid again, picking those apples up in the tree. They make great applesauce too. I only picked two boxes, but it has been plenty for now.   So while I was away G was busy busy working on the upstairs and the stairway. We have a heat pump installation this week and he wanted to get as much sanding done as he could. Along with painting on the outside on other hard labor, a trip to the dump was n...