Apricot Pineapple Jam 101

9 am sharp, Phyl and I were at Merrilyn's and ready to begin.

We made 6 batches.  Each batch used about 3 1/2 pounds ripe apricots, one big can crushed pineapple well-drained

49 ounces sugar,

 

one package pectin, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/3 pat butter, and the constant stirring began. 

Even if your arm begins to ache, don't stop, keep stirring.

Even if there's an earthquake, keep stirring.

Stir until your hand gets so hot, you can hardly stand it and then stir for just one more minute.

 

Final result: 57 eight-ounce jars of jam.  Yay!

What fun!  L-R: Phyl, Christy, Merrilyn, Lynne.

Exploring Merrilyn and Bob's back yard.

 

A big thank you to Merrilyn for hosting this event.   

 

 

Keeping a secret

Last week I talked to Kellen about something easy we could make for Father's Day but he had to keep the secret for almost 2 weeks.  The other day, Doug said something casual about Father's Day to Stacey.  Kellen overheard and got a horrified look on his face.

Kellen to his dad: How do YOU know about Father's Day?

Doug looked at Stacey and said, "Am I not supposed to know something about Father's Day?"
and looked back at Kellen who had a look of disbelief.

Kellen:  How do you know about Father's Day?

Doug:  Father's Day happens every year.  Why? Are you doing something special?

Stacey: Don't tell him, Kellen.

Kellen:  But he already knows about Father's Day!

Doug:  What are you doing?

Kellen: We're going to make ...

Stacey: Kellen, don't tell him.  He knows about Father's Day but not what you're doing.

Kellen:  He already knows everything about Father's Day.  Grandma and I are going to make ....

and he proceeded to spill every single detail about the project.   

Special request from Alabama

Excerpts from recent emails from Paula:

6 June:  "First...yes, we'd like some zucchini!!"

8 June am:  "I'm serious about the zucchini...Tom's favorite.  PLEASE post a couple zucchini recipes."

8 June pm:  "Ok, Tom said, 'How do you make zucchini fritters?  Will you ask her?'"

Here goes:

Coarsely grate about 1 pound zucchini using largest holes on grater.  Sprinkle with salt and let stand 10 minutes.  Drain in colander, then wrap in several layers of paper towels.  Mix well with 1/2 cup coarsely grated parmesan cheese, 2 lightly beaten eggs, 1/4 cup flour, 1 teaspoon salt, freshly ground pepper to taste.  Optional: add 1 tablespoon chiffonade of basil or other fresh herb.  Scoop about 1/4 cup and flatten in hot nonstick skillet with 3-4 tablespoons vegetable oil.  Add a little more flour if mixture gets watery.  Serve warm with a little sour cream or warm marinara sauce.
  

Back in California

On Tuesday, I flew St Louis-Denver-Sacramento. Justin picked me up and I spent the night at his house.

We may have the occasional earthquake - on May 23 we felt a 5.7 magnitude earthquake whose epicenter was 145 miles north of Sacramento.  I will not miss the Midwest weather systems of severe thunderstorms, torrential downpours, tornadoes, rivers cresting their banks, and humidity.  I will try not to complain if the temperature reaches 107° as predicted for next Saturday.

Changes while I was gone:  the wheat on Justin's property is ready for harvest, walnuts have formed on the trees.

The first crape myrtles are in bloom

and fresh garden zucchini has arrived.  Want some?  Time to dig out all the zucchini recipes. 

Welcome summer!

Katy Trail: day 10

Monday 3 June

5 am: Billie and JD left for a 12-hour drive back to Roanoke. What a great adventure we had! And it was wonderful to spend time with good friends. 

A tornado touched down in this area on Friday night and created a swath of destruction 250 yards wide and 32 miles long in 35 minutes. This is the back patio of our hotel as of this morning, the biggest pieces had already been removed. The power had been restored just two hours before our arrival yesterday. Whew! 

I took a walk along Riverport Dr this afternoon to check out some of the damage.

Not our hotel.

No damage here, but it was fun to watch these window washers swinging around, washing/squeegee-ing, then lowering themselves down to the next section. 

There were only three of them despite what it looks like.

I'm packed and ready to fly home tomorrow.

Katy Trail: day 9

Sunday 2 June

Rhineland to Hermann - 7 miles by bicycle. Rhineland to St Louis - 83 miles by vehicle. The Katy Trail for today was flooded, so we decided to end our adventure one day early, especially since we were able to make arrangements for JD to get to St Louis via BJ, Lucy's son. Lucy is the owner of Loutre B&B.

While JD went to get his van in St Charles, Billie and I rode into the very cute village of Hermann. Debris on the Loutre (pronounced "looter") River unable to pass under the bridge:

German School Building, 111 years old, now a museum.

Riverfront Park completely underwater:

Getting ready to leave Hermann:

Back at Loutre B&B, a 3-D jigsaw puzzle to make it all fit:

The Gateway Arch in St Louis.

Katy Trail: day 8

Saturday 1 June

Jefferson City to Rhineland - 22 miles until rescued. (Now you'll keep reading.) By about 9 am, the rain had stopped and it was time to head out. 

The road in front of the hotel was flooded which meant we had to go out the back way to cross over the highway.

The Missouri River was high and filled with debris.

Back on the Katy Trail we had to clear away many fallen trees,

ride on SR 94 when water covered the trail,

carry bikes over trees too big to move,

walk our bikes under fallen trees

and across washouts, 

and even dodge cars using the trail when they couldn't use SR 94.

The water was still rising.

JD went first through this water and almost ran over a 30" fish. His front wheel nudged it. the fish flipped around and swam between his tires. JD was lucky he didn't go down.

The trail ahead was deemed impassable. Now what? 

To the right a flooded road, to the left, the town of Mokane. Hmmm, we were surrounded by deep water. Billie immediately began working on a solution.

We waded through, mid-thigh deep for me.  The people at the bar weren't much help and ended up arguing with each other about which roads might be open to get to Rhineland or maybe Rhineland was impossible to get to. This was a case of TMH - too much help.

The South Callaway Fire Protection District came to our rescue. Everything was loaded into the chief's truck and we were driven the very long way around to our destination.

Jeff became our trail angel of the day. We are so grateful for all he did for us today. Thank you!

Loutre B&B for Billie and JD. Lucy, the owner, graciously allowed me to 

camp in her front yard

and drove us to Hermann for dinner at The Cottage.

What a day, what an adventure, and the river is still rising.