A Lick and a Promise

Rather an odd saying but one I have heard many times in my life and one I find saying frequently.  Today was no exception.  My day started at 9 am cutting green beans we picked last night and also the last of the beans...yay.  7 pints in the pressure canner that will be marked 15 (2015) and put along side the quarts and pints canned last week.  While they were in the canner I made a trip to the garden for cucumbers and onions needed for the batch of bread and butter pickles that I wanted to start.  Sliced thin, mixed with crushed ice and canning salt they had to set for three hours.  All in the timing around here during harvesting of the garden.  When I was at the garden this morning the barn yard lawn was yelling....mow me.  So I did because it gives me a sense of security that snakes don't like short grass.  Yesterday picking beans I saw a snakes tail.  Calmly I told the hub...snake!  He tried to stomp it but it got away.  That was the end, I quit picking beans.  Dick finished the row, I went to the house not so happy that he let it get away.  Dick and Quincy went on the snake hunt and finally found it, it's history.  I don't care how many bugs a snake can eat, I would rather see a kazillion bugs than one creepy crawling snake.  Even so my eyes are on full alert during snake season.  Dick told our friend yesterday......she can find a snake where snakes normally don't like to be.

The beginning of Bread and Butter Pickles.

5 Pints ready to be put away for winter.

Today was a day of going back in time while doing all the things I really love to do. Thinking of my parents, Uncle Orville and Bill Stavisky, they all taught me so much about gardening, canning, cooking and how precious it meant to them to "Pass it On", something we all should do....leave precious memories.  I have been organizing my favorite go to recipes for the last few weeks.  By late fall I hope to have recipe books for my kids and grand kids complete with a story, picture and what family member or friend gave a recipe to me.  It is a lot more involved than I imagined but hoping it will be worth it.

Now for the lick and a promise.  It was what my mom would say when she was in a hurry cleaning the kitchen after a meal, canning or baking.  There was also another time she would say it.....when she would spit on her handkerchief or lick her finger to wipe my face when we were out and about.  She would say about the kitchen, there I gave it a lick and a promise.  When mom wanted to clean something off my face she would say......hold still, I will give you a lick and a promise.  The lick was quick cleaning and the promise was....next time it will be the real deal.

When I finished the pickles today and cleaned the kitchen I said, just a lick and a promise until tomorrow.  Hot bath was on my mind followed by a warm cup of Jamaican Me Crazy, 10 toes up in the hubs recliner, write a blog and enjoy the view at Cook'n by the Creek.