The Day You Turn Old

The morning ended with a cup (big one) of fresh ground Jamaican Me Crazy coffee beans brewed strong .  I have limited myself to one cup a day so the beautiful birthday cup from my friend fits the bill.  Sometimes coffee just tastes better in a special cup.  This one reminds me of the 1960s with the design and colors.  Ahhhhh, take me back, stay in the present or think of the future, all 3 have a place in my heart and thoughts.  Notice I started the blog with the ending.....just like me!

So good!

Time  has a way of bringing back memories, good or bad I find myself wandering back to the day I turned "old".  I don't know what day or year it was.   Turning thirteen was the first time thinking....now I'm old enough.  Of course I wasn't, it was a passage into teen life and I soon learned I needed to be 16.  Then I could drive, stay out until 10 pm and yes date.  Three years I counted down the days to be 16.  It happened just as I hoped with dating, driving and staying out until 10.  After a few months of being 16 I knew it was 18 that I really wanted to be...ha!  Old enough to buy alcohol, cigarettes and graduate high school.  Yes, that was the old enough age.  I would be an adult...go to cosmetology school, get married and start a family.  That was what I  dreamed of in the 1960s.  I lived the dream and never again wished I was older.  Well, maybe once in a while when retirement was a few years away.  I just didn't realize along with retirement comes the 60s (as in age).  Good grief...blink and I am still trying to remember what day I turned old.  Yeah, I know so many people say.....you are only as old as you let yourself feel.  Horse feathers as my sister-in-law would say.  No matter how you feel, what you can do or how much fun you are having, age does not lie.
So somewhere between then and now I turned old enough.  Old enough to wear what I want, do what I want and say what I want......just old enough!

Today my morning started with barn chores and checking the garden.  Dick is subbing at school so I am flying solo, just the animals to talk to.  Good morning hens, they quietly clucked back waiting for their feed and fresh cut squash and added treat of leftover buttermilk biscuits crumbled.  I love throwing treats, softly saying "here chick, chick" and watching them scurry to grab a certain piece.  In return by afternoon they have a nest of fresh eggs for us.  Fair trade.  The horses stand not so patiently waiting for their grain. Smokey, the big man thumps his hoof trying to hurry me along.  Then it's off to the garden which is almost ready to be put to rest until next spring.  The over ripe corn has been picked for the hens and a few raccoon have taken the rest.   Patty Pan summer squash is still thriving along with beautiful Heirloom tomatoes.  The shovel stands stuck in the ground by the carrot row.  As soon as the horses are finished eating grain they head to the pasture next to the garden.  They know a few carrots will be dug and thrown to them.  This gives us more time to rub their noses and ears, give them a pat or two and promise to see them later.  I picked a couple squash for tonight's supper.  Soon they will be gone and another pattern of eating will start at Cook'n by the Creek.

Just a few pears left to can.

Pears are washed and ready to be canned.  They are nice ones, juicy and very tasty with tender skin.  I sent one in Dick's pail and I had one for breakfast, who can resist fresh pears ♡ fall fresh fruits and veggies, nothing better.  The shelves are filling up and soon we will start using all the canned "stuff".  You know I have to wait for that certain day to reach for the first jar of summer canning.  It's a savings account for the next 6 months of meals.

Soft as a Mouse's Ear

Here I go again!  While lightly buffing the refinished floor this morning an old phrase just popped into my thoughts.  Maybe this is how I contend with housework and other chores, zoning into nicer, happier and long forgotten times.  The tung oil makes the floor feel soft with very little sharp noise.  So far it is what I like and hopefully will remain so.   Thinking of how soft it feels on barefeet brought back "soft as a mouses's ear".  I remember the first time I heard the phrase "soft as a mouse's ear" and asking mom, "how do you know how soft a mouse's ear is"?  She simply said because she had felt one.  Living on a farm we had mice around and in the barn.  One time while doing the milking mom found a mouse nest and of course she made sure I had the chance to learn how soft a mouse's ear is.  Probably some of you are really shuddering to think we would do such a thing but it's all part of the country life.  Snakes are too but heck no, never would I get close enough to one much less touch it.  I'll call it enough with a mouse, wild bunnies and baby peeps.  They are all soft which now reminds me of touching a newborn baby, their skin so soft and the smell of a newborn (I call it a baby smell) is so soothing.  Life is about the young and their innocence.  I doubt many of us look at babies (human or animal) without getting a tender smile or saying, awwwww ♡

Speaking of ears......our little Clara was born with 2 ears standing straight up.  Then came the day she tried scooting out the door when Dick was leaving and got her head shut in the door.  It broke one of her ears which developed a pillow like ear lobe full of blood.  Surgery left her with one droopy ear so now she looks a little silly.  At 13 years old I'm sure she doesn't mind.  Like me, age has a way of changing my priorities and that's a great thing!

Dick put a treat by Clara for when she wakes up.
The old girl gets treated like a queen ♡

Back to soft and let's add gentle to the equation.  I am setting on the back deck with a comfortable breeze, that fall smell, warm sun, fluffy white clouds drifting along and the gentle rustle of the poplar leaves.  Taking deep breaths and letting all of the worries melt away even if it is just for a little while.  At this point all feels right with the world.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if every human could find that moment of peace?  This is my time of year that inspires me in so many ways.  Too much desire for accomplishments and never enough time, especially when I reach the pleasure of relaxing, listening, watching and feeling the contentment.  I could avoid the desire to set and get in this state of mind but then I would miss the glory of the day ♡ I'll just stay here a while longer.

I wish you could feel the breeze, hear the rustling leaves and
and see how the leaves dance and twirl.
Peace in the valley.

The Thimble

Nothing fancy but holds precious memories for me.
It takes my breath away when I slip it on. ♡♥♡♥♡

As small as my thimble is I have kept it safe for about 60 years.  For the first 15 years of my life the thimble was tucked safely in my mom's sewing basket.  After supper Della (I love her name) would sit in her big over stuffed chair and reach for her basket of clothes to be mended or socks to be darned.  Mom also sewed beautiful dresses and coats for me during my early years and there was the thimble for the fine hand sewn work.  The thimble slipped on her finger and stayed there fitting just right.  My dad's work clothes were the main mending chore and by far the most difficult to do. He worked on the farm and oil leases on Horse Run Rd, he always wore  gray/green pants and shirts in the winter and khaki tan in the summer months.  Mom always starched and ironed them.  Some of you may remember the stiff wire frames for pants.  Mom would use those and hang them on the line, winter or summer clothes were hung out to dry.    The material was heavy so mending was always difficult to get a needle through the layers.  The little thimble made mending so much easier (seriously.....easier?)  and saved quite a few pokes in the end of a finger.

I have tried to wear the thimble when I am quilting but it never feels comfortable.  I think it was made for one very special lady's finger.  ♡♥♡♥♡  Can you imagine mending clothes or darning socks in today's world.  I still sew a button on or fix a seam but to sew patches on holes....no.  Darning socks is also a no.  Thinking of it almost makes me feel guilty and wasteful.  Almost

The pleasure I get remembering Della setting in her chair, legs crossed and humming a song fills my heart with such love.

I am trying something new this tomato season, freezing peeled whole tomatoes.  Of course I googled that and all reviews are a go for me.  With the last week of very hot temperatures I am looking for an alternative to canning.  Freezing them will give the temperature and humidity time to drop.  On the crisp fall days I can haul the tomatoes from the freezer to make canned spaghetti sauce and chipotle sauce.  That way the extra heat from the kitchen will be a pleasure.   I use to love hot days but know just give me cool sunny days with a warm sweatshirt or sweater.  We are talking of our fall woods walks already.  mmmm the woods smell so fresh and have a smell of what I call Hickory Nuts.

This has been quite a year for weather, garden, ticks and fleas.  The weather for winter and spring was on the downside but if that is what caused the absent of NO fleas or ticks this summer I'll take another year of it.  Our dogs have been free of fleas and ticks.  Even me the #1 tick magnet has been free of them!  Incredible how much one nasty little bug can make life miserable.  Once we are back in the woods that will be the real test.

What's for supper on a hot day?  All in the crock pot, meatloaf and fresh garden potatoes.  I will saute a few little zucchinis and patty pan squash.  Patty pans are our new favorite summer squash (took the place of yellow).

Patty Pan summer squash.

The Glads are in full bloom.

The easy fix and clean up supper!

So Long White

I can't break the habit of putting my white clothes and shoes away on Labor Day and not bring them out until Easter Sunday.  Many times I have tried but it just doesn't feel right.  For the last couple weeks I knew that Labor Day would be the last day of white. First thing this morning I put on my white Capris and tropical purple and white top for the last time of 2015.  That could change if we headed some place tropical but that is slim to none.  See ya next spring "white".

It's been a busy summer at Cook'n by the Creek, from hay season, mowing lawn, refinishing about 700 sq ft of hardwood floors, garden tending, canning and freezing.  Yes, it is all worth the time and effort.  The freezer and shelves are almost full.  Corn, beans, aspragus, pickles, peaches and beets are done.  Left to do is pears, tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, chipotle sauce and winter squash.  Maybe applesauce if we can find a bargain around Wine Country.  That's it, then we get lazy, relax and watch the "white" of winter take over.

On our trip to Olean this morning we really noticed the green has been taken over by yellow and golds on the low lying brush and grasses.  Even the hills are showing less of the rich lush greens of summer.  It's the cycle of life.  The birds are flocking and the ones that head south will soon be gone.  My Uncle Orville always said his hummingbirds were usually gone around September 12th.  Ours usually are with a few straggles that stop in.  Maybe they are Canadian hummers that just need a little rest and sweet fill up to make the rest of the trip.  From birds to summer white I am on the next phase of 2015.

Summer meals have been filled with fresh veggies and fruit.  We love fried squash and try to have it  least 3 times a week.  Once the corn was ready that was an everyday thing.  As soon as it loses it's "pop" we freeze it.  Half is roasted over an open fire for soups and salsas.  The smokey flavor makes for great flavor.  The rest is boiled, cut off the cob and froze.

A typical summer supper. New potatoes with beans, fried
squash and a few slices of zucchini bread for dessert.

Yes, our dining room table was on the porch while we refinished the floors.  The house is all back in order...It was a long month.

Take time to "Pass it On" the good is always appreciated and welcomed, well worth it no matter how small or simple.