Peach Jam.....so good.

Fresh from our orchard, peaches, so sweet and lovely that when I made pie, I did not have to use any sugar.  No sugar at all, just some butter and spices.  So delicious.  I also made a peach upside down cake which was so tasty, but had to use brown sugar for the topping, and some sugar in the cake part.  

Now when it comes to jam.  It takes lots of work to clean and cut all the peaches needed, however only four cups for each batch I made.  I cut them small but then placed them in the kettle and squashed them some also with my potato masher.  While cooking and stirring and stirring some more, I had time to think and remember my dear sweet Grandma Clara who passed away in 1988.  That is 30 years, yes, but such great time always remembering how she made jams and jellies in this very kettle that I now have.  I also use the funnel and dipper to fill the jars that she used.  I helped her at times make jams and jellies, always wearing an apron.  Honestly, I even have the last apron she sewed before getting too ill with her cancer to sew any longer.  All of this makes my day and work more special.  Memories cannot be purchased nor can my jam.  It does not even compare to the best jam out there.  That is no exaggeration or brag.....it just is.  Today my husband took a small jar in to a friend at his coffee group.  You would have thought we gave him gold.  He knew what he was getting and felt very privileged to receive it.

Busy Country Life

Not just inside, but outside, things are busy.  I have been picking lovely peaches, baking with them and also freezing bags of peeled and sliced for later use, plus making jam.  I also have cut the last of my herbs to dry.  There is plenty stashed away for my use during the down season.  Still working on my quilt, but it has been hard to get at it the past week do to being busy with new phones.  We actually finally went from flip phones to Samsung Galaxy S9's.  Wow.  With all of that I also continue to walk, swim, and take the dogs for many walks.  I do my yoga often.  It has been a time to repot some of the lovely plants from the screen porch that have outgrown their pottings.  Such fun to get things finished, inside also, putting out fall decor, and just enjoying cleaning things during the way, standing back and smiling at my creations of knitted pumpkins, some felted, and also felt work pictures.  The corn stalks were cut to make a fall decor by the front porch, awaiting my pumpkin patch to finish up so I can take my old wheelbarrow full of pumpkins to the front door also.  I can just see it now.  It will be beautiful.  I have been dog setting my daughter's dog several times lately, and also a friend's dog.  My little guys like that.  My newest task has been to work on a children's book.  So much to learn besides the writing, and little by little I am getting things in place to have it printed.  Photography takes up some of each of my days.  I have recently been a contributor to the television station during their weather time with lovely photos I take just around our rural NE Missouri country home.  Sunsets, sunrises, trees, flowers, produce, clouds, birds, frogs, and so much more.  I like seeing them on the station from time to time.  Also has been fun to have people call my name out when I am at the grocery store and tell me they liked my sunflower picture, or my willow tree picture.  I do not feel famous by any means, but I feel like I am doing some things I enjoy and getting to share them with others.  So when I bake my breads weekly and share a loaf with a neighbor, I share also.  Life should be that way, especially when it is so full and good as this country woman's life.

Hoping your days are productive, fun, and peaceful also.

    

Lovely Country Sky

Tonight I just had to walk out to the end of our gravel driveway and get a photo of our changing sky.  It changed three times while I was doing the photos. So lovely to see these pretty skies in our rural NE Missouri area.  We get great sunrises and sunsets.  Just always seem to have to grab my camera and go:

Photos in black and white

Country living is great fun for me.  I enjoy my many hobbies, walking and photography being some of them.  I also enjoy sharing my photos online, both on facebook, email, and this blog.  Because I live on acreage, I have much to photo and chose from, blessings.  Besides that, I have four little dogs that are very photogenic.

OH LIFE

Some times I shock myself with not getting to my blog.  I need to work on it more and make it a better spot.  Sometimes I get busy with my country life of growing things, sewing things, knitting things, plus enjoying my dogs, It will all fit in, but as I grow older I believe what is happening to me, may be happening to some of you also.  We begin to count our time, our years, our months and days we have left in this world.  None of us know how much.  The current rate of life for a woman in America is 81....eleven years left.   I always have so many ideas and plans that I joke that I must live to be 150.  My family has longivity, especially the women.  With knowing all of that, for some reason this summer has brought my mind to wanting to organize and cut out the clutter of my life.  No, my house is not cluttered, and I try to get my things finishes, but the clutter of my life seems to be in my head.

All that typed, I must say, I slow down and do yoga, meditate, and come back with I need to do more.  My thought is that my days have become so relaxed, getting things done, but just no hurry for getting things done.  No rush.  My mind tells me differently.  What a silly struggle.  Just typing this makes me feel silly.  I know that I enjoy the calm, the peace, the slowness of  being retired and living here in the country.  I know I finish things and organize my life so that I do just that.  

One thing I know is that I value learning, doing, being most of all.  Being present.  My being present has slowed me down to really see things of this world and my life.  It is awesome to feel so alive.  Maybe in feeling so alive, I have actually gotten to value my life more, and with that I realize that it is limited and I don't want to miss a thing.

So I have decluttered with stress, drama, people who are not grateful (I cannot make them better), and all the "noise" of our media and politics.  I follow it all and care much, but then release things to a "MUCH BETTER" place.  My place and my life...however much time I have with it.

I read, right, nap, walk, etc.  Sometimes I take a morning nap with my little dogs.  Some days it is an afternoon nap, and soup for dinner, not a big thing.  Someday I take no nap at all.  

I am woman, watch me LIVE, and be true to all I have left, one day or many years.  Check out your life and progress also.  Believe that it is okay to take a survey of how you are managing things to get a full value life, a life just designed by you.