Growin' Up

Tonight I was just struck so profoundly how big Mary is getting. She was working on a piece called the Dance of the Irish. She loves a challenge and works very hard on pieces. Sometimes I wish I could stop time and rest in the moment, but time marches on!

 

Here is the link to the video: http://youtu.be/fiTzmzfTopU

Apple Butter

I made apple butter yesterday and it made the house smell so yummy with cinnamon, sugar, cloves, all spice and nutmeg.  This is the recipe I used and it was super easy and tastes great!

CROCK POT APPLE BUTTER

Approximately 3 lb. apples
3 cups sugar...
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. cloves
Dash of salt
3/4 cup water or fresh apple cider

Fill Crock-pot 3/4 full with peeled, cored and sliced apples. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until evenly mixed. Cover and cook on low setting overnight or until the butter is of a thick, spreadable consistency.
If apple butter has too much liquid, remove lid and cook on high until thickened. Stir often as butter thickens to prevent scorching.
Store in refrigerator for up to 6 weeks. Freeze for longer storage.
Variation: For a less sweet apple butter, substitute 1 cup honey for the sugar.
To can the apple butter, pack into hot jars leaving 1/4-inch headspace and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Roses and Orchids

This is my sweet little baby rose. Rich bought this little rose bush for me when we were courting back in 2001. It was the first plant he bought me and it has survived all these years. A couple of moves in Cali and then all the way up here. I thought I lost it last year when we had the subzero temps in December. In the spring it had one tiny green shoot come up but now it is all full and beautiful. I told Rich it is such a symbol of our love, everlasting!

Now on to my orchid. I bought this on a whim about 4 years ago. I had never grown an orchid before and thought I would give it a try. I had success and it would bloom once a year. Well this year it started blooming in January and had 10 blooms about the time those started fading it sent out a another set of 5 on the same bloom stalk and then when those faded it sent out another bud on the same stalk with 10. So it has bloomed continually on the same stalk for 9 months and produced 25 blooms. It seems pretty unusual for me. I don't know if orchids do that often or not?

Here it is today with 9 remaining blooms.

Here it is in April when I photographed it for an article on Rich's blog.

Here is a bloom I used to make a corsage for Mary's ballet teacher for Valentines day.

Crater Lake

We went to Crater Lake today and had a lot of fun!  Mary had not seen Crater Lake that she can remember so it was very exciting for her.  The day was very windy but lovely.  The lake was breath taking and it was such a great day.  We packed sandwiches and had a pic-nic.  We shared our table with a German couple.  We had a nice conversation over lunch.  They loved traveling in the U.S. and were very interested in how we were homeschooling Mary.  They said in Germany it is against the law to homeschool.  They were very sad about that and I felt sorry for them.  We feel so blessed to be able to homeschool Mary and have the freedoms that we have.   

This was Rich's favorite outlook.  It was true eye candy to him.  We spent quite bit of time there just looking and enjoying the wind and beautiful weather up there.

Thinking and looking

Wind on the water

The last shot before going home. The water got deeper blue as the sky cleared.

Happy Birthday Rich

We just celebrated Rich's last year of his 50's.  I have posted a few pics of him down through the years.  He is my only true and handsome sweetheart.  I am so very thankful for the years that we have known each other and the wonderful 11 years of marriage.  He is wonderful husband, father and my best friend! 

 Fishing while on leave from the Army 1980

 

 

 With Army buddies in Georgia 1980

 

 

 Playing a Reno Elvis in a church play

 

 

 With a special gift on his birthday in 2007

 

 

 Crater Lake 2007

 

 

 Fishing at a high mountain lake in Utah 2001

 

 

A little shaver in 1956

 

 

 The chocoholic cake Mary and I made him circled by luscious Oregon grapes

 

 

 A book he got.  He wants to take some trips into the wild areas around here and learn to find some plants and use them in recipes.  This is good book with lots of detail and info.

 

 

 Happy at a local steak house!

 

 

Cake at his folks house afterwards. The chocaholic cake is an old recipe that I had.  It is a devils food cake mix with chocolate pudding mix, sour cream, milk, 4 eggs, 2 cups chocolate chips and chia seeds all mixed together and baked.  Then a chocolate glaze frosting poured over the top.  We had a wonderful day and are so very thankful for all the Lord has given us!