Some "End of the Summer" Flower Pictures

 Hi everybody, how are you all doing this wonderfully bright and sunny day, September 17th??? Well, right now I am sitting at this computer doing this blog....as you can guess. But afterwards, I plan on getting dressed and going outside for a bit. Need to get the garage ready for a "garage sale" this week and next. Hopefully I can make enough $$$ to buy a new computer. (Dream on)

Now for a small tour of my flowers. In the above picture is my "Star Clementius" they cover the whole side of the porch....they are amazing!!! We have to cut them down every fall, down to the ground. But as you can see, by this time of the year they have grown to the roof. The flowers usually last for about 4-6 weeks there about. Then they start to fall off and leave a BIG MESS!! But they still are pretty for the time they are with us.

 This is what you see on the stairs going down from the porch...I put my hibiscus plant on the stairs to catch the rain water...she was getting kind of dusty, so the rain washed her off. Those are giant marigolds down there with a sprinkling of little purple flowers, (forget their names right off hand)

 Now this is my volunteer sunflower with a bee attached to it. In the back ground are 3 roses and the star Clementius. Anyways, the sunflower came from the compost pile, apparently I had some sunflower seeds in the compost that decided to grow. We must have planted some flowers and JP used the compost for extra dirt and "wa la" DAISIES. There are a couple more flowers that are about to bud....just as soon as they do I will take more pictures. This is a first.....probably won't happen again, not unless I plant some daisies from a package of seeds. Ha...and then they may not grow.

 In this picture, is our little cottage type house. It is over 125 years old, one of the first houses to be built on this block. Although you would not know it by looking at it....it's been updated quite a bit. It's a very sturdy house with a 8x8 solid, center beam running down the middle of the house. The joists are 2x8 actual beams and floors (not 2x4). In previous years there used to be a big tree growing in front of the house...a wind knocked it down and it landed on the roof....you can still see where the front part of the roof is a little tipsy.

We had the house resided with new doors and windows added. The roof was redone also. Sad to say, it had never leaked till we had the roof redone...now it leaks. There was like 3 layers of shingles, so no leaks were allowed. Then, the roofer took all the shingles off, and put on new ones.....ever since then, we have had roof problems. Guess we need to get the roof re-done....but alas, no money.....maybe I need to do a garage sale for the roof.....lol!!!

 These lovely flowers are my zinnias......I loves my zinnias. I have planted these flowers along the side of the house for the last 5 or so years....maybe more, guess now it is a tradition for me....the bees like the flowers too.

 Ahhhh yes, my apples.......I really enjoyed my apples this year. The tree is about 15 years old (or more) and this is the first year that it produced so many lovely apples. The lady at Sprangers Apple Orchard told me, now that my tree knows that it can produce apples, we will most certainly have apples next year too.....oh yippie, I can hardly wait. So to date, I got over 115 apples and the birds and varmints got the rest. I made lots of apple pie filling and have about 18 containers in the freezer....lots of pies and smoothies coming up!!!

In this last picture are my roses....I have 4 rose bushes and these are the red ones. Sweet huh?!? I shall have to remember to get a picture of each rose before the season ends and post it here....I love roses. I have this red, a coral, yellow and white rose bushes....I used to have a bright pink one but it died after 20 years. I am sure I still have pictures of it though.

So there you have it, a few pictures of my "end of the summer" flowers.....each year I say I will do less, but more seems to show up....I probably will eventually go with perennials, rather then annuals....less up-keep. But for the mean time this is fine with me.

Well, you all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh. Cheers ~ Louise

A New Month and a Garden Harvest

Hi everyone, how are you all doing this first day of the month??? Wonder how fast this month will go by??? Hard to believe the summer is almost over except for a few more warm days ahead of us and then WINTER is just around the corner.....YIKES!!!!

Well, I thought I would post some vegies from my garden.  I made a tomato garden this year....so in the above picture you see some of my tomatoes. My but they were yummy this year.  BLT's  were absolutely divine!! My cucumbers are doing good this year as I planted the young plants in an old wheel barrel. I have tried planting in other areas but they just did not seem to grow.....the wheel barrel must have had perfect growing conditions this year.

I have onions growing all over the place....but none of the onions seem to get really big....more like small marbles...oh well, guess I will just buy them at the store. The rhubarb did not do good this year, no harvest. Had strawberries growing in the front of the house.....they did well, lots of sun and rain for those berries. Not a good year for beans....planted in two different places....they did not take off...oh well. My oregano and garlic are doing well. Peppers are growing along with the tomatoes. Oh and how did I forget....I planted potatoes in a container....they are still sprouting, so have not received a harvest as yet...that's if the squirrel does not get to them before I do......DARN that squirrel!!!!

We've been given lots of vegies though...tomatoes, peppers, jalapeno peppers, egg plant, cucumbers, cabbage have been bountiful, with more to come, I hope.

In this picture is my green apples..........I am so happy that these babies made it. As of this writing I have 11 containers of cooked up apples in the freezer. Each container will make one apple pie. Oh yum!!

Our Labor Day will consist of JP going out to the tree and getting some more apples off the tree. He is taller then I...so hopefully he'll get higher then I could. I think they are ready now, cause the apples that I cut open today....the seeds were black or almost turning. So I will cut some more apples up tomorrow, cook them and freeze some and make a pie for Labor day. We have company coming from Chicago....so guess what....they are getting some apple pie. Why buy dessert when I can make a pretty good pie here with some whipped cream...........oh my, I can hardly wait!!!!

Well, time to close, it is getting late and I need to get some sleep. Going to be a quiet day around here, we'll get some things done around the house before company comes next weekend. Have a great Labor Day and don't' labor too much......lol!!! Keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh!!!
Cheers ~ Louise

My Apple Tree and a Recipe

Hi everyone. Hope you are all doing well and staying cool in this very warm weather.
Today I am going to tell you about this wonderful apple tree. I am not really sure what the name of the apple tree is, the apples are green, they cook up really good and are not too sweet. I planted the tree probably about 15-20 years ago. It took a very long time to grow....now it is so tall, it is hard to reach the apples even with an extender basket. I need a TALL person!!!
In the above picture is a shot of our tree in the spring....oh my, it was just full of blossoms this year....I was so excited. During the winter, either the squirrel or rabbits got a hold of my two apple trees and ate the bark off the trees. My neighbor thought the trees were ruined. So did I for that matter.
Then, one spring morning I looked out the window and "oh my gosh" the tree was just loaded with flowers. We ended up not spraying the tree. Just letting it go natural. I mentioned I had two trees. The other tree is a red apple tree. As far as I can see, there are only 1 or 2 apples up there. Maybe next year will be its' year to show off!!!

Oh my....apples in the tree!!! There have been apples before, but NOT so big and NOT so abundant!!! My goodness every branch was just loaded with apples!!! I've made a few pickings since this picture was taken. Some of the apples are buggy inside. But then, some are just fine. The birds and squirrels get their share. So I think if I can get a good share of cooked apples in the freezer I will be happy.

In this picture are some apples I picked tonight with our new little $25 apple extender from Menards. I am hoping that the basket will pay for itself. Maybe it has and I have not realized it as yet.

In this picture is a shot of the apples still left in the tree that are too high for Louise to reach even with the basket extender.

So here we are, tonight with 20 apples waiting to be cut and sliced in the kitchen sink.

So here is a picture of the apples cooked up in it's sauce. All I do is add about a cup of water with the apples, cook them up a bit, add cinnamon, and maybe 4 packets of stevia. (if you use sugar, maybe about 1/4 cup of sugar, depends how sweet you want the apples), then I add some corn starch with a little bit of water and mix with the apples to thicken the juice. Taste test to see if they are cooked through and sweet enough for your taste.

Okay...here is the recipe. I found it on www.cooks.com  Look for it under "Cherry Streusel Coffee Cake." I found with this recipe, you can use any fruit you desire...that is why I am using my apples. (I've used cherries also) Bake this coffee cake/pie at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Pie filling
Cream together the butter and sugar, add eggs. Add dry ingredients next and beat well. Batter will be heavy. Spread 3/4 of the batter in a 9x13 inch pan. Cover with the pie filling. Drop remaining batter by spoonfuls over filling.
 Sprinkle with the following mixture.
4 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
One last step....I sprinkle the top of the cake with some more cinnamon, of course this is with the apple pie. Using other fruit would be optional.

Another thing about this recipe...I cut all the ingredients in half, so instead of making a 9x13, I make a pie pan...which is enough for JP and I.
I have company coming next weekend, so I may make a 9x13 apple dessert then.

After baking, a slice of heaven. Adding some whip cream or ice cream to this dessert would really top it off.

Taste Testing....mmmmmm....good!!

Well there you have it, a wonderful dessert for any time, any place and any where. I really like making this, as it is really easy and goes fast. JP likes it a lot too, but then he is not a hard person to please when it comes to food, he eats most anything I concoct and always knows that if I follow a recipe, I never quite follow it to the "T"....always changing some ingredient.

Hope you enjoy this recipe...I sure do. Have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh. Cheers ~ Louise

Cherries and Apples

 Hi Everyone, how are your days going? Keeping cool has been a priority lately. Gets pretty warm in the house, like almost 90 degrees, but we keep the air conditioner going in the kitchen and fans going in the other rooms. So it is bearable. I like when it is cool enough and I can put a blanket on to keep warm. Looks like there is a big cool-down for the next week so we all will be comfortable till the next heat-wave.

 The other day a friend called and asked if I would like some cherries......I said yes. So I went to pick them up and spent the evening cleaning, sorting, pitting and cooking them. After they cooled I put them in containers and froze them. I pulled a few recipes from the internet, Freezer Jam, Cherry Dump Cobbler and Sara's Famous Cherry Crisp are on the agenda for these cherries along with a couple of smoothies and maybe some cherry frozen pops.

 The cherries that did not make the pick landed on the ground for the birds, squirrels, chipmunks and flies to eat. Nobody touched them, so they landed in the compost pile. The little chipmunk in this picture was checking them out....maybe he thought they were too sour though.

 I am really excited, cause I finally have apples growing in my apple tree. I sure do hope they make it, the limbs are bending over cause there are so many apples in the tree. I think these apples will remain green. I have another tree that is supposed to have red apples........but that one has not produced yet. These trees are over 10 years old. So hopefully this is the year for apple pies and sauce!!!!

Another shot of the apples from a different angle. So you all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.

One of these days I will get some cards up. I have not been working on cards for awhile as my studio is still all torn up and I am still re-organizing. And I have been so busy with my gardens......time just gets away. Cheers ~ Louise