Last day in July

What happened to July???? We have had lots of rain interspersed with some absolutely perfect summer days. The flora and fauna are lovin' this weather. My pole beans are 7 ft. tall and growing. I have several heads of cauliflower, brocolli,great onions, squashes, tomatoes and loads of peppers. I made two bottles of fiery hot pepper vinegar to serve with pork or beef dishes. I made a pepper salad for supper this week. Here is the recipe: seed and chop green peppers, chop a yellow onion, quarter a couple of tomatoes, chop fresh italian parsley and a few leaves of basil, chop a clove of garlic fine; stir together and sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and a bit of evvo. It makes a great side dish too. The flowers in my yard are all huge too. I looked at the pictures of the house I took last summer and compared them to this year. It looks as though I had instant landscaping done.

I like my work hours at the orchard. Most of the time it amounts to 4 hours with an 8 hour day thrown in for good measure. Bashey and I don't like the long days. But we manage.

I finished my notecards for the church's silent auction next week. Pete is donating one of his beautiful handmade spalded maple boxes to showcase the cards. I am also donating a small watercolour painting. The wonderful part of all this is, my creative has been roused from it's rest and I am eager to paint again. Now that is not a guarantee I will paint but at least it is a step in that direction. I think I mentioned,I hung 5 paintings at the winery. Now my grandson, Patrick, who manages a lodge in Smugglers Notch, VT has asked me to hang a few in the lobby there. Turns out, I don't have enough work that I would consider showing for sale. The answer of course, is paint, paint, paint.

We have been selling various local organic goat cheeses at the orchard. My favorite is the Rosemary and Fig Goat Cheese from Painted Goat Farm in Garrettsville, NY. Check it out - just google Painted Goat Farm. Then there is a local goat farm in nearby Argyle called Argyle Goat Farm. All delicious! The blueberries this year are numerous and large and sweet. I will walk up to the blueberry patch to take a picture for you.

I called a neighbor about helping me start my MH. He put a charger on the batteries and viola', she started right up. Next thing is to get the windshields resealed. I have a place who will do that in Glens Falls but I have to take it over there. It is an expensive job but must be done. I now have to register it with DMV and get it inspected after the windshields are fixed. I renewed my membership in the Good Sam Roadside Service so I guess I am almost good to go. I am hoping Sharon, my friend from Tampa, will fly up the end of Dec. and help me drive it to Naples.

The photos include Sebastian giving new meaning to the expression "booty call"; Emily, Dino and Sebastian taking a walk; and a shot of my "office", check out the website, Slyboro Ciderhouse Winery. We just added a new selection made exclusively from the old english cider apple, which is quite black in colour, Kingston Black.

Have day of Joy....

Beautiful July day

Can't quite believe it is almost August. Where has the time gone? I have been chasing Emily and her horse, Dino around Vermont, working at Hick's Orchard again and tending my gardens and lawn. I have been working on some watercolour note cards that I am donating to the church auction. That led to sorting through lots of old sketches, photos and paintings which led to my hauling a few up to the orchard winery for display. They liked them and I think they lend a bit of local colour. I am still picking jap. beetles off the potatoes and the beans which seem to be their preference. I don't like the traps because then all the beetles in the area congregate. I wish the birds would eat them. I saw a lovely doe in my yard early the other morning. I think her presence solves the mystery of the tramped down grass in the marshy area of my yard. I think there are several who sleep there at night. I have tried to create a safe haven for all the creatures who come to my little acre and a half. I hope that is why they are here. Bash and I see lots of different critters in the yard. My winter squash is taking over the yard. See photo. I have volunteer sunflowers scattered around the gardens from feeding the birds. Today, Pete helped me haul home some man-made stones for a path through the new flower garden I am creating. The stone wall is a work in progress and slow going since the stones are heavy. My little tractor and wagon cannot carry many.
Pesto pasta for supper tonight made from the basil in my herb garden. Yummer!

I made reservations for Naples in Jan. and Feb. Now need to find a driver to help bring the coach down right after Christmas. I hope to find a part time job down there for the time I'm there. Right now, the coach won't start. Trying to find a mechanic to come here is a real challenge.

I just discovered a major plumbing problem under my kitchen sink so gotta go friends. Enjoy the photos.

Saturday

Two perfect summer days in a row! We are very grateful after this rainy cool summer. I may not like the rain and cool temps but my veggie garden just loves this weather. I have tomatoes as high as my chin and huge brussels sprout plants. Everyting is doing extremely well. The Jap. beetles came a few days ago but so far I am keeping aheaad of them by picking them off. My lawn became a thick lush hayfield as I waited for my mower to be repaired. But yesterday when I returned from Hick's Orchard where I have been working, there sat my red tractor by the back door, just waiting to get to work. Although, I was looking forward to a power nap after being on my feet most of the day, I succumbed to the lure of the red machine and began to mow. I quit an hour later to greet Pete who brought some most welcome libations. We joined on my porch as I grilled sweet potatoes and salmon fillets. A from-the-garden lettuce, onion and tomato salad and we had another feast. Pete and I enjoy our respective porches. We watch and identify birds with an occasional hot air balloon huffing and puffing in from my porch. At his house, we watch hummers, squirrels, chipmunks racing back and forth and the woodchuck fammily with an occasional family of turkey or deer. Last year we had a hawk swoop in and sit on the barn roof watching us. Oh, the beauty and excitement of a porch.

Hicks' Orchard is picking sour Montmorency cheeries and huge blueberris right now. We have been busy. I have been working in the store this week stocking shelves, cleaning and weighing fruit for the families of pickers that make it a yearly event. I will be in the Winery next week I think. I would like to get some free time to pick some fruit myself. I brought home a quart of cheeries which I pitted, sugared and shared with Pete last night with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Rosie Pup has been with us all week. She is the alpha dog. It is amazing how Bash just changes his habits to allow her to sleep in all his favorite places. She has emptied his toy crock several times searching for his stash of bones. When she gets to the bottom, she dangles in there huffing and puffing but comes up with nothing since I had already removed the bones. We found last year that the bones create problems between them.

Gotta go mow before so I can run to Granville for groceries then on to a party for Marty Nestle who just graduated from training with the Air Force. Team Jones is hosting the party at their place in Hartford Village. Gloria and Emory are motoring all day today back from the VA mountains where they have been vacationing with two of their grands.

Have a blessed day dear friends.....

Wednesday before the 4th

I am posting a current photo of my little house so you can see how the plants have matured since last summer's photo. I have been building a low stone wall around the new flower bed on the corner of the house near the drive. I found that hefting the big stones is very hard on my back so I only do one load a day. We are going through a rainy patch now. It rains every day - the news said 8" in June. In May, we were in a rain deficit. That is the way of nature.

Yesterday, as I sat out on my porch eating lunch there appeared a large coyote trotting up along the hedgerow towards the road. He was obviously very nervous and was roused up from a noon-day slumber by the town bushhog mowing along the road and ditch. Seeing the coyote explains a lot about the tracks I saw in the snow and the bloody evidence that some creature had been killed for supper. I pray he doesn't get hit on the busy road. I see large domestic kitties all the time too. I have another very welcome and unusual visitor in the presence of a Kingfisher. I don't have a pond for fishing but I think the bird flies over to the huge marsh SE of my house and also flies to my neighbor's pond S of my house. But I am honored that one of my favorite birds has chosen to hang out on the light pole near my porch.

I spend a lot of time and energy creating this sanctuary for critters of all kinds and it is very rewarding when I see them here.

I just posted some photos of the giant dredging project taking place now in Ft. Edward on the Hudson River and adjacent canal. GE poisoned the river there for many years with their effluent discharges. It was all damned up and pretty much contained until the damn was ordered opened. Of course, all the toxins went on down the River. Now GE will pay to clean it up for the next ten years. It is a huge undertaking and is carefully monitored (we hope) to avoid poisoning the drinking water of people all down the River. They will dredge for 16 miles downstream. This clean-up site is the largest of its kind ever. I took the shots from the bridge and from the yacht basin.

I put this website on my Facebook so you should be able to access both.