So Many Pears

Its that time of year again, time for picking and processing everything in the garden. This week I froze beans, and made a couple batches of blackberry jam. And we were overrun with pears. We ate a bunch fresh, of course, because they are one of those garden things that taste best freshly picked from your own tree. But I also made pear cake,

Actually, I made a couple of cakes, one went into the freezer. I also made a batch of Pear-Apricot Chutney. This is great on pork in the winter. Its also pretty fine poured over cream cheese, and eaten on crackers.  

I dried a bunch of pears also. We like to toss them into granola or oatmeal, and Weasley likes the occasional piece, too.

We did make time for some fun stuff. Tonight we had the last of the summer S'Mores before the girls head off to school.

Isn't it fun to play with lights and the camera at night? 

And what has Weasley been doing all this time, you might ask? Well, he has been playing bunny pinball. This is when a blind bunny tries to find his way to his litterbox/blanket/sunny spot in a room that is rapidly filling up with gear that is being gathered for the new college kid. The geography of this room changes daily (maybe even hourly), as things are purchased, inspected, played with, packed, unpacked, repacked, etc. Its actually looking fairly contained in this picture. If you look way in the back, you can see that Weasley has reached his destination, after bouncing off most of the contents of the room.

He's actually managing pretty well, and in a few days, the room will be all his again. The day is coming way too fast.

As for sewing, well, there hasn't been much of that around here this week. I do have one fun project completed. I'll show you that on Friday, because its a gift, and I don't want to spoil the surprise for the recipients.

Something Unexpected In The Garden

Our little Nor'easter is winding down. It's still very windy outside, but the sun is out, so I decided to take a walk in the garden, and see what was new.

First Daughter's Garden, with Blueberry bush, and the Miscanthus grass in the background.

Out front I noticed that the very late mums are beginning to blossom, about two weeks early. This worries me, since I saw a flock of Juncos yesterday, and they are very early also.

Rounding the corner of the house, I spied a very late rose. This climber usually blossoms only once, in June, but it had a little treat for us. It smells wonderful.

Then I came across the backyard, and noticed that something didn't look quite right.

Can you see it? Take a closer look. See those branches going diagonally across the picture?

Those aren't supposed to be there. They are branches of the neighbor's Bradford Pear, on top of our Maple-leaved Viburnum. I ducked under the shrubs for a closer look.

Seems the wind and rain has pulled a big limb off their tree. The chain goes to a hammock by the way, not anything weird. Back around the front of the shrubs, I noticed that when the branch fell, it knocked our birdhouse off it's post!

But that's OK. The shrubs had grown too close to the house for it to be safe for birds, so now I have more incentive to get myself in gear, and move the post. This is what I like about having a garden. There is always something new to investigate. Wherever you are this weekend, I hope your winds are soft and warm.

Reunion, Art Center, Ginny, and PEARS!

Taking a quick break from produce here to catch up with you. It has been a crazy week, and will only get crazier for awhile. To start with, last weekend I went to my 30th high school reunion (you do the math). I almost didn't go, but I am SO GLAD that I did. It was wonderful to see everyone. Its amazing how good we all look, and how well we get along now that high school is well past! The event itself was just a picnic, but it was held in the most gorgeous spot in the county, right next to the airport and the landfill.

Seriously, its beautiful up here. You can see across the entire county from the pavilion. I just forgot to turn around and take that picture, because I was too busy talking.

From there I hurried home to hang some recently finished quilts at the Leominster Art Center. Well technically, the man of the house did the hanging.

Here they are all together. The only one missing is the gear quilt, which is still fighting me.

This is a nice little space, sponsored by the city,  for local artist to show their work. There is an amazing variety of talent on display here.

And then yesterday, Ginny had a follow-up appointment with the new vet. Her weight is increasing nicely, and the vet wants to send the lump samples to a different pathologist. She thinks Ginny's initial cancer diagnosis may be wrong. We are keeping our fingers crossed. Ginny, meanwhile, is thinking she might like to trade her brown chair for our couch. 

 

Not so sure I like that idea.

In the garden, we are still getting all those blackberries, but now the pears have come ripe 2 weeks early.

Ignore the fact that they are in a litterbox. These boxes have been repurposed since Ginny developed a digging habit. Anyway, I have been doing lots of stuff with pears. Some have been frozen, some have been turned into pear butter.

Some have been dried.

Some have been made into cakes.

And of course there was a pear photoshoot.

This box of pears will be refilled at least twice this week. And my in-laws are arriving this afternoon for four days. And the blackberries are still getting ripe, and the green beans, and the zucchini. Oh, and its less than a week till we take First Daughter to Pittsburgh! Yikes! Send some sanity my way, OK?

Another Late Friday In The Garden

Yesterday was crazy. Ginny had her dental work done, and came through it OK. She is eating some greens now, and I was told she has eaten some hay (haven't seen it myself). Unfortunately, this vet decided she couldn't do anything about the lump on her lip. She does, however, think that the Boston vet may be able to. First we have to fatten her back up, though (Ginny, not the vet).

Then I took First Daughter to her riding lesson, where this guy, named Dart, tried to eat my sketch book. It now has horse slobber on it. 

Then we went to Sturbridge Village to pick up a friend of First Daughter for a weekend visit, back home for a quick walk in the garden, off across town to pick up another friend arriving on a bus, home to feed them veggies from the farm that Second Daughter is working at, and watch some spectacular lightening. The lightening storm caused them to abandon plans for walking to the ice cream store, so I took them to the grocery to buy ice cream. I left them arguing about who could be Jo, Amy, Meg (but not Beth), and since they are not awake yet, I assume that went on for awhile. Today we will visit Orchard House, Home of Louisa May Alcott.

On that quick walk in the garden, I saw that the pears are getting bigger.

The blackberries are starting to need picking.

The Laura Phlox is in full bloom. Love that color!

And it is in front of the Rose Of Sharon that is starting to blossom. This is a white, double-flowered variety.

Around here we also call it the "Dirty Handkerchief Shrub", because on the second day those beautiful, white flowers look more like dirty, crumpled tissues! Very unfortunate, but the shrub is happy here, so it stays, at least for now.

Tomorrow I am off to Maine, with Second Daughter. We are spending several days visiting colleges. See you when we get back. Have a happy weekend, everybun!

Friday In The Garden

The weather got cloudier and cooler this week, and things slowed down a bit in the garden. Some things are all done blossoming, but still interesting, like the lupine. I love the silvery glow of the seed pods.

A few things are blossoming. The Rose Campion is going crazy in a back area where some pass-along plants have been allowed to do what they want.

The lavender smells heavenly, and I wish I had more of it.

But mostly this week, the garden seems to be about potential. We have peas blossoming and filling pods. We had a few at dinner yesterday. Yum!

The pears are getting larger, and need to be thinned.

We will have some blueberries finally this year (if we beat the birds to them).

And, the raspberries are getting close to ripe. In past years, I have been scolded by a Catbird while picking these beauties. I wonder if he will be back this year?

Finally, that yucca from the last two Friday posts is still getting bigger, but has yet to pop into blossom! Maybe next week I will be able to show you its cascade of white blossoms.

You may have noticed the lack of sewing or other art on this blog lately. Like the garden, the potential is still here, but I am moving very slowly. Having my non-driving older child home, and trying to fit in all sorts of appointments and visits before she heads to grad school has been very disruptive. I'm not really minding, because after August, we will see very little of her for the next two years, and I am trying to enjoy as much time with her as I can before then. Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep track of  ideas, and I'm taking lots of pictures, and the potential will blossom when the time is right.

Happy Friday! I hope your Friday holds blossoms as well!

What Is This?

Look on the ground here.

No, it's not what it looks like.

Despite the frost this morning that came almost one full month after the last frost (so glad I didn't jump the gun and plant anything tender), this white stuff

IS

NOT

SNOW! 

Just the spent blossoms from the neighbor's Bradford Pear! We lucked out this time.