It Was a Pre-Winter Feel Today

A breezy and cool ride this afternoon, but my toe warmers kept my feet really nice and warm. The skies looked dark and cold, but we only got sprinkled on a couple times during our ride....49 degrees when we started out this afternoon. It felt good to ride Ruby since most of my riding has been on the mountain bike. Bike Man and I did a 20 miler. The strong north wind persuaded me not to go longer.....am I wimpy? YES

Oops, guess I can't use this loaf of bread for french toast! This is what happens when your life gets busy and you forget you had bread in the house.

So tonight, Bike Man and I are making another large pot of applesauce. This time the sauce will be used to make apple leather. We make the fruit leather in our dehydrator, which works really slick. We still have one large grocery bag full of apples from our apple tree, so tomorrow I hope to make a pie or two if time allows.

Moist Droplets

What was the theme today? You guessed it....wet!

Rain droplet everywhere you looked or stepped.

Some hardy plants actually survived our frost three nights ago.

Went to the fitness center after work, like planned, and went through two of my cycling routines. It felt really weird being on a spinning bike. Class starts Monday, but I still hope to get out on my road bike during October before the snow flies!

Cold Rain

Today's theme was.....RAIN. Yes, we do need rain, but the coolness along with the rain made it feel like, really cold. I worked until 8 pm tonight. When I left work it was raining pretty steady. Now I am home all cozy and warm. Not for long however, 90% chance of rain tomorrow too.


Tomorrow after work, I'm heading to the fitness center to refresh myself on teaching spinning class. My first class will be Monday, so I need time to get my music and routines together. Wow, haven't been to the fitness center since early May. I've been out of sorts for three weeks, but hopefully that will change. I just want to get back into the cycle mode again.

She Told Me She Had Something Special

So this woman I know that frequently comes into my library told me she had something vintage she bought at an estate sale and she wanted me to see it. I discovered she was talking about a vintage dress. The day she brought this in to my workplace, I just couldn't believe the detail on this dress. The photo isn't the best, but you can see the lace, beads and sequences that overlays the crepe de chine fabric.

The dress is a little big for me in the shoulders but I decided to buy the dress anyway at a very reasonable price. I love vintage clothing....you can't help but wonder who orignally owned this dress.

The dress does have a designer label...the name is Peggy Hunt. I did a google search and found the bio on this woman. Peggy was born in St. Paul, MN and married in 1914. She and her husband moved to California where she started designing dresses in the 1920's. Peggy Hunt was known for using nude marquisette lace and applique lace to create a sexy look, but also a ladylike image. Peggy also became known as the "Lady of Lace" for her finest lacey fabrics. How cool is that??? I'm so excited to have a dress made by Peggy Hunt. By the way, she died in 1991.

My niece is getting married May 2010 in Jacksonville, FL so I'm thinking about wearing the special dress for her wedding.

Apple Preserving

Remember when I told you that I worked ALL day last Saturday on making salsa? Well Bike Man had one of those days today.

He worked ALL day on preserving apples....grrrr, what a mess!

First, he started out making apple pie filling, but that didn't go so well as several jars did not seal during the processing so he had to re-do some of the jars. He said apple pie filling was too time consuming, so he switched over to making applesauce instead.

Canning fruits and vegetables is definitely hard work and very tiring. Hopefully in the future when I have more time, I can enjoy canning and preserving more foods.

Too Much Wind

Flowers to Brighten Your Day

Brutal kind of day. Heavy wind, lots of clouds and rain showers all day. I'm looking forward to sunny days and slightly warmer temps tomorrow. A freeze is in the forecast,but hopefully the cold temperatures will hold off until late October. Wishful thinking.

Super Easy!

Plum & Amaretto Jam

Another busy day, but I did get a chance this afternoon to cook up a small batch of Plum & Amaretto jam, thanks to Kellie who gave a bag of wild plums from several plum trees in her yard. The recipe is super easy (see recipe below).

Tonight, we had our first meeting with a small group of college students who attend my church. I'm really interested in connecting with this particular age group because there are many college-age kids that want to practice their faith, but they don't know where to go, or maybe they feel intimidated by the whole church scene. On Sunday nights we are planning on meeting at a church members spacious house to give the students the opportunity to socialize, eat, interact with a bible study and just basically have fun. I wish I would have had that opportunity when I was going to college.

Plum & Amaretto Jam

3 cups chopped tart red or purple plums

3 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

3 Tblsp. lemon juice

1/4 cup Amaretto liqueur

Combine plums, sugar, water and lemon juice in a large stainless steel or enamel saucepan.

Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to medium and boil rapidly until mixture forms a gel....forming a gel can take anywhere from 20-50 minutes. Stir frequently. Remove from heat and stir in liqueur.

Ladle into hot jars and process for 10 minutes in a water-bath. Just for your information, I put the plum jam in plastic jam cups and will freeze the jam instead. Yields 4 cups.

Note: Forming a gel means when the jam coats the spoon and the drips become slow and heavy.