MAKING PRICKLEY PEAR PRESERVES

Mathieu showed me his bucket full of dark fuschia prickley pear fruit today. He and Reagan were getting ready to make preserves from most of it.

Reagan peeled and cut up the fruit into a bowl.


Then they added other ingredients and cooked it on the stove...


and poured it into jars, before sealing them in boiling water.

All finished! But it has to wait 30 hours, I think they said, before they can taste it.

OUTGOING MAIL

I don't know what is the matter with me. As if I haven't got too many hobbies and duties and self-imposed pastimes, I have taken up pen palling again. One of the postcards is for a Face theme postcard swap on Swap-Bot and the other is a "Get Better" postcard to a friend. The rest is pen pal mail. Mail will go out today for Annette, June, Marcia and Jennifer. It will probably be tomorrow until the letters to Pam and Leisha go out.

Nothing major has been going on lately, but there have been multiple happenings and errands and things to take care of every day - handling the sale of Stewart's old pick-up, the moving of the house on Stewart's property to the property of the person I sold it to, Cory refinishing the big desk in the carport, so it can be moved into the studio, etc.

Yesterday, I went to the library for the book discussion. The book for August was The Chicago Way, which I didn't like. Next month it will be Passage to India, which I think I will like much better. Right now I am starting to re-read Jane Austen's Pride and Predjudice to refresh my memory before I read Pride and Predjudice and Zombies. That should be interesting. :) I have several other books on my list too - The Amazing Adventures of Kavelier and Clay by Michael Chabon and The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman, and a couple of others that I can't recall right now. They are checked out from the library at the moment, though.

PAINTING, LETTERBOXING, GEOCACHING AND POETRY READING

Yesterday after our other activities, Mat and I spent some time in the studio disarray, painting. I'm in some Swap-Bot swaps and so started on painting the face postcard and altering the pill bottle for two of those swaps. Mat painted a picture beside me, and we were both pleased with the results of his work. He hasn't thought of a name for the painting yet, but he will.

Today we went geocaching and letterboxing nearby and really had a good time with that, despite the fact that after we got there and got started, realized that he had picked up a dry ink pad instead of a working one. We came all the way back home and got a new one, then continued on our way.

I forgot to get a photo of Zachary a couple of days ago when we went to the first open poetry reading at the Barnhart Library in Beeville. It was advertised in the newspaper as open to anyone who wanted to read their own poetry or a poem by someone else or just listen to others read. Zach writes poetry regularly, so I asked him if he would like to go. He went with his notebook, planning to just read two, but the others there read a number of their poems and were so encouraging and upbeat that he ended up reading all of the ones in his notebook, then recited one of his that he had memorized and then recited John Erickson's Red Roan from memory. Garrett had planned on going too, and reading a couple of his poems, but he got home from work late, so didn't go. I had asked Andrew, too, but he said no, that he just screams his 'poems', and in fact had band practice that night anyway. He has a metal fusion band.

Back to the poetry reading, there was a really good turnout there, and there will be another open poetry reading next month and the month after that, too. So I hope more poets start coming. The ones who did read were very entertaining, and we had a great time. And speaking of the library, I am looking forward to going to the book discussion, which is always the last week of the month. I missed the first one, where they read and discussed The Time Traveler's Wife, but am ready to go to the discussion of The Chicago Way by Michael Harvey next Thursday. I didnt like the book at all, but am looking forward to the discussion. The book for September is going to be Passage to India by E.M. Forster, I heard.

I've been reading more lately. I read Julie and Julia by Julie Powell, which I didn't like at all, although I do think the movie will be really good. I also just finished Second Nature by Alice Hoffman. It was so-so. I don't know why I am so difficult to please with books lately.

MEMORIAL SERVICE

This morning Mathieu held a memorial service for "Drink" his newest goldfish, who died two days ago. This first photo is of Mat with the faux gravesite he set up in a six-pack seedling container in one of the empty raised planting beds in front of the studio.

He and I picked flowers from the yard for the memorial, and yesterday he painted a tombstone type of rock with sharpies.

When it was time, he called the other 'mourners' and we gathered to hear him give Drink's eulogy. "He was a good fish. When we bought him, there were a lot of dead fish in his tank. I liked to pet him every day."

Later in the afternoon, he moved the memorial container, rearranged the wilted flowers and added some of Goldilocks and Midnight's feathers, which are very plentiful now that they are molting.

Would it be wrong to say that he REALLY enjoyed this memorial service a whole, whole lot?

LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON.

These are the books Mathieu got from the library when we went. Well, he got three of them - Gator Gumbo, Cowboy Camp and inexplicably, The Journal of Brian Doyle: a Greenhorn on an Alaskan Whaling Ship. The other one, Stitchin' and Pullin' A Gee's Bend Quilt, is one I picked out. Carl is enjoying sitting with him under the tree. Click to enlarge so you can read what G.I. Joe is saying.

I made Chicken Pie for lunch today and invited the kids over. I wish I would have thought to take a photo of the main dish. It turned out well. It's a recipe I made regularly when the kids were growing up, but hadn't made in a couple of years until today.

I keep intending to go to the movies, but just don't really feel like making the effort. When Julie and Julia comes to the Rio 6, I'll go for sure, but right now, I would like to see District 9 and The Time Traveler's Wife, which are both showing. Maybe tomorrow...which is what I have been saying since Friday. I finished reading Julie and Julia by Julie Powell, and really disliked it, but I still think the movie is going to be great.

SHISH-KABOBS!!!

Reagan brought us some of the shish-kabobs that he grilled tonight. Ohmygosh, they were GOOD! He marinated the beef stew meat and maybe the veggies (cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, peppers and zucchini) in teriyaki sauce and dabbed them with soy sauce as they cooked. At least I think that's what he said. They were the best thing I've eaten in I can't remember when!

ONE AFTERNOON...

Click the photos to enlarge them so you can read the dialog. This is the first time I've tried adding printing on photos, and I know I am not doing it correctly as it is meant to work. It was a long process for me, so please excuse the wonkiness.

HAMBURGER COOKIES

Mathieu and I made these this morning. I used to make them every once in a while when my kids were younger and still at home. Ingredients: Vanilla wafers, Keebler Grasshoppers, coconut, canned icing, green food coloring, red food coloring, yellow food coloring, sesame seeds and egg white.

FARMERS MARKET

Here are Mathieu and Coconut home from the First Saturday Farmers Market in Beeville. We got there about 9:30. When I first started going, I made it a point to be there when it opened at 9. But then I'd see photos of it in the newspaper with vendors who weren't there when I was, so apparently a lot of the vendors get there later in the day. This time, for instance, it had been advertised that 'The Candy Man' would have a booth there. Now I don't know what or who the candy man is, but I knew Mat would be very interested. But apparently the candy man sleeps late, because there was no candy at all there. Mat made out fine, though, with a pina colada snow cone ($1.25) and a hand carved wooden pencil with red lead ($2). From the Amish, I got a raw chicken($5.50), homemade cottage cheese($3), okra($3), and whole wheat noodles($3). From other vendors I got Blueberry Jalapeno Jelly ($5), Kettle Corn($1.25) and homemade Peppermint-Tea Tree soap ($5.50). I think that was it. For once, I didn't buy any plants, although I was interested in the bat faced cuphea. Now I wish I had got it. But hopefully they'll have it there next month, too. Coconut did okay, although she was a bit nervous - especially when we got to the area where the music was loudest. There were no other dogs there, this time, while we were, although the plant man had a pen with 3 kittens.