Dreaming of fall….

 

When I was a child, we visited orchards like this.  Mother's favorite apples were Winesap and Jonathan, and mine was and still is Yellow Delicious.  She would climb big old wooden ladders to pick the apples, and come home with bushel baskets heaped full. Then the real work began, she would  can fat slices covered in a sugar syrup,  bake big tubs of apple butter, spicy hot with cinnamon candy, and of course make the most wonderful apple pies laced with cinnamon and nutmeg, always baked in a lard pie crust.  I have such good memories of those times and pictures like this take me back.

But it's hotter than Haiti right now in Heavensville, we've been spoiled by  a lovely summer and now it is just horrendous outdoors.  Hubby and I are housebound, with the blinds closed, escaping the 97+ temperatures this weekend.

I thought earlier this month that fall was in the air, but it was just wishful thinking, but soon, very soon...

The BEST Vintage Kitchen

 

Who doesn't love a vintage kitchen, and this one is a doozy.  But it's not my story to tell, I found it on Julia's Hooked On Houses site.  So hop on over to her pages and check it out, it's just chocked full of pictures.  

Here's the link

And yep, I snagged this picture from her site.  She has many more, a fun escape this afternoon...

Nestea, it's cheap, it's good, did I mention it's cheap????

John and Deanna were home earlier this month and we went to a Sunday church social.  You know the kind where they have shade trees, quilt raffles, families, and country cooks serving wonderful food.

I've been low carbing since late May, but I totally caved for the first time and ate carbs that day.  My food(s) of choice - Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, dressing AND homemade noodles.  Also on the table were bowls of fresh homegrown tomatoes, wonderful coleslaw, that I'm still trying to get the recipe for, and pitchers of iced tea.

Oh yeah, I fell off the bandwagon with a huge kerthud, but it was totally worth it.  I did, however, pass on dessert, while the rest of the family dived into oatmeal cake, strawberry cake  and banana nut cake.

John loved the iced tea, and he doesn't miss a trick, he saw them stirring it up in huge trash cans.  Yes, they were clean, they were feeding a lot of people that day, they had to do things in a big way.  So John goes over and asks the ladies what kind of tea it was.  To our surprise they said Nestea.  Now my buddy Ang was with us,  she didn't add any sweetener to hers, but the rest of us were jacking ours up with those little pink packets, and she said it was sweet enough without it, so I'm thinking it was the presweetened variety they were using.

But sugar is a no-no in our house, so I found the unsweetened variety at our local grocery store, came home, read the label, 4 Tablespoons per quart and stirred up a batch.

Whoeee, this stuff tasted really STRONG, nothing like they had at the church social.  So I decided the next batch to back it off to 3 Tablespoons.  I made it, tasted it, a little better, but not much.

So then I get our my glasses and reread the label.  Jeez Louise, the label said 4 teaspoons per quart, not 4 TABLESPOONS.  No wonder mine tasted strong!  So now I'm happily stirring up batch after batch, adding 5 packets of Splenda per quart, chilling it in the fridge before serving it.  Yes, I add ice to my glass, but it just tastes better when you start with it cold!  And does mine taste as good as what we had at the church social?  Not really, but it's still pretty good.  And did I mention that it was really cheap????

Happy drinking, it's a hot week in Heavensville, high 90's forecasted thru Sunday.  Fun, fun...

Windex Touch Up Cleaner, it's a good thing...

 

This little Windex thingie is awesome, and a little dab'll do ya.  Yep, I know I'm a dork, but I get so excited about stupid stuff, and I always share.  My flavor of choice, lemon of course.  And the best part, it's refillable.  Pick one up the next time you're at the market, you will love it, pinkie swear you will.  ~ Jan