Mom's turn: Blue Ribbon Pantry

Okay – the bread & butter pickles Travis made from our home-grown cucumbers were delicious, so I was quite excited when he moved on to other canning projects.

His next project was plum jelly. He went to the Matheson family reunion in Tennessee and on his way home he stopped by his uncle’s farm for a visit and to gather some fresh, juicy plums! He arrived home with a case of delicious plums and proceeded to squash every one of them before Teeny or I could salvage a handful to enjoy the rest of the week. However, after he cooked,

canned

This is only about 1/2 of the jars that he made...I just love the color!

and served the jelly over a buttery biscuit with some of my favorite Kenya coffee, it was easy to forgive him :-D

After that was something his grandmother called “chili sauce” and served over various beans (snap, butter, lima, etc.) while he was growing up. It consists of home grown tomatoes, onions, red bell peppers, hot peppers, sugar, and a sundry of other spices cooked to reduce by half (whew, that took a while). I had tasted this concoction once before and I must admit, although the sauce is full of flavor, I like my beans plain please. One of our friends sampled it and gave the suggestion to use it with meats, especially pork or chicken. Now that sounds scrumptious! Now if we could just find a county fair to enter them into; grandma would certainly be proud that she was able to pass down her love for fresh foods! She won the blue ribbon in the Fayette County Fair for years!!!!

Mom's turn: Warm Fuzzies

My grandma taught me to knit when I was very young, around 6 or so. She was a nurse and, if I remember the story correctly, used to knit ace bandages on the smallest needles possible for the soldiers during WWII. After she passed away when I was 12 I put my needles down and forgot about the craft for many years. It took a young and fresh curiosity in the form of my daughter for me to dig them back out again. She was interested in learning how to knit because she found an old pillow I made when I first started. Hmmm…I was a bit rusty, but with the help if the internet and a few books from the library full of easy patterns we were able to muddle through a few scarves and hats for family, friends, and animals.

Sara enjoying her mardi-gras scarf I made

I eventually got brave enough and started on an afghan for my DD's hope chest. It might be finished by the time she moves out! With most of those projects finished I FINALLY made something for me! I found the pattern for this simple capelet on the Lion Brand website. They said it was a “beginner skill level”. WELL – I had enough trouble with it that I guess I’m not ready to move on to the next level as hoped yet. I got ambitious afterwards and purchased a pattern for a shawl. Now I am at a total loss on how to start the silly thing. UGH. Back to the afghan!

Fancy Feet

Well I WAS going to blog about my upcoming hike, so I was cleaning off my shoes to take a picture. But then when I was cleaning off my hiking boots, I got in a shoe cleaning mood! So, I got a towel, some soapy water and a tooth brush (old one of course), and I have been cleaning my shoes for the past hour! I have cleaned all of them, all the way to the comfy ones like my crocks to my dressy ones! (Not that I really have any of those). :-D

Mom's turn:Tomatoes for days

Attack of the killer tomatoes. Okay – seriously, although I may feel like I’m being over-run with tomatoes from our garden…this was a movie?!?!?!?!?! What a dumb idea when all they had to do was eat a tomato sandwich to survive :-D

RECIPE:
-Bunny bread…a must
-Mayonnaise
-Fresh, garden ripened tomato…no other will do
-Salt & pepper

there is no better summer-time lunch in the world

Mom's turn: Making Grandma proud

The garden has done better than even my HH expected…so now we are trying new recipes, sharing with the neighbors, and canning. Now that’s a chore in the Southern summer heat. However, Travis’ grandmother shared plenty of secrets and he’s got the “garden fresh taste” in his blood. We spent many summers helping her can veggies and fruit and enjoying the rewards later. So to carry on the tradition and share with our daughter how it’s done is a wonderful feeling…even if it’s sweaty work! Travis made some bread & butter pickles, both spears & chips, out of our cucumbers. They look wonderful – but we have to wait four to five WEEKS before we can taste them. Hmmm, a lesson in patience all wrapped up in pickles…never would have thought.

not sure they'd win the blue ribbon like Grandma's pickles, but I'll sure enjoy eating them

Mom's turn: TEVA-ventures

Another fabulous vacation full of adventures at the TEVA Mountain Games in Vail, CO. Thank you Ashley for including me again – it was amazing!

There’s no state quite as beautiful as Colorado – both in the winter and the summer. They have the freshest air, prettiest skies - even at night, and cleanest water ever…makes you feel like a school girl :-D

Ashley & Elen

We stayed at the Hotel Gasthof Gramshammer, more commonly know as Pepi’s. It’s a beautiful Austrian owned and decorated hotel right in the middle of the village. We had perfect access to everything. So after a wonderful breakfast of fresh fruit and assorted breads

we headed out to see what we could find.

First stop was the Triple Crown Challenge sponsored by Bear Naked (which, by the way, is the best granola ever!). This was an event set up to help spectators get involved and win more swag from Gear Town of course! You were sent on three specific challenges and after completion of each you received a password. Challenge #1 was orienteering. My husband got a HUGE tickle out of this as I get lost as soon as I pull out of my driveway at home! Very funny…I managed just fine, thank you very much. We followed a map around Vail Village to find three different flags with passwords on them. Step one accomplished!

Challenge #2 was mountain biking. Giant was the sponsor for this event. I am an incredible Giant fan; we own three road bikes made by them. If you’ve never experienced the difference between road and mountain biking, as I had not, Colorado would not be the place to start!! Why must we wear these dorky helmets?

It was pretty intimidating peaking that first hill and the shocks on the bike itself were a whole different story – I almost went over the handlebar when I hit the first bump!

However, I survived that challenge, too, but I think I will definitely leave it to the professionals!! Besides – they are much more fun to watch in the free-style races…they know no fear.






Challenge #3 was rock climbing. Not so bad, right?

Until Chris scampered up the wall three times before I finished my one and only climb!!! HEY – where’s his helmet??? I don’t want to be the only funny looking one in this pictures - ARGH.

Again, I think I’ll leave it to the professionals. This year TEVA held the World Championship Bouldering competition. That was amazing to watch –
my favorite was the women’s Swedish contender, of course.
When you had accomplished them all and retrieved all 5 passwords you went back to the Bear Naked tent where you picked up you prize bag: a recycled grocery bag, a super water bottle, a fruit roll-up, and a bag of Bear Naked granola of course! Made the humiliation of wearing goofy helmets oh so worth it!!

Next day was the infamous Mud-Run! We had so much fun last year that Ashley talked me into signing up again.

However this year I chose to tip-toe around the mud pit at the end and sneak in to get my robe!!! I know…missing the point of the mud run, but I was so cold and apparently more out of shape than last year as the first trip up the mountainside almost did me in.

Hmmm, another event best left to the professionals. We watched the first woman come across the line at the 10k trail run right around 40 minutes. GOOD GRIEF – she’s a machine!!!
Okay – time for some fun…how about playing in the SNOW??? 5 feet of snow on the ground in June – amazing. And me in my TEVA sandals of course. BRRRR!
Luckily the hotel had the coolest thing in the world – a heated tile floor. Awesome for a quick warm-up.

Now back to business…like winning these awesome pair of $129 sunglasses from Costa Del Mar for a $5 donation, SWEET! Watching more kayaking,



resting in the best swing chair ever,



and learning how to turn green :-D (with my clothes anyway).
CoCoNa was a sponsor and they make clothing out of coconut shells. Nifty idea. Ashley won a pair of hiking socks in one of her adventures and gave them to Teeny for a good luck token on her upcoming camp. They are supposed to be extra cushy and sweat wicking…perfect!

After the games wrapped up we headed back to Denver for the night before catching our flight the next day. It was a gorgeous drive with mountains all around…again, Colorado is the best!

We stopped in Golden on the way at Buffalo Bill’s grave site.

We discovered some really tasty fudge and what a “good woman” is
…uh, I think he died searching for one!
We left there and went on to a Balistreri Winery for a tasting and tour.
They had some very nice wines, but my favorite new find was a dill cheese they offered…yummmo! I also learned that most of their grapes were shipped in from the other side of the mountain because growing conditions were not very good on their side.
Time to say goodbye…if I could wake up to this view every morning I might not even need coffee!!!