Thankful Thursday

Here is my picture of the day, it has nothing to do with my TT post, but I just think these guys are the cutest.They follow my dh every time he is out and  about. They should be in the pond swimming, but we have this giant turtle who harasses them so they only sit around the edge, and happily wait for the turtle to hibernate in late fall. What cowards they are, not really just smart, because we have seen that turtle sneak up and pull a full grown guinea under and have it or breakfast, lunch, and dinner.lol

I am so thankful  for many things, but what I am so thankful today for is an air condition home. We are still under the a loooong and hot heat wave. Every day the weatherman says "sorry folks tomorrow will be hotter than today". I'm thinking "can this be possible?"LOl


When we were first married, we didn'ant have air condition in our home, we relied on fans and windows open at night. But I so clearly  remember our first window unit we bought, and how it came about... 


We were under a heat wave like this one, and were up all night trying to stay cool and keep our two young babies cool too. My dh husband said " if I live to see tomorrow I will have air condition". So the next day he went to J.C. Pennys, and bought us a window unit and did something he had not done before, Charged it.lol


Oh! my goodness! I can still remember how it felt, and how thankful we were.


I am also reminded today that there are people here in this great country, as well as over the world, who don't have air condition, and I choose to pray for them today while I am being thankful.


Hope you are staying cool,and enjoying your summer.
~Hugs, Sue
Psalms 105:1~ Oh give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples!

Hi everyone, This is what I have been up to. I hope everyone is doing well, and that you all are staying cool. We are under a heat wave, and that is putting it mildly. LOl

Fresh cucumbers from the garden.. Now let me see ...What shall I do with them?

How about making some sweet relish. My food processor I bought many years ago, and it is one of my most used appliances when it comes to making relishes and I use it so much in the summer while canning my fruits and veggies.

After chopping cukes, onions,  red and green sweet peppers, I sprinkle salt and cover with ice cold water, and let it sit for 2 hours.

I drain and then rinse with clear cold water, and drain.

I mix my vinegar, sugar and spices, (mustard seed, and celery seed), once it comes to a boil I add veggies, and cook for ten minutes,,,

Pour in hot sterilized jars, wipe tops, cap and place 

in water bath, process in boiling water for 15 minutes.

Voila!! this is the best relish, so yummy. It is great with hamburgers and hot dogs, in potato salad, just about anything. lol My Mother said it was just plain delicious placed between bread. When she gave me this complement I just beamed from ear to ear.LOL

This relish also makes for wonderful gifts at the holidays, or any special occasion.

We also have been canning new potatoes, now this is quite a feat, but well worth the effort.

But what has taken up so much of our energy and time has been the renovation of the porch, Now that is a big story. But I am so thankful we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. lol I hope to show pics. when we finish, or sooner. lol

Well, that's just about all for now, Enjoy your week, and I hope to catch-up on visiting everyone, I have so missed you all.
Hugs,
Sue

And this is what I have been doing

Our front porch isn't suppose to look like this. What a mess! lol

It's suppose to look like this.

It has been under going some major renovations, at least to us. lol. But hopefully we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. For the past two days we have been caulking every single post and any other nook and cranny that needed it, getting ready for painting; which by the way I should be doing at this very moment instead of on this computer.lol

In between caulking we have been canning veggies. Yesterday more squash went in jars. wahoo!! later this week pickles have to be made, this always is busy time for us. A good  busy time. I really do enjoy putting up the fruits of our labor for winter. Kinda like the squirrel does. Did I just compare myself to a squirrel? I guess I did, as a matter of fact I do feel kind of squirrely. (I am sure there is no such word.)LOL. 

I must run and I hope to visit some tonight, hope your day is filled with many blessings.

Hugs,

Sue

This is how our day went

Today was one of those days where everything just fell in place. I absolutely enjoy days like this. We discovered that our beets, squash, cabbage, and broccoli, needed to be picked and preserved.  Mother and I always work together preserving the produce. 


We were up early this morning, dh gathered the beets, while I was getting all of my canning supplies ready.
Here they are with tops cut off, and washed.

What a pretty site, we made pickled beets, There is a lot of work that goes into pickling any vegetable, but beets seem to have a little extra. My house smells so good tonight.lol

But all of the extra work is most certainly worth the effort. If by chance you see something yellow in the jars, well, that is our first picking of yellow squash.

We ended up with 16pts. and 4qts., of pickled beets, with more to come this week, 7 qts. of yellow squash, 4 large bags of cabbage, 8 bags of broccoli.
Not bad for a days work. EH!
  
This seems like a busy week for me, tomorrow, if the Lord wills, I will be caulking on the porch . God has given us a reprieve from the heat wave we were under. I really want to get a lot done this week. 


I guess that just about takes care of my day, I hope yours was filled with many blessings, After visiting some of you tonight I have a date with my sweetie to go sit in the swing and drink hot chocolate. Yum! 
Did I mention I have berries to pick too. Whew!
Hugs, 
Sue
Psalms 121:1~I lift my eyes to the hills----Where does my help come from?My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

My thoughts this beautiful Sunday morning,as I am sitting here in my swing,are of Lauren, our granddaughter, and wondering how she is might be. You see she left to go back home yesterday to prepare for college. We both cried as we said good by, and I think Mr P did too, though he was trying to be brave for us.


I am so thankful that God gave us this special time together, I will miss hearing her call my name. Which she did so often, When your grandchildren live so far away and you don't see them that often, just hearing your name called by them is music to your ears. Truth is, it is always music to our ears. Ahh! the name grandma it is so sweet. We grandmothers like to think that to our grandchildren we are..GRAND-- MOTHERS.


I will miss our walks together, cooking together, staying up late and having that cup of hot chocolate out on the porch sitting is this very swing hearing the night sounds and having some of those wonderful talks.I will miss hearing her and Papa, joking with each other. They were always picking at each other. 


But my thoughts this morning are about this new adventure she is embarking on and where it is going to take her. I remember so well being eighteen, I thought the world belonged to me, and I could do what ever I wanted to, anyone over the age of eighteen knows that you soon learn that won't happen. LOL


 I am also reminding myself this morning of a scripture I committed to heart and memory many years ago.
Philippians 4:6-7~ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplications with thanksgiving, let your request be know to God and the peace of  God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.


The most awesome thing I find about memorizing scripture is that when doubt and fear begin to creep into our lives, that we can pull out God's Word from our memory bank, find comfort and reassurance in knowing that the God of this universe is still in control and that everything is in His hands. 
  
Dear Lord, thank you for your Word today, that  I can read it, stand on its truths, I can hide it in my heart, and that I find comfort in these truths.


Sue

this is how our day went

HAPPY JUNE 1st,
I can hardly believe this year will soon be half over. Where does the time go?
Since returning from our trip we have been so busy trying to catch up,.... but do we ever catch up?lol. 
Our granddaughter Lauren came back with us, and we have been enjoying some great time with her. 


Today Lauren, papa and I danced in the rain.lol
The truth is we were dancing in our garden and flower beds pulling weeds when it started to shower and then turned into a full cloud outburst. We ran on the porch and Lauren decided she wanted to play volleyball in the rain, so what did we do but go with the flow! lol.


Hope your day was filled with many blessings too!

It's so hard to get serious about work when, you have a very energetic teen who wants to play. 

Hugs,
 Sue