Catch Up

Well…I’m back! And in more ways than one:  back to blogging and back in good health. Thank you for all your good wishes and thank you for being patient with me in my absence. All of you mean a great deal to me.

If someone had told me a year ago I would have a problem with my thyroid that would turn my life upside down and take about a year to fix I would have thought they were nuts.  But that’s what happened to me and today I’m doing much, much better and am back to my old self.  I’ll share my thyroid story with you soon. But today I want to briefly bring you up to date on what we’ve been doing since I was last here on the blog.

Back in August, the wild plum trees we planted in our yard several years ago had fruit for the first time.

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I picked several buckets and made wild plum jelly.

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Over Labor day, we took another trip to Maine. Ironically one of the neatest pics I took, or rather Harland took with my phone, was of the Chicago skyline.

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Back home again, the apple trees were weighed down with fruit.  In the town where I work, a resident with a small orchard in his yard put up a sign, “Help Yourself.”   So we did:

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And then I made 10 pints of apple butter.

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Kitty made another trip to the vet, this time just an annual check up and shots.

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I wish I could say she behaved, but that would be a big fat lie. She was a good girl until the end of the visit when the vet and I were putting the top back on her carrier and she lost patience with us. There was hissing and taking swipes at the both of us.  Bad Kitty.

Back at home she engaged in some drier therapy to recover from yet another indignity from the evil humans:

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Kitty:   “Put another load in, this one’s done.”

I picked more apples,

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and while Kitty slept in my clean laundry, I put up 11 bags of sliced apples in the freezer, all ready for pie or cobbler-making this winter.

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I also made 10 pints of applesauce:

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I cleaned out the closet near the front door sorting everything there into piles.

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Do we really need this many pairs of chore gloves?

Harland bought me a new vacuum cleaner:

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I’m so excited! It replaces my 20 year old dinosaur and about sucks the carpet off the floor. Does a great job on hard floors too.

This was the result of the first cleaning:

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Shocking!   The old vacuum was really falling down on the job.

Recently I made a new recipe: Apple Pumpkin Bread.

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Yummy!  I’ll share the recipe with you soon.

And finally, here’s a selfie I took over the weekend.

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I sent it to my sister. She has straight hair and I wanted to gloat about my curly hair which she is jealous of. After all, what are sisters for?

 Be back soon….

xoxoxoxoxoooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Suzanne

Cattle, corn, wheat, beans, mud, snow, ice, and drought. Plenty of fresh air and quiet. Our life is sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes joyous, but never boring.

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36 Responses

  1. JMart says:

    So very happy to see you looking so well. Laughed about your sister comment,,,,I have two daughters and have heard it all!!
    If you have any Maine stories, I for one would love to hear them.
    Janet in Massachusetts

  2. Pansy says:

    so glad to read the good news….have missed your posts and news……..looking forward to some good recipes also.

  3. Elizabeth S says:

    Yay! You’re back and have been busy! I’ve been busy gardening (weeding) and making your amazing honey wheat bread! So glad you’re doing well 🙂

  4. Laura says:

    So glad your back and feeling better too! Love the post!!!!!!!!

  5. lyn says:

    Hi Suzanne,
    So glad to hear you are felling better.
    PS.Your plum jelly is beautiful looking 🙂
    Lyn

  6. Patty says:

    Welcome back=)

    That plum jelly is a lovely color!

  7. Amelia says:

    So glad to see you back!!

  8. Marie W says:

    Welcome back! You were missed. Very happy that you have your health back!

  9. Anne Comer says:

    Glad you are back. I don’t bother with many blogs but yours is a delight. Thanks and keep healthy.

  10. VICKY KELLEY says:

    Sooooooo glad to see your back and healthy again. Missed your cooking and comments very much. Next time you come to MAINE I would like to have you come by to visit in Ellsworth, being from Arkansas City, KS many years ago (too many) we would have a lot in common….youth and old age, me the older. I just finish making applesauce also and did some green tomato pickles today. Most people in this area do not know what Apple Butter is so I think that will be the next thing I will put up. KITTY is still beautiful and reminds me of my cat PENNEY a money cat in more ways then one!! Great to have you back.

  11. Ilse says:

    So glad you’re back and feeling better. I have missed your stories, recipes and photos!!!

  12. Vicki says:

    I am thrilled you are back and healthy. Go Girl.

  13. Lisa says:

    So glad you are back! I’ve missed reading your blog!! I have the same vacuum cleaner and the first time we vacuumed it was just like yours! We have the hardwood floor attachment and LOVE it!!

  14. JB says:

    So glad you are back and feeling good!
    Your plum jelly looks delicious. I picked plums a few years ago and made jelly. Also got the WORST case of jiggers I’ve ever had!!
    Suppose Kitty would like a “massage” with that vacuum? My sisters cat loves to be vacuumed.

  15. Karen says:

    Happy that you are feeling so much better – you look great!

  16. evelyn says:

    Yea! Glad to see you back! Your body had a traumatic experience; happy to see that it has recovered. You have been so busy! Really miss wild plums; they don’t grow in my part of Texas. Take care and keep getting better!

  17. mary m says:

    HI SUZANNE, SO HAPPY YOU ARE BACK AND ARE FEELING BETTER. HAVE SO MISSED YOUR
    STORIES AND PICS. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO SEE SOME MAINE PICS.
    THE HONEY WHEAT BREAD SOUNDS GOOD, NEED TO TRY IT…
    TAKE CARE, BEST TO YOU ALL,
    MM, VANCOUVER,WA.

  18. Patti says:

    Glad you and Kitty are back!

  19. Jeanne says:

    WHEEEE!!! So happy to have you back, and that’s putting it mildly!

    That plum jelly is so beautiful! You’ll really enjoy that and the apple butter this winter! I love them both!

    The pictures are all great – even Harland’s! 🙂

    Is that new vac a Shark?

    Take care!

    Jeanne in OR

  20. Jenny says:

    So pleased you are feeling better. Have really missed your posts. Love your blog.
    Take care.
    Jenny in the UK.

  21. Dianna says:

    Always nice to see a post from you! Glad you’re in good health again, and as always, the pics of Kitty are my favorites…slthough that Chicago skyline photo is pretty amazing!

  22. Andrea says:

    Glad you are back and feeling better! I have missed reading your posts

  23. Lorraine says:

    So nice to see you back and that smile says it all! Missed your posts. The plum jelly looks so pretty. Miss Kitty is fine I see. Glad to hear you got out and took some time for yourself on a vacation.
    Missed your post! I look for them just about every day. Battling thyroid issues myself. So nice to have you back.

    I look forward to your continuing story.

  24. Marilyn says:

    Suzanne – So good to have you back!!! You’ve been missed. I saw Harland’s Maine pictures and wondered if you had visited again. Glad you’re feeling better.

  25. Linda says:

    It’s so wonderful to see you back, and to know that you’re feeling better. I’m looking forward to all your tales — and to any tails you have to share, too!

  26. Pat says:

    So glad you are back and feeling good again. Love the new hairdo…very flattering.

  27. Lynne says:

    First of all, welcome back. So good to see you again. You look cute and healthy, and cute hair too!

    Secondly, if it’s not too long to tell us, how do you freeze apple slices for later use? Love that, and I have a bunch of Jonagolds I’d love to freeze.

    Thanks, and so glad you are back!

    –Lynne

    • Suzanne says:

      Simple: Peel core and slice the apples as you would for a pie. My pie recipe calls for 8 cups of sliced apples, so I put that amount in a freezer bag and then throw in 1 teaspoon of ascorbic acid (Fruit Fresh) dissolved in 6 tablespoons water into the bag. Massage the bag to mix it together well, then squeeze the air out and close bag. Throw bags into the freezer. A deep freezer is best as they don’t go thru defrosting cycles and the fruit will keep better. If you want to freeze only 4 cups of fruit per bag, it would be 1/2 teaspoon ascorbic acid and 3 tablespoons water.

  28. Debbie Chapman says:

    Welcome back!!!!!!
    So glad you are feeling better and can share the joy with us again!
    Missed you and love to read your stories!
    Give Kitty some pets for me!

  29. Chester's Mom says:

    So glad you are back and looking so well! Will you share your apple butter recipe? I made some last year and it was good but much darker than yours. Maybe it was the type of apples. Like you, I thinks its fun to give homemade canned goods for Christmas and for the first time in my life, fell in love with a vacuum cleaner. Yes, mine is a Shark too!

  30. Tina says:

    YAY!!!! So very, very happy you are back! We all missed you. I am so happy and thankful you are feeling better too. Once a week I faithfully checked to see if you were back. I have been offline because I moved and didn’t have internet for awhile so I am finally up and running and checked and there you are!! The jelly and apple butter look wonderful. By the way I am also jealous of your hair, it has the perfect amount of curl. Both my sisters and brother have curly hair I am the only one with straight hair, it’s a bummer. My Lola girl is a lot like your kitty in personality I think, she thinks she is all that and more. I boarded both my cats for a couple day as I did the big move and her nose was so out of joint. But they like the new place with plenty of boxes and closets to explore and she has been sticking to me like velcro but thats fine. SO glad you are back, I missed you so and was worried. Hug Harland and big pets to Miss Kitty.

  31. elbrunot says:

    Bless your heart! you look great! welcome back to blogging.

  32. Rural TN says:

    Glad you are feeling better. Glad you are back. I have missed the blog.

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