A Month of Birthday

It was full of all my favorite things.  Flowers, camping, music, friends, family, cupcakes, and good food.  Love birthdays.

Rorey Carroll Band in the house

 

We didn't completely know what to expect from our first house concert of the season, with the Rorey Carroll Band.  Murph, the guitar player in this band, is a friend of many years.  In fact, he was one of the musicians who played at our wedding six years ago.  And he happens to be one of our very favorite front range musicians and guitar players ever.  We know that any project he's involved in is sure to be wonderful.

 

Murph introduced us to Rorey and her beautiful music and we couldn't wait to have her come play as part of our series.  Rorey's songwriting is wonderful, and she's chosen some truly fine musicians to join her.

The first show of the season is always so much fun because after a busy summer off, it's always so much fun to get back to house concert season.  It's gotten to where fall doesn't really feel like fall until we've had a house concert.

The house was full of family and friends.  The potluck spread was great, as always, and it made me so happy to have my home filled with so many good people who have become a part of this community.

And the post-show pick was hands down the BEST pick we've had in the house yet.  Awesome way to end the night.

Preserved

Mom and I used Labor Day weekend to take another shot at this canning and preserving business.  Last year it was pickles.  This year we tackled a much more reasonable quantity of cucumbers, and added tomatoes to the mix.  We canned tomatoes, and also made salsa.  It took us all weekend to get it done.  Friday night we peeled garlic (and peeled garlic, and more garlic, and more garlic), washed dill, washed cucumbers, read and reread our pickle recipe and canning tips, loaded the jars in the dishwasher, and talked through our process.

Most of Saturday was about pickles.  But we were much more efficient and organized than we were last year.  We also did one batch of tomatoes before heading out for dinner.  The tomatoes were a pain in the butt...they have to be in the canning bath for SO LONG.  Especially since we were canning at 7,500 feet above sea level, we had to add another 20 minutes to all the canning times. 

When we got back from dinner we were over it for the day, so we watched a movie instead.

Sunday was salsa, which was easy and fun.

This past week we made and preserved applesauce and apple butter.



Sadie watched movies and played, and mostly let us do our thing.  And every year I'm hoping she'll be able to (and interested) in helping more and more.