Easter Vacation

 We are at Henderson Beach with my son and his family The beach is gorgeous and the weather is perfect in the mid 80s Hope everyone had a Blessed Easter Here are a few pics


 

My Granddaughters enjoying the beautiful beach. It is glorious here.

My grandson fought going to sleep till almost 3 p.m., but when we placed him in the wagon to go back to the campground he fell sound asleep in seconds

Loquat Jelly

I made some loguat jelly last weekend. Down here we call them Japanese plums. The tree is a tropical and when we get mild winters like the last one we usually get a crop. Husband likes the jelly and it wasn't difficult to make. Am packing the camper for a trip to Florida this weekend with my son and his family. Haven't used the camper in a while so I need to get in there and do some cleaning. Not my favorite thing to do, so I am procrastinating and writing my blog.

Rainy Spring

We are having a very rainy spring this year and quite warm too. The temperatures have been in the upper 80's for several weeks now. Usually we don't hit them till the end of April. I hope its not an omen for a super hot summer. Much as I want to hope global warming is not happening, I think it is probably. I really don't like the summers here in Louisiana, way to humid and hot. I need to hit the lottery and buy a house in Maine for the summer! What a sweet thing that would be.
The garden is planted but I haven't had time to check it lately. The green beans were coming up sporadically so I think we will have to fill in the gaps soon. The tomatoes I grew from seeds didn't look so hot either. Might have to buy some from the nursery. I hope when things dry out a little I can get a better look at things in the garden.
Need to pack for our camping trip to Destin, FL for Easter.
Later...

Back Again

I have been snoozing for quite a while now. Think I will give this blog another try. Its a good way to document my interests and family life as time flies by.

We had a wonderful family reunion Saturday with my sisters and brothers and their families. Little brother boiled crawfish along with corn, potatoes, mushrooms, and sausage for about 50 people. We also had hamurgers and hot dogs and LOTS of yummy desserts. Kids had an Easter egg hunt and the top prize was a 1922 Silver dollar donated by my oldest brother. My cousin from Maryland was our special guest for the day. Some of us hadn't seen her since we were kids. It was a little on the warm side, but everyone enjoyed themselves.

Boating on the Tchfuncte River

Last weekend we took some of our grandchildren boating on the Tchfuncte River in South Louisiana. It is a beautiful river that flows into Lake Pontchartrain by New Orleans. The kids had great fun riding in the boat

and hanging onto the inflated tube while the boat pulled them.

 We stopped awhile and let them swim in Lake Pontchartrain. They all had their life jackets on like diapers so the could float better. Got a picture of them "Bottoms Up"

DIL had a good time too.

Son and granddaughter tried their feet at skiing. Both got up. Husband even tried and got out of the water...pretty good for an old man.

We saw a few alligators lurking around some of the tributaries of the river, but none where we were.

I'm BAAAACK!

Gonna try this blogging thing again. Been really busy this summer gardening and canning and vacationing. It's been one HOT summer so far and doesn't look like anything is gonna change soon. Temps in the high 90's and heat indices in the 110's to 115's. Have to admit, I haven't been out to the garden since middle of June....just can't take that awful heat.
All the chickens are gone....something ate them when we took a trip out to the Grand Canyon in June with my son and his family. So we are out of the chicken business for a while, husband is happy about that.

These are pictures of my 2 friends....June Tune (yellow) and Tar Baby (black). It's been so hot, husband has let me keep them inside when I am home. They think they are in heaven. Cooking red beans and rice today a Monday tradition here in the south.

Beans, Beans, and more Beans

After the rain Tuesday morning, I decided to go out to check on the garden. The corn was bent over the green beans and the rows were flooded with water. When I looked closely at the plants, I saw beaucoup beans. I couldn't just leave them there, so I start to pick a few...and it turned into a few more and then many more. I ended up picking 6 more pounds of them. Snapped them while watching TV that night. Wednesday I canned 6 quarts and 1 pint. Haven't tasted the canned ones yet, but I sure hope they taste as good as fresh. I wonder how many more pickings we will get from this go-round of beans. Still didn't pick any beets yet, maybe this weekend. Have a few squash on the vines and realized one must be a volunteer plant because it just came up in the middle of a row of spinach. The squash look like little green balls. I think I planted that kind a few years ago and it's just now germinating.
Also planted some moon vine seeds. That  is a beautiful flower. I sure hope they come up.
Guess I need to plant another round of squash this weekend too.