Good To Be Back

Sorry I have been gone for a while, but the last few months have been a learning experience and I am hoping to share a few things with you.

On 5 April my mom suffered a stroke and I have come to terms with seeing my mom not able to do all she could do at one time. I have seen the ugly side of health care and people who really don't care for their own, but tend to care more for people who never put into the system. I have also spoken with people who had to give up their parents home to get them into a nursing home. Most of all, I have come to understand this country needs to take better care of our senior citizens and medicare needs to do more!!!

Mom is improving everyday--she is in out patient physical therapy at Roger C Peace and I am so proud with all she has accomplished in the last six to seven months. She has some control in her right hand and her speech comes and goes. She is walking with help but with a bad knee and still weak from the stroke~walking is hard. I have learned by watching my mom~her speech is better earlier in the day. When she is tired, I can tell her brain is slowing down.

To help me with my feelings and hurt, I turned to canning this summer.(very good therapy for me). Mr G had a great garden and I canned green beans and tomatoes. I also made salsa~which did not last long. I also made vegetable soup which did not workout at all. Trust me when you walked into my house you could tell! Yes, mistakes were made but I did something I have always wanted to do.

I am also taking knitting lessons and have a great teacher in Hendersonville NC. I will share more about this later.

A few weeks back, I met Vicki Lane who writes mysteries. She is a sweet and very soft spoken person and I am very glad to have met her. She has a wonderful blog~Vicki Lane. In my next post, I will have a book give away singed by Mrs. Lane.

I still have so much to share~so please do come back. This year the Autumn leaves have been unreal!  
  Beautiful colors of red, yellow, and orange.

Best
Tracy :)

Will Be Back Soon

I am sorry I have been away for a while. So much has happened in the past six months and I hope to share my thoughts with my readers soon.

Please do not give up on me~~I hope to post on my blog this week or next week.

Oh, a book give away is coming up. I met Vicki Lane last week and have an extra book that she singed.

Take Care and come back soon!

Best
Tracy :)

In Memory of 9/11

                                 Always in my heart, thoughts and prayers.
                                 (Picture taken from Softland Mark)

Downtown Flowers

After a lovely walk and lunch, my daughter took these pictures around downtown Greenville a few weeks ago. Sorry--no names for the flowers, but I still hope you will enjoy looking at the pictures.

Hope everyone will have the week of your choice!

Best
Tracy :)

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

1. Mom is doing better
2. My family
3. The beautiful warm weather
4. The garden has given us so much to can
5. If you are reading this--I am thankful for you

The idea for Thankful Thursday came from:MissBuckle

Dandelion Jelly

I read several blogs and notice many bloggers were making dandelion jelly. After making strawberry jelly, I decided to give dandelion jelly a try. Going out and picking the flowers can be very time consuming and you do receive many strange looks. The more flowers you pick the better, because the jelly will be more of a gold color.

 Many bloggers wrote about the honey taste of this jelly and I am here to say--that is very true! I do wonder where the honey taste comes from? It did take the jelly one or two days to set--I almost threw it away, because I thought I did something wrong.

Funny Story--several times I picked dandelions during my lunch at work. One time, I was stopped by security asking me if I was ok and another time I was leaving work and I notice several dandelions in front of a building near where I work. So of course, I stopped my car and starting picking and yes security was watching me.! When I got into my car they followed me until I was off campus. It's funny what we go through to have fresh food.



The beginning



From this..




To this..




Almost there




The end

 My dandelion jelly recipe came from the New York Times.
Urban Forager Dandelions Preserves
(makes about two pints)

2 cups dandelions blossoms, separated from leaves and bracts
2 cups of water
1 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 1/4 teaspoon of pectin

1. Boil flowers in water on medium heat for about 10 minutes.
2. Strain petals from liquid and return liquid to pot to boil.
3. Add sugar, lemon juice and pectin, following your particular pectin's instructions.
4. Boil and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon, skimming the foam, until the top surface becomes blobby and glasslike(2 or more minutes).

Enjoy!

Best
Tracy :)

Happy Birthday America

                                        
                             Wishing everyone a happy fourth of July!