More of the Same!..53º

 The next three days will be a repeat of the last three days...Roasting, jarring, roasting, jarring, trying to get as much as possible done before I leave for a 5 day getaway in Boise.

My nieces asked me to join them for their annual "Sisters Getaway," this year in Boise...Several years ago I joined them in McCall, Idaho...I'm looking forward to a few days away and all I have to do is pack a suitcase, drive to LaGrande and sit back and relax, joining them in whatever they have planned to do...I think a house with a pool is included.

On Wednesday morning I drive out the driveway leaving Rusty to spend time between our two houses, taking care of everything, now it will be his turn to relax and sit on the deck, eat bon-bons, (drink beer) while i'm on vacation...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Lounging in the hammock

Roasting Tomatoes 101...49º

 I arrived home from balance class to the wonderful aroma of roasting tomatoes...Every fall for many years now, tomatoes are roasted and frozen for winter meals of spaghetti, pizza, tomato soup and more...We brought home 200# of tomatoes from Walla Walla...Some for other people, some to roast and others to make into tomato sandwiches and BLT's...This is the time of year to eat all kinds of fresh fruit and fresh veggies to last you for a year and then we do it all over again.

This morning more tomatoes will go in the oven, and while they roast, I will peel pears for jarring...I'm trying something new this year, the pears and maybe peaches will be jarred using the grape juice that Rusty and I juiced just a few days ago...Thus I won't be adding sugar to the newly jarred fruit and this winter we will have fruit to eat and juice to drink, no sugar added...Hope it works...No time to waste, I must get busy...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Tomatoes covered with

fresh basil, and garlic

ready for the oven.

All About Cienna...49º Lovely fall days.

For those of you new to my blog, Cienna is my only grandchild, now 25 yrs old and embarking on a new adventure...She has always lived with her parents in the Portland area, 350 miles away from Joseph, but from a very early age was shuttled to Oma and Papa's house for a week or two, summer and winter...Of course those visits were less when she entered her teen years.

At the age of 16, August 2014, she flew off to Thailand, spending almost a year there on a Rotary exchange and got infected with the traveling bug...Back home she enrolled in her junior year of high school AND as a freshman at a jr. college, two years later she graduated with a high school, and an associate degree...Four years later June 2021 she graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in elementary education...In the meantime she had traveled back to Thailand for 3 weeks, spent a term of college in Chili and in February 2023 flew with friend Justin to Costa Rica...And the past two years she used her teaching degree, substituting in the Beaverton school district and earning enough money to travel...She has been a very busy, determined girl.

All this time she had a goal in mind...She wanted to teach English in foreign countries...Sept 6, 2023, she boarded a plane at PDX and about 12 hours later landed in Prague, Czech Republic, where she will attend a school to get certification to teach English in Foreign Countries.

Three months of planning this latest adventure, she is now in a studio apartment, where she will be joined by a roommate for a month of classes starting Sept. 10th...Closing with positive thoughts as Cienna, once again spreads those wings, who knows where this latest adventure will take her, and soars up and away. Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Thailand

Beautiful Fall Weather...46ª

 The weather is great for jarring and we have the perfect (next to an outdoor kitchen) setup...Outside the sliding doors, sits our old Coleman gas stove, that Herb changed over to  propane, and we have used it for many years, first for camping and now for Jarring.

Rusty catches on to the process quickly and seems to enjoy it...I mentioned that to Bobi, when we Face Timed on Monday morning and she said, "Of course he does, because it is fun."..So I guess that, even thought jarring is a lot of work, it is fun and rewarding and in our blood!..I come from a long line of people that "canned" food, to sustain them through the long winters.

We finished with juicing yesterday and got 9 quarts of beautiful plum juice, that will be made into jelly this winter...Enjoy this beautiful weather...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Plums are juiced.

Pears are ripening.

One Busy Day after Another!..48º cloudy

 When we moved here 50 years ago, Imnaha was a great place to get many kinds of fruit...But your name had to be on a list, because there was a limited supply...We opted to go to Walla Walla for our fruit and veggies for canning/jarring...About 4 years ago, neighbor Dave, brought apples from a new orchard in Imnaha and asked if we might want a box for winter...Thus started our winter boxes of Cameo's, that keep all winter and taste wonderful...We also get grapes to juice and this year one box of pears to eat and jar...Rusty and I spent yesterday juicing grapes and today we will juice plums from the Santa Rosa tree here on Barton Heights...Plum jelly will be made this winter.

We have a busy week coming up, trip to Walla Walla for tomatoes to roast, more clean up in the veggie  and flower gardens...Maybe we will harvest the potatoes, the carrots like to stay in the ground until a day in October!

So glad Rusty is here to do all the heavy lifting that Herb always did, because it wouldn't be getting done without him...Fall is a busy/productive time of year, it makes me tired but happy as well...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Stemming grapes

Grape juice

Makes the job easy.

It Was a Good Day...55º

 When you fall into bed at night and don't remember your head hitting the pillow, it's been a good day!

The aroma of freshly baked rolls filled the house most of the day...I started the first batch early, called it crusty rolls, because it had bread flour, whole wheat, cracked wheat, flax meal, yeast, a bit of salt and molasses to give it more color and just a taste of sweet...It is somewhat healthy. 

Then I forgot about healthy and went to decadent...Flour, eggs, butter, sugar/honey, salt, yeast, a dough so soft, when it comes out of the oven, it almost floats from the pan into your mouth... Add real butter and on the second or third one, homemade jam is a good addition...My kids have always called these "Gramma's Rolls," and insisted that I need to keep practicing to get them perfect.

Rusty poured the wine, we sat on the deck, ate another roll and called it dinner...Yes, it was a good day...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

PS...I posted all the roll photos yesterday, below I have violets in the carrot patch...Mom called them "Johnny Jump Ups", yes, they jump up in the most unlikely spots.

Getaway Day...48º possible rain

 It was a getaway, celebrate, memory day...I fixed the sandwiches and veggies, Pam brought the drinks and chocolate...We left Enterprise about 10am headed for the Lostine Canyon...Over the past 35 years, we have picked huckleberries, looked for mushrooms, took our grandchildren there to play in the river, cooked hobo dinners in the campfire. toasted marshmello's for S'mores, and just enjoyed the serenity of the canyon, along side the river.

The last few years changes have been made up the canyon, major thinning along the road to open the views on either side and reduce the fire danger...It is a beautiful canyon with many campgrounds, as well as trailheads, where people can hike or ride horseback to explore the high lakes that are secluded in the Eagle Caps...For eight years now Pam has worked summers (with different crews) for the Forest Service maintaining and cleaning campgrounds from Bear Creek, Lostine, Hurricane Creek, Buckhorn, Red Hill, Hat point, the Imnaha Corridor and Twin Lakes...She knows the names of all the camping spots and trail heads.

Lostine River, with its improved road, (much smoother ride) seemed the perfect place to celebrate her birthday...We drove to the end of the road, stopping at view points along the way...Coming back down we found our favorite spot, sitting next to the river to reminisce, drink a toast, eat our lunch and soak up the sunshine...It was a stellar day...Hugs to All...OWAV:)