Craft Show

Every September there is a craft show at Paris Landing State Park.  This year the weather was perfect, temp in the 80's, pleasant breeze and sunny skies.

 

 

My favorite thing was the . . .

SNAKES!!!!!

My Love Affair With Basil

Growing a few herbs is one of my favorite past times and basil - well basil!  I just love basil!

I put out four large leaf plants this year and volunteer plants from last year’s seeds have sprung up here and there. I have been letting them grow wherever because we never seem to have enough basil. We probably use more basil than any other seasoning next to salt, pepper and garlic.

We are eating the stuff almost as fast as I can pick it - so trying to put some up for winter has been challenging. Drying basil or other herbs is really easy.

I use one of those old fashioned, accordion style clothes drying racks. I place the rack in my guest bedroom (which is seldom used for guest). I try to pick large branches of basil so I can just hook them over the rails.

It takes a week or so for everything to get crispy dry. Maybe longer. Check for crispness. Drying herbs will fade in bright sunlight, so the darker the drying space the better.

 Once the herbs are crispy dry - carefully remove them from the drying rack. If they are really crisp leaves will start to fall off when you move them. If you have a pet, as I do (yes - that is Murphy sneaking by in this photo) you might want to put a towel on the floor to catch the leaves and keep them sanitary.

Once you have them off the rack, just strip the leaves and store in air-tight containers. I do not crush the leaves. Keeping the leave intact as long as possible helps preserve the essential oils that give herbs so much flavor and fragrance. I just stuff them into containers and of course some of them get crushed in the process. When you are ready to use the herbs simply rub them between your fingers to crush.

By the end of summer I will have several gallons of dried basil- so no - it will not fit in those fancy little bottles that come with most spice racks.  

Canning jars work just fine and look pretty sitting on my kitchen counter.

Labor Day Weekend

What a wonderful weekend we had.  Celebrated two birthdays - my 85 year young sweet Mother and our 3 year old granddaughter.

The weather was beautiful.  The lake had lots of boaters.

The birds were well fed and happy!

Anne's petunias were delerious!

And we ate too much!  This is only the Saturday night feast.

Aubie & Addie had a contest to see who could blow the hardest without blowing out the candle.

The contest did not last long.

We revisited Halloween.

Aubrey got to terrify her little sister with the Halloween mask.  That's Addie running for her life.

Addie discovered cherry tomatoes are just her size.

Did I mention, we ate too much.  This is Eric getting ready to grill Sunday's feast.

Monday, Labor Day, I truly felt like I was about to go into labor. 

Is it just a southern thing or does everyone eat too much on holiday weekends?

A perfect end to a perfect weekend.

The Quiet Before The Storm

Sleep while you can Murphy.  The Girls are on their way over.

This is one of Murph's favorite sleeping spots.  It's next to his pet door which faces south and gives him a sunny, but air conditiioned spot to lay in all day.  I snapped this photo a few minutes before our two granddaughters, aged 3 and 5, arrived. 

The girls always look for him.  He mysteriously disappears until after they leave.