Sunday Ramblings

66°f/about 19°C, mostly cloudy, with several rain showers, and very humid. 

It was yet another day in the kitchen for me, canning more tomatoes. Whole tomatoes this time as I was about out of them. I did 6 quarts yesterday and 8 quarts today. Also made 4 pints of dill pickles and 4 of pickled cherry tomatoes which should be delicious in.pasta salad,  and maybe on sandwiches? Never made them before, so we shall see.

Our neighbors Mark and Spring came over to help Larry move a very heavy table saw on to our back porch. We got the saw for $2.50 at the auction. It needs a new belt and the plug repaired--it's pretty old but a big sturdy thing.  We had a nice visit with these young people. I have known Mark since he was 3 years old! Hard to believe that he is now 55. As my younger neighbors get older, it seems like our ages move closer together---similar aches and pains, and of course many shared memories.

After I finished the tomatoes Larry and I loaded the van. We really need to get to our booths. I have plenty of things ready, but finding time between canning, appointments,  and lawn care has been a struggle. We should be able to get them both done tomorrow.

I finished up this buffet this week and am really pleased with how it came out. 

Before:

After:

Larry had to completely strip it as it had many layers of paint. It was white originally,  so I went with that. I tried staining the top first, but the wood took the stain oddly---since it was painted at the factory, they just used odds and ends of mismatched wood and the stain took differently to each type. So I sanded it off and used a very dark brown paint, then sealed with polyurethane and waxed with a dark wax. I also had to replace the pulls, but I think it is a pretty, graceful piece now.

I also decided to give up the green dropleaf table I painted last month.  I like it very much, but it just didn't seem to fit in here, so off to the booth it goes, along with the little 2-tier round table, 

a few totes of things i had priced, and a stack of vintage suitcases I recently emptied. We need the furniture as we sold the big buffet below that I did last month. 

We aldo sold  a "chimney cupboard", so-called because of its tall, narrow shape,

and a table we made from a treadle sewing machine base. So lots to do tomorrow to get everything rearranged. 

Dinner tonight was a pasta dish similar to this one I made several years ago. 

I sautéed yellow squash, onion,  celery,  peppers, a couple tomatoes and sliced kielbasa, added a jar of our pasta sauce and bag of pureed yellow squaah from the freezer as a thickener. Served over whole-grain spaghetti.Yum! So delicious, and used up a lot of veggies.

Finishing up with a couple pages from 2 favorite books. First is from Kate Greenaway's Book of Days. The book has such beautiful illustrations along with folklore, history, and random interesting tidbits. I try to read each day's entry, but sometimes fall behind.

Today's entry noted that Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland was published on this date in 1865, and only 45 copies were sold. Amazing!

Next, Cicely Mary Barker's Blackberry Fairy, from her Complete Book of Flower Fairies, which seems fitting during blackberry season here in KY part of the world.

Until next time, stay well, friends!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.