Indeed we did labor on Labor Day.  It started with my canning nine 8 oz. jars of Strawberry/Rhubarb jam because I was down to three jars.  I had to use California strawberries because the season is over here in Michigan.

Next came replenishing the Cabbage Relish supply.  We were on our last jar and that is bad news when we and our family love it. Starting on Sunday afternoon because the cabbage mixture had to sit in salt overnight.

One of three heads of cabbage to chop for grinding.

My job was chopping cabbage, peeling 10 pounds of onions, and cutting/ seeding several different colored bell peppers.

Jay grinding everything in the Waring blender

It was layered in a very large pot with salt to set until Monday morning.  Then it had to be rinsed thoroughly twice to remove the salt.  One year we only rinsed once then ended up throwing out the whole thing after cooking and bottling it because it tasted awful. Jay and I took turns rinsing and tasting tiny bits for the results.

Next Jay mixed the vinegar, sugar, water, and spices so they could boil for a bit before being added to the cabbage mixture.  After mixing the vegetables with the vinegar mixture and boiling small batches gently for 20 minutes.  Finally we  were able to bottle and process 7 pints at a time until we had it all.

49 pints of Cabbage Relish.

That should handle what we need for this coming year and take care of the family’s need also.

Today I have to mop the kitchen floor because it sounds like walking on bubble wrap.  But other than that I have meals to cook, the usual domestic duties, and putting my feet up  which I will do happily later today.

I hope your weekend was full of exciting things to do.

My daddy, Wes, was born on this day in 1914.

My daddy with his mother, Mabel.

He passed on9-23-89.  Do I miss him?  You bet!

—And Happy Am ‘Me’ !

Yesterday three things happened that kinda made my day.  First my neighbor Steve mowed almost the whole property.

Neat and trimmed--It is easy on the eyes!

He said, “Now you can sit outside tomorrow and enjoy a pretty sight for the holiday weekend”.  Hubby Jay also strapped the oxygen bottle to the back of our tractor and cleaned up the area beside the deck, on the hill.  It did him good to get out and accomplish this.

The second thing was a visit from daughter, Cindy with her idea to kick my butt at rummy again!   But for the first time in a long time it didn’t happen.  Yes!!!! I won but I can’t help but wonder if she didn’t help me.

A Consolatory Reward from Brandy for not winning.

Brandy does enjoy seeing Cindy as much as I.  She loves playing with her ‘sister’.  (That’s a family thing).

Last I decided to finish all six White Christmas Tree Ornaments before trying another design.  So here is your peek at the work in progress!

Gonna finish them all!

I’ll be back at the project as soon as I finish here.

It was actually cold here yesterday and last night found me up and putting socks on my feet so I could go back to sleep.  The expected high today is 73 with possible showers tonight.  So it is another ‘I love it day’ coming up.

Enjoy your holiday and eat something great to remember it by.   I’m thinking Bar B Que ribs—yeah!!!

Pears Done!

This morning started at 4 am and the last group of jars came out out of the canning kettle at 11:30 am.  When you have to peel, core, quarter, and cook in syrup in a single layer  for at least six minutes a half a bushel takes a while to get from the table to the jars.  This isn’t counting the time to make the syrup.   Then is it another 20 minutes at seven jars each to process them in boiling water to call the job done.  But done it is with 27 pints of Cinnamon Pears to show for it.

Of course the rest of my day has been a blur.  I didn’t want to read, watch TV, do my project, stand for too long, take a nap, or even think.  I finally laid down at 7:30 this evening and slept until an hour ago.  What is up for tomorrow—beats the shit out of me!!!!!