There's a big black kettle simmering on the stove. It's about two thirds' full of blueberries, huckleberries and raspberries.
With pickin' and grinnin' picking up every day here at the Lovestead, it's time to take out the old and replace it with the new.
That is accomplished by selecting bags of frozen berries and dumping them into the kettle with some water.
If all goes well, without too many interruptions, the juice from those berries will turn into jelly and go into jars for the first batch of preserves for 2025.
In the meantime, I'll keep picking raspberries and blueberries and taking them to the freezer.
Soon the picking chores will also involve green beans.
I've heard this from others: Kentucky Wonder bush beans now have vines. I swear that I made sure when I purchased them that my green bean seeds were "bush" and not "pole."
So, why is this phenomenon happening?
I told some friends the other day that I fear that my beans may make it all the way into Sandpoint before I get all of them picked.
I can just imagine those vines, which are currently doing their best to choke off the sunflowers, will escape the garden fence and grow their way over to Schubarth's next door.
If Leslie doesn't pluck some beans from the vines while they are passing through, then they'll wind on to Selle Road where they can get a clear shot into town.
I hope that doesn't happen, but in today's crazy world even the garden beans might be charting a new course far from the expected norms.
Who knows? Maybe Artificial Intelligence is tinkering with gardens these days.
The bottom line is that bean-picking might be more challenging this year.
Anyway, these extras, along with all the other unpredictables, are keeping me busy. Yesterday I told Bill that every day for three days I had planned to stock up on groceries, but every single one of those days "stuff" got in the way.
So, yesterday I took that new blue car to the store first thing in the morning and finally bought my groceries.
Retirement, what's that?
And, then, someone the other evening inadvertently gave me a tip about what sounded like a great story idea.
I'm supposed to be retired from taking on writing assignments, but, similar to what I've observed often with Bill and his many retirements, temptation comes along, and the opportunity seems irresistible.
So, one more deadline looms, but it should be a fun assignment.
And, so on this July Friday, the beat goes on and the grasshoppers are hopping.
On another topic, I was sad to hear that Connie Francis died yesterday. She was my first "favorite singer" and in the seventh grade her hit "Where the Boys Are" was very timely in my life.
According to the story below, amazingly she was on the verge of a comeback.
If "Where the Boys Are" was timely for my junior high boy-crazy era in the late '50's/early '60s, possibly Connie Francis's "Who's Sorry Now" could be an appropriate theme song for these crazy times in America.
Just sayin'! 😎
Annie didn't post photos yesterday, but she has arrived in Hungary for her geocaching gathering.
I'm sure there will be more of her fun photos tomorrow.
And, with that, I'll shut up and wish everyone a "Happy Friday."
