Mama's Pear Honey...

We found my grandmothers Pear Honey recipe when we were in Simpsonville last December. My grandparents had pear trees on their property and Mom grew up eating this stuff. I don't remember it, but when she talks about it, you just want to go open a jar of it!

So I decided to make a batch with the pears I got at the church orchard last week. Not knowing what the consistency was supposed to be... my mind was thinking "honey" okay that sounds like syrup, right? Well when I started it looked more like applesauce... okay pear sauce.

Then I added the crushed pineapple. Okay that didn't make much of a difference, only to the overall aroma... yum!

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Then the sugar... 5 lbs. of sugar!! That's when it hit me and all of the wonder and confusion of whether I was doing it right or not faded; and a voice came into my head. It wasn't a regular voice. It was a southern belle voice and it said "add the SHUGA HONEY"!! Of course! It was not pear HONEY... that was just a good ol' southern way of saying super sweet pears!!!

If you are referred to as "honey" or "shuga" or "sweet as" either of the two. It would be a compliment in the south! So the pear honey, (not like the honey bear honey that you pour on biscuits; cuz any southern gal knows you eat your biscuits with red-eye gravy and country ham!!) is like preserves (or pahseves).

So after my little culture lesson this morning it was late enough to call my Mom. I don't think she caught onto my confusion... her response was clear when I tried to describe the consistency and she responded... "shuga, it's not like applesauce"!

Ha, ha, ha... then when I told her my whole kitchen was sticky; she was sure I had made the right stuff.

So when she comes to visit this month, we will see if I got it right or not :)

I can't wait!!

In the meantime, it sure does taste yummy (even if it turns out NOT to be like Mama's). It just sounds good to me over vanilla ice cream, or waffles with whipped cream!!

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But not near my grits!!

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(oh that reminds me... I have to get one of them to write down the story of when my Mother tried to teach my SIL to make grits super creamy like hers for my brother... ha ha ha; that still makes me laugh)

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I love my southern roots; and while as a teenager I was very happy I was able to LOSE that attention drawing southern accent; I sure am happy I haven't lost touch with my inner southern girl. And that was proof the minute I tasted this pear honey. Oh lawdy, bless my soul!

Labor Day...

It was nice to have an extra day to rest from our labors :)

We did take time in our morning routine to reflect on how grateful we are for all that God has provided to our family because of the honor we have to work in this country.

Blessings have definitely been poured out upon us; and we took some time to remember those blessings come from a loving Heavenly father, and give thanks unto Him.

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After canning more peaches... my Strong Silent Mysterious Man took me and Taylor out for a drive and we found a place to look for rocks and arrow heads. And this time as it were, an old bag of pennies... we figured it was a sign to really show God how much we were thankful and increase our fast offerings at church.

It was a perfectly beautiful day... and even though it looks hot and dry like the desert that it is; it felt much like fall in the air. We could wear long sleeves and still not burn up.

Taylor loved it so much, she has allot of fun scouting around... but never really goes very far from either of us. I scared up a jack rabbit, but it got out of sight without her even seeing or hearing it... she did sniff around where it had been. She has a killer nose, but I am not sure she is blessed with any other heightened senses. Between all 3 of our dogs, they guard pretty good at home... she can smell, Morgan can hear anything coming for miles and miles but she is sniffer impaired... and Rudy, well the poor little guy had it all in his prime, but now he can't see or hear very well... but he makes up for all of it with his BIG bark!

Taylor liked being with Jim, but never let me out of her sight... so I tried to walk near him.

Then when I went back to the truck... and there was some distance between us; well she was having a hard time (or a really fun time) trying to decide where she wanted to be.

She would go to him and then fly back to me, leaping over sage brush with her ears flopping in the wind! Then rush back to his side and turn and come right back to me over and over and over again, until her tongue was hanging so low, I made her lay down and rest in between. But you could tell she was "on go" the whole time she was waiting for me to tell her she could go see him again.

Happy Birthday Nene!

Happy Birthday Mom!

You are the best...

Thanks so much for continuing to "hold my hand" when I am overwhelmed.

Talking me through some crazy thoughts when I am full of self doubt or frustration.

And ALWAYS helping me to take lemons and make lemonade.

You are a constant sunshine in my life!

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I am also so grateful that you were unselfish enough to

let me share your special day with my baptism 11 years ago today!

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I am so happy you supported me and shared your faith in God with me that day.

It was the key to making covenants with Him that have directed me to having an eternal family. And that is so precious and priceless to me now.

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It is a wonderful special day, in every way!

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I love you Mom!

Something Shiny...

I have projects on the brain.

My "to do" list seems more like a big project list for some reason.

So to me that starts to mean one thing... overwhelmed!!

I am trying very hard to use some of the skills I have learned over the years to manage these projects and tackle them in a reasonable and NON overwhelming manner... but I find myself caught up in the whirlwind at times.

I tease "the teenager" that he is always starting something and then getting distracted by "something shiny" and never finishing anything. But I am thinking I better stop teasing him, I think he inherited it honestly.

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The boys left early for the annual company golf tournament.Only this year "the teenager" is an employee, that is weird.

But it did mean I had the day to myself to work on "projects"!

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It wasn't easy... at first I was walking in circles

I had to clean up the kitchen to start my canning (project);

but in cleaning the kitchen I ran across the calendar poster I have had for years and used to use it to put a months worth of meals on in my pantry (project) ... that I had taken down to update and help me with meal planning.

So I opened it up and began updating it... but then I remembered I really needed to clean out the freezer so I could make a list of what was inside of it so I could do my meal planning based on those things I needed to use in my freezer (project)

So I find myself out in the garage cleaning taking everything out of the freezer and reorganizing it back in (so I can find it) and making a list.

Do you see how distracted I can get by projects?

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I did manage to get a few projects out of the way and the kitchen cleaned so I could start canning these...

But by the time I finished only one batch I was exhausted... gee I wonder why?

But see I still have a long way to go :)

Good thing Monday is a holiday.

It was all perfectly timed though, because the boys came home earlier than I expected and I was able to help "the teenager" update the computer with some changes he had made on his bank accounts in preparation for his mission (project) .... eeekkkk, that is coming up fast!!
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While I didn't get my original project finished... it was still a very productive day.