I felt the Earth move.....

So I am sure you have heard about the Earthquake already. Today I experienced it for the first time. I was in the pick-up line at school waiting on my Daughter to get out, cross stitching, and all of the sudden my Explorer started bouncing. I thought maybe it was the wind, nope just a slight breeze blowing outside. It lasted about 30-45 seconds. Weird, but not uncommon, for where I live. There is a fault line near me.  About 14 years ago we had a earthquake, I slept right through it. My ex-husband was running around like a chicken with his head cut off. He tried to wake me up. I had just got my nephew Tyler to sleep, after being up almost all night with him having asthma attacks, and threatened him with bodily harm if he woke the baby up.

We are waiting to see what Hurricane Irene is gonna do. We are in the projected path of the storm, don't I sound like a weather girl. My freshman year of High School we were hit by Hurricane Hugo. I remember being in World History when the announcement was made that school was cancelled the next day. I thought they were crazy, but hey it was a day off from school, so I wasn't going to complain. Yet. It was horrible. Our house flooded, trees were down all in my yard, we were without power for a couple of weeks. Horrible I tell you! So from then on I have paid attention to hurricanes and their paths. My ex in-laws lived in Mississippi when Katrina came through. We left SC the day after Katrina hit, headed to MS to go help them dig out, with a 6 week old baby. Longest trip of my life! Thank God they had a generator, and very little damage to their property. They were very lucky.

I thought about the fact that 20 years ago today, I was starting my Senior year of High School. Feel old much? Gah, where has the time gone?

Not much happening on the crochet front. I tested a pattern for Smooth Fox last week. It is called Tea for Two and you can get the free pattern here.

I hope y'all are having a great week.

TTYS!

Preserving Memories

One of my fondest childhood memories is spending time with my Grandma Carrie. Many times I would drive her home from Church on Sundays, this started about the time I was 9 or 10 years old. I would spend the afternoon looking through her shoebox of old family photos. I loved those pictures and seeing all the people in them, some I knew and had met and others I didn't. My Grandma was the youngest of 10 children. She had nieces and nephews who were around the same age as her. As the Preacher said during her funeral service, with 9 brothers and sisters, her parents, my PaPa and her in-laws having passed away, he was sure they had to shut down the Gates to Heaven when she arrived. We all laughed at this because it was probably true.

My family always grew very large gardens every year. I remember as a child running through rows and rows of corn stalks. One of the gardens was beside the house I grew up in, it was about 4 acres big. There was also a garden behind my Great-Grandparents house which was on the other side of my house, and another garden beside and behind my Grandparents house. We all worked the gardens, and harvested them. I remember my Aunts carport covered about knee deep in corn and the women sitting out there shucking corn. In the hot summer with long sleeves and long pants on, and we would still itch. I spent many summer nights at Grandmas helping her snap peas. Our fingers would be so sore the next day. Grandma would always can the vegetables, and her mud room shelves would be full of Ball jars. There is nothing better than canned vegetables. My Grandma passed away on May 22 of this year. I have lost both of my Grandmothers this year just 2 months and 5 days apart.

We have a Pear tree in our yard that is loaded down this time of year with the sweetest pears. Every summer I say I am going to make pear preserves and have never done it. I called Grandma a couple of years ago to find out how she made her Pear Preserves. It is a really simple process. Just pears and sugar.

Sticky sweet goodness.

So this year I decided to go for it. I called my Aunt Nett to make sure I remembered the recipe as Grandma told it to me. This was on the stove for about 7 hours today.

This is the finished product, my first attempt at canning anything.  I made seven half-pint jars today. Next weekend I plan on making more, I have to get up the ladder first to pick more pears. I was given a wonderful compliment on the taste. When my Dad took a bite he said "They taste just like PaPa's used to." I couldn't help but smile. Today hasn't just been about preserving the pears, I have also been preserving memories.

TTYS