Sunrise, Sunset

Some days, the Bag Lady wishes she could paint pictures. She is deeply envious of people who have artistic talent. Unfortunately, she has none.

However; that doesn't stop her from appreciating good scenery. And attempting to photograph it. When she says attempting, she means it. Here are some examples of the sunrises and sunsets she has witnessed over the past few years that moved her, or struck her in such a way that she felt compelled to take a picture.

This is a winter sunrise:


This was taken in the autumn, last year:


As was this one:


Here is an early spring sunrise:


And one taken fairly recently - the mist gives it a surreal quality:


Here's one of the sun peeking above the clouds:


This is a reflected sunset:


As is this:


Here is one where the Bag Lady was playing around with the settings on her camera:


And these were taken yesterday morning:

(love the misty look!)


And this......oops. How did that get in there?


(The Bag Lady as Yente, the matchmaker, in "Fiddler on the Roof")

Have a great weekend!

Like a Squirrel....

As many of you know by now, the Bag Lady does quite a lot of home canning. She loves to preserve as much of her garden produce as possible. She is always extremely careful about keeping her kitchen clean, and doing a proper job of canning. She follows all the directions and rules of home canning because she is very aware of the many ways things can go wrong.

She has her "Food Sanitation and Hygiene" certificate from the Alberta government, and follows all the rules and guidelines that she learned in that course. She sells some of her home canning at craft sales, and would be mortified if anyone ever got sick from something she had prepared.

She estimates she is now at the half-way point as far as her tomatoes are concerned. She actually cut down on the amount of canning that she usually does. She didn't plant any cucumbers or beets so she wouldn't be tempted to make any pickles. There are still quite a number of jars in her pantry from last year. But she will probably make at least one batch of pickled hot peppers, just because she has so many peppers!

Here is a photo of the canning she has done so far this summer (minus a few jars that she has already given away or that have already been consumed!):



Half-way. The end is in sight. Then she will have to find something else to do..........

Calf Update

Well now. It's the first of October, so the Bag Lady thought she should probably do a bit of an update about the calves. For those of you who weren't around back in the spring, this might be a little boring, but the Bag Lady thought some of you might be interested in seeing how well your namesakes are doing!





Amazing, isn't it?

Walkabout

The Bag Lady was busy in her kitchen most of yesterday, canning tomatoes and salsa. When she finally finished in the late afternoon, she took a stroll around the yard for a much-needed breather. It was a perfect autumn day, warm and peaceful. Here are a few photos she took:



The temperatures are supposed to be very warm for most of the week, so she is going to try to get a little yard work done!

Weekend Recap

The Bag Lady had an enjoyable weekend. She spent most of Friday in town with a friend. The Bag Lady, if you recall, had a flat tire a couple weeks ago, but the tire shop that she deals with didn't have the right one to replace it, so they had to order it. (In the meantime, they gave her a different tire to use so she would still have a spare in case of another flat.)

She finally got her truck in to have the new tire put on, and met a friend for lunch while she waited. The (very busy) shop still hadn't finished with her truck when they were finished lunch, so she and her friend ran some errands and did some shopping. They giggled their way around town and the Bag Lady bought a few things that she probably wouldn't have otherwise, but were absolutely essential; honest! Like a super-duper new electric skillet that comes apart and can be washed in the dishwasher - woohoo! And some new pens and stationery supplies - the Bag Lady has an addiction to all things related to writing, so she cannot pass up an opportunity to purchase pens, or pencils, etc., and her friend is a retired school-teacher with much the same addiction!

On Saturday, more friends came to visit, and one of them repaired the fascia on the edge of her roof that had been blown off in a storm a few years ago. The Bag Lady and the Rancher are both afraid of heights, and the Rancher (the braver of the two) hadn't gotten around to fixing the fascia. Much beer was consumed (after the repairs were finished) and many of the world's problems were solved amidst much laughter. Even some karaoke was sung!

On Sunday, the Rancher and his brother did some repair work at their mother's house. Then the Rancher's daughter and her family came for a visit. Much laughter also ensued.

The Bag Lady processed a gazillion tomatoes yesterday, and will turn them into something interesting today. She will probably use them to make more salsa (this batch will be hotter), and will also straight can some of them for use in a variety of recipes over the winter. Spaghetti sauce is always delicious with home-grown tomatoes!

Remember when she started her tomatoes way back in the spring, and had just planted them outside when they froze and she lost most of them? One of the varieties that she planted was called Pink Ponderosa. And at least one of the plants that survived that frost in July was a Pink Ponderosa. Here is a photo of two different coloured tomatoes. Although it is a little difficult to tell from the picture, the tomato on the left has a decidedly pink cast in comparison to the tomato on the right (which, if memory serves her correctly, is a Sub-Arctic):


Her peppers are also ripening rapidly, and she will deal with them, too. Well, except for the Habaneros, because she is still afraid of them! One of her visitors on Saturday ate one of the Habaneros and pronounced it a little hot. Judging from the tears running down his face and the steam coming from his ears, the Bag Lady thought he was probably right!

How was your weekend?

Not Quite a Peck

Remember the hard frost the Bag Lady told you about earlier this week? And how she said she had covered her pepper plants and thought they would be okay? Well, she was wrong. When she checked them later on that afternoon, the leaves were all wilted and sad-looking. So she picked a peck of peppers! Seriously, does anyone know how many peppers are in a peck? (8 quarts, for those of us who really need to know....so, okay, she doesn't have a peck of peppers. But definitely part of a peck.)

Here is a photo of her harvest:

Of course, this photo was taken after she used some of them to make hot sauce. She has never made hot sauce before, but decided against using the entire amount of peppers required in the recipe. And she thinks the hot sauce tastes exactly right. A nice amount of heat, but doesn't take the roof of your mouth off! Those little Super Chilies pack a punch. She doesn't know if you can tell from the photo, but there are also a few Habaneros in the bowl with the Super Chilies. She isn't sure what she will do with them.

Here's a photo of the hot sauce:


She still has quite a load of tomatoes (at least a peck, maybe even a kenning!) yet to ripen, and will wait for some of the peppers to ripen before she does anything else with them. Perhaps pickled peppers are in order! Maybe some more hot pepper jelly. Definitely more salsa!

In other news.........

Ummmm, gee, there isn't much else.

Have a great weekend!

And the Winner Is........

GEOSOMIN!!

Email me at the address in my sidebar to discuss your prize!



Here is a different angle on yesterday's mystery picture. This is the Bag Lady's rain-collection system (actually an unused watering trough for animals). She took a close-up picture of the frozen surface early in the morning, and there was a slight reflection from the bush growing beside it. (Yes, that is a little frog sitting on the edge - when he's in the mood, he spits a stream of water into the trough!)



The Bag Lady had to do a little fencing yesterday, and while she was out and about, took a few pictures to share with you.
Here are a couple of different angles of the same dug-out:



She also saw a mule-deer yesterday, and tried to take a picture, but unfortunately, it didn't turn out very well. She was too far away.