Canning Up a Storm

Yesterday I spent the day picking grapes  (The arbor netting worked!), picking plums, making grape juice, and juicing/steaming plums.  Today I will make plum jelly.  I made plum syrup last week. Here’s how they look:

Aren’t they pretty!  I think so.

After I make the jelly and clean up the kitchen and put all the canning hardware away, I will need a nap. 

Making Progress

Publishing books is quite a lot of work.  After having edited 4 books, I understand why editors charge the fees they do.  Editing requires hours and hours of attention to detail: rewriting, punctuating, and formatting.  I was researching the correct usage of semi-colons and colons this morning and came across this quote:

                     I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out.
                                                    — Oscar Wilde

That says it all for me. Have you ever noticed how many commas are in a descriptive paragraph?  For the most part they go largely unnoticed—you read them as you would arrows, pointing you in a specific direction: hints telling you where to pause,  how to make sense of a string of words.  But too few will leave you confused and uncertain.  And too many will make your path feel jerky and unending.  Good grammar is generally not subjective; there are rules for it.  But, on occasion, it seems that the comma, and even other punctuation marks are a matter of choice.  Given the choice, I generally over punctuate rather than under punctuate.

So, that being said: We are nearing the finish line on our 4th book: Short Stories Out Of Kane.
We are doing a final reading and we are inserting maps of the Kane area and the town of Kane this week.  We shot the photo for the cover and are satisfied with it. 

Grover says those hills are the defining Kane landmark: anyone familiar with Kane will recognize the area by the cover photo.  He grew up with it as backdrop to his childhood and teen years. 

The book will be out in October.  Then we will take a break--I think 4 books in one year is quite enough.

Long gone

Summer came and went in a big hurry.  After my sister's visit, we had a succession of visitors: Richard: Rachel and Jeff and family: Jess and Erin and family.  Two weeks after Jess' departure, I flew out to California and became a visitor myself, visiting Will, Martha, Emily, and Rachel.  By the time I got back the garden had grown to new heights, and the summer temps began dropping.  Oh, if I could only get a few more months of summer, I would be a happy girl!

I am not complaining.  I had fun all summer and played with my family.  I went to Yellowstone twice, and up to Sibley Lake on the Big Horn Mountains.

Sibley Lake, Big Horn Mountains

 I visited the Buffalo Bill Cody dam twice and had a great time at the Cody parade on the 4th. 

4th of July Parade at Cody, Wyoming

  We had our own fireworks show twice, and we had lots of watermelon and popsicles to eat.  Rachel and Jeff finished my brick walkway, and pounded posts for Dad.  Jess fixed our computer problems and set up Netflix streaming for our continuing entertainment. 


The kids jumped on the trampoline and played in and under the treehouse and  enjoyed the swings. 

Thomas at Aunt Grace's treehouse

Katie climbing in and around and under the treehouse

Jess and Erin--enjoying themselves and watching the kids climbing trees

Baby Dahlia loved the swing

They drove tractors (pretend), rode in wagons, and threw rocks in the water.

Audrey loves her Radio Flyer Wagon ride.

The boys liked throwing rocks into Sylvan lake at Yellowstone Park, Wyoming while Mom and Grandma and Audrey watch.

 What a fun summer we had!  Come visit us any time!