InstaFriday - Last Week of June!

Ahhhh! It's the end of June! Where has it gone?

PTL for my InstaFridays. I can look back and see where it's gone. The last seven days were full and busy. The last month was full and busy. I hope you are documenting your days in some way. You may not forget the gist of the days, but you might forget the details. Not really momentous details - but details that made you smile. That's really what my InstaFridays are. A diary of details.

The first entry in my photo diary was taken last Saturday, when we attended the wedding of a couple that began dating when he was a freshman in high school and she was a senior! I've watched them grow up. It was a real celebration - and had a bit of a Star Wars twist. Three of my girls helped out at the guest book and gift table, and at the reception. I did what I now always do at weddings. I cried.

The bride's dad had a little fun with the marquee

Surprise of Surprises when I opened fb this week. A friend had put a link on my wall with the caption, "Congrats to Liz!" When we opened the link, we saw this article. Wowsa!

The only thing I would change here is the picture ;)

 If you are gonna make a bucket list and want to make sure you accomplish at least one of them, then this is what you do. I laughed out loud.

Elizabeth's handiwork

I just noticed that Elizabeth is all over these pictures this week! She often plops down in my lap (which I love) and here she had the phone at arm's length. She looks like a cutie. My hand, however, looks like a raisin.

My doctor husband often gets mail inviting him to practice in far off exotic places. We got one this week from just such a place. It's also near and dear to my heart - the place I come from.

25 miles north of Memphis is Munford, where I drew my first breath on this earth.

I took a screen shot of these texts, because they encouraged me. I did a post about it. If you are interested, click here.

PEACHES are here! I am in heaven. My sister came through the Bootheel on Tuesday and picked these up for me. Happy dance in progress.

And my girls are in a crafting mood! As I type this, they are at Hobby Lobby picking up more supplies. Talk about bringing joy and beauty into your home. They are all over it. Thank you, Pinterest!

Faith made this for her room

Another Faith creation.

Elizabeth adding beauty to the world!

I was in the mood for a really healthy meal the other night, so I googled Panera's Strawberry Poppyseed Chicken Salad. A quick trip to the store and voila! To. die. for.

We are all about food over here, so yesterday the girls and I headed to Halfway, MO, and enjoyed some good country cooking. Yummy, but probably at the opposite end of the health spectrum as the salad pictured above...

And after some basketball games at the Parkview Shootout, Elizabeth and I hit the real Panera. I took this picture to make Hannah jealous.

And here's Elizabeth...again!

Well, those are a few of the deets that I don't want to forget.  Thanks for sharing them with me.

Have a great weekend!

Aunt Ruby

My mom and Aunt Ruby

Today, while I was out with a couple of my girls, I got a text from my husband who had just gotten a call from my mother. She told him that her 92 year old sister, my Aunt Ruby, had died at 4 p.m.

The news wasn't completely unexpected. We had been called on Friday that Aunt Ruby was not expected to live long. She was 92, her body was worn out and she had expressed readiness to go.  But when I got the text, I cried.

When I was a child, my family made the trip to the Bootheel of Missouri a couple of times a year to visit her and her family. I have many happy memories of holding her kittens, eating delicious peaches off her trees, admiring her chrysanthemums, and listening to her tell stories. I loved her voice. In recent days, I'd stop by her nursing home and visit whenever we'd make the trek back to my home state of Tennessee.

Her voice and her wit were still the same during those nursing home stops.  It was always touching to see her and my mom together, talking about old times, and the new times - complete with what my mom laughingly calls an "organ recital."

We'll be making the trip to Campbell, MO, for the funeral. I'll see my cousins and we'll talk about the old times. About the ways our lives have intertwined, and how God has blessed us over the years.

I've been blessed to be her niece.

Ruby Ethel Petty Snider

February 8, 1920  - February 25, 2012

Aunt Ruby holding Luke in her chrysanthemum garden - 1989

Just Peachy

Of all of God's good food gifts, the peach has got to be near the top of the list.












Every year, around June 1, I start getting giddy over that soon-to-be bite of juicy, drip down-your-chin-goodness of the first peach of the season. I was actually surprised this year at how early they appeared at the Farmer's Market here in Bolivar, MO. Pate's Orchard in Stockton is our local supplier and I have yet to be disappointed in any of their produce. We also frequent Plaster's Orchard at the Polk/Green County line. Plaster's people drive over to the Bootheel once a week and pick up peaches grown in Campbell, MO, from Bader Orchards. I am eating one even as I type - a process that is going slower than usual, since I am stopping every bite to close my eyes and say yummmmm....

It's fitting that the delicious peach I'm eating now is from Campbell, MO, where my Mom was born and raised. It's her recipe that I want to share with you. When my parents first moved to Bolivar, they ran over to Stockton to buy peaches. My mom overheard a lady in the building talking about making Peach Conserve. Never shy, she asked for the recipe on the spot. To say we like it, love it, is an understatement. It now occupies a hallowed place in our family. Mom usually makes 30 pints or so every summer, but this summer, she's felt a little more under the weather than usual. So, the girls and I tried our hand at it. Thankfully, Mom has been just a phone call away...

 I was actually on the phone with her when I copied down this recipe. A couple of clarifications:
     -a #2 can is 20 oz.
     -3 oz jello pkg
My mom emphasized the "don't skimp" part, so I set my timer to make sure I didn't.

Recipe ready, it was time to start. I googled how to get my jars and lids ready. I went here, found it interesting, but ended up doing what my mom said, and boiled everything. Then, the girls and I started peeling.

Many hands make light work

 And tasting. You can't help it. That goodness is just begging to go in your mouth.

 After the peeling and crushing, we boiled.

It takes a while to get that volume to a boil - and don't have your pot too full. I combined two recipes the next time we made it, and it boiled over. Not fun. Then the "no skimping" part and - done.

After making an impromptu funnel out of a styrofoam cup, we poured that conserve goodness into our jars. After all the lids had sealed and jars had cooled, we took them down to the downstairs frig where they will live until they are gone. Because of careful rationing, especially at the end of our supply, we usually don't eat our last jar until about March - which gives us a couple of months or so to miss it and long for it again!

We still have 1 or 2 more recipes to make - each one makes about 6 pints. I'm getting the hang of it, thanks to Mom's good recipe and her good coaching. I'm glad she wasn't shy that day in Stockton. And I'm very glad God made the peach.

Note: My Follow Through Fridays will return...we've just been traveling so much this summer, that I'm all discombobulated. Just to help me get back on track, I'm giving myself a small goal this week. I have a sampler that is 22 years in the making (embarrassing). I worked on it some while we were at camp, and I'd like to work on it for at least an hour a week. So, next week, I'll report if that happens.