Weekend visit

This weekend Paul's parents, sister, & our 3 nieces came to the island for a visit. They made the trek down from Ft. Worth in Stan & Mona's Winnebago-- which was fabulous because it's like they brought their very own guest house! Saturday was a fun-filled day: including an early morning bike ride, plenty of excellent food (especially the delicious homemade vanilla custard-- mmm!), & of course, beach-time! We had a great time & look forward to the next visit!

Fig-tacular, fig-ilicious fig preserves

It's that time again! Every July I get excited & my mouth starts watering when I start thinking about one of my favorite summer things: FIG PRESERVES! To me, fig preserves goes right along with homemade ice cream, & lazy afternoons at the beach. It's just a summer thing. You gotta have it. And one thing I do have is one fabulous recipe for fig preserves (straight from the Austin Junior League cookbook, Necessities & Temptations-- the best cookbook I will ever own).

All cut up, these little beauties look like a piece of art.

Voila! Canned & ready to enjoy and share.

For those interested, the recipe goes like this:

FIG PRESERVES
A Collection Classic

1 gallon figs, cut into small pieces (I discovered about 80 figs equal a gallon)
8 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
3 lemons, thinly sliced (however, I use the rind & juice of just one lemon)

1. Combine all ingredients and cook until thick.
2. Pour into sterilized jars and seal with paraffin.

Yields 8 pints.

Not smart? Not a problem

Some words written by Garrison Keillor that made me smile recently...

My time is short and so is yours, so why not tell the truth: A person can get along very well in life without one bit of the mathematics and physics they rammed into our brains in high school. Fifty years later, and there hasn't been a single moment when I've thought, "Oh, if only I could remember higher algebra!"..... No, it isn't smarts, it's personal charm that propels you forward in this world... and a terrific smile will take you a long way too. .... If your kid flunked out of school, don't worry about it. Teach him to love his life. Teach her to do good work and not expect recognition. Not smart? No problem. Be useful. That may be better for humanity than to be brilliant and troubled. And it wouldn't hurt you to smile more. Just do it.

All of that high school pre-cal bullsh*t be damned!

(If only I would've had that perspective back then)
;)