Pomegranate Progress

Just checking on the pomegranate crop.

There’s a lot of them this year. I’m hoping they won’t all be ripe at the same time.

I’m waiting on this one in particular.

Thankful Day

 

Today's the day for us to think about what we have to be thankful for in the midst of Thanksgiving celebrations and all the hustle and bustle that it entails. I'm thankful for everything that's been growing and is now ready to harvest and enjoy.

I'm thankful for the ingenuity of our fellow humans to make bridges and freeways and cars so that we can easily get from here to there and back home again, even in a big wind and rainstorm. And for all the people who work in our various government agencies that regulate all of those enterprises so that our travels are as safe as possible. 

I'm thankful for clever people who come up with new ways to make us laugh in unexpected places, especially when we really need that laugh.

I'm thankful for artists and musicians who continue to thrive and prove that they can still make magic even into their late 70's (the bassist on the right is 78! The other guys are all in their sixties)

I'm thankful for the people who get things done even when it's raining or more than a hundred degrees when I can't really function and help out much. In this picture that would be DH and his big front yard project, ongoing, but nearing completion.

I'm thankful to have the privilege of still being in the place where I had the foresight to have planted a tree years ago and then for the joy it brings us when it finally comes into its own and wows us every fall.

I'm thankful for the bluest blue open sunny skies above, and snakes guarding our oldest dashboards.

I'm thankful the trees have finally turned and the tunnel of green has become the tunnel of yellow and to have the luck and privilege to get to live in such a beautiful forest.

I'm thankful for you reading and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving or a terrific Thursday.

Forever Figs

Forever figs, we have sooo0Oo many of them this year, so I went searching online for something quick to make with them. I found a recipe that was a play on the melon/prosciutto taste, but substituted figs for the melon. Turns out it was awfully tasty. Looked kinda weird as you can see in the above picture. Also, if you have a problem with the texture of the seeds of figs, I probably wouldn't recommend it for you.

Figs, Tomatoes, Prosciutto and Fresh Mint~ the Recipe for this very excellent salad. 

Next up tonight (if *someone* hasn't eaten the fresh mozzarella,)  I'm going to try making the Fig Caprese Salad, and then maybe if I get super ambitious, I'll try and make my own Fig Newtons.

Plum Time

 

It's finally Plum Time! Our very very old plum tree is still producing one of my favorite summer fruits.  

Every year I think it'll be its last productive year, but then it inevitably surprises me with another crop of sweet delicious plums.

I love looking at the world via kaleidoscopes, and the app KaleidaCam helps me do that.

Happy June

Happy June!
To me that means it's time for fruit fruit fruit.
We celebrated by getting a new fruit bowl for the table.

Late Summer Into Early Fall

 It's been a struggle this year to keep everything watered, but the cosmos finally bloomed, but not bright pink, instead an almost white palest pink. Which is lovely.

 Actually got some peaches off our new tree.

 You know it's fall when the Poison Oak is turning lovely shades of red.

 And it's also fall when the sedum is blooming.

Pomegranate

I am working on a pomegranate quilt at the moment. These are pictures of the sole pomegranate I harvested from my pomegranate bush this year. Isn't it a beauty?I'm using some of these pictures in the quilt, more on that later.

 It was a very juicy piece of fruit, and so tasty. Maybe a different variety than the usual ones that you buy in the store? Not sure on that.

Thankful Post

 Looking back at November, there's a whole lot that I'm thankful for.

 Spike absolutely loves the new dog bed. As our resident cat-dog, his word is respected by the dog-cat who could have cared less about it.

 Some early winter figs still ripening on my tree.

 Downtown Santa Cruz, at the MAH for Radical Craft Night working the FabMo table. Super fun, and absolutely mobbed.

 Rainy windshield + Neon

 My turkey turned out pretty damn great this year.

 We finally carved our pumpkins, just in time for my husband's late November birthday. A new tradition is born??

 The reason I insisted on at least cutting into the pumpkins, (which I am no longer authorized to do given past events, sigh.) Roasted pumpkin seeds. We made about 6 cups of these, which lasted a few days. nom nom nom.

Our Japanese Maple finally began turning color.

What a difference a week makes!

 The angel's trumpet is still growing and blooming, no hard frost yet. It's almost visible from the second story window.

Harvested my first (and only ever) pomegranate!

Garden Cornucopia

 We've been lucky enough to get some great figs from our tree this year. I like cutting them up this way because they're kind of heart-shaped.

An actual pomegranate is growing on my tree. Finally! I think I've had that tree for five years, and it flowers and sets fruit but they've never gotten this big before.

I definitely did not give these enough water this year, but they look interesting with a few petals like this.

 I was happy to get a surprise Iris blooming over the last few weeks.

 Our curious deer is still sticking around.

Rain clouds and the late afternoon sun.

New Favorite Dessert

New favorite after-dinner treat.  Pomegranate seeds on top of Honey Greek Yogurt.  Especially in my favorite cat bowl.  Ice cream no longer required.

Peppers and Pears

After all that studio touring yesterday, I'm back in the kitchen, trying to use up the end of season bounty from our weekly CSA basket. This pile of red peppers has been slowly diminishing as we eat them as snacks. There is enough left to try and roast a tray of them which I'll then make soup with. Most of them are quite sweet but every now and then one is surprisingly spicy.

The pears have been coming in at a good rate, but most of them are getting eaten. Tonight I'm trying a poached pear recipe with some kind of wine sauce for dessert, we'll see how it turns out.Pear skin is always interesting to look at up close, I'm planning to use this picture as a printout for a background in a collage.

Persimmon Permission

Have you ever eaten a persimmon? I got talked into it recently by my son. He had eaten one somewhere and was trying to convince me they were good to eat. And I'm pleased to announce that he was absolutely correct, persimmons are definitely tasty.

Who knew?

My only experience with persimmons (Hachiya) was the ooshy squishy ones that used to lurk on the kitchen counter until my mom would make the fabulous persimmon bread for holiday gift giving. They weren't sweet enough until they were close to turning to the dark side.

Turns out there is another kind (Fuyu), which is firm and sweet and a lovely consistency. Reminded me of an apple, but not quite that firm. Not squishy at all. I'm glad I listened to Alex. And I'm glad we cut open the persimmon to see what it looked like inside (our standard M.O. whenever we try a new fruit or vegetable).

Now to make a persimmon carved stamp. Muuuuuuch easier than the pomegranate I wanted to do. I love the shape of the typical persimmon, so squat, stable, and curvy. The interior is an interesting design too, isn't it?

There is a persimmon tree that I admire every year as I drive by, it stands kind of alone in a field and is so beautiful in the winter, the orange globes seem lit up, as they are the only color in the landscape besides the new green of the grass below. Some year I will take a picture, but alas I am too late as the tree is now bare.