Peaches and more peaches

Whilst galavanting up to Bayfield last Tuesday, the peach truck came to the parking lot of Shopko.  My good friend Jane picked my box up along with some blueberries, and I in return, gave her a box of strawberries for her trouble.   So tucked in my frig until yesterday morning was about 60 or so lovely Georgia peaches.  Today was the day where the peaches needed to be mostly dealt with.

I began my day with freezing a bunch of them.  Jane's sister apparently freezes peaches (I have canned them with Jane in the past, but she had to head out to a family reunion) using white grape juice.  So I thought what the heck, it is worth a try.  I don't generally can on my stove, I don't want to damage the glass top, so I have to work around that fact.  Freezing seemed like a good option.

So I bought 2 jugs of white grape juice and then decided I needed more, so I bought a couple additional ones.....  I did not need them.  I only needed one!  Oy, well live and learn.

Plunge peaches into boiling water for a few minutes, then cool them quickly in cold water

Peeled peaches

Sliced peaches

You begin this process with peeling the peaches by dunking them in boiling water for a few minutes- I used 4 minutes for mine.  Pull them out of the water and drop them into cold water for a bit, peel, and slice.  Sprinkle a little lemon juice on them, stir and pack into jars.

I used the approximate guesstimate of 3 peaches per jar- I bought 1.5 pint jars as I like the fact that they were straight for freezing  and for storage in the freezer- and that worked out quite well.  Pack them in pretty tightly, not smashed in, but try to fill in the big gaps.  The 9 jars of peaches took about a half of the jug of white grape juice I had purchased.....  yeah.  Maybe I can make popsicles or something.

Wipe the rims and cover- be sure to leave a 3/4 inch space for expansion

 Fill the jars slowly with white grape juice (you could also use a light sugar syrup), and use a knife to push the peaches around to remove the air bubbles.  Let them sit for a while so the bubbles have a chance to escape and make sure the peaches are about 3/4 inch below the top and they are covered with juice.  You want some expansion room for the freezing liquids.

Wipe the rims and put on the cap.  Then put it in the freezer!

Immediately after that, I had some peeled peaches left and so decided to make a batch of peach freezer jam.

Freezer jam is easy peasy- all you need is the fruit, sugar, pectin, lemon juice and water

For the peach jam you need:

2.5 cups peeled, sliced and then chopped or ground peaches
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
5 cups sugar
1 package of pectin/Surejell/Certo/or equivilant of bulk thickener
3/4 cup water

Basically you mix the peaches with the lemon juice first and then the sugar. Stir and stir
Boil the pectin in the water for a minute, then pour into the fruit and sugar mix and stir for 3 minutes.  Ladle into jars, leave 1/2 inch space, wipe rim, cover and leave on counter for 24 hours and then freeze.  See!!  Easy Peasy and I might even add lemon squeezey!

Aren't these pretty??

Lastly, as I had a messy messy kitchen and a bit of energy left- I made a Peach Blueberry Cobbler that I  adore, but only make a time or two a summer..... for obvious reasons----  YUMMMMMM

Baking in the oven

Oh yeah- this was good!

AND it is even better tomorrow when it is cold!  Sigh....

So it took me a while to clean up the kitchen, and I had done some cleanup as I go, but I sort of hate the cleaning part.

Duluth and Bayfield

Yeah, I am back already!

I'll hit the pavement for a walk in a while, so I am enjoying my morning vegging out in front of the screen here.  I watch less and less TV all the time.  I just don't need the noise so much. (I wrote this in the morning, I went for the walk!)

Last week, I had the chance to make 2 day trips:  one to Duluth for a dog show and one to Bayfield for a supposed berry picking venture that turned into a glorious touristy day, that oh, yeah, btw, we also picked up some strawberries!  YAY

Love that face- Great Dane

My friend, the Mad-Science Teacher, Laurie, loves dogs.  I love dogs too, but she has a passion for them and so she sort of accidentally invited me (and our friend Adam, a fabulous English teacher at our school- fellow vegetarian and fitness enthusiast) along to a dog show she and a friend were going to last Saturday.  I think she was shocked when I said yes to her joking "Do  you want to go?" tweet.  I sort of dig watching the Westminster dog show on Thanksgiving Day so seeing such a thing in person is kind of cool!  AND there was one of our former students showing a dog that day as well, so that was extra cool.

Former student Kayla Kozak with her top female Water Spaniel

 Alright, let's admit it: I will use any excuse to get to Lake Superior with my camera and shoot photos on the Lake.  There.  But I did really love seeing all those doggies, oh my.  It was a hoot to actually pet all those different breeds that you really only see on TV, and then to see multiple copies of some of those breeds was sort of visually astonishing.  Lol.  It was a fabulous day!

French bulldog (?)

AWWWWW

A Mastiff- the hugest dog I have EVER seen: 220 pounds

Cant remember what it was- but oh so adorable

HAHAHAHAHA- so ugly its cute

Poodle getting zhuzhed

Bichon I believe

A Corgi

Sheep dog

We also had some REALLY great food and of course that is an underlying theme to these side trips we make.  Good coffee, good food and a big old bonus is that Laurie likes to research and find THE most cool and vegetarian friendly places that we can possibly find.  Oh and there have been a couple of goodies!!!  And then there was the Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream, but we won't mention that.  NOR will we mention the Margarita we had at the Mexican Restaurant........  (yummmmmm)

On the drawbridge in Duluth

Lighthouse

Drawbridge

Ashland Marina

OF COURSE we walked down by the lakefront and I got a few shots during the dog show.  I can only stand around so long and then I have to walk- so we did.  Laurie's friend couldn't really walk too far in that heat and humidity, so she stayed back at the DECC while Adam and I went for a jaunt.  I am glad that later in the week when we hit Bayfield Laurie was with us on our adventure.

The Bayfield trip was on one of the hottest days of the year so far.  Yet, it certainly didn't feel that way - really. Tuesday was the best day rainwise for us to go there, and we didn't realize it was going to be THAT warm.....  We drove up through Ashland- where of course they indulged me with a photo shoot opportunity, and then we stopped at a place called Coco's in Washburn.  I want to live within walking distance of that place.  I could eat there for the rest of my life.  The food is sublime and the coffee makes me swoon.  We had breakfast- I had a pesto breakfast sandwich- pesto and tomatoes with 2 fried eggs on focaccia bread with Bayfield strawberries.  I really want to go back at lunch time and have the curried lentils -- seriously soon.

Prentice Park by the lake

Marina in Bayfield

Anyway, after breakfast we drove up to Bayfield and went on the ferry to Madeline Island.  Oh my goodness, that is an awesome place!  First I love boat rides and to ride on the top shelf of that ferry was great!  AND that charming little (well, big) island was so much fun.  I think next time we are a. taking our swim suits and b. renting a scooter so we can fully enjoy the island.  And there was this place that was closed at the time, though it said they open at 11- very odd, eclectic and I am dying to go there!!  Tom's burned down cafe!!  We plan to try again!

After returning to the mainland, we stopped by the Bayfield Inn for margaritas on the deck and then went up to the strawberry fields to reserve some prepicked strawberries.  At 91 degrees we were NOT picking our own.  After lunch, we scooped up the berries, drove through Ashland and stopped yet again for a cold drink (non alcohol of course) and headed home.

View from the Bayfield Inn deck

I had the bestest traveling companions for these journeys, and you know blueberry and raspberry season is almost upon us!  So another trip "might" be in order-- or 2 trips.  Because I need that curry in Washburn......  and there are some book stores......  and pottery places.......  and more restaurants.....  oh well, you get the picture!

That water felt so great!

Such a great traveling companion (one is not pictured!!)

View from the Ferry 

 What a fantastic way to spend time during my summer vacation.  My sister is coming up in a week, I wonder what adventures we can find during this awesome summer!

And that will be a joy!

a random thoughts sort of update

Yeah, I am tired and the neurons are so busy firing in a random fashion that even I am having trouble keeping up.  I do realize that I have not been on here posting, though I think about it a lot!!  Here is my issue:  time.

I get up (I need counseling) at 5 am most every day, make my coffee, inhale a cup while I check my email and a few other online things and listen to the news for a few minutes, then I go for an hour plus walk.  After breakfast and other silly household chores I try to get outside and garden for a while, then perhaps errands or cleaning (ugh) or laundry (UGH) and then sometimes in the early afternoon is the gym, followed by a quick collapse on the couch, dinner and mosaic or gardening.  I generally don't manage to get into the house before 9.  This leaves little time for anything else other than email, a little facebook and maybe Word With Friends.

One reason I am writing the is the fact that WWF was loading so slow I lost interest- so take that!!

I had the  luxurious moment today of totally losing track of what day it is.  I am loving this summer.  I have done a lot of great things, a couple annoying things, but over all I've done a fair amount of traveling and I do like that!  I feel like I am on vacation (see the luxurious feeling moment) and that just is awesome.  If you feel the need to comment to me about my vacation, no haters will be wrecking my good mood so save it for someone who give a flying fig.

A stellar event has happened- a cold front has moved on through and it is almost chilly in the house.  I have great hopes for being cold tonight!  And already my brain and eyes are getting so so sleepy, because they know that quality sleep will be a fact tonight.  HOOO RAY!

I had a massage today- not just a birthday month massage, but one to try and treat some serious numbness I am getting in my hands and arms during the night.  I am having my upper back, shoulders, neck and arms worked on (I sound like a used car) hoping for some relief.  I am going to try weekly 30 min massaged for a while to see if this will alleviate this annoyance.  It was a painful thing to endure this morning, but it felt good too.  I think I must have a pretty high pain tolerance as she was pressing pretty hard.  That muscles release in an interesting thing to experience.

A random thing that I am doing - which totally goes with my enjoyment of photography and social media, is participating in a picture a day for July.  It is a collection of random phrases that you are to interpret and shoot and post on Instagram.  If you want to find me there, I am debikayo.  I have had a good time doing this and I do post a lot of other things too, most of which I facebook connect, but not everything.

I hope tomorrow when I read this it sort of makes sense-- I have almost fallen asleep 3 times and I am anxious to get to bed so I can sleep in the chilly night air.  YAY for chilly sleeping.

So kids, my bed awaits.  Have a great sleep and we will talk to all ya all soon!!

Hey, and don't forget to celebrate birthday month and.....oh YEAH!  Be a joy giver!

More posts to come, don't worry.  My inner writer is sort of dying to get out on the paper.

Canoe, canoe

I finally got to launch the new canoe- who I just realized needs to have a name.  Hmmmmmm.  I have to think about that!  Any suggestions?  Lola 2? idk, but I will be considering the possibilities.

Anyway, it was a breezy day and the MA was a little hesitant to go out, and of course at one point I could have smacked him upside the head with the paddle but that moment passed quickly and we had a pretty nice journey.  The river is VERY high, so we went down the flowage area where Smith Creek enters the river.  It is more protected and quiet and not a lot of current to fight against along with the wind.

This canoe feels a little different from the other one we had and the paddles are different, and I have a ton more canoe experience than last time I was on the Flambeau.  Can you believe I have not been in a canoe (a kayak, yes- a canoe, no) since the Boundary Waters trip???  UGH!

I talked and thought about that trip a lot during that paddle.  It was a wonderful thing to revisit.  I need to do that again!

This is the reason we live up here......

Ready for take off

This is where the creek narrows (I guess this is actually where the creek widens and becomes navigable)

And it is such a joy