The Life of Mrs. Miles

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Believe it or not, today's element was inspired by some glass tiles I came across in our local DQ. Right, my mind does not rest at any time - LOL, and luckily Miles encourages all my crazy ideas!

Kinda dropped off the map for a bit there! Well, its summer, and I'm promising this will be happening a lot. The past three days have been a blur of activity for me.

I've had two days with my friend ridding the neighborhood of Puncture Vines and other icky weeds. We managed to fill a big green trash bag (compacted) with the nasty vines and some burrs and even a bit of trash. I got brown from the sun and I got stung by a wasp, who was hiding an entire nest inside a discarded, folded piece of weatherbeaten paper. I don't know who was more surprised, him or me!

choke cherries

I've also been putting up some fruit. My friend located a source for beautiful choke cherries, so we made a date and spent a wonderful morning together picking. It awakened so many memories of childhood summers. As kids, we used to pick fruit for my Grandmother - I think she paid us something like 50 cents for each pail. I also remembered her cooking up all sorts of delicious jams and jellies on an outdoor wood stove - and how we enjoyed those same jams and jellies later during the year.

Miles and I were blessed with a bag of juicy, fresh apricots - a gift from his hairdresser. She works from home and I'd noticed a tree in the back, loaded, with fruit thick on the ground, going to waste. Turns out neither she nor her family eats them, so she welcomed us to pick!

I've not been so energetic as to turn it all into jams and jellies just yet, rather I've cooked all the fruits down and then strained them into containers for the freezer. I'll turn them into 'something' when the cold weather sets in. Worry 'bout that all later.

okanagan apricots, sun-drying

I've also been drying some apricots as well. I have an electric food dehydrator, so I simply removed the racks from it and loaded them up. I stuck them out on a table in the hot sun - and now we're mere days away from enjoying. There's nothing like our fresh Okanagan fruit!
How nice to be home this summer, to enjoy it.

Miles and I saw a recipe in a kraft magazine we thought we would like to try - so I made a list for him (he does most of our shopping - I love it!) Well, he came home two items short. Actually he came home with two wrong ingredients because he substituted what he could find for the two he could not find. First of all, the recipe called for a package of unsweetened Lemon Lime Koolaid. He brought home Lemon Lime Jello Jelly Powder. This after consulting with a cashier who spent 1/2 hour with him? The recipe also called for Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk. He came home with Pacific Evaportated Milk - this after spending quite a bit of time with a guy clerk... sigh. Oh well, the pie will still happen as he made another trip a few days later and got the real things.

In the meantime, as we were hankering for something sweet and cooling, I created a three layered concoction out of ice-cream, fruit juice concentrate and whipped evaporated milk with red jello jelly powder. I froze it in layers, in a glass corning dish, lined with parchment paper. Later, I sliced it and rolled the slices in toasted, crushed pine nuts and topped with fresh sliced nectarines. It was delicious, if I must say myself. So I don't really have a recipe to share with you for this dessert, but you can find the original recipe from Kraft for Key Lime Margarita Pie Miles and I hoped to make by clicking here

And you might also enjoy the FREE little online summer e-cookbook (pdf format) Kraft has for you too! Just click here

And speaking of ice cream, whats your favorite flavor? I think mine has to be plain old vanilla - but a good fresh, french vanilla. I also love anything coconut or butter pecan like. Seems like there are more and more flavors 'out there' every time I look. It makes it so hard - do I stick with my good 'ol vanilla because I love it so much, or go bold and take a chance on some wild new thing. I can just imagine the taste testers sitting around for some of the whacky flavors. And speaking of whacky flavors, I came across a website the other day which lists 100 really crazy (frightening) flavors... you will have to let me know which ones appealed to you. You will be able to choose from some flavors such as squid, fried eggplant, eel, chicken wing, cactus, lettuce and tomato, pit viper, spring water and fried pork rind ice cream... just click here

Ok, so now that I've completely grossed you out (saved you a few lb?) LOL... I should provide something nice to offset that last bit. So I'll point you to a gracious article from NPR about a guy who gives ice cream away - for free.

Allen stops at nearly all the nation's large music festivals, where he has given away thousands of ice creams to the people backstage. He can do this thanks to sponsors such as Levi's and the music group the White Stripes, who pay him to display their logos and play their music.

To hear the full article, just click here

my CIS from the North (in her purdy new skirt!)

credits:

frame - ksds_fancyfreefreebie

all other papers and elements from TCO (Poppy Kit)

I've even found a bit of time, between baking and processing fruit, reading, swimming and weeding to do a layout. Sometimes I feel scared I will have forgotten how - and I get so busy blogging and making elements I think I won't remember how to pull it all together. But I was inspired to make a layout for my friend (my Cistah from the North) who entertains me with her wonderful blog, daily. I pulled the photos and journalling from her blog entries and surprized her with it and she says its a-ok for me to share with you. You can visit her blog (packed full of great recipes and photos and info on a plethora of flora and fauna from her area!) Just click here

With this, I will leave off, leaving you with some history facts and a neat site which will answer all your burning questions about old superstitions! Hope you are all having a great summer! I'll pop in now and then with more goodies and news!

Today in History:

1054 - Siward of Northumbria and Malcolm defeated Macbeth at Dunsinane.

1214 - Philip II of France beat an allied English, Flemish and German army under Otto IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, at the Battle of Bouvines. This broke up the coalition and secured Philip's position.

1540 - Thomas Cromwell, principal adviser to King Henry VIII of England, was executed for treason.

1742 - The Peace of Berlin between Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and Prussia ended the first Silesian War.

1775 - The first Surgeon of the Continental Army, Benjamin Church, began his service.

1784 - Printed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first French newspaper to be published in the United States was "Courier De L’Amerique."

1789 - The United States Congress established the Department of Foreign Affairs. Later the agency was re-named the Department of State, or the State Department.

1866 - Reliable telegraph communications service was established between England and the United states when the Great Eastern steamer laid a trans-Atlantic cable.

1909 - The record for the longest airplane flight was set by Orville Wright who was testing the United States Army’s first airplane. Wright kept the craft aloft for 1 hour, 12 minutes and 40 seconds over Fort Myer, Virginia.

1918 - The first concrete barge the "Socony 200", was launched today. The vessel carried oil, not concrete.

1921 - Canadians Sir Frederick Banting and Charles Best isolated insulin for the first time. It proved an effective treatment for diabetes.

1947 - In Geneva, Switzerland, the World Water Ski Organization was founded.

1949 - The British De Havilland Comet, the first jet-propelled airliner, made its maiden flight.

1954 - Britain and Egypt initialed an agreement to end British occupation of the Suez Canal Zone.

1955 - Chuck Berry's first hit record, Maybellene, entered the R & B charts.

1976 - Former Beatle John Lennon won formal permission to remain in the United States as a permanent resident and would be eligible for United States citizenship in five years.

1984 - Film actor James Mason died at the age of 75. Though he never won an Academy Award, the handsome, highly-acclaimed character actor received Britain's highest film honor, the Golden Seal. His film career spanned nearly five decades. Mason's list of film credits include A Star is Born, North by Northwest, Lolita, Fire Over England, The Prisoner of Zenda, Madame Bovary, The Fall of the Roman Empire, and Heaven Can Wait.

1987 - Freeway shooting incidents were all the news in Los Angeles, California. There had been nine incidents involving vehicles and guns since June 18, 1987. There were actually two motorists shot to death and four others injured.

BARB'S HANDY TIP # 295
Got Superstitions?

Ah, we all have had them - often passed down through the family. Funny how these things can become ingrained.

Find out all about yours, on the largest superstion list on the web!

OLD SUPERSTITIONS