Is this a cute apron? I made it last night out of some fabrics I found in my stash. Since my cousin has been visiting me, she reintroduced me to aprons when we went antiquing. She purchased two cute aprons, in which neither had a utilitarian purpose, but both were quite cute to look at while worn.
Today was such a beautiful and wonderful autumn day. There were fluffy white clouds in the piercing blue sky and leaves were aflame with color. It was much colder today than expected, due to the wind, but it was quite warm in the middle of the lake.
My mate and my brother were busy fishing, while my cousin and I chatted away. An egret or a crane (I'm not too sure) even walked at the edge of the lake, right on my property. It was so peaceful and I really didn't want the day to end. 
I started pickling jalapeno peppers last summer, which was also my first time pickling peppers. Since I didn't blog about it last year, I might as well blog about it this summer, especially since it's so yummy.
This summer, in addition to just pickled jalapenos, I've also decided to try a mix of hot peppers. I mixed together jalapenos, cayenne peppers, and some smaller Thai peppers (I think). I can't wait to see if this trio turns out yummy too. By the way, these are known as "refrigerator" pickled peppers because the peppers are not canned, but left in the refrigerator to pickle.1. Stab each pepper three times or make slits in the pepper with a sharp paring knife and place them in a large glass preserving jar.
2. In a non-reactive saucepan, bring the other ingredients to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes.
3. Remove from heat and pour the brine over the peppers. Place the lid on the jar and let cool. Once cool, refrigerate for at least a week before using, if possible. (You can use them sooner, but Michael says they're worth the wait.)
Serve whole, with Mexican dishes, or remove the seeds then chop and use to season any recipe that is improved by a little bit of sweet heat.
Storage: I've kept pickles like this for up to a few weeks, under refrigeration, without any problems. But like anything preserved, you should take precautions. If you wish to preserve them longer, you can use these canning instructions and guidelines.
Note: You can use another chile pepper in place of the japeños.
Like many frugal gardeners in the blogsphere, I collect seeds from spent flowers to further expand my flower garden for less, especially if I do not have the flowers in my garden. Of course, for the flowers in my garden, I could let nature do its work and have the flowers reseed itself, but sometimes mother nature can be quite harsh during the winter time and the seeds may not survive the winter.
This spring I didn't get much chance to enjoy my annual pink poppies. Unfortunately, I've been quite busy with work and my home, and only got a passing glance at my pink poppies. Yet, last week I noticed that all of the poppy stalks had dried out. At that moment I made a mental note that I had to collect the seeds. So today, I took an empty envelope and shook all of the pods into the envelope, carefully collecting as many of the seeds as possible. After I emptied all of the poppy seed heads, I sealed the envelope and labeled it with the month and year. I'm already dreaming of next year's pink poppies.
Several nights ago my beau was giving me flak for the lack of watermelons in my garden. His criticism was aimed at the fact that it's already the middle of July and there are no watermelons in my garden; therefore, I only have half of a summer left and no time left for fruit to develop and ripen. I unwillingly conceded with him, agreeing that I have lots of watermelon plants, but no fruit, and will probably not have any watermelon this summer.
I didn't want to pick more blueberries, really. I was content with all the berries I got from my own three bushes. I snacked on much of it as breakfast and I even froze some to make smoothies. But, this morning, I it struck me that blueberry season was coming to an end in my backyard; therefore, blueberry season was going to come to an end for the season. Thoughts of no more fresh blueberries to be made into jam, to be made into a buckle (a semi-fancy name for a blueberry coffee cake), and just to eat fresh made me very sad. I was really motivated to make blueberry jam (I have yet to make blueberry jam) and a blueberry buckle.
