When an entire weeks slips by without me posting anything, you can be sure I have either been extra-busy, or possibly uninspired. Currently I have been very busy. The pole beans are producing nicely, so I have been picking and canning beans about every other day. I usually do the job alone, but a friend helped with the picking yesterday and it was so nice to have a companion while doing that necessary task!
Tuesday I had an appointment, and Wednesday I drove my daughter to an appointment because she was too ill to drive herself. She has stage 3 endometriosis, and is in pain nearly all the time. Furthermore, she launched into a rather radical (in my opinion) treatment two weeks ago, at the recommendation of her ob/gyn, and that treatment is making her even more miserable than she already was. Allegedly, she will begin to feel better soon, and I sure hope the doctor is right. It is difficult to see one's children struggling with health issues, even when they are grown up.
Yesterday and the day before three of us ran a yard sale at our place. Each of us made enough money to make it worth the trouble, but just barely. Both days were very warm, and just sitting out in the heat wore me out, even though a borrowed canopy provided welcome shade.
At some point I managed to bake a double batch of Zucchini Carrot Oatmeal Muffins, a recipe my daughter found on the internet a year or two ago. I didn't take any pictures of the process or the results, but I can assure you they were very tasty.
The other recent kitchen adventure was a potato salad. I don't make those very often. I used some potatoes fresh from the garden. They were supposed to be russets, but they sure look like Yukon Golds to me. They got mushy very quickly when I boiled them, and only the largest ones were usable for the salad. I need to remember that! I added hard boiled eggs, and chopped celery, onion, radishes, and dill pickles. The dressing was made from mayonnaise with a bit of mustard, salt, pepper, and onion powder. It turned out quite edible.
I have just enough cucumbers to make 2 quarts of dill pickles. That is on my list for this afternoon. It seems like such a waste of electricity and water to heat up the entire canner kettle for just 2 quarts, but I don't have a smaller diameter kettle that is tall enough to accommodate quart jars. Perhaps I will try using pint jars instead. Why not? (Because some of the cucumbers are too tall, that's why not.)
It seems pointless to scrub the kitchen floor during canning season, but mine was just too disgusting to let it go any longer. So, while the cucumbers are soaking in ice water, I swept and scrubbed that floor. It looks so much better now, and just in time for me to make some pickles and make the floor all sticky again.
My husband has been sober for three weeks now. He got steroid injections in his lower back about 10 days ago, which has relieved a good deal of his pain. Since he claimed he was drinking because of his pain, perhaps he will not drink as much now. Then again, that may just have been a convenient excuse. Time will tell.
And now.... off to the cucumbers I go!