Okay, so I found a Martha Stewart recipe for a peach and blueberry cobbler that's made in a cast-iron skillet. It sounded deelish, looked deelish but was not 100% deelish. I think with some tweaking it could be better. It definitely needed more sugar and maybe more butter or some vanilla or something! Maybe more blueberries. There weren't quite enough. The original recipe called for apricots but I had peaches. Maybe it's better with apricots? Hmm, who knows! It looked good though....
It's been a rough year for fruit in these here parts. We had a long string of 80 degree days back in March. The fruit trees prematurely bloomed and then a frost came in April and destroyed the early blooms. Each year I go blueberry picking in Michigan around the first two weeks of July. This year there were very few places doing U-pick because of the damage to the blueberry crops. The same goes for cherries, peaches, and apples. Not the apples! My favorite thing to do in autumn is to go apple picking. Huff huff. There has been a drought this summer as well. All of these factors are affecting farmers and their crops. Such a shame.
Even with the lack of U-picks for blueberries, I did manage to pick some a few weeks back. Last year I picked 10 pounds of blueberries. On the day I picked this year, it was in the upper 90s and humid. Horrendous temps for picking. I literally almost passed out in a giant pool of sweat. So Rob and I only got two and a half pounds. Such a disappointment since each pound was only a $1.70. Huff huff, again.
I am going to put them to good use though. Tonight I am going to make a peach and blueberry cobbler in a cast iron skillet. Stay tuned for the recipe.
Very well, actually! One of the great things about our new place is our porch. Tons of sunlight and space which is conducive to successful growing of plants. But man, plants need water. A lot of water. Who knew? I sometimes dread, sometimes look forward to watering (it's a lot of back and forth filling up watering cans). But it feels good to know you are nurturing and sustaining life. And eating food from my garden is satisfying in a way that is different from store bought veggies. And the flowers! The flowers are so purdy. I can't wait to some day have a full garden. But for now, this is really great.
Here are some photos from the garden with captions explaining. Our tomato plants are close to taking over the porch. If they get any bigger I may just put them to work. I think they'd be capable of filling up watering cans...
I saw Natalie this past Tuesday. I can’t quite articulate
how I feel right now. I become strangely emotional after I see her. I don’t
really understand why. Maybe it’s the connection I feel to her/her music? The
fact that such anticipated moments come and go so quickly, which feels unfair? I
don’t really know.
Now don’t get me wrong, it was an amazing show. Probably one
of my favorite Natalie shows. She played with a full orchestra and she sounded
better than ever. I kept track of the set list because as time goes by I usually
forget it.
The Land Of Nod/Nursery Rhyme Of Innocence And
Experience/Life Is Sweet/Equestrienne/Beloved Wife/Gold Rush Brides/She
Devil/Maggie And Millie And Molly And May/Butterfly (a new song)/Verdi
Cries/Spring And Fall: To A Young Child/Henry Darger/This House Is On Fire
Intermission
The Man In The Wilderness/The Sleepy Giant/The Letter/The
Worst Thing/Wonder/Break Your Heart/Carnival/These Are Days/Kind & Generous
Butterfly, which is a new song, was great. And she covered a
lot from Leave Your Sleep. And of course, ended with the songs that most people
know and love. Don’t get me wrong, I love Wonder, Kind & Generous, etc but
man, when she plays those the crowd goes nuts. It makes me wonder (no pun) if
people really know her catalog. She has so much incredible music that deserves
to be heard.
Anyway, I feel like I have more to say but I’ll say it
another time or maybe update this post again.
On a completely unrelated note, I deleted my Facebook
account. I also deleted my Twitter and Google+ accounts. I’ve been wanting to do that for a while. It
feels very freeing. I’m going to focus more on my blog and real human
connections not related to social media.
Ahhh….changes.
The man in the wilderness asked me to tell
All the sands in the sea and I counted them well.
He said he with a grin, "And not one more?"
I answered him, "Now you go make sure."
