Weather Change, Bunky Cleanup, Bill Back Home,"Jam Up - Jelly Tight", New Camera!!

The Ridge

It was different waking up on Thursday, Aug. 22^nd remembering that I was on my own. Since it was only 5:30, I snuggled with Sergei in Clemson’s spot and drifted off and on until 6:00. Good thing I’d closed the windows last night, it was chilly this morning. Without wasting anytime, I texted Bill that I was up and we chatted then by phone.

Well, good morning sunshine!!
What a lovely sunrise

Leaving the Suite around 6:25 gets me to the Mat at 6:35. After backing in, Rob greeted me on his morning walk and we chatted for a few minutes before I went to start work. Jamie has been busy! There is a ramp right inside the back door, removing the need for a ‘watch your step’ sign, making it wheelchair accessible and removing about 2’ of the shelf for folding right inside the door. All very good ideas.

I wanted to see what the rains did for my garden
and I was very pleased

Then when I went to open the Lock Up, I noticed that he had changed the door from opening out into the narrow hall to an inside opening. There were a couple of things making this entry more difficult for me but only because of tools they are working with. Once I moved a machine out of the way, it was quite easy and would make the process of a few things much better.

Look at my watermelon!!

I was alone until 7:05 when Bonnie from Welbeck’s popped in and it was 7:15 when a regular Polish customer came in the front door with a friendly “Good morning, my dear!” He hadn’t even seen me yet but knew I was there. 😊 Nice, harmless fellow who indicated concern when he saw Jamie doing a sweep through one night. He wondered what had happened to me? I can’t understand 75% of what he says, his accent is very, very strong but I do my best to communicate.

Funny thing with hostas
This one is just little and just starting to flower

This one, the leaves are almost yellow and it has
just blossomed too
but I have others that have been done for weeks

It was 7:45 when I left the place, clean once more, and drove to Rob and Pat’s to use their wifi. I had texted and, of course, Pat invited me in. I declined with thanks and hoped to get my pictures downloaded and blog published quickly. That didn’t work as well as I’d hoped, my pictures were taking forever so even after a fruitless attempt inside their home I conceded defeat and drove home. It can wait until tonight or tomorrow and I’ll go to the library again.

I enjoy my bp coffee every other day for a treat

Back home, I parked B.B. down in her spot and came inside to make my tea. For some reason, maybe the frustration over my blog, I felt hungry so had a couple of small pieces of zucchini bread with butter. Yum, that went down quite nicely. With my tea finished, I tried calling my sister in Montreal. Today is her birthday and although I usually don’t call sibs on their special day, my cards generally arrive on time. This year, it wouldn’t be there so I wanted her to know I’m thinking of her. The line was busy a few times so I left a singsong text instead.

Since Audrey doesn't like being 'shared' in blogs,
I'm posting a picture of her in her late teens instead
Happy  Birthday, Aj!

I wanted to have a shower but (there’s always a ‘but’ – my Dad would say) I got distracted in the bedroom. Since I brought 4 new pieces of clothing home yesterday (yes, I did! – they were practically giving them away!) I needed to purge of 4 or Bill and I say the rule is 8 things from my closet or drawers. Well, I made short work (figure of speech – because it took me the better half of two hours) of that project but managed to move a couple more things to the Cancun cupboard and purge about 15 other things for the exchange bag. I was very critical of stuff.

The bunky, all ready for company

Then, instead of hopping in the shower, I made myself a b.p. coffee and sat at my laptop to start today’s post. It was 12 noon so I had some yogourt and took my coffee out to the Bunky. Around 11:00 I noticed that there was more sun than clouds so I unplugged from power and turned the inverter on. No point in wasting sunshine! The rest of the day sweeping and cleaning up the Bunky. I made the bed up for our guests and opened the window for a couple of hours to air it out. I think it will be quite comfy in there.

windows, a fridge and a lovely antique chair to have a rest on

I started into the next James Patterson book that I had left to read. The Quickie. It was going to be another fast read. Inside, I started pulling things out to make Choke Cherry Jelly. I’d found a recipe yesterday that sounded easy enough. Lots of instructions but that was typical for jam or jelly. First, I had to clean the cherries and make sure all the little stems were removed. That wasn’t as hard as it sounds even though they are tiny. Most pulled off when I picked them.

I lucked out finding this loaded bush

I didn't have a bag so carried them home in my shirt

 When the recipe I had called for 12 cups I knew I had to cut it in half but even then, I only had 4 cups of cherries. That didn’t deter me and I took a bag down the road to the bush on North Line and picked 2 more cups. The process went smoothly from there until I got to the last part. “Lift the processed jars of jelly out of the canner without tipping them.” Hmm, one slipped out of the tongs and tipped so I sure hope that doesn’t ruin the batch!

I thought this would be 6 cups but it was only 4

So, I went out the lane and down the road a bit to pick another
2 cups

It only made 3 jars but from the taste on my fingers (from the tip over) I think they will be yummy. If I get ambitious, I may pick more off the bush and fill another 2 or 3 jars. Clean up was the worst part, at least it looked like it. 

Preparing to separate the liquid in my colander

Sterilizing the jars and lids

The Jam up, jelly tight mash up
(for you younger gen, this was a song in the 60's)

I cleaned up the mess of dishes

3 jars of jelly boil in water for 10 minutes
before the removal and cool down

Many pots and pans were dirtied in the process of making this delight. 

Now that I know the process, the next batches will be easier
I can't open them until tomorrow after 9 to see if
we like it!

I got the dishes out of the way and sat and watched the last 45 minutes of On Golden Pond before Bill returned shortly after 9. He’d had a long day and once the groceries and his stuff were unloaded and put away, I got into the package I was waiting for.

And my hot dog supper was delicious!

Yes, my new Canon camera was in at Henry’s so Bill brought it home for me. The battery needed to be charged so I couldn’t do much fiddling with it but it sure is pretty! I’ll be anxious to get my hands on it tomorrow. I’m looking forward to having a nice pocket size camera to use again rather than my phone. My Samsung takes good pictures but it takes a longer time to download them onto my laptop.

Yay! My sweet little Canon power shot arrives!

Now that Bill is home, I can relax again before going up to bed. It has been a great day, seeming so long ago that I drove into work. My jelly has to sit and cool for 24 hours and then we get to taste it. I hope you’ve enjoyed your day.

The day ended just as lovely as it started

Good night all!

Thank you for stopping around.

Slept In, Lunch with Friends, Big Nose Kate's and Camera Fix?

I woke up at 6:30 am and still felt tired so curled up again, rolled over and was out like a light. Right into a crazy dream. Seems my first hour or so sleeping and the last hour before fully waking is when I have the silliest dreams. I shook out of it and looked at the clock again. This time it was 7:40! I guess that is because it was 10:30 when I went to bed and probably 11:30 when I finally fell asleep. I felt chilly in bed so it took a while before I dropped off.

I didn't have a sunrise picture so thought I'd share a cute
one of Bill and I that George took yesterday

It looked like a beautiful morning but it was still only 34F so I’ll put my walk off until later. Wimp! Bill got up just after I’d made my tea so we did our normal morning reading together and discussed the day. While I was on Facebook, on the park’s Wifi, Bill picked up my camera and cleaned the front lens. He knows how much I want to use my Canon but won’t because of the spots. Bless him for trying.

Before

He took a couple of pictures of the sky and we both cringed at the dust marks when I downloaded them. I decided to go online AGAIN and follow the instructions AGAIN to clean the sensor AGAIN. I know I’m doing it right but maybe I’m missing something. 

a new cleaning tool

First thing I did was dispose of the cleaning tool that I’ve used. Maybe I’ve used it too many times. I followed the directions and dabbed a bit of the solution on a new swab.

After
I am ecstatic!

Bill took the camera out and took a picture of the sky. Voila! 90% of the specks were gone! I’m so excited so will take my Canon with us today and test it out. You can see in the pictures below what I was dealing with and I have no one to blame but myself. We had our grapefruit and then Bill got cleaned up and took a drive into town to get some cash. We were happy to see our Government pensions had gone in early. Yay!

Fun names for streets but no street signs

 While he was gone, I did the same and then took a nice walk with Clemson before it was time to leave. Every park has its uniqueness about it and this one is no different. On their pamphlet, their site map shows the streets at the front with odd names like Been There Ave, Done That Lane etc. You can see them here. But at the back, the streets are named after cacti, trees and plants. It is original and a cool idea.

Clemson walked pretty good this morning on his retractable leash. He seems to act up more when his Daddy comes along. I let him do his thing, 3, 4 and 5 times at the beginning of the walk and then when I know there can’t possibly be anything left, I get firm. We had a nice walk to the back and returned to the Suite before 11:30. I had some yogourt to tie me over until lunch. We cleaned up the dishes and relaxed for half hour until noon and drove back to pick Debbie and Dj up.

I sat outside for awhile to figure out how many layers I'd need today

First on the agenda upon arriving and parking at Tombstone, the old western town, was lunch. We were all hungry. Deb and Dj suggested Big Nose Kate’s since we hadn’t been there before. It was packed but looked like a very cool spot so we got in line, second behind a party for 3. Within 10 minutes, maybe, we had a table ready for us. What a neat place! There was an entertainer at an organ who kept our feet tapping and our heads swaying with his music.

Such an interesting place to stop for lunch

Love the idea of the newspaper menus
We've seen them before

Three of us ordered Sasparillas, Dj ordered the Prickly Pear soda and we toasted to a good time with friends. Our server was Bridgett. When I told her I would remember her name and why, she immediately asked how I spelled my daughter’s name. 

Interesting that my daughter, Bridgette, just put something on Facebook the other day about how people are always misspelling her name. Bridgett is a cutie but you know who wins that contest! Ha ha. A Mom can brag.

Bridgett (no E)

Just in case you think I heard her wrong.........

Bridgette (with an E)

Bill had a Stampede Burger and I had the Reuben, both with fries and a pickle. Yum! I got through half of my sandwich and decided something would have to give so left the toasted rye bread on the plate for the other half and finished the good stuff inside. I still couldn’t eat all the fries. It was a really nice lunch and would be our big meal of the day.

My Reuben, pickle and fries

The Sheriff had this guy cold

This guy was good, also played the Sax and harmonica

We had a good day together

Then we walked the boardwalk, sticking our noses in some stores, and waltzing right in to others. We liked Spurs, a western gear store. If you want hats? If you want guns or holsters? If you want petticoats, parasols or stirrups? They had them. We weren’t there to buy but had fun browsing and trying on some of the cowboy hats. 

I loved the parasols

Face masks, I assume for costume parties or
ladies of the night, perhaps

We wandered down to the Crystal Palace and stuck our heads in there to see if Joshua and Candi, last night's entertainers were performing. They were taking a break but we saw Joshua returning so said 'hey' to him. Very nice young man.

We headed back to Black Beauty and were on our way home by 2:30. This was a good day and the weather was pretty much perfect. We did walk on the sunny side of the street as much as possible since we only reached 59F today and the wind had a chill. 

Yes, friends and family back home ONLY 59! We dropped Deb and Dj off and back home turned the water on and settled in our recliners with our books. Debbie was the one yawning on the way home but it didn’t take long for Bill and I to give in to a snooze.

and the REAL Sheriff was in town

This is the way I like to see a western town
With no commercialized vehicles parked in front of the shops

Bird Cage Theatre

Dj was disappointed this place was closed today
Hmmm

And there she is, working the streets

Another nice view from the heart of Tombstone's historic area

This stage coach driver gets into character very well

That was where we remained for the next couple of hours. Sounds lazy and yes it was but we were doing what we wanted. At 6:15 at the end of a chapter, I put the book down and warmed up a bowl of my vegetable soup for supper. Bill wasn’t hungry but will fix himself something when he is.

This looks so authentic

The O.K. Corral site

Other than stage coach rides, they offer guided trolley rides

A nice drove to and from Tombstone today

It was a great day and two books will probably be finished tonight. Bill is reading Midnight Club by James Patterson and I’m finishing up Free Fire by C.J. Box. I hope your day was a good one too.

Thanks for the suggestion, Deb and Dj!

Thank you for popping in today. Feel free to leave a comment, I enjoy them very much.