Canning & comparing...

Canning: back toward the beginning of November, I got an itch to can some pickles. These aren't just ANY pickles, mind you, they are bread & butter pickles that my great aunt (I think that's right) used to make. My dad and other family members grew up on these pickles and looked forward to them every year. As did I.

When the recipe was printed in a limited-edition family cookbook, my mouth started to water just thinking about these wonderful pickles. Lovely, yummy, bread & butter PICKLES. Okay, moving on...

Dan and I sliced up an ungodly amount of cucumbers and onions, cried a little in the meantime, and canned up seven jars of these babies. It was quite a process, but well worth it when my parents came to dinner the next night and dad tried a freshly canned jar of nostalgia... and they tasted the same as he remembered. YES! We have three jars left and plan to make more soon. Side note: growing up, I never realized there were onions involved. I always thought they were pickles cut up differently. (Hello blonde.)


The first picture currently resides above our living room couch with nine of its similarly-bordered friends. Since I had the picture of our main subdivision street in the Spring, I went out the other day after work and got one of Fall as well. I don't know if I'll have this new one printed to replace Spring, but it's a thought. I do plan to get a shot for each season.

Comparing: today while I was looking at Spring vs. Fall, I couldn't help but notice something was off. I knew one was taken on a drizzly day while the other was dry, so the colors are a bit different. I also realized I wasn't standing in the exact same spot. But for some reason a tree was either uprooted on me or moved to sunnier Florida. First picture = four trees. Second picture, even though zoomed out or standing farther back = three trees. What...? Don't think about it too hard to your brain will hurt.

I'll stop rambling about pickles and trees now.

Cool things: I'm a little slow on the delivery, but some good things I've seen lately or haven't mentioned in a while...

• Martha's no-knit scarf. I'm still searching for the scarf I started crocheting years ago, so it doesn't look like I'll be completing it anytime soon. Martha's is something I could finish before it turns Spring again. See Lisa's here.
• While you're looking at Lisa's no-knit scarf, go check out her awesome necklaces also. They would make great gifts.
  
• Elise's handmade holiday. Elise is like a handmade celebrity. I first found her blog last year when I made the circle ornaments, and she's still turning cardboard and bottle caps into works of art.
  
• I know there are more, but that's it for tonight.
  

I'm currently on laundry load four and I'm not done yet. Time to switch some loads and edit some photo sessions on this lovely Saturday night.

OH, and it's my little brother's 21st birthday today. Yikes! Let's all say a prayer - that he stays safe tonight and that I stop feeling so OLD.