Word of the Day

Rentaissance - An age in which artistic, social, scientific, and political thought turns in new directions, until it becomes an inconvenience.

I made two batches of jam after supper last night. HTP designed some labels for me. As promised, I was able to make a batch of wild raspberry jam and a batch of blackberry jam. At this point I'm thinking that I may alter the recipe for my blackberry jam. It's a bit tart. Good...but tart. There are more berries out there to be picked...blackberries. The wild raspberries are past their prime...which they never actually reached because of the drought. I guess I'll just have to hope that next summer will bring a better wild raspberry season. In the meantime, it looks like this might turn out to be a banner year for blackberries. If it's not too hot and humid tomorrow, I'll don my berry picking armor and hike the logging road. I want to get enough berries to freeze for wine-making next summer. And jam...of course.

Today, I started another batch of Viola Schnapps. It might have looked a bit like I was dead-heading my flowers but I was specific in my requirements. Besides, I was holding a measuring cup in one hand as I picked. I only needed 2 cups of flowers. Purple Violas. I didn't want to mess up the color of the schnapps by mixing in the yellows and the burnt oranges. Thankfully, I live out here where no-one could call those nice young men in their clean white coats to take me away. It did look a bit weird. Kind of like The Addam's Family where Morticia snips off the floral part of the roses leaving only stems and thorns to fill her vase. Actually, I wish I did have access to roses. Red roses that haven't been grown with any chemicals. There's a liqueur that I'd like to try to make that the Friars in Assisi make. But I need rose petals. Chemical-free rose petals. Plus, I wouldn't mind making some rosehip jelly.

Murphyism of the Day

Allison's Precept

The best simpleminded test of expertise in a particular area is the ability to win money in a series of bets on future occurrences in that area.