Thursday Potpourri

Bekah is sporting her new {free} haircut.  I love it, but I think it makes her look older.  Sniff...

(Bekah, squinting in the sun's glare, but looking cute!)

Pear sauce (or should it be pearsauce?) is simmering on the stove.  Ron brought home a bowlful of pears from the tree on his mom's property.  The pears didn't say "eat me" because they were a little spotty, and I didn't think that I would have enough to make a batch of jam.  So I decided to just peel and core and cut into chunks, add a smidge of sugar, a shake or two of ground ginger, and let them simmer away.  It seems that they are taking forever to cook down, I am captive to the stove for fear that they will burn, and I doubt that anyone will have more than a dollop on their dinner plate tonight.  But the kitchen smells wonderful, so if everyone enjoys their dollop tonight, I may ask for more pears and make a proper batch. 

Click the pic to purchase!

I have seen this e-book recommended on a couple of blogs that I read regularly...a book about making pantry staples from scratch.  No one could call me a health food nut (no snickering out there!), but I am conscious of the benefits of cooking from scratch, thus avoiding the glut of chemical additives in processed food.  But this book is not so much about "cooking" as it is about making the things that you cook with from scratch.  Things like taco seasoning, and ketchup, and buttercream icing, and colored sugar, and baking mixes.  

I purchased mine last night for the crazy low price of $0.99!  (It will be this price through August 21, so if you're interested, now's the time to get it.)

{ETA:  I have neither a Kindle nor a Nook!  You can download the book in PDF form to your computer!}

  

I have saved the best for last...

Early this week, a very tall pine tree toppled in my parents' yard.  Actually, the top broke off and fell, although  this top was as big as some trees!  Mom went out to feed the squirrels as she does every morning, and there it lay...a huge mess of trunk and branches and debris.  They hadn't even heard it fall!  

Not ones to let anything lay around, within an hour or two they had contacted a tree guy (what is the proper title for a tree guy?) who came and cleaned it all up.  By that afternoon, you couldn't even tell what had happened.  

Now I must tell you that the pine was on the side of their house where their bedroom is located.  If it had fallen on their house...   

~ ~ shudder ~ ~  

And do you know what the tree man told Mom?  That the way that it broke, the tree "should" have fallen on their house...but it looked like a hand had taken hold of it and turned it around as it fell.   

I wonder whose hand that was.  

Thank you, Lord!