More Strawberries

Today I made strawberry freezer jam. My mother used to make it every summer, and it made me think of her. Here is the recipe:

4 c ripe strawberries

4 c sugar

1 box Sure-Jel powdered pectin

3/4 c water

Wash and hull the berries; crush them completely, a few at a time (or run through food processor) Should end up with about two cups. In large bowl, mix together the berries and sugar, let stand for ten minutes. Combine pectin and water in pan, bring to boil for one minute and stir constantly. Stir hot pectin into the fruit, continue stirring. Ladle jam into containers (plastic or glass) and put lids on immediately. Let stand at room temp for 24 hours; refrigerate for a few weeks or freeze up to a year.

Doubtless God could have made a better berry (than the strawberry), but doubtless God never did. William Allen Butler

Now That's Summer!!

Picked these today!! That's all I need to say.

Sights, Smells and Sounds of Summer

Yesterday was the Summer Solstice; the longest day of the year. As I sit on our front porch, I can see, smell and hear summer. There are flowers blooming; right now I see daisies, yarrow, spiderwort, knautia and lilies. Soon there will be coneflowers, rudbeckia and hollyhocks. I can smell newly cut grass and backyard BBQ grills. Yesterday we drove home from Brainerd past farm fields with fresh cut hay; a smell that brings me right back to my childhood. I can hear birds singing from dawn until dusk, the cooing of mourning doves and the cawing of crows. Of course, there is also the sound of lawn mowers and motorcycles.

At times when I lay on the bed and close my eyes, I listen to the sounds of nature along with the summer breeze and realize that I could have been laying here 100 years ago and experienced the same. That always gives me a sense of connection to the past, present and future. It reminds me of what is constant and sure. I often am transported back to my childhood on the farm. The memories of summer include field work, big gardens, sticky fly catchers, pigs cooling in the mud and Twins baseball playing while my dad drank Hamm's beer.

Soon we will celebrate the 4th of July and begin that rapid slide to the county fair and Labor Day. In the meantime, I hope to soak up the sun and all that summer has to offer.

Thought for today: Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit . A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world. Ada Louise Huxtable