~~~Gratitude~~~

Today's GRATITUDE will be quick!

This is the beginning of week 2 of my husbands vacation and we are taking a day off today...much needed!  

So this is what we did in a week.....

There were countless pandora's boxes and cursing the people who built this house...oh yeah us!!!  Anyways, our almost 34 year marriage survived the week...actually was mostly enjoyable!  So I am grateful for all of the above!

Now for a day of R & R before we tackle the next week!

(I may need a vacation after his vacation!)

It is my intention, each Sunday, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~

***Tuesday's Tip***

I made a wicked good cucumber pickle relish this past week!  I will share my recipe...but first...I stumbled upon the greatest idea I have had in a loooooong time.  I am very excited about it....but prepare yourself....it is unusual and a bit on the goofy side.

I make my relish with a nice quantity of my homegrown onions.  Onions are a key ingredient.  Grating my very strong Copra Onions can be quite a task...unless you really need a a good cry and even though my son just went off to college I was in no mood for tears!  I started to grate them up for the relish then the suffering began.  Tears were flowing, I had to step away to catch my breath.  I thought, I could really use a pair of goggles...then I remembered I had some!!!

My New Swim Mask and Snorkel!  They worked like a charm, not another tear was shed and the grating was finished lickety-split!  I will definitely do this again....I have a few other onion heavy recipes where this would work wonders!

ME!  VERY HAPPY!!!

MY SWEET CUCUMBER RELISH ~ mask and snorkel highly recommended!

Makes 19 - 20 half pints (I never feel making small batches is worthwhile)

So sterilize your jars ahead of time...I use the sani-cycle on my dishwasher.

12 cups grated cucumbers

5 cups grated onions

4 cups grated sweet pepper (red looks nice)

1 or 2 grated hot peppers...goggles good for this too!

3/4 cup canning salt

2 Tbsp turmeric powder

5 Tbsp dill weed

6 cups organic sugar

2 Tbsp celery seed

3 Tbsp mustard seed

6 cups apple cider vinegar

Combine grated veggies in a large non-reactive bowl (glass or stainless steel) sprinkle with the salt, turmeric, & 3 tbsp of dill weed.  Cover with cold water and 2 trays of ice. Let stand for 2 hours.

Drain Veggies thoroughly; press out the liquid.  Combine sugar, vinegar, the rest of the dill weed, celery, & mustard seeds in a large stockpot; bring to a boil.  Add drained veggies; simmer for 10 minutes.  Pack hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1/4 -inch head space.  Adjust lids.

Process for 10 minutes in boiling water bath canner.

Enjoy!!!

~~~Gratitude~~~

Well the first week of College has passed.  All is Well!  That is what I am grateful for this week.  All the messages I have received from my boy speak to the awesome-ness of college.  He wrote that everything is great even the classes!  What more could a mother wish for?

Last Friday was the big moving in day.  We got there early enough so we were before the big crowds.  We (his grandparents came too...Dad couldn't get off work) had a leisure time of watching him unpack. It was a beautiful day so we took an enjoyable walk around the campus.

I had thought I would be leaving pretty quickly after getting him settled but, he seemed to want me to stay.  So stay I did.  His Grandparents left but I stayed and waited for his roommate to arrive...a very nice young man and a great match for my boyo...happiness.  After that we had dinner together   During our meal my son received a text from a High school chum that had just arrived.  Suddenly, my kid no longer "needed" me!  I could feel him become restless...so I offered to leave.  After a private hug in the dorm room I left with an arm load of stuff not staying....including me!  As we parted ways I set down my burdens and took out my camera to shot a picture of my son off in the distance...symbolic I thought...

I zoomed in for the next picture.  He turned towards me just as I snapped the photo!  

PERFECT!  I let out a little yelp and did a little happy dance (far enough away as not to embarrass the boy) It was just the perfect end to a perfect day!

I spent a lot of time last night trying to find a poem that expressed how I am feeling.  I AM feeling.  But not in the "traditional" empty nest way.  I have moments of crying but there is NO Story...I have moments of unease still NO story attached to those feelings...I am just feeling.  But, mostly, I am feeling content and happy that the day of transition has come.  We were both over ripe for this change.  So a good day, a good turn down the path of life.

So I will share a poem I wrote in the 12th grade when I was 18.  It was for an assignment in English Class.  We were asked to write about Maturity.  So here it is in my original hand on notebook paper!

Maturity

You start with a seed

it begins to grow.

struggle, struggle

through the dirt.

reaching, grasping

for the sun

roots go deeper

and the seed is now a tree

tall and straight

changing less

...yet some how

still changing

continually growing

the roots go deeper

(it's very hard to move a tree)

But, remember, the tree always 

reaches

for the 

sun

by 

18 year-old self

It is my intention, each Sunday, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~