Our anniversary drive and dinner

These were taken on our anniversary when we went for a nice drive to Ontonogan, Silver City and the Porcupine Mountains. We went to dinner a very nice restaurant in Twin Lakes then headed for a long drive. It was the hottest day of the summer. One of the those days you wish you had a suit with you to jump in the lake. It was so humid and muggy it was hard to get out of the airconditioned car. Boy, the lake looked so inviting!! The beach here was just down from town, a block or so. We spent more of our time watching the poor firefighters and the band that it was late when we got to the Porkies. We just drove through the State Park to see the campers. Looks like a nice spot to camp, but its very crowded and sunny--not many trees. We like a woodsy camping area much more.

The big fire downtown

Were we surprised when we pulled into town as a parade and bands were playing. We knew it was the Ontonogan Days and it was Labor Day Weekend and our anniversary, but little did we know about the big fire that broke out at 5:00 in the morning. Five downtown buildings were burned to the ground. How sad. The town still went on with the festivities as the firefighters were battling the blaze. The fire even made front page news in our paper the Daily Mining Gazette on Monday.

Painted buildings on the water front

While we were visiting the town of Ontonogan we saw this painted place down by the marina. We had not been here for many years and its only an hour or more from home. We often by-pass this town on the way to Duluth or Wisconsin. I was amazed at how it changed. It is a nice little town with a big river running along the town. And the shores of Lake Superior are just at the end of the streets close to town. I thought how fun it would be (to live there) and run a block or two down to the sandy beach for a quick swim!

A smooth slab of stone, washed by the waves

This smooth slate on the waters edge of Lake Superior goes along with the saying below.

Todays Quote

The most beautiful stones
have been tossed by the wind,
and washed by the waters,
and polished to brilliance
by lifes strongest storms.

I want to go back and pitch my tent on the sand...

It sure was nice to watch the big waves! John enjoyed skipping stones through the waves.

As we were exploring, we found this...

Last weekend John and I went to a different shore on Lake Superior. We took the road in to the mouth of the Gratiot River. It was a windy, gray day, but still alot of fun to walk the shore. It's quite a remote spot, I don't think alot of people know about it. Its a good place to pick berries and rocks. I found a couple of agates. As we were walking the shore, I found this little tent made of branches. It looks like someone camped here. Looks very inviting and cozy! I wish we had our sleeping bags.

My pretty new plate

My sweet sister Janice gave me this plate while I was downstate visiting my family. I just love it and am still trying to decide where to put it in my kitchen. It's one of those T.J. Max specials. We just love to go there to find neat decorating items for our houses. As my mom likes to say--"I'm having a T.J. Max attack!" The problem is we have to go 600 miles to get there!

A very good choice!

I'm very happy with McCain's running mate--Sarah Palin. With all the talk about her experience or lack of I think she has done a good job as Governor of Alaska and Mayor of Wasilla. She seems to be a fast learner and can handle responsibility. She is quite adept at learning new things and is well rounded, loves her family and has conservative values. She is very confident, expressive and I believe can handle the job of Vice-President of the United States of America. Let's pray to our Heavenly Father that this is the right choice, and what is meant to be for our country. And many prayers for John McCain also. I hope God will guide them along the way. Things are tough in this world right now and we need a strong leader. It surely won't be an easy job for anyone with the way the economy is, the moral values declining, the war, the natural disasters... It surely is a sign of the times as written in the Bible. Dear God, please continue to Bless our Nation.

Quote

Years may wrinkle the skin,
but to give up enthusiasm
wrinkles the soul.
Samuel Ullman 1840-1924
Educator, writer, poet

Summer fun!

A favorite Childrens Hymn of mine

Children of the heavenly Father, Safely in His bosom gather;
Nestling bird nor star in Heaven, Such a refuge e'er is given.

God His own doth tend and nourish, In His holy courts they
flourish; From all evil things He spares them, In His mighty
arms He bears them.

Neither life nor death shall ever, From the Lord His children
sever; Unto them His grace He showeth, And their sorrows
all He knoweth.

Lo, their very hairs He numbers, And no daily cares encumbers;
Them that share His every blessing, And His help in woes distressing.

Praise the Lord in joyful numbers, Your Protector never slumbers;
At the will of your Defender, Every foeman must surrender.

Though He giveth or He taketh, God His children ne'er forsaketh;
His the loving purpose only, To preserve them pure and holy.

I Finally got it!

My one and only picture of Evan and Nicoles baby. I can't wait to get out there to hold her and Lars, see the other kids and take lots more pictures!

Our new grandson

Lars Joseph is his name. Chad and Chelsea's new little one. Will is the lucky little fellow who has a new baby brother. I'm trying to post the picture of my new grandaughter who was born a couple of weeks before Lars. She is Jan Valerie (middle name after me). Proud gramma is a smiling away! I only have one little shot of her and it won't scan. I'll keep trying.

Soon Leah and I will be flying out west to see them--October 7--I can't wait!

Quote for today

This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, in its place is something that you have left behind…let it be something good.

Lake Superior Diamonds

The Royal Thimbleberry

I thought this was very interesting from Wikipedia. What really got me excited was the fact that the Keweenaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan was mentioned, and that the jam is such a delicacy of our area. It sure is!! And I had to laugh when I read that the leaves can be used as toilet paper. Hee Haw!! Gee, I never thought of that!!


Thimbleberry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Thimbleberry

A flowering thimbleberry
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
Division:
Magnoliophyta
(unranked)
eudicot
Order:
Rosales
Family:
Rosaceae
Genus:
Rubus
Subgenus:
Anoplobatus
Species:
R. parviflorus
Binomial name
Rubus parviflorusNutt.
Rubus parviflorus (Thimbleberry) is a species of Rubus, native to western and northern North America, from Alaska east to Ontario and Michigan,[1] and south to northern Mexico. It grows from sea level in the north, up to 2,500 m altitude in the south of the range. The plant is said to have given its name to the Thimble Islands in Connecticut, although it is very rarely seen in that region.

Thimbleberry
It is a dense shrub up to 2.5 m tall with canes 3-15 mm diameter, often growing in large clumps which spread through the plant's underground rhizome. Unlike most other members of the genus, it has no thorns. The leaves are palmate, 5-20 cm across, with five lobes; they are soft and fuzzy in texture. The flowers are 2-6 cm diameter, with five white petals and numerous pale yellow stamens. It produces a tart edible composite fruit 10-15 mm diameter, which ripen to a bright red in mid to late summer. Like other raspberries it is not a true berry, but instead an aggregate fruit of numerous drupelets around a central core; the drupelets may be carefully removed separately from the core when picked, leaving a hollow fruit which bears a resemblance to a thimble, giving the plant its name.
The species typically grows along roadsides, railroad tracks, and in forest clearings, commonly appearing as an early part of the ecological succession in clear cut and forest fire areas.

[edit] Uses
Thimbleberry fruits are larger, flatter, and softer than raspberries, and have many small seeds. Because the fruit is so soft, it does not pack or ship well, so thimbleberries are rarely cultivated commercially. However, wild thimbleberries make an excellent jam which is sold as a local delicacy in some parts of their range, notably in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan. Thimbleberry jam is easily made by combining equal volumes of berries and sugar and boiling the mixture for two minutes before packing it into jars.
Thimbleberry plants can be propagated most successfully by planting dormant rhizome segments, as well as from seeds or stem cuttings.
In a pinch, the leaves of the thimbleberry are recognized as a handy "toilet paper". They are large, soft and non-irritating.

Blueberries and Sunsets

This a close up of my blueberry fabric that I bought from a quilt shop. It sure does look like our Copper Country wild blueberries. I'm in love with this fabric!



This is a Lake Superior Sunset. It is always a different and changing look. When I snapped it I was running as fast as I could to pass up the trees to get a good view. The sun went down so fast that I really barely got the sun at all. It is just amazing how fast the sun goes down. Seems like its down in a matter of minutes.

Just one cup of Thimbleberries--thats all it takes...

The thimbleberry fits right over your finger, just like a thimble. In minutes I had two little jars of jam made. Also, I've got to mention that the leaves of the thimbleberry plant are very large and beautiful. They must be one of the largest leaves of any berry plant. A picture below shows how big and green they are.

Home with our pickings!

Here are my beauties! Muffins, blueberry pancakes, tarts, pies, blueberry crumble, jam, berry crisp and buckle coming up soon! We just need to get out for more picking, and put em in the freezer for winter. I've been working on a blueberry cookbook for some time now and just may start adding other berry recipes to it. I've got quite the collection of recipes. Notice in the picture my blueberry fabric that I recently bought. I plan to make a table runner out of it. It sure is purty!!!

Blueberry and Thimbleberry Picking

After picking our blueberries we found a nice thimbleberry patch on the way home. The patch was on a dirt road in the woods. I love to make thimbleberry jam and never seem to get out for those berries. I told John that if we could just pick one cup of berries I could make one jar of jam. It's the easiest jam to make. It just takes 1 cup of berries and 1 cup of sugar. The berry is quite tart and has natural pectin in it so it gels easily. You only have to mix the sugar and mashed berries together and bring to a roaring boil for 1 minute. That simple! Its so tasty, the jam is very seedy, but the seeds are good and crunchy. We are so fortunate to have these berries growing here in the Copper Country. I've heard that there are only 3 places in the world that they grow. I don't know how true it is, or if I even believe that though. Thimbleberry jam sells for $10.00 a jar and that is a half-pint jar. Thats a one cup jam jar. Honestly! I'm not kidding! And it seems that every year it goes up higher in price. It is such a specialty here in our tourist area that all the gift shops carry thimbleberry jam.

We got out blueberry picking this afternoon. We stopped and picked up a couple of

Subs from Subway to take along. We took along Charley, our Bichon Frise. We just

realized that Charley has never been out by the lake with us. He has never ran on

the beach, or played in the sand. Even though we went camping a couple of times

this summer and took him with us, he was not allowed on the beach at McClains Park.

No dogs allowed there. So we went to the shores of Lake Superior out on the Gay Road

to Bete Gris. It was very nice there, the weather was a little cool. I had to wear my

sweatshirt. We found most of our blueberries on the side of the road across from the

lake. Picking was great, except for a few mosquitos buzzing and biting. We ate our

sub sandwiches by the lake and let Charley run free. He seemed to be a little leary of

the big lake with waves. He would not go too close to the water, but seemed to enjoy

playing in the sand.

My first blueberry pie of the season!

I baked these pies at my daughter's house. I mixed some tame store bought berries with our wild picked Copper Country blueberries. MMM!!! this is my favorite pie. I absolutely love blueberries and picking them. I hope to get out picking this week for more. We like to fill the freezer up with berries for the winter.

My recipe: I make my crust with butter, flour, egg, vinegar, salt and sugar and water.
Prepare pastry for 2-crust 9 inch pie. Combine 4 cups fresh blueberries with 3/4 to 1 cup sugar, 3 Tablespoons flour, 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or nutmeg, and a dash of salt. I use nutmeg or a combo of both. Line 9-inch pie plate with pastry. Fill. Sprinke with 1 teaspoon lemon juice, dot with butter. Adjust top crust, cutting slits for escape of steam. Seal. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Serve warm, if desired.

My finished pie. I actually made three pies with the wild blueberries John picked before we left to go downstate. We brought one to my sisters house, and kept two at Vanessa's house. They were so good warm with vanilla ice cream.

Mom's house and flower box

Mom sure has taste when it comes to her gardens, flowers and decorating. I just love the way she redid this entire house a few years ago. It was an ugly brown and had been a home for adults with disabilities. It was built with handicap features, but had no style. After my dad passed away 7 years ago, mom had a rough time living out in the country so far from family and friends. It was hard to leave her home in the country, with all the pretty gardens there, and all the work that mom and dad put into their home. She bought this house close to town, down the street from church, friends, and the hospital being right around the corner. She had the house remodeled before she moved in, a garage built, and her decorating touches added. It really is nice. Mom since has since remarried now for 1 1/2 years. She and Archie are very happy, have alot in common, and he's great for always helping--very handy.

Mom's flowers