La Vie En Rose

 

In my research for preserving the pears given to me, I came across this information:

   "A large family of plants, the Rosaceae, characterized by showy flowers with five separated petals and numerous stamens borne on the margin of a cuplike structure, including important fruits such as apple, cherry, peach, pear, plum, raspberry and strawberry, as well as ornamentals such as the rose and spirea."

It  was just a coincidence that roses were on my mind this past week.  We returned from our visits from the hospital  (yes, plural is correct... we went twice in the week) and both times the minature roses were

blooming and they have never bloomed that much before. We have them in pots on our front porch , so it was almost as if they did it just at that time, so as to make sure that would be the first sight we would see when we climbed up our steps to our front door.

Lovely Nan from letters from a hill farm left me a comment to go to Youtube and listen to "Moonlight In Vermont" which mentions sycamore trees.  I did so but also, over to the side , there was  a photo of Louis Amstrong with his wonderful songs and I listened to several of them...and one of them was "La Vie en Rose".

 Maybe it wasn't a coincidence, maybe something is reminding me that no matter what, I still have my husband and we still have our  "La Vie en Rose".    The last stanza of the song goes like this...

  Give your heart and soul to me

  and life will always be La Vie en Rose.

Here are photos of our actual minature roses. Oh, and my son just reminded me that this same song was in the movie "Wall-e", one of our favorites:

Sycamore Tree

On our travels to Stone Mountain, my husband and I pass by the most magificent tree that is by the side of the road just before we get to Stone Mountain village which is just outside the gates into Stone Mountain.  Every time we drive past it, I always say, "There is my tree!"   (Yes,  I am afraid that I say this EVERY SINGLE TIME.  But in my defense, it is an amazing tree.)   It has the largest leaves and they are shaped somewhat like a maple leaf ...and the bark of the tree is so beautiful, it is somewhat green, then brown and then it goes to white.  Even in the winter, the bark alone is enough to make you notice it  (you want to get out a paintbrush and paint it!)   I now know that it is a sycamore tree...

My husband and I just had to get out of the house yesterday and we drove a few miles over to the monastery that is here in Rockdale County.  The monks built it here in the early 40's since this area was just in the middle of nowhere.  It is an area of great beauty.  They just  built a new visitor center and one of the trees planted  in the courtyard area is a sycamore.  One of the visitors there informed me of this fact and I knew that it was the same tree that I have admired so many times on trips to Stone Mountain.  Of course, being me, even though he sounded like he knew what he was talking about, I still had to look it up on the internet and sure enough, that is what it is.

The only time I have every heard of the sycamore tree is from the song "Dream A Little Dream Of Me"...

                       Stars shining bright above you,
                       Night breezes seem to whisper I love you,
                       Birds singing in the sycamore tree,
                       Dream a little dream of me...

I couldn't help but think how appropriate those words were for me this week, as I spent hours sitting in a chair looking at my husband in his hospital bed as he slept...

Busy Week and Papa's Pears

Well, just as soon as I talked myself into creating my own blog... I rush my husband to the emergency room at the hospital the same evening that I created my blog!  He not only was admitted to the hospital but after we were sent home... we had to go back for ANOTHER hospital stay at the end of the week.
So... no time to type anything here.  He had complications from MINOR surgery that he had to have.  (He kept saying, "This was supposed to be MINOR surgery!")  Thankfully, he is getting better...
My husband takes care of all the plants that we have in pots and since this is Georgia and the temps have been in the 90's since May, that means lots and lots of watering.  This takes  T - I  - M - E,  so much of it, I had no idea until I had to do it.  I can only hope that I can keep them alive until he gets better.

My Dad (who all the grandkids call "Papa" or as we pronounce it, "Paw-Paw", said rather quickly, not exactly like you are looking at  the front of a dog and saying  Paw...Paw....does that make sense?)
gave me a big bag of pears that we picked when I went to visit him last Sunday.  What to do with all those pears?  I typed in "how to freeze fresh pears" in a search engine and this is what I just did...

                              Pears for the Freezer:

                              8 cups of sliced pears
                              1 lemon  (I used an organic one, it was very juicy!)
                              1 1/2 cups sugar

I washed the pears.  Then, I peeled them and sliced them, being careful not to get that hard bit in the middle.   I squeezed the juice of half the lemon into a big bowl of water and put the sliced pears in as I was peeling and slicing. (Could this be why my knuckles are sore?)  Then, I drained it all in a collander and then squeezed the rest of the lemon over it.  Then, I poured the sugar over the pear slices and stirred it with a wooden spoon.  Now, you don't have to use a wooden spoon...but that is what I used, so it must be the right tool, yes?  I got out 4 quart size freezer bags and scooped the pear slices evenly into the bags. Squeeze the air out and flatten the bags as much as possible.  It makes them stack better in the freezer and also makes it easier for them to thaw later.  Enjoy them for up to one year.  I don't think mine will be in there for that long!  I tasted them before I put them in the bags and they are so good you wouldn't believe it!  Oh, and I think this could also work for other fruits too! 

Now, I am no cook and I don't think I will be putting too many recipes in on this here little blog, but something easy, and something that I can store and freeze that someone has given me?  Yes, that is the kind of thing that I will write about.

Here are the goodies that my Dad gave me last Sunday.  Just one little pear in the left corner there to represent all the others waiting in the bag for me to freeze!  Just look at that canned vegetable soup and green beans!  He canned over 200 jars this summer and in this Georgia heat!  He doesn't sell any of it, he just gives it away to family and friends.  Good ol' Georgia Boy!

Sunday Birthday

Here are my sisters and my Daddy.  Pam is the birthday girl on the left, posing with some minature roses that I MAYBE forgot about and left in my 109 degree car...but they survived anyway.






Sorry... I realized that I didn't mean to put this photo on here!  My sisters look really good in the photo I wanted to use, and my Dad did too. Trust me, I am telling the truth.

Add caption

Stone Mountain, Georgia in early April of this year.  Dogwoods and redbud in bloom and early spring green...just beautiful.  

STILL August 21, 2011

I just wrote the most wonderful first post on a blog you would ever want to read.  It was witty and intelligent and oh so very interesting...but I managed to delete it!

It is my hope to write here about the many things that interest me...nature, art, history, books...just about everything really.  The "girl" in Georgia Girl is strictly for alliteration.  Married to my husband for 28 years, I think should qualify for the English heart. 

Today is my sister's birthday and she was born in 1966.  Just after she was born, my other sister figured out that HER birthday on Sept. 18th would always be on the same day of the week.  (This year...Sunday.)   She looked further and saw that Christmas Day is also on the same day.  I love to meet people that have these same dates of birth and inform them that Christmas Day is the same day also. They never have noticed it.   This doesn't mean a hill of beans really, in the long run, but it  does make you wonder how many other things one pays so little attention to.  Some people tell me that my sister must be a genius...THAT's IT!

Reason, Memory and Skill...    That was one of my choices for the name of this blog as I am hoping that writing this will help with all three.  Although I chose not to use it as the name, it is still my wish.
Kay

August 21, 2011