Summer full of tomatoes
this video has me thinking of doing this is in the backyard when we get 90 degree weather again! I did dehydrate some tomatoes in the dehydrator.
I was picking a roaster pan full every day through August and September. Had 5 different kids- Brandywine’s, Colossal, Abe Lincoln, Dr. Wyche Yellow (was my favorite), and a few others.
These tomatoes have been coming in handy and they lasted till November. I made a lot of tomato soup to freeze and I was adding up the savings when I think of a can of soup is at least $1.19.
It’s nice to be able to pull out a frozen portion of tomato soup; beef and barley too which takes a lot of tomatoes for the broth. I froze tomatoes plain to make fresh beef and barley soup. Isn’t Beef and Barley the best soup there is?
All of a-kind-family Uptown
This is the 3rd book in the all-of-a kind family series that I’ve read. First review was on Oct 10th, then, Jan 17th, and now this one (2 left to read !)
Sarah, her sisters, mom and dad and little Charlie the toddler are moving from their Jewish neighborhood to live uptown where the neighbors are not all Jewish. Ella’s boyfriend goes off to WW1 while Ella puts on a play to raise money for the Red Cross. Mother has her appendix out in the hospital and the girls run the household.
I love this series and have 2 more books to go in it. Below is the victory arch that the troops went through upon arriving home from France in 1919. Ella’s boyfriend marched through it too. This is a good family series of 5 books that your kids will enjoy as much as you will.
More of all of-a-kind family
Oct 10th, 2011 I read the first one; here’s the 2nd book of this short series- More all of-a-Kind Family. Author of the series, Sydney Taylor (below)
There’s Ella the oldest who meets a special young man in this book, Henny who borrows her sister’s party dress, Sarah (author of the book), Charlotte and Gertie; these are the sisters in the family of the book. The polio epidemic strikes New York in 1918 and Sarah’s family is affected by it.
Physicians treating polio in New England, 1916. (photo below)
a New york east side Jewish market/early 1900’s. (below)
(below) Lower east side in New York city. 1916
There really was a Rockaway Beach and in this book the family goes there for the unbearable hot summer.
1910 photo below :
Canvas tents for camping at Rockaway Beach in 1910. (photo below)
Here’s a steamer landing at Rockaway Beach in 1910. (below)
Holland Ave. pier at Rockaway beach in 1919 (below)
Uncle Hymen and Lena meet in an unexpected way. Uncle Hymen is the brother of the mom of the family and the Dad runs a salvage shop.
China Pu-Erh Mini Squares
Third tea review, this one is January’s and its Pu-Erh mini squares cut from one big square.
Below photo- 2 squares I took out of the sample foil bag.
Reminds me of the first Pu-erh tea I tried in November; the round compacted little things, but I think I like this one better. To me it’s a healing tea. I tried it the day after I had the stomach flu (first time in 2 yrs I had that). This tea was a big welcome to me as I only had water in the last 24 hours before brewing this tea.
The color is a rich brown similar to coffee. The taste is smooth and good although totally different from Assam tea. I think I’ll purchase some of this when I finish up all my samples and need more tea. photos below- more Pu-Erh tea from other sources than Upton. One of the squares made 5 ( 5 oz. each) cups of tea.
Below: mountains of Yunnan Simao of China. Wow, is this neat place where this good tea is grown? Must be.
Miss Marjoribanks
I like Victorian novels especially because the culture time period is so completely different from what we have today, like this book- Miss Marjoribanks. She’s Lucilla ( I still don’t know how this is pronounced) and she starts out as 15, reappears at 19 and then 29 years old at the end of the book.
At 19 years old she has a Thursday evening get together every week that includes a dinner and then socializing afterwards with some singing at the piano. This weekly event is not for young people of her town only since she doesn’t believe in that, so a well rounded gathering of married couples, single older adults and younger singles are brought together.
The writer, Mrs. Margaret Oliphant, uses typical writing techniques for her time period- long drawn out descriptions and eloquent phrasing which is sometimes tedious, but for the most part it fits perfectly and is very descriptive in an elegant way.
This author like many others puts in pieces of their own life in the books they write. Margaret (the author) in real life had a cousin named Tom (her husbands brother) and a brother named Willie which are both in this book. Below is an older portrait of her.
She was mostly homeschooled by her mother and of Scottish descent. When she was 24 she married Frank Oliphant, her cousin. It seems so strange – cousins marrying, yet is was common way back when and maybe still goes on. Her husband died 7 yrs later of tuberculosis while she was with child.
There’s one more book to continue the story of Miss Marjoribanks; Phoebe Junior published 10 yrs later. According to Wikipedia, there were the following 6 books on Carlingford where Lucilla lived.
- Salem Chapel (1863)
- The Rector
- Doctor’s Family (1863)
- The Perpetual Curate (1864)
- Miss Marjoribanks (1866)
- Phoebe Junior (1876)
The ending to this book was a surprise. I hope the local library sends me Phoebe Junior before winter is over.
I’m looking forward to reading more of Margaret Oliphant’s books in the future since this was the first one of her 60 or so novels I started on.
red carnations
pansey wreath 1995
