A new way with tomatoes

My daughter has dried tomatoes for years in her gas oven where she has it at the lowest setting for many hours.  This was my first attempt. I have an electric oven with a convection setting.  This is what happened in five hours.

Yesterday I used a recipe from online where you put some olive oil on it.  That did not work, just would not get crisp.  The picture on top actually is what I have to do tomorrow or Sunday.  A friend has a basket of Italian tomatos that I will pick up tomorrow. Most of these will go to daughter because she had a dismal tomato crop this year.

Eighth Annual Pig Roast - Survived

This year one of our guests was an expert at shredding the cooked pork.  He brought along his own tools too.  

Thankfully we had a tent as it did rain some.  Was beastly hot too so the shade was appreciated.

As you can see in this picture, the wind had blown the top off the small tent we had before the event even started.

After the event was over the wind really picked up so G drove his tractor and trailer on the grass and tied the tent to it.  It is always helpful to have an engineer around.

There were about 85 guests here which meant lots of great food.  We roast the pork and everyone brings a dish to share.  We end up with lots of leftovers and a few serving bowls and utensiles too.

Today we put the roast to bed,which meant a trip to the waste management with all the garbage, a trip to the airport at 5:00 am to get my sister back to Minnesota.  

 Can't forget the tradition of the haircut!  

The whole event went very smoothly but I am breathing a bit easier now that it is over.

Green country side.

As expected we have had some taking days. But the green fields are beautiful even when it is overcast.

Trinity College in Dublin

200,000 books, very old looking. 50 busts of famous educators and scientists.

Forgot to make sacrifices

My b-in-law has given frequent warnings that one must make a sacrifice to the magical unicorn pony travel God if one wants smooth travel. I won't forget to do that again. Cleveland to Philly was great. But in Philly we were in the plane on the runway - where we sat for three hours.  After that we were invited to go back into the terminal for snacks. Which by the way was closed for the night. All because the toilets were malfunctioning. I can see the wisdom of not flying for six hours with several hundred people and no restroom.

I arrived safely albeit tired. Picture is of a street scene in Dublin from a bus window in the rain. This post will be my test in posting from a phone.

17 year cicada

They have arrived or I should say, they have always been here but have now emerged from the ground where they have been for the last 17 years.  One source said there could b 1.5 million per acre.  Our woods has its fair share.  One site said the sounds of all of them is akin to a chorus of chain saws.  

The nymph which comes out of the ground  and sheds its exoskeleton. You see they clinging to branches.

The adult gradually acquires this black shell with orange veins and red eyes.

I've added this picture with my fingers to show the size.

Iris Garden

The Iris is one of my favorite flowers. I have make an iris bed on the south side of my house. For the last couple of weeks there have been spectactular blooms. They are starting to fade, but it was a wonderful two weeks.

The last two days were spent with a young woman I hired to help with house and yard work.  We were able to do a lot of weeding and fertilizing of flowers so others should be showing up on the blog soon.  We have an Amish produce auction nearby which has a sale three days a week.  Tonight I bought six hanging pots and three flats.  So more color.