A seed hidden in the heart of an apple is an orchard invisible. ~Welsh Proverb

The ladies, Deidre and Mary Jo and Little Miss Maddie, came over yesterday to do a bit of apple picking and canning. They brought doggies Sierra and Bella to have a play date with Shadowfax. We had a great time...all 7 hours of it! Whew, was I beat. Well, the apples were delicious but small as we didn't know it was an apple tree until somewhat too late to prune. So, quite a lot of work went into making these treats and a lot of experimentation. We made Apple and Orange Marmalade, Maple Apple Jam, and Cinnamon Apple Ice Cream Topping.We also made a couple of Apple Pies to have as treat for all of our hard work. Yummy with vanilla ice cream. We had intended on doing a lot more canning than what we did, but the apples were very much out of reach and very painstaking to work with. I will be heading to the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival in a month and will pick up some more apples to make into goodies. Family, do you know what your getting for the holidays?

I have recently discovered Mountmellick Embroidery which I think is the bees knees. It was started in Ireland by Johanna Carter in about 1825. I love the white on white and will eventually get around to trying a bit of this myself. However, I will probably try it on linens when it is meant to be on a sturdier shinier cotton. Eh, so much for what is meant to be. Just gotta make it work for you, right? Lovely little owl.