Tomatoes and Peppers

 We are back into our late summer routines. We just spent Sunday on Whidbey Island and returned home that evening after the PG family picnic. 

We were moving slowly on Monday but did get light house keeping done and the laundry. On Tuesday Tom worked on taking geranium cuttings and I did my long PT routine and 40 minutes/6.5 miles on the stationary bike.

I edited and filed all of my photos and sent email copies of some to family members. There are always lots of little things to do, and it was 3:45 before I moved to the patio to read, where I soon fell asleep. :-/

We had another bunch of plum tomatoes picked and Tom presented me with a basketful of poblano peppers, so today I was farm wife, processing crops. 

 

The peppers are halved, seeded, and roasted.

Then they are diced, put in cartons and frozen. I just chip out some when I use them.

The tomatoes are halved and roasted with oregano. 

The skins just lift off, I put them in a pot and use a small immersion blender to mash them up. Then I simmer them, with basil added. to reduce them down and thicken them. 

It's a lot of work for one carton of sauce, but it beats anything that comes our of a jar. 

I heard Tom outside mowing the lawn and taking the blower to the patio and front walk. He got his geranium cuttings planted in grow pots this morning and helped me with my projects, especially clean up.

Now I think it's time for both of us to be done for a while. I have two hours until I have to start dinner. I'm going back to the patio with my Kindle. Maybe I won't fall asleep right away. 

The 2022 Phosie-Gertie Picnic

 The mostly annual Phosie-Gertie Picnic was back on schedule after a two year pandemic break. Our Labor Day weekend family gathering has been held almost every year for the last 50 years, and this year we celebrated that anniversary as well as overcoming COVID. As it was we still had one couple who were absent due to that plague, and another family where cancer got in the way. Both are doing OK and should be back in the family fold soon. 

For those of you who don't know the history, Phosie and Gertie were sisters and progenitors of this ever growing family. For many years the Phosies and the Gerties have had adjoining cabins on Sunlight Beach, Whidbey Island. Both original cabins have now been replaced, and of course our first elder generation, Phosie and Gertie's kids, have long ago departed. We still honor them.

We started the afternoon with the Reeder/Foster cabin meeting, the retreat of the "Gerties".  We take our joint property responsibilities seriously. 

As siblings and cousins of three generations gathered, we greeted each other with hugs and checked out the family history displays. 

Preparations continued: getting ready for the balloon toss. 

When all were gathered it was time to raise the Phosie-Getrtie flag and sing our anthem.

Yes, we had 50th Anniversary shirts. 

Then came presentations and acknowledgements. The youngest generation, now all teens and more, presented the Elders, their grandparents. 

From right to left, oldest to youngest. Tom is three minutes older that his twin, Jan. 

Tom Fuller, a Phosie, presented a piece of glass art he created, featuring the two original old cabins. 

Tom Reeder presented Jill with a 100 year old Maple burl clock shelf which was made by Tom's great grandmother MaryAnn's brother for Mary Ann's 74th birthday in 1921. Mary Ann was Gertie's mother-in-law. This is something Jill actually wanted and it finally was rescued from our attic. It was always referred to as the ugly shelf, but no one ever threw it away. Now it will be loved again. 

New member Johnnie, a Phosie, was inducted into the "50 Club", a ceremony the elders enjoy as their kids turn 50.

Next was the group photo. 

Surprisingly, cooperation is easier when the kids are all teens and more. We even got some of  them to still sit on the ground. 

Next up, the water balloon toss.

Winners! nephew and uncle.

Time to traipse over to the beach for the sand castle contest. This year's theme: The Phosie- Gertie Picnic, of course. 

Surf's up. Some of the heat from the previous week would have been nice, but we also appreciated the coolness. 

And there are no more photos. After stomping around in the sand taking photos, I was tired, and retired to the kitchen to help prepare food for the eating part.

There was lots of eating, and talking, and laughing, and getting reconnected. 

It was another very successful PG Picnic. 

September Arrived

 For those of us who like to hang on to summer, having September arrive is not so welcome. But at least I don't have to go back to school anymore, so I can act as if it is still summer for a while yet, since officially it is.

On Sept. 2nd Irene, car keys in hand, posed for her final first day of school photo. She is high school senior now, off and running for her final year.

Jill posted Irene's pic on Facebook, alongside her first school pic, as a three-year-old going off to preschool back in Colorado. 

I made that dress, oh so many years ago, and yet not that many. It goes fast. Now she drives to school in the old family minivan, and gets herself to and from soccer practice. The first home match is Sept 8th. We'll be there.

I picked new flowers for the house yesterday.

Both sides

Outside

We have cool mornings now, but we're still heating up to the low to mid 80's by the afternoon. I had lunch on the patio again today. Here is my lunch basket. The newspaper us under there. We have lots of tomatoes. There will be chocolate and coffee later. 

There seemed to be some confusion about the garden pics I posted last time. They were of a garden we toured last Saturday. We do not have a pond.

When I look at my garden now I see the brown patches and the falling over sunflowers and the tired perennials, but when I took these photos for you today it didn't look so bad.

It helps that Tom got the lawn mowed and the edges cleaned up. 

Watch out for spiders though. They are everywhere. 

Oh, and it's Labor Day weekend, time for the annual Phosie-Gertie Picnic at the Whidbey Island family compound. There'll be pics next week. Wish me luck in keeping up with the fun and games this time around. It's our 50th PG Anniversary, and some of us are getting old.