Peppers from Retired Mountain Lady.

Flowers from Dancing Mandolin Player’s garden, and vintage blocks from a local antique store.

Plum Conserve, to fulfill my insane urge to can something.

Old habits die hard.  From her perch in heaven, my mother-in-law is smiling at the jars lined up on the counter.  I hear her reassuring voice–“Don’t worry, they’ll pop,”– whenever I hear the snap of lids.

More jars of plum conserve, which involved preparing the plums in two ways (macerating and drying) and cooking with kirsch (aka cherry liqueur) and walnuts.  To be served with cheese and crackers….

Some goodies from the Community Center Tailgate Sale waiting to be washed.  Check out the array of vintage fabrics in those little blocks!  I love looking at them.

Treasures lined up, as I get ready to host a baby shower.  My French Friend Janou is FINALLY going to be a grandmother.

In December.

It’s a boy.

And life couldn’t be any more exciting.

So of course this calls for a party.

And now that you have seen my kitchen in all its glory, I’m going back to writing a short story for Harlequin.  It needs to be done in two weeks, which should be interesting.

Cooking, practicing the lap steel, learning new songs to sing, yodeling, band practice, a baby shower and going to a couple of concerts with DMP take precedence over writing.

But I will manage to fit it in somewhere.