Life After Nexcom

I am in the process of processing 25 lbs of fresh juicy sweet strawberries. I was kinda hoping Chemystery would come home and help me but she had other plans. (bed) My back is aching from standing, but the work will be worth it. I absolutely LOVE strawberries. These are right from the field today. I am freezing the good ones and making freezer jam out of the rest of them. So far I have 3 quarts of frozen berries and 9 pints of jam. Still have one more flat to go.

I splurged on a really neat umbrella for the deck. It is a very mechanical one, that bolts right to the deck, collapses down and ties in so the wind wont get it. And it hangs freely with the umbrella part, and covers almost 1/2 the deck. I was so thrilled when I saw it, and just knew that Bob would like it too. He came in and saw it and had a fit! He LOVED IT. The first thing that I have bought that he didnt bad mouth. He is a tinkerer, and wants to improve on EVERYTHING. This is the first thing that he liked just as it was. I was thrilled, really thrilled. The whole family came over and just at 2:00 THE RAIN CAME!! I opened the umbrella, and it covered everybody and the table too. It is going to be really great.

We still need to put the hand rails on the deck, but since it is only 2 1/2 feet off the ground, there isn't much rush. I enjoy sitting out there and soaking up the sun, and watching the wildlife. I even took my play out there to block act one. I had 6 easter egg candles standidng in as the cast, and I had sticky notes for the furniture, and I discovered that we need to talk about the set. I am not at all sure it will work as proposed. Too much running back and forth.

As I was making the jam tonight, I grabbed an old wooden spoon that must have been in Dad's gear. I was using it to stir the sure-jell, and an old memory popped into my head.

I was about 6 or 7 and we were in a very old kitchen. Mom was making fudge. Now back then we didn't have marshmallow cream, so Mom had to make it with sugar and hersheys cocoa. I remember her stirring and stirring the fudge with that wooden spoon. I was sitting on a kitchen stool, and watching carefully. I got to stir it in the beginning, before it got too hot and dangerous. I remember the feel of the spoon on the bottom of her wear-ever aluminum pot, and tonight that feeling came right up through the handle and into my hand. I remember her beating ang beating the fudge until it was glossy, and then pouring it into the pan to cool. I know that she always was upset because the fudge was always grainy, and crumbly, exactly the way my Dad and I loved it. I could never understand why she was so upset with it, we liked it and n't we the ones she made it for in the first place? I always got to lick the pan and scrap all of the fudge off of the sides. Wow, haven't made fudge like that in years. Probably turn out smooth and silky, just like she always wanted it to...