Choking on this cherry is quite possible… more lake-tales

lakesunsetBeing at the lake all nestled in, snug as a bug, my thoughts rebel at re-entering civilization. Nights are getting shorter and mornings cooler and what the heck, is that a tree with yellow leaves? Say it aint soooooooo !!!

The geese are honking and starting to gather in packs or is it flocks? It was a scorcher last week, getting into the low 30’s (that is Celsius) then went to 13 Celsius on Saturday brrrr? Needless to say it was cold and we got more rain on Saturday than all summer.

So what does this all mean.. well.. nothing to me. I am on ‘lake-time’ so I decided I should make choke-cherry jam.. well jelly is the proper term. I would like to take some jars of this delicacy down south to my American friends. I wonder if they have choke cherries there or do they call them by another name?images (140)

If you ever eat one of these berries make sure to spit out the stone, otherwise you will choke on it. They are sooooo sour you wouldn’t eat them anyway, you would have to choke it down.. ok I’m done.

untitled (110)Three cups of chokecherry juice to 6 cups of sugar makes the jelly palatable.. I knew there was a reason I liked this jelly so much , geeze! Ah well , the more amazing fact is that I am making it at all.. I am a canning virgin! I know… well actually who do you know that still makes anything from scratch? And.. I  could be a virgin at something .. right?

The jelly isn’t quite made, but I have the juice and a whole big mess in my kitchen, from mashing berries and putting them though a sieve. Now all I need is Certo (thickener for the jelly), jars and sugar.. lots and lots of sugar! Well I got the fist part done on the rainy Saturday but, dam.. the sun came out yesterday and.. well.. the pontoon boat called out to me “lets go fishing”.

Some of you may know I developed a recent allergy to fish.. BUT not to fishing. I really like fishing.. thermos of coffee or a cold drink, a good book or just a good fishing buddy (my cousin), maybe a few snacks.imagesR2IKBFUU

Well that big fish I caught had to be released because neither one of us wanted to clean it. We are the catchers of the fish, not the cleaners, we keep them alive just in case there is no one around to filet them. Men are good for some things.. I know 🙂

images2GAHLZJUWhile fishing we  reviewed the worlds problems and agreed none are as important as those in our own backyard. We agreed our kids will always annoy us as we do them, men are the bane of our existence and .. and.. isn’t it time for a snack anyway?

One of us is  losing weight, one of us is trying .. a niece is almost ready to give birth and some of us are gaining right along with her! We rub our bellies synchronizing with pregnant niece rubbing her belly, and hope our births are soon as well.. so we can unload these extra pounds.

Ok now where was I.. well the weather is changing,  it looks like it is time to start letting go of this notion of an endless summer.  It has been a great summer, totally unexpected for me. My intentions were to spend more time on my invention and less time at the lake this year.images (9)

Well.. being retired has it’s advantages, life decisions can be dealt with on a day to day basis. Coming up here for a couple days turned into the whole summer.. who knew? images (6)

My priorities change with the weather.. hot, swimming.. hotter, definitely spent in the lake floating, swimming drinking iced tea, warm..  well maybe swimming or fishing.. cooler, hmmm maybe fishing or.. why not make choke-cherry jelly?

One thing I know for sure , my virgin canning days are almost over .. I hope my southern American friends appreciate this deflowering. It is the prime reason for making this jelly, I want to impress them. If they have to choke it down … ok enough already.

Summer may be coming to an end here at the lake.. but mine will linger on.. I am going to be like those honking geese and I will ‘flock off’ down to Arizona  before the snow flies.

My goal is to extend my summers as long as possible.. hmmm..  I wonder how hard it would be to make choke-cherry wine? I could be wasting my talents on this jelly….. imagesM1W4BLHB