A Paragoonah Reunion

 

  We met Karl's brothers and sister (and spouses) at Clare's little home in Paragonah. 

 Love that place!

We always have a great time with Karl's family. 

  

Our first adventure was exploring  a historical Indian site.

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 This rock is said to be an Indian version of the game "Mancala".

Beautiful evening views.

 The next morning we went out 4 wheelin'.  

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 A Geo-Cache hunt.  

BINGO!

At the spring

Picking watercress

 Karl working on his dutch oven potatoes.

Can't gather at Clare's without a game of Horse shoes.

 Show and Tell...Something inherited from their parents

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 And no family gather is complete without Karl and Clare Jammin'.

I was in a Jam

 Actually it was about 10 batches of Apricot jam.
 
My whole jam making life I have been frustrated with Pectin.  Pectin and runny jam.
Most Pectin directions would say  "Reducing Sugar will result in FAILURE." Then they proceeded to call for more sugar than fruit.   I couldn't do it.  I couldn't make jam with more sugar than fruit ...so I always settled for failure.  My jam always tasted good...it was just pourable.  I tried the low or no sugar pectins. Same results.
Runny jam failure.
 Last fall I found this bulk package of Pectin at Palmer Wholesale.
Yeah...It is a wholesale business.   There are perks to being a relative

 
 I love it!

I made super low sugar jam (8 cups fruit/3 cups sugar)  It Set!
I made NO sugar jam (use 100% juice concentrate to sweeten).  It Set!
I made a combination of the two (8 cups fruit/ 2 cups juice concentrate/ 1 cup sugar)  It Set!!!!

And every batch tasted great... of course, depending on how sweet you like your jam.
Did I say I LOVE this stuff.  I think it's kind of spendy...I haven't taken the time to figure out the cost per batch.  I probably won't.  But at the the next Sibling Reunion I'm buying another bag.  It keeps FOREVER.

This should be a paid endorsement...but it's not.  
So if I've sold you on the stuff...and yer' not a relative.   You can get it at the Mending Shed.    Mention my name and tell em' they need to pay me for advertising for 'em.   And Hollie will laugh.   But don't take it personal... Hollie is always laughin'

Fishing Derby

We started our Saturday morning  with Karl's band playing at the 

Fishing Derby at Floyd Lamb State Park.

 

 

When they weren't cooking pancakes the scouts were lawn fishing.

This little girl hooked the BIGGEST fish prize.

 

No city event is complete without a Fire Truck.

Exploring the Historic Floyd Lamb Park

And  I FINALLY got all my "Ducks in a Row."

Snippets of our Weekend

 The Apricots

 

 The apricots are getting ripe. 

 The birds are having a feast and Karl is having a fit.

It's all I can do to keep him from pick them all at once

...ripe or not. 

Early Sunday morning (the ox was in the mire

...or the birds were in the tree)

we did a quick batch of jam and froze some puree for smoothies

 

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This next week we'll be doing everything "Apricot".

The Hair Cut

 My hair clipper must be old, dull and tired.

They have always had trouble cutting Jake's thick hair.

Last night they rebelled...

and started cutting stripes...cool.

Twenty years ago the kids would have loved it. 

 Jake wasn't so thrilled.

It must be time for new clippers.

Just an Observation

 One of our regular visitors might be getting  a little OCD with the Jelly Beans