Hi Everyone,

I have been peeling apples for days it seems. One of the Monger's friends has an apple tree that he calls a pie apple tree. And I must say, they are the best apples I have used to make applesauce or to make pies, which I have not done. When I was making the first batch of applesauce, June said that she loved applesauce cake. "Well," says I, "I just happen to have my mother's recipe box and there is a recipe in it for applesauce cake." When I pulled out the recipe which she had typed out, noted on the card was that this was Grandmother Waller's applesauce cake. I only "tweaked" one thing. Instead of an egg yolk, I put in a whole egg. Otherwise it was exactly the same. Now I have made three of these cakes! One for June and the house, one for our poker party on Wednesday, and one for June and Bucky to take to a picnic they went to last night. I still have apples to peel. It is one thing I can do to help out. June freezes it in quart size freezer bags for the winter.

The pickles will be jarred today, and since I have tested them several times since they were "pickled" I can testify to their taste and texture, which is incredible. They will go into the jars this evening, and then the boiling pickling juice which they have been in for three days, will be poured over them and capped. Then we listen for the pop, pop, pop, of the lids. Then the pickle rock will go back down in the basement until June and Bucky get back!

I remember my mother doing endless canning in the summer and all the popping of lids. What didn't pop was put in the frig and eaten that week. Mother also poured parrafin over the tops of her jellies and jams, letting it set up, before putting on caps. Anything in our garden, orchard, and vineyard was canned and preserved in one way or another. When the chest freezers came in, mother froze a lot of veggies. She and my father would make tomato juice, grape juice, stewed tomatoes, green beans, peas, carrots, anything that came from the garden. She made peach, strawberry, raspberry, plum, grape, current and gooseberry jelly and jam.

August 31st is when I see my doctor regarding my left knee. I am wearing the brace and am not feeling any pain at all most of the time. Once I see the doctor, I will stay here until June and Bucky return on the 6th of September, then I plan to be out of here, on the road to San Diego, via Datil, New Mexico.

June and Bucky are leaving next Tuesday for Amsterdam and a cruise for three weeks on one of Holland America's Dam ships. The ship is being brought across the ocean for its winter cruising of the Caribbean and points south. They will be visiting Edinburg, Scotland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and putting in at New York City, where they will fly back to DC. They are very excited to get away and love cruising on the high seas!

In walking around on a walker, I have some calluses on the palms of my hands. When I was looking at them, I thought back to my visit to Bob while he was in the Peace Corps in Moca, Dominican Republic. A group of young boys, who called themselves the Catorce de Junio, were called by Bob and Harvey, their 4H club. When I was introduced by Bob, the first question was where did I work, and I told them that I worked for the State Department in Washington, DC. They then wanted to see my hands, front and back, and then told Bob that I must work for the CIA because I had no calluses!

Global Warming, anyone? Notice how no one is talking about it right now? Could it be because the world is either flooding or drying up, with farm crops either dying of the drought, or being flooded out. The pundits of pooh-poohing global warming have shut their mouths for the time being, but I am sure their tongues will be wagging again soon. Between Sarah Palin's unwanted endorsements of candidates she doesn't even know, the Tea Party, Johnston thinking of running for Wasilla mayor, the constant news of celebrities and their antics, this country is running amok! That, at least is my opinion. Now about the world.......

Adieu, Adios, Mahalo,
Sally