a winery & a punk show

So today, September 27 of 2010 is our 2 year! And over the lovely weekend we went to a winery an hour west from where we live. We did a wine tasting and both agreed on the Tawny Port as the yummiest. We bought a bottle of Claret (the port was too pricey!) and had lunch at another winery down the street from the first one!

Later that evening, we met up with some friends for a punk show (Jonathan's first). We saw Street Dogs, Devils Brigade (Bassist from Rancid - one of my FAVorite punk bands way back when) Flatfoot 56 & The Continentals. It was an amazing show & Jonathan enjoyed it too!

Jonathan & Jonathan (Jay- where were you?)

Meg danced the night away...

An awesome bagpiper...awesome show!

Orchards & Blue Pumpkins

Jennie, Gary's wife, has finally returned from the Appalachian trail! She completed the entire trail in 3 summers and she is finally home! Gary & Jennie are our lovely neighbors that live above us. (And Gary is our handy landlord as well) but more than neighbors, and business, they are our good friends! It was probably our mutual passion for Jane Austen that sparked such a friendship. So now we pass along Mansfield Park, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, the original P&P, and all the Austen classics from living room to living room....

Today, we went to a nearby apple orchard for some picking! It was beautiful and the apples were perfect.

Jonathan was pretty excited that we picked "Jonathan" apples :)

We also picked acorn & butternut squash, peppers and of course...

Pumpkins! (My favorite) We got some white pumpkins for homemade pumpkin pie, and some blue pumpkins just cause they're cute.

Let me know if you have any great recipes involving pumpkin! I think I'll be trying this recipe from a friends blog soon. And my neighbor has a great pumpkin chili recipe that I'm excited to try. Yay for Autumn!

Ship for Joy!

I have always been on the look out for a beautiful ship to accompany me here at our home. And my awesome friend found me one! Not only are they beautiful, but there is just something about a massive ship out to sea riding the ocean, a ship resting in the support of the waters below it, that brings me joy. And how incredibly glorious is the ocean!

How easy it is to run from our Creator, and imagine Him being completely far off. Not believing that he has come near. How easy it is to forget that the power that sustains all of life is so much everywhere that we just don't see it at all! Like fish swimming in the ocean searching for water.

"A fish swims through the sea while the sea is, in a certain sense contained within the fish! Oh what am I to think. Of what the writing of a thousand lifetimes could not explain, if all the forest trees were pens, and all the oceans ink?" -Aaron Weiss The Dryness and the Rain

Moments in the car

My sister finally uploaded some more photos from their trip out here over the summer. I found these awesome select photos documenting our time in the car on our way to Ted Drewes one night. One of my sisters is dating a pleasant young fellow (who is asian) and ...well let's just say, we really love asians. And we end up teasing each other a lot, all in good fun of course. So we all came up with the idea to give our best asian faces as a tribute to my sisters boyfriend (who sadly was not with us)

One thing that can get a little crazy in the car full of five girls, on a nice summers night, is all our hair.

Jonathan's however, didn't flow much. I think he felt left out. :)

Happy Weekend!

The first week at my new job has come and gone. So far so good! I believe I am technician number 19, so it'll take me a while to get to know everyone! On top of the craziness of a new job and a research project, my first exams are coming up next week. However, Jonathan and I were able to get out of the house for a while this past week (to study some more) in the park. (Yes, Jonathan has picked up some OTC readers, they do seem to keep him from squinting while he reads, and yes...he wears them in public.)

Tomorrow morning is yoga in the park with my new neighbor friend. Last week was the record high of 151 people!

(Another friend we encountered in the park.)

Have a happy weekend!

Yes I Can-Can...

As an end -of-summer tribute, I attempted my first canning project with some (experienced) friends yesterday. Our little canathon started out with a little too much ambition as we were hoping to can salsa, mango jam, AND peaches. However since the peaches are past by now, we successfully canned some yummy salsa and an *epic* mango jam...

*Note to self*: Do not go near your eyes after chopping the jalapeno peppers without gloves...

My hands have finally ceased to burn from chopping all those jalapenos...

Elliott was excited for our little project. He wanted to be involved and learn the trade. I told him he was too hairy to be apart of the sterilization process and his paws are too small to hold a knife. So eventually he agreed to watch from a distance...He said he doesn't even like mangos anyway.

I am taking a microbiology class this semester and I admit I was pretty nervous about the sterilization process. Actually seeing all these different types of bacteria (and some spores) under a microscope is awesome but it has sort of freaked me out too! In the end, it wasn't too big of a deal. You just needed the right utensils, appropriate canning pots and some caution.

Isn't he the cutest!

The mangos were fun and relatively simple. We made a simple syrup and then added the mango pulp. Let it cook a while and filled the jars. (and savagely licked everything else clean)

We had so much salsa. The recipe yielded 18+ pints! These guys took the longest to sterilize too. But with some dominos pizza, rich fellowship and conversation, the *8* hours flew by. (sort of...yes...eight hours)

Our mango recipe yield around 9 half pints. I don't think they'll last much longer than a month in this house.

Not only was it fun to learn to can, but I've also never been the taller than any of my friends. Until now.