Miscellaneous Monday

Happy Monday to you! Once a year farmers from the Palisade region on Colorado come down to the plains bringing their bounty of Peaches. Last Thursday hubby and I went to my favorite nursery in Fort Collins, where the farmer that I've bought peaches from in the past had set up a tent. I have found that one full box just isn't enough, so I got two this year. Although I used to can in California and 40-50 lbs of fruit was nothing compared to what I'd buy there, I am no longer canning, but simply slice them and put them in freezer bags. Although it sounds like a huge amount of fruit, it really isn't. So on Thursday, I made four peach-blueberry cobblers, three of which I gave away. On Friday, I started slicing them and putting them in freezer bags-I got 9 quart bags. I love freezing them because all winter I have them for baking or just dessert. Palisade Peaches are the best peaches I've ever had; in fact, I cut one up for my cereal today. I got 9 quart size bags out of the batch I cut up. Yesterday I made about 10 more quart bags to freeze. I still have more peaches, though I gave our next door neighbor some.

Thursday night our town had it's summer concert and it was fun. It was a beautiful summer evening and the band was so good.

The clouds and sky were incredible; we left when it started to rain.

I'm off to walk this morning and then I'm sure will have errands to run.
I hope you have a fantastic day-it's the last day of July; where has the summer gone!
Blessings,
Noreen

It's Thankful Thursday and I'm so thankful for the many, many blessings in my life. First of all for His grace and mercy who saved me. Also for family, love and for sight. These two pics I saw this morning while walking. As I've gotten older, my sight has declined(like it does for most of us)and I'm thankful for glasses that give me the ability to see. Don't know what this plant is, but it is so pretty.

I'm thankful for you dear friends who make life's journey so much sweeter.
Blessings to you and yours.
Noreen

The Love of Family

HAPPY WEDNESDAY TO YOU! As you know, last weekend my brother and sister of my heart were here for a visit. We had such an incredible time and Saturday our girls hosted a bbq for them. Look at this food, it was so good.

My brother with our youngest grandson.          Such precious memories were made for everyone.

The greatest Aunt and Uncle ever  held a contest for all the kiddos-they sent them boxes to decorate.
There were two categories-most creative and most unique(I think that is what the categories were).
One grand from each family won a $25.00 gift certificate to Chick fil A.  Boy was everyone excited.
Our time together always passes too quickly, but they'll be out in February to celebrate their 50th Anniversary.  We can't wait.
Hope you have a great day!
Joy to you.
Noreen

Butterflies

Happy Tuesday to you. On Sunday we were thrilled to see more butterflies in our yard than we've ever seen. We have several Purple Coneflower(Echinacea) and Black Eyed Susan plants which were drawing them. We only had a couple of Swallowtails, but tons of the other variety-which I'm not sure about. I loved seeing them and hope they continue to feed off the nectar in these plants.

I am heading to the pool this morning for time with the family; enjoying every last bit of summer.
Hope you have a great day.
Hugs,
Noreen

The Love of Family

Happy Monday to you all. We had the most fantastic weekend ever with our family. My brother and sister of my heart were out for a visit and we had such a relaxing, wonderful time with them. On Saturday evening we gathered at Carrie's house for a dinner prepared by Carrie and her hubby and Kim and her hubby. There will be more pics to follow, but Sue(sil)emailed me this yesterday. They left yesterday mid day to head home to Ca. and it is always so sad when we part. Life is precious and we cherish every minute we all get to spend together.

Kim, far left, Carrie, hubby and myself.  It was a wonderful evening and we all had a fantastic meal of bbq'd steak and mushroom kabobs, grilled squash from Kim's garden, roasted potatoes, kale salad, watermelon and Peach Cobbler with ice cream for dessert.  All 11 grands played until dusk when  they almost dropped and I have to say my dear brother brought a jelly bean game-you may have seen it....everyone gets to spin the dial and then take the jelly bean it lands on. The only issue is that the jelly bean can have one of two flavors-a good one or a awful one(I.e-Coconut or Spoiled Milk).  It was funny to see the expressions of everyone.  I have to say I got the dead fish one and I don't think I'll ever eat another jelly bean; so if you are addicted to them and want to quit, this game is for you. I am not sure how Jelly Belly got the flavors, but we had several people almost lose their cookies, if you know what I mean.
  Today is another special family day-18 years ago our oldest daughter Carrie married the man of her dreams.  We love Brent as if he were a son and he is an incredible husband, father, brother, man of God and son to us. Happy Anniversary Brent and Carrie!
What a blessing to have such a close family, who all get along splendidly and enjoy being together.
I am blessed beyond measure.
Have a fantastic Monday.
Noreen

Nutro Kitchen Classic Review

As a #Chewy Influencer, each month we receive a product to sample. Hunter loved Cesar's wet food last month, so we thought we'd try another canned food. I will say we've used other Nutro products before and he has enjoyed them. Chewy sent us 6 cans, three chicken and three other lamb. As you may recall, Hunter is a very picky eater. I was thrilled when he liked Cesar's food because it makes life a bit easier if I have some wet food as backup.

He's waiting for his dinner.

Hunter had to be enticed to try the food and after trying it for three meals, I have to say he'll eat it if he's really hungry but doesn't gobble it down.  I did notice some loose stools after feeding it to him.

What we like about the Nutro food is that Nutro is made here in the U.S.-something that is paramount to any food we buy for Hunter.  There are no artificial flavors, corn, soy, preservatives, or chicken by-products in the food.  The cans are a great size for a bigger dog, but for Hunter it just takes him a week to finish one can, so we prefer the smaller quantities.

Chewy provided us with this product free of charge.  No review, positive, negative or otherwise was required; all opinions are my own.
You can find incredible products for your pet at Chewy~chewy.com
Thank you Chewy and Miss Natalie for such a wonderful program.
Noreen and Hunter

Happy Wednesday to you!  I hope you've had a good week so far and that the rest will just sail by.
Yesterday was a good day, filled with sunshine and water-which always makes it fun.  Today, I will be going to watch grands at their swim lessons and then coming home.  It's going to be really hot here today, high 90's.  The house is already shut down and the a/c on 78; I imagine it won't turn on until later, maybe around lunch time.  I have a group of three other gals whom I walk with and we decided that we just wanted to celebrate our birthdays by doing a lunch once a year.  Of course, there are little gifts that are shared on each person's birthday...but we didn't want to make a huge ordeal out of it.
So today, we are going to my favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch.  My birthday is in March, one in July and one in August, plus one in November.  It should be a lot of fun; the food is great and the prices good~what more could  you ask for.  This afternoon will find hubby and I grocery shopping; we are Mother Hubbard's Cupboard and have friends coming over tomorrow for pizza and my brother and sister of my heart coming on Friday.  WE already started cleaning so that is checked off the list.  My brother and sil will only be here for 2 1/2 days, so not much to do. I wish it was a longer visit, but  they have a wonderful fur-baby at home they will need to get back for.
I hope your day is sunshine, lollipops and all the things that make you smile. In case you don't recognize that line, it was from a song in the 60-70's.
Joy to you.
Noreen