Autumn

This week was "Autumn Week". We usually have a theme for each week so Luke and I have some structure to the week, so we both don't go crazy. We had so much fun! We learned why the leaves turn colors, had a picnic in the canyon, made pumpkin cupcakes (Luke's favorite - he was cradling the can of pumpkin puree in the grocery store), and played in the leaves at the park. Here's one of my favorite pictures of the little man as he is crunching leaves and wearing his "cool dude" coat.

Jordan Shirt

Luke in his "Jordan" shirt.

canning

OK, so I know that canning fruit sounds nerdy, old fashioned, economically a waste of time, but I just learned how and I think it is awesome! There is a fruit stand down the street from my house that sells the best fruit and I bought about 75 pounds (gulp!) of peaches and pears. Travis was a good sport, but a sudden migration of fruit flies made sure that canning will be a yearly project, at most.

Whitney, here is the recipe for the Harry & David's Pepper Relish (it's delicious mixed with cream cheese and served with tortilla chips!)

3 cups tomatoes, skinned, diced and drained
3 cups red peppers, diced
3 1/2 cups sugar
2 T salt
1 small box pectin
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 T fresh ground chili paste
2 jalepenos, seeded and diced
2 onions, diced

Mix all ingredients together, except pectin. Bring to a boil. Turn down to low/med heat and simmer for 2 hours until thickened. Whisk in the box of pectin and boil for 1 minute.

beekeeper

Travis says I always have a bee in my bonnet. After 6+ years of marriage, I'm starting to realize that he is right. I am a beekeeper. I love projects, I love learning new things, and I love creating things. So, I decided to start a blog to chronicle my latest "bees" as kind of a project scrapbook. The only bad thing is that it will explicitly show how much I jump from one "bee" to the next, giving Travis concrete evidence that I am a little crazy and create fun but unnecessary projects.

I decided to call my blog "the bee's knees" because I love the phrase. It's cool, timeless, and it rhymes! Until I did a token google on the phrase, I didn't know a bee had knees. Apparently it has pollen baskets or "corbiculae" on the midsegments of its legs, where it can carry pollen back to the hive. In the late 1700's, the "bee's knee" was used to define something small or insignificant. In the 1920's, it evolved into a hip phrase meaning the height of excellence. So my postings are things I think are the bee's knees - small and insignificant, but still fun and top-notch.


Interesting side-note: Other phrases tried to come on the scene, but didn't last (probably because they are weird and awkward) such as: the eel's ankle, the elephant's instep, the snake's hip, the flea's eyebrows, and the canary's tusks. Weird!