My Labour Day Weekend

Hi Friends! We had a long weekend, with Labour Day, and it was WONDERFUL! I didn't do any stamping, so I have no cards to share with you today. Instead, I thought I'd share some photos from our weekend! I really needed a breather from work and enjoy the great outdoors and got caught up on some canning. So I started off the long weekend by taking Rosey and Cooper to the beach for a swim...

We are only ten minutes away from the ocean, which I LOVE! It was hot and sunny all weekend long and my hounds were very happy to cool off in the water and have a nice swim. On Saturday Brian and I hopped in our jeep and hit the trails with some friends - first time this year - and we had a BLAST!

 

My friend Nadine and I - she's the one who I made the red butterfly card for that I demonstrated in my "Acrylic Distress" video!

We have a camp set up on some property we own and it's the 'meeting spot' for our trail runs. After we went up and down the hills and drove over logs and rocks and basically 'created' our own trails (it's amazing to me how the jeep goes through everything like a tank!) we went back to the camp for some drinks and snacks and a good visit with our friends before heading back home. It was an awesome day and it was so GOOD to see everyone. 

Early Sunday morning, before it got too hot, Rosey and Cooper and I went on a nice long walk. After our walk, I made some bread and started on laundry so that I could get it on the line and then spent the rest of the day doing housework. Rosey and Cooper supervised, of course, LOL. 

Sunday night Brian and I enjoyed BBQ pork chops and corn on cob for supper. I just put the chops in the instant pot (with one cup of water, 23 minutes) and then finish them on the BBQ with sauce. Amazing and fall of the bone delicious! For the corn, I soaked the cobs in water for about an hour and then put them on the BBQ - so good! Such a quick but awesome meal! That brings us to yesterday...

After enjoyed my morning coffee in our gazebo I meandered over to my garden and started picking more veggies. I discovered more cucumbers, which I didn't realize I had so that was exciting. I also picked a huge bowl of tomatoes, some zucchinis and other squash. I am surprised at how well my herbs are growing this year, which is great because I needed more dill and cilantro for the salsa and pickles I was planning on making with everything I had just picked! 

Nothing beats fresh vegetables and herbs from the garden!

Last week I shared my recipe for zucchini salsa on my recipe page (see recipe tab at the top or just click HERE) but I realized when I was making it yesterday that I had made a lot of changes that I hadn't written down. So I revised my recipe and reposted it for you today, with how I make it. This salsa is so good that I couldn't stop eating it before I put in the jars! Fortunately, I had just the exact amount that I needed for 15 jars! I really want to make MORE - it's that delicious. I also want to give some jars away for gifts, so I'll need to replenish what I give away LOL Not gonna lie - I'm a little possessive over this salsa, especially as I'll have to wait a whole year to make more. So I am GLAD I have a LOT of a zucchini left in the garden. 

I still have kale that needs to be picked - I'm going to dehydrate that - and carrots and potatoes, which I'll be canning. Our corn is almost ready and I still have swiss chard, beans and beets. Except for the green peppers, which were a fail this year, our garden as been spectacular! Now I just need to ration my jars for canning because they are completely sold out in town! Crazy - just goes to show how many people planted gardens and are canning this year. 

Brian started cutting our wood Sunday afternoon and finished yesterday! Seven cords worth! That is a CRAZY amount of work in such a short amount of time. But he wanted it blocked so that he can start splitting it and I'll start stacking. We still have about two cords left from last year so I'm going to move what's left in our woodshed to downstairs - where our wood stove is - so that we can stack this year's wood in the shed. Speaking of sheds, we also need to finish painting them before winter AND change the roof on both of them. We're also in the process of putting up new ceiling tiles in our family rec room downstairs (which is where I also have my stamp classes). This winter we REST! LOL 

This has been such a fabulous summer for us, despite the world situation and no travel. We've definitely made the best out of it and are so grateful that we have our sweet home and yard, our fur-kids and country roads and beaches to enjoy, friends and BBQ's and all our many blessings.

So you are now officially 'up-to-date' on how we spent our long weekend. Now I've got a full work week ahead of me. I'm also going to be making some thank you cards for my lovely customers and birthday and anniversary cards for some of my friends in my "Serene Stampers" group - so I'll take pictures and share them with you tomorrow!

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