Sweet Corn

Growing up we always grew silver queen sweet corn. Now as a consumer who loves corn on the cob and white corn I wanted to try to some silver queen to see if it was what I remembered it to be. Because I buy my sweet corn I am at the mercy of what the farmer has decided to grow. My little garden is very big. I think I planted 12 plants. My corn didn't do so well. I had 1 stalk that was very persistant. It actually produced an ear of corn!

It was around Labor Day when I finally harvested this. It was only 3 inches long and it was a little ripe for my liking. I determined that as long as the corn is tender I don't care what variety it is. So I will probably pass on planting corn next year.
On a side note, I can green beans and have bought them from the Amish the past 2 years. My Mom's crop didn't do too well. I have been displeased with the variety. There again I am at someone else's mercy of what they chose to plant. I am seriously considering planting my whole garden in green beans so that I can produce enough to can. I have to have enough plants that are ripe at the same time to get a cooker full.

Aunt Rebecca

Aunt Rebecca no longer comes home for the entire summer. She is a busy college student taking advantage of all the opportunities that college offers. This is bittersweet. We love her visits, hanging out, talking and her playing with the nieces and nephews. She is still a kid at heart and will run through the sprinklers with them or play tag.

But at the same time I know how she needs to take advantage of a summer job on campus or taking some summer classes. These enrich her life, teach her and allow her to have fun with others her own age. She came home for 2 weeks and we made the most of it. I would have stayed longer, but I had my weekly chemo appointment to keep.

We have discovered this fun restaurant in Bedford. It is actually called the Bedford diner. The food is fresh and all their desserts are baked there. We took a few pictures to remember our trip there.


As I look at this picture, I am quite puffy. Thanks steroids.
We also took some pictures as we were saying our good byes.

A weekend with Grammy Rayburn

As I sit here in my sweat shirt with the heater going and snow on the ground outside, it is kind of fun to be 6 months behind on my blog and remembering those hot and carefree days of summer. Anyway I still want to catch up.

Jim's sister Laura had a baby this past September. We traveled to Morgantown for a day to go to her babyshower and spend some time with Grammy.

This is Preston at the shower. Since all of the women were participating in the shower that left the responsibility to Uncle John to watch his kids and he allowed my 2 boys to tag along too. The refreshments were too tempting to keep the kids away the whole time. Preston is enjoying a balloon and you can see the leftovers from something yummy on his face.
Is Grandpa's corn on steroids? No he planted field corn next to the sweet corn. It sure looks extra tall compared to sweet corn. It was a good year for corn and we got to sample some while we were there.
The Rayburn's had a beautiful garden. I especially liked the pretty flowers.
We piled in Grammy's Subaru to go do chores. I have always enjoyed tagging along with Sue visiting and seeing the animals. Parker loves to throw the ball for the dogs to chase and I helped with Molly, Sue's horse.

These next pictures are of Molly. Molly recently went to run with the ponies in the sky.

It was a fun afternoon. Glad we live to close to family to be able to spend time with them

Summer Reading 2011

We are avid participators in our local library. I get excited for the summer reading program. There are fun things to do and prizes to be earned for reading. Both boys are still in the read to me group, which means that all we have to do is I read them books from the library and record the title and pages read.

In the past there is 1 family that is the over achievers and read, read, read. Parker had set a goal to have 100 stories read to him. I am proud to admit that we read 167 book this year! We didn't come in 1st. Our over achiever must be getting a life, cause they didn't even break 200 books this year. Next year we might be in the running for 1st place!

We went to t-shirt decorating night. They had cute iron transfers to do, but my boys wanted to play with the paints. Preston got carried away with the paint and refuses to wear his shirt because it is so stiff from all the paint. This diserves a picture to show you, but I don't have one. Parker wanted the world to know that he loves his mother. His shirt reads "I love Mom." He also refuses to wear his art work.

I took a picture on closing night with the librarians, Miss Jessica and Miss Judie.
I also want to add that I was in charge of the adult summer reading program. We did a chocolate night, complete with a chocolate fountain and a closing party with a belly dancer. Both nights were a lot of fun for the folks that attended.

Delgrosso's

Delgrosso's is 15 minutes from our house. We frequently drive by it and each time Parker asks when we can go back. They have 1 day during the summer where students from the Tyrone Area School District go for free. Being the bargain shopper that I was, we decided to go.

The boys love Delgrosso's. I like it too. All the kids rides are in one area and there are benches in the middle. I would find a good spot to sit down and the boys would go from ride to ride. You only have to pay admission if you are riding the rides, another nice perk.

Parker is getting to the point where he wants to explore some of the bigger people rides. There is one ride called the Yo-Yo. He was a little nervous the first time, but he kept wanting to go back. I think it is one of his favorites.

The stinkers insist on grabbing maps of the park at local places of business and at the park. They want to constantly look and see where they are and where the rides are located.


There is also a fun lion's head drinking fountain.



Mom was brave and tried a few of the grown up rides with them. They aren't big enough to go by themselves, but if an adult accompanies them they can ride. After each ride, Mom was found saying "Mommy didn't like that ride." A sign that I am getting old.

As I write this, summer is over and Thanksgiving is approaching. When we pass the park now, Parker wants to know why all the seats for the rides have been put up and why there is black plastic on the rides.