Forest Honey

 So, I finally tried it.....Forest Honey that is. I've been talking about it for a long while, waiting for just the right season, and it finally came.

I should've known better.

Basically, I saw a recipe in a kid's cookbook two years ago, that you can make a type of honey from pine needles. So I was dying to try it. The basic recipe is as follows:

Gather new pine needles
Soak in water overnight
Drain and discard the needles
Add sugar to the water and boil till thick

Why should've I known better? Because I've made candy before. Because I've boiled sugar before. Of COURSE it gets thick like honey. ha. The longer you cook any sugar syrup, the harder it gets (like peanut brittle, caramel corn, popcorn balls, etc)

So, really, this was pine flavored sugar water. Because for 5 cups water I had to add 3 cups sugar. Besides, I was impatient so I used Balsam needles instead of waiting for white pine needles. Oh boy did it smell! (Balsam is the strong-smelling Christmas tree type)

Need-less to say, I am pleased I finally tried this experiment...but wish I had thought it through (you'd think 2 years was enough!) because it tasted horriblly bitter, and I threw the whole thing out, and only afterward did I remember the candying principle and why it would get sticky. :)

So here you go....you can look at this post and see how "Forest Honey" turns out, but you don't have to try it at home (which I don't recommend any way)!

...yes, they caught fish

Sunday, June 5th

Wows on our Walk

Different

I just needed to write this out, just to make it stick in my own head better (there's only so much I can tell myself in my head, then I either need to say it out loud or write it down :)

Is different bad? No. Different is just that.....different.

And goodness me, if I wasn't experiencing different things, I wouldn't be learning so much. Just like the little girl in the above picture. Her new fascination is "outdoors." She loves watching the branches sway, listening to the wind in the leaves, seeing colors of the sky and touching nature for herself. She is a very serious learner, and I could profit much from doing the same.

It just seems, there are days when I need a reminder. Different is just different. Take a breath. Relax. And don't take yourself so seriously Emily! Sometimes it's been really helpful to actually let out a laugh, and realize, there's more to life than my little box :)

So there you have it, thanks for listening. Now it's time to go out and enjoy the sunshine and my garden (I''ll try and share pictures soon).

Book Review: To Be Perfectly Honest

I was really looking forward to reading this book by Phil Callaway. He is one of my favorite funny authors (with books like, "Who put my life on Fast-Forward?" and "How to make life rich without any money.")

Also, the premise of this book, To Be Perfectly Honest, looked to be very interesting.

After reading the book, I am still 50-50 on it. The funny-factor was on the dissapointing side. It was written in journal-style, making it easy to pick up and put down (which I was hoping for a book I couldn't put down). Of his books I've read, this one does not rank in my top 5.

The preimse of the book was as interesting as I hoped, though he didn't take it in the direction I thought he would. I still found the idea challenging to me...to live perfectly honest for one whole year. I find it challenging to think of all the areas we skip or fudge or exaggerate....that these too should be under a truth radar. That idea in itself was worth the read for me.

If you'd like to find the book to read, first I'd suggest your local library. Otherwise, you can find it on Amazon.com


*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Waterbrook Press as part of their blogger book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."*

Absent

Yes, I've been a little absent from the blog for the past month!

But don't worry (not that you were), things are just peachy here. It's just that computer time is at a premium right now, and when I do get a chance to get on, there are other things I need to do than wrestle our computer to get pictures uploaded and blogs written without it crashing :)

As of late...here are some things we've been enjoying in our neck of the woods:

• Spring...green grass, violets, mayflowers, promises of garden growing
• Company visits and large Indian meals
• M's brother visiting for 2 weeks
• Card games and lots of laughter
• Naps
• Cute smiles from a little girl
• Sunshine through our windows
• Long visits in the afternoon and sometimes late into the night
• Still working on schedule adjustments of having extra people in house
• Differences in personalities and the interest and fun that brings
• Eating out
• Playing frisbee in the park
• Good nights rest, though with 2 "wake up calls" in the wee hours
• Wondering how I'm ever going to get anything done round here :)
• Fresh chicken eggs
• Fresh flower boquets
• The expectation of friends being in town
• Family
• Quiet hours in the morning
• Thunderstorms
• Birds singing out my window

Book Review: The Final Summit

The last book I read by Andy Andrews, was Heart Mender. That was a keeper. I was really looking forward to this book, The Final Summit, and honestly was a little dissapointed.

First, it was my mistake. I didn't realize this was a sequel, and so for the whole first part of the book, I was lost.

As a sequel, this book does fine. On it's own, it seems to jump here and there and not finish any thoughts for the first couple chapters. It gets better after that...if you can make it that far without loosing interest.

It was not as riviting a fiction as I had hoped. I tended to loose my place frequently, though that might be because of all the distractions and interruptions in our household right now, and it was difficult to keep picking it up and wondering what had just happened in the story.

Once I figured out what the book was about, I actually wasn't too interested in the topic as a whole. The idea of finding a two word answer for civilazation just didn't pique my interest. My favorite parts were the historical tidbits/biography portions in the book.

If you'd like a copy, you can find the book over here at Amazon.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."*