Strange as it may seem, but a word, a phrase, or the like will pique my interest and I have to plow into all the research I can find out about that item. It may flutter off rapidly, but at least I gleaned something in this world, I never knew. Sometimes, I think I'd have been better off not knowing, too. lol.
Lois, I tell it like it used to be to some great grandkids. May as well be speaking French. Thye don't even know what a sickle or swing blade is. But they do come in handy helping me with problems online.
I'm interested in what is available, and since the menu is short, it is woods and vines, So I just ask Jake to take phone to woods to and let me take a picture to send to daughter and great grandkids she is now having to raise. they don't know what a vine is. He has had 3 beers and ask me why! I said don't be questioning me when your intoxicated, he laughed and so did I.
My middle, slightly challenged, daughter asks about figures of speech that she comes across occassionally. It is kind of fun to talk about them when I know what they are. What the heck is a pair of spats?! When I play scrabble with anyone these days, I handicap them by saying no computer language. It is kind of like the rule no foreign language words. I have to look up a lot of new references and three letter terms. Like DEI
Well, I use Mozilla's Firefox browser and Thunderbird for email, and learned how to tweak their code to make them look the way I want them to. And I liked doing it! Quite sure I can bore the whatever out of y'all!
OK! had enough of doom and gloom? I have made candied violets and it was fun. But this year I will be learning how to make violet jelly! (Not today because we just had a very heavy deep spring snow.) One can make dandelion, and lilac jellies too. I thought it would be quite fun before too many things need to be canned.
Mary you sound like my best friend, she makes jelly's and jams all the time. she made a hot jelly last week, had hot peppers in it.
Wow, you folks are really creative! I'd not heard of jellies from flowers. Do they taste ... delicate? (Except for the hot ones, I guess.)
I have gotten dandelion jelly at the farmer's market. This will be my first year making them. From the youtube recipes, the colors and flavors are delicate and the fragrances can be infused,
What's with the sealing method at the end? (Tip upside down, let sit for 15 minutes, then back upright to seal.) I've never seen any safe substitute for a hot water bath.
Mary--here are a couple of videos from a channel I subscribe to. She makes dandelion and violet jelly in these videos... (each video is ~15 minutes).
Most old-time cooks (me included) use the "open kettle" method for canning jelly. Sterilized hot jars, hot jelly liquid, hot lids... no water bath. My grandma sealed her jelly with paraffin wax.
As I grow older, learning new things is keeping me alive, hoping to see something new that can still fill me with awe and wonder. The latest thing is the possibility of intelligent life on other planets. The current estimate of the number of galaxies in the Universe is more than two trillion galaxies. At one extreme, intelligent life may exist only on planet Earth. This may be true. At the other extreme, if even one intelligent civilization existed in each galaxy, it would mean over two trillion other intelligent civilizations, some human-like and some non-human. The argument in favor of Earth-only intelligent life is that no advanced civilization has contacted us; therefore, we must be alone in the Universe. What do you think about this argument?
In the gospel of Mary (no relation) it was hinted at that there was so much more information than could be shared/understood. Distance might be a reason why we have not been contacted. Some think we have been contacted. But, either the beings are too benevolent to make themselves known to us more because of our warring nature, and they don't want to stir things up. Or they don't want to have anything to do with us because we are too immature and are an embarrassment. I'm glad they are not after our natural resources like in sci fi movies. Good question. Better answers I hope.