First Rain in Nearly 4 Months

We are just so grateful and happy over the rain that soaked our cracked and dried out land all day yesterday. Ponds here have dried up and it has been a major struggle just to try and keep the little bit of garden we have left going.

I went out the day before we were to get all the rain and took a load of pictures and am heading out in a few minutes to take some now that we have had a good soaking. I imagine to see a great change starting to take place in our beds. While we do continue to water our beds when there is no rain one just could not imagine that rain water would make such a difference.

As our grandson so nicely pointed out to me, when God sends us water it is good for the garden because God has the best water. Boy oh boy for a 5 year old he is smarter than many adults I know.

So stop by and check it out I should have the pics up this weekend but I do have 2 cases of cucumbers that need to be made into pickles today and a garage sale to get ready for next weekend. Should have the pics up by Monday evening at the latest oh and surprise surprise I now have pictures of Loofah Gourds that have finally started to grow. I fear it is to late in the season for them to mature before the first frost but will keep our fingers crossed and see. Irregardless if that happens or not I have the pictures so if you try to grow your own you will be able to identify when they start to grow.

Hibiscus Plant and RaisedGarden Pictures

As I had told you all before my daughter and I really kept a close eye on the plants as they went on clearance at three local stores. Those were Wal Mart, Lowes and Ace Hardware. We found the best deals at Lowes and Ace Hardware.

One of those deals was a Hibiscus, I watched them closely as my mother was wanting one. Imagine my surprise when they went on sale from near twenty dollars to something like nine dollars. Mother had been looking for a peach colored one and I found it. So as a surprise to her we got it for her and were quite pleased with the savings we got as well. Turns out it was a light pink in color not peach, but she just loves it.

Several days after we got hers we went back looking for something else and they were down to three dollars each. Well, even though I had no idea what it really was I wasn't going to pass up that deal. I'm happier about that than you could ever imagine.

I have worked and worked with mine and finally got it to a point where all leaves were green and it is now used to being watered every Saturday.

I got up the other morning to he most beautiful surprise and I just had to share it with you.

Isn't that the most beautiful bloom you have ever seen? Mom said her's has never opened up that flat before, her petals stayed more upright than these did. I was so awe struck at how large and beautiful the bloom was I hadn't taken notice of the fact that it didn't look like other blooms or....maybe that is what drew me to it so much.

I was afraid that in a picture people would not realize how large this bloom was which is why I placed my hand next to it. In fact the bloom is so large that it is bigger than a saucer plate you would get with a set of dishes.

The red center of this bloom amazes me as well. I told my husband that it looked like plastic. I carefully felt  it, the petals are so very soft and the red part not only look like plastic but it looks like it as well.

The smaller of the two Loofah plants has started putting out blooms. I didn't get a picture of it but there were three blooms yesterday. I was thrilled to see them in all their splendor, these are the female blooms and sadly enough not the male blooms. I haven't seen any male blooms either and if that continues to be factual then there will be no Loofah sponges, seeds or anything for next year.

Several months ago I allowed several of the asparagus plants to get very tall and produce seeds. The normal course of action would be that they would dry on the limbs and drop to the dirt. In the past several years that we have had the patch I have seen no new ones drop so this year I picked them by hand there were hundred upon hundred of them. I let them dry in the house, removed the seeds and assured they were dry and put them back in the raised bed myself. We added some perilite to the compost mixture,  sprinkled the seeds out and then put a layer of top soil on it. The taller plant you see in the background is the one coming from seed. The smaller one is an asparagus and it will be ready to pick and eat probably today.

This is our once beautiful strawberry patch. The heat has done a real number on it. I'm hoping that it will come out of it again before winter gets here.

This is another bed of vined green bean plants. I much prefer the bush but will take what I can for now. Some years are much better than others and this one has been tough.

Look at my beautiful Rose! I know its  a bit blurry, I had a bad case of shaky hands today. But all the same this is the second bush that has bloomed. All these plants were one dollar each in Wal Mart, I just can't get over how good they all are doing.

I saw this flower bed at the Mo State Fair. Next summer I'm going to have tat going arond my house

Canned Food Pictures

Yesterday was such a busy day. Hubby and I had an errand we had to run and that took us til around noon. Then I came home and picked up my mom and we went out looking at garage sales, it was a great deal of fun. I enjoy spending that one on one time with her. Then when we got home the busy work began. When we stopped working at 11:30 at night we had 7 quarts of potatoes, 11 1/2 pints of Strawberry Jelly and Jam and 10 pints of Peach Jam. It was a lot of work and it really did a number on me but it is so worth it to have this great food put up for the following year. Had it not been for my husband and daughter no where near this amount of food would have gotten done. They are always awesome to help me out.

This is the Strawberry Jam, I was hoping you would be able to see clearly how beautiful it is but the camera did not do it justice.

This one again was where I was trying to show you how you can "see" the texture of the jam in the jar.

This is th Strawberry Jelly, it had no pulp added  to it so this is just a beautiful easy to spread jelly.

This is showing the 7 quarts of potatoes we got done. That is a quick and easy process to do. It was the first time I have done it and I was thrilled with how easy it is.

The jars in the front on the right side of the picture are the Peach Jam, oh I can't wait to get into that. Not only is it great on toast but fruit is a natural meat tenderizer so putting this or many of the other jellys and jams I've told you about on meat is an amazing experience in cooking, one you are not likely to forget any time soon. So give it a try I think you will love it as much as we do.

Close up of the Peach Jam

Canned Potatoes.

Loofah Plant Pictures

While this still isn't quite a current picture of my Loofah plants it is the next  in the series of photos I've been showing you as this plant grows. Despite the horrid heat and drought conditions we have this summer the plant is growing quite well. The one issue I have is that so far there are been no signs of the actual loofah's. I'm hopeful that it will still happen and at the least am hoping for 1. If I get at least one Loofah then I'll have more than enough seeds to start a lot of plants next year.

This is my second set of Loofah plants. The one above and this one were planted (seeds) at the exact same time. This one has seemed to struggle to just get going but as you will see when I get follow up pictures loaded, it is ahead of the large plant by leaps and bounds. I dont know how many times I considered just pulling these up as they weren't "growing" like the others. So happy I didn't do that.

This is the same plant as the one prior. You can see how it is growing up the arch on the one side, doing a little in the middle and on the end where you can't see there s one plant there that is about an inch tall.

When you compare the small plant above to this one, whih is a section of the larger plant you can see what I mean about the size difference. I'm getting ready to head out this morning to check and see if we got rain and how all the garden plants are doing. So check back with me soon as I think I will have some suprises to show you.

Orange Jelly

Okay friends, here we go this is the AMAZING  Orange Jelly recipe I've been hinting at.

Please keep in mind that these jellies are not just for putting on your toast or bagel in the morning. Fruit is a natural meat tenderizer and using these on pork or chicken can just have some amazing results. Give it a try and come back and comment and let me know how it turned out for all of you.

Here we go! I so hope you all enjoy this jelly as much as I do. It brings the orange flavor out in a strong way, like when you bite into an orange and you get that little tick in your jaw! This jelly will do that for you also. I have a hard time not eating it with a spoon and forgetting about the bread.

Orange Jelly

5 cups of freshly squeezed orange juice.
           let me state here that you can purchase orange juice with no sugar added and use that but you
           will also be putting all the preservatives etc. that they put in orange juice into your jelly. I
           not to do that as that is a huge part of what I'm trying to get away from for my family.
5 cups of Sugar
1 package of powder pectin.

Prepare your jars for canning, have them sterilized and ready to go. Due to the fact that you only process this jelly in a boiling cold bath canner for 5 minutes the jars MUST BE STERILIZED.

Have your lids and rings set out and ready to go, don't forget to put your lids in hot water before placing them on your jars so that they will seal.

In a large pot, do not use an aluminum pot, combine the sugar and orange juice and bring them to a boil. Make sure this is a roiling boil, that is a boil that cannot be stirred down.

Continue the boil until the ingredients are greatly reduced. I found that by the time I reached the required temperature it had reduced enough at that point.

You want the jelly to reach a boiling temperature of 220 degrees. Now to be honest mine never did get to 220, it hit about 217 and just stayed there. I let it boil for about two to three minutes at that temp and it worked out just fine.

Add the pectin and allow to boil for an additional 5 minutes. Again I didn't reach 220 at this stage either but did this step at 217 degrees and it caused me no problems.

Pour jelly into prepared jars. Wipe rims apply lids and rings. Then you will process this in a boiling cold bath canner for 5 minutes.

Makes 4-5 pints.

It is very important that you do not start timing the canning  process until the water has returned to boiling.

As always this is the recipe I use for my family. Your choice to use this recipe is at your own discretion, I can not be held liable for any negative results you may have in the process of making the jelly or canning it.

General Jelly Recipe

Generic Jelly Recipe. There are some jelly's that will make their own pectin and there is no need to add pectin. I will get those listed shortly. But for general jelly like grape or strawberry this will work and turns out just wonderful.


1/2 tsp Butter (not margarine since it's nearly plastic, look it up)
4 C Fruit Juice
1/4 C Lemon Juice
1 Pkg Powder Pectin
4 1//2 C Sugar

Place fruit juice and lemon in a pot on the stove.

(I use my cast iron enamel coated pot as I don't have to worry about hot spots in it. If you would like one of those beautiful pots they come in blue and red. You can go to Wal mart and give them $60 for one or watch Aldi's and get them for $20.)

Sprinkle the pectin over the top of the liquid, no heat or stirring needed at this point.

Let the pectin sit for 1 minute and then stir it in.

Turn your heat on and get the liquids to a rolling boil. (a boil that cannot be stirred down)

Once you have reached a rolling boil stir in all sugar at once. Stir constantly to get the sugar dissolved and returned to a rolling boil.

The last rolling boil needs to be sustained for several minutes, I use a candy thermometer and when I get in the range of 217 to 220 degrees I keep it there for 1 minute.

Once jelly's are finished ladle out into canning jars if you are going to process them. I process them for 15 minutes in a cold bath canner. The water in the canner must be boiling as you start your time when the water is boiling not when you put the jars in.

If you are not going to can it then put it in a container and let cool then put it in the refrigerator.


This is one of the recipes I use in my home for my family. While we have never had any problems with it I cannot be held liable for your decision to use this and for any possible problems you may have with it or your canning process.

Orange Jelly and Corn Relish

It's to late tonight and I'm exhausted but tomorrow I will be sharing the new recipes I tried today. Orange Jelly and Corn Relish.

The Orange Jelly is so amazing.....I just can't explain it, really you are going to have to try this recipe out. As a matter of fact I have the same thing to say about Corn Relish.

See you tomorrow and I oh so hope you enjoy these as much as we are!

Mint Jelly (using fresh mint from your garden)

Mint Jelly

Read this recipe all the way through before beginning. I made some adjustments and changes to it as I did mine. You can follow what I did or follow the recipe, whichever way works best for you. Following this recipe is a personal choice, I can't be help responsible for any negative results you get from using it or storing it.

3 cups packed Mint Leaves
Green Food Coloring
4 cups Sugar
1 pkg, powdered pectin




This recipe calls for using Mint leaves, so if you have Mint  in your garden this is a good recipe for it.

Pick and wash fresh mint leaves carefully and bring to a boil with 3 3/4 cup of water.
       (I went a step further with mine and tore my leaves in half)

Steep (leave the leaves sitting in the water off of heat source) for at least 10 minutes. (I let mine sit for about 20 minutes to assure I had a good amount of mint flavoring)

Strain through a double layer of cheesecloth and measure out 3 cups of the mint infusion. (I didn't have cheese cloth but did have one of the wire strainers that has very small holes, it worked great)
 a few drops of green food coloring to get the desired color you want.

Combine the mint infusion and sugar in a large kettle and bring to a boil, stirring constantly until the sugar is dissolved, then continue the boil for 1 minute.

Add pectin all at once, continue to stir constantly and boil for 1 minute.

Remove from heat and skim off foam. (I avoid this step by adding a 1/2 tsp butter, it keeps jelly from foaming and doesn't affect the taste at all)

Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal with parrafin. (I also did not seal mine in this manner I put , mine in the sterilized jars, put seals and lids on them and then ran them for 10 minutes in boiling water in my cold pack canner, worked great)

Additional Notes: Once the jelly was done and one jar cooled I put it in the refrigerator. Once cooled I tried it one a slice of toast and it was okay. Not quite as strong in the mint flavor as I expected but you could definitely taste the mint. I have read often where mint jelly is good for use when cooking lamb. We don't eat lamb but I'm thinking it would be great on pork.

Recipes for Cantaloupe Jelly, Watermelon Jelly, and Zucchini Relish

Cantaloupe Jelly

2 1/2 pounds peeled and diced cantaloupe
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 peel of tangerine or orange (I used a zester to remove the peel and it worked out perfectly)

Place cantaloupe covered with sugar in a covered bowl and put in refrigerator for 24 hours.

Drain the cantaloupe, pouring off the sugar and liquid in a large saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat and boil for 5 minutes.

Add diced cantaloupe, vanilla extract and peel. Insert candy thermometer and simmer, stirring occasionally until the thermometer reaches jelly temperature (220 degrees) Pour into sterilized jars: seal with wax and store in a cool place.

Makes about 2 pints.

Now on a personal note. I did not put my in the refrigerator for 24 hours. I ran mine through a juicer. I then took the juice and sugar and put it into a pot and brought it to the recommended boil and temp. Then in the part of the recipe where it calls for adding the diced cantaloupe I added the pulp that came out when I juiced it. Worked out so well.  I also did not seal mine with wax, I'm paranoid of that method so I went ahead and filled my jelly jars and put it in a cold bath canner for 15 minutes. All sealed and are doing great as I  followed the directions for doing that from another recipe I found. So those are the personal adjustments I made to the recipe. However,following what I did is a personal choice and I can't be held responsible for any negative results you may get.


Watermelon Jelly

2 cups seeded and diced watermelon (again I put mine through the juicer)
3 1/2 cups sugar
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice (used bottled lemon juice as it was all I had and it worked fine)
1 package powder pectin (I used sure jell and it did not come out as thick as I thought it should          have been so it's more like a syrup than a jelly which is fine with my family  they are using it on pancakes. I've put it on toast but you certainly wouldn't  want to let a small child handle it, there is likely to be a mess.)

Food process or blend watermelon until completely smooth. That should make about  2 cups of juice.

At this point I strain mine, but you don't have to. (if you run it through a juicer as I did this step is not necessary)

In a 6 to 8 quart Dutch oven combine the watermelon puree, sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a full rolling boil ( a boil that cannot be stirred down) over high heat, stirring constantly.

Stir in the pectin all at once. Return mixture to a full rolling boil, boil hard for 1 minute stirring constantly

Take of heat, skim off foam. (I added about 1/2 tsp butter to mine and it makes this step unnecessary and doesn't change the flavor at all, I do this with all jelly/jam recipes)

Ladle jelly into clean hot half pint jars leaving 1/4 in head space. (I used pint jars that way I had one jar not full. I canned the others and put the one that wasn't full in the refrigerator for immediate use)

Process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely away from drafts. I set mine on cooling racks. Then store in a cool dark place. Makes 4 half pints.

I made some changes to this recipe to suit my personal needs,  However,following what I did is a personal choice and I can't be held responsible for any negative results you may get.



Zucchini Relish

10 c minced zucchini
5 c minced onions (I didn't realize I didn't have an onion at the time so I used 2 1/2 c of onions I had dehydrated, worked out very well)
1 c diced celery
3 green bell peppers, diced
2 red bell peppers, diced
1 c pickling salt (I used sea salt, worked great)
2 teaspoons of turmeric
1 tablespoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons celery seeds.
6 c sugar
5 c white vinegar
3 tablespoons cornstarch

Combine zucchini, onions, celery and peppers with salt. Stir well, cover and let stand overnight.

Rinse and drain thoroughly, I did a double rinse on mine, you want to remove all that salt.( I also ran mine through a hand operated food mill, one like you would use to get the juice out of tomatoes and is cone shaped. Sorry I don't know the actual name of it.) You want to be sure you get all the liquid out of it you can, this is important.

In a large pot combine remaining ingredients, add the vegetables and bring to a rolling boil. That is a boil that cannot be stirred down. Then reduce heat and boil gently for 20 minutes.

Ladle relish into clean, hopt pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space and seal.

Process in a boiling cold bath canner for 15 minutes.

Yields 8 pints.

If you tasted this without knowing what it was you would think you were eating sweet pickle relish. This is so amazing I won't make sweet pickle relish for my family any more, they loved it. I did make some adjustments to this recipe to suit my needs, However,following what I did is a personal choice and I can't be held responsible for any negative results you may get.

Rain is so needed, Prayers Please!

If  you read this and you are a praying person please pray for rain. Many are starting to if not already in a bad way due to much needed rain. Our ponds are drying up, our cattle need water, our gardens are dying and soon enough they could make us ration water just so everyone has enough to drink.

Thank you

Zuchinni Relish vs Pickle Relish

Oh how I wish you could have a sample taste of the Zucchini Relish through the computer. I have to tell you we are lovers of pickle relish but we will never make it again. I will get the recipe on here for you as soon as I can. The stuff is amazing, simply amazing.

My husband who doesn't like red or green bell peppers loves it. Our daughter doesn't care for it, however, she is not a fan of pickle relish either.

My parents will be over in a bit for a hot dog cook out and we are going to have them try it as well and see what they think.

Hands down in my opinion its far better than pickle relish any day!

Pictures of Jams, Jelly and Zuchinni Relish

I'm so happy to share the following pictures with all of you. Hubby, daughter and I really put in some work on all of this but we are so happy with the outcome. I can't wait to get the recipes on here for you all to try out if you prefer.

I also wanted to add that I'm in the process of making a Zuchinni Relish. I have been told that if I will make this for my family they will never want pickle relish again, so we will see how that turns out.

The short jar on the left is the Mint Jelly. Made out of a Speariment Plant that I've been growing all summer long. Not to worry, the plant was not destroyed and does have a lot of new leaves starting. The Red jar is Watermelon Jelly and the Orange/Yellow jars on the right are Cantalope Jelly

I should have added a touch more green to this to make the color a bit brighter but sure wasn't thinking  about it.

These are jars we had already done. Left is Blackberry Jelly and Right is Peach jam,

This is the start of the Zuchinni Relish. You start by putting in ten cups of Zuchinni, 5 cups of chopped onions. I cheated and used 2 1/2 cups of dehrdrated onions I already had, 3 Green Peppers,  2 Red Peppers and 1 cup of salt. This has to sit overnight and then you finish it up the next day. When I get it done and they have gotten to taste test it I'll let you know how it turns out. They say that once you have this you will never want pickle rilish again.

What a busy day!

Okay I have a few more minutes here to breathe, (lg inhale).

It certainly has been a busy day. Got up at 6:30 am, picked my mom up and we went and picked blackberry's. It was a good thing we went today because they are just about done for this season. I have determined that we are starting a blackberry patch here at the house. We picked on flat for mom and it cost her $30.00.

I understand the concept of having a business and making money, I used to be the regional manager of five retail stores. I do however believe there is a difference in making money and just flat ripping people off. So many people, primarily our children, need to be eating fresh fruits and vegetables, they simply cannot afford it. While waiting for our Tomato's to be ready my mom stopped at a road produce stand and they charged her $5 for three Tomato's. That is just insane! 

If you and I went to Wal Mart, each of us having $200 to spend, one of allowed to purchase only things that are good for you and healthy and the other only allowed to purchase junk food, the person purchasing junk food would have so much more food in their cart. And they wonder why in America we have such a problem with overweight people. The economy stinks, jobs are hard to find and you have to buy to eat what you can afford. (That coupled with the fact that game stations and TVs are the best babysitters, instead of getting kids outside running and playing ) Okay I'm off my soap box now.

After we got her Blackberry's we stopped at a couple of garage sales and then came on home.

Mint Jelly and Cantelope Jam has been made. I started Grand Scale Zuchinni Relish. You mix half of it together and then it has to sit for 24 hours before you can finish it. I had to get out of the kitchen for a few so hubby could make supper and then I'm back in there to finish up the Watermelon jelly, probably two batches of that. Again it's a good deal I have help because this is just too much in one day.

Then once it starts cooling off outside we have to go out and get another bed of green beans and a bed of peas planted. It's a good thing they are only 4x4 beds. I may not even make it out to get that done, hubby may have to do it without me because my CHP is really kicking in. I usually don't take MEDs in the middle of the day but I'm going to have to today and hope that I can get it under control enough to go to Church tomorrow.

I'm going to get the recipes I've been using put on here so that if you would like to try them you can. I won't get it done today, maybe Monday, but I will get them on here.

I'm off of here for now I've decided to lay down and take a little rest. I hope you are all having a wonderful day.

Mint Jelly and Cantelope Jam

I have so many things to catch you all up on but I'm so limited on time today. I took this short break to run in here and tell you that I made a trial batch of Cantelope Jam and oh my goodness you have no idea how good that stuff is.

Everything that went in the jar was all natural, didn't even have to use boxed pectin, and the stuff is just amazing. I'm thinking I may have to start sharing these recipes with you all so that you too can enjoy them.

So far today we have Mint and Cantelope Jelly and Jam made. Next on the agenda is Zuchinni Relish and then Salsa. Thank God for my husband and daughter who are helping me to get all of this done. My CHP would never allow me to stay moving long enough to do it alone. We are going to feel like royalty this winter eating all this yummy food that is taking so precious little to make.

July 5, 2012 Garden Pictures, Really starting to see damage from the heat.

 

For those of you new to the blog these strawberries had to be removed from our large patch. My husband and son have started raising the strawberry patch so the size of it had to change. These plants were in the way so they had to be removed. My daughter and I transplanted them into this container and within a day we thought we had killed them. I cut off all the dead leaves leaving the roots in the soil. Slowly but surely the plants starting come back and we have actually gotten about ten strawberries out of this container. My suggestion if you ever have to transplant strawberries, never give up on them, they are quite the hardy plant.

If you are not aware there are two types of strawberries you can get, the plants we have are called Ever bearing. Ever bearing plants will continue to put out strawberries for most of the summer, the other type puts them out one time and that’s it. Ever bearing Strawberries can get quite large but not as large as the other variety. I would prefer having strawberries all summer over having one batch of very large berries.

This is one of the plants in the container, here you can see that it has a small berry that has turned red. You can also see here that on this plant alone there are three more that are still green. Not to bad for a plant that basically had to start all over and catch up with the others.

The two pictures above are showing the range in sizes of strawberries we have been getting. Some have been smaller while others have been quite a bit larger. The really important aspect to us is they are YUMMY! (I like to use big adult words as often as possible. LOL)

The picture on the left are the Blue Lake Green Beans, in this photo they look very good. In the next set of pictures you will see how the heat has really done a number on them.

In the picture on the right are Bush Green Beans, I’m not certain of the brand of these. They had done quite well and had produced like crazy. Then they started looking really bad when the triple digit heat hit us. I went out to pull them out and start a new batch but when I got close and looked they are producing new leaves under the dry ones on top.

I’ve opted to give them a bit more time to see if they come out of the damage the heat did to them and start producing again. If they should not start looking better soon they will be removed, compost added to the bed and another batch of beans started for a fall picking

I took this picture in an attempt to show you the base of this tomato plant. That is one plant, when it was planted it had one stem. If you don’t pick off the sucker leaves on a tomato plant they will start growing as well. These however are not sucker leaves, the stem actually branched out under ground and came up like this. The base of this plant is small in comparison to some of the others.

These have by far been the most amazing Tomato plants I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with.

This picture taken at a distance doesn’t do justice to how pretty the Loofah plants are. I was attempting to show you the height of the plant. I will have some pictures later on that will show it better. They have reached a height of about 5 ft tall so far.

The two pictures above and the four below are all basically showing the same thing. I am forever amazed at a plants ability to stretch its “arm” out, grab a hold of a supporting object and wrap around it.

Some of these you can see where they had to reach a fair distance, some sent runners one way and then another and yet others just kept wrapping around in the same location.

The plants “knowledge” that it needs to do this in order to support the items it will produce is just something to behold.

I’ve finally gotten my daughter to just sit down and look at plants with me. I mean really look close like this and see the truly amazing things they do.

July 4,2012 Taking a break from the garden

We took a break from working in the garden today to go and have some fun.

Celebrating the 4th is very important to me.  I have the freedom to work my land as I please, to attend the church I wish without fear and to have this blog and say what I wish based on all the men and women who have fought for our freedoms.

My husband and all three of our sons are among those who have gone and fought for our freedoms. Two of them have lifetime issues to deal with because of it. They have no regrets as many of our soldiers don’t. They do what they do for love of God, Family and Freedom.

Grover Park Baptist Church always puts on a very nice public fireworks display. They provide hot dogs, chips and drinks. We were thankful for the drinks as it was unbearably hot out that day.

We met up with friends and had good conversations and laughs.

The Freedom Riders showed up, what a honor it was to see this wonderful group of bike riders. They have done an amazing thing of protecting our military families when loved ones are lost in war. They surround the families and the services to protect them from the ungrateful individuals who protest their funerals.

The Honor Guard was there as well, what a privilege and blessing to see them honoring our flag and country.

The heat got to baby boy a couple of times and he had to lay down and take a little rest. It wasn’t long and he was up and going with more energy than all of us combined. One of the blessings of being a 4 yr. old I guess.

What a special picture this is. Baby boy getting to play and have a good time with his great grandma Shirley.

My  hubby John taking a little rest and relaxing while we wait for it to be time for the display.

I always detest having my picture taken. I look horrid with all my hair pulled back, but had no choice due to the heat. I  had to keep it off my neck and shoulders.

Addie and Grandma laughing and having a good time. There is no telling what those two were plotting.

Baby boy put on a show for us, demonstrating all his fighting or dancing moves. We had a hard time trying to figure out what he was doing and he kept changing his mind about what he was doing.

In the first picture baby boy and mom are enjoying their time with laughter and big smiles.

In the second picture it appears that baby boy and Great Grandma Shirley are dancing, but I’m not sure what they were doing other than having a good time.

I attempted to take a few pictures of the fireworks but either my camera is not suited for such picture taking or I’m just not skilled in taking this type of picture.

I certainly hope you all had a safe and enjoyable fourth of July  celebration.