Easy Bread and Butter Pickles

Tim wanted some more cucumbers and onions, so I used the last recipe he gave to me.  But, I didn't notice they were called Bread and Butter, which I do not like.  But, I do like cucumber and onions in the vinegar sugar water.  And now that I have actually read the recipe, LOL, I didn't fix this recipe exactly as instructed.  Who cares, as long as Tim likes them!  :D

Here's the recipe by Jenny Jones:
Prep Time:  5 minutes
Cook Time:  2 minutes (Cook time??? OOPS!)
Total Time:  3 hours

Makes about 2 cups of pickles

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar (use 2/3 - 3/4 cup if you like them sweeter)
1 tsp. salt
1 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 tsp. each celery seed, mustard seed, and coriander seed
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
4 firm pickling Kirby (or Persian) cucumbers thinly sliced (cucumbers are cucumbers, right????)

Instructions (which I had not read til just now.....oops!)
1. Place water, sugar and salt in a small saucepan.  Heat and stir until sugar and salt are dissolved.
2. Pour the warm water into a large glass jar.
3. Add vinegar and the three spices (seeds).
4. Add cucumber slices and onions in alternating layers.
5. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Note:  Container sizes will vary.  If your cuces and onions are not fully submerged just add more liquid to cover (half water/half vinegar).

So, I didn't have celery seeds, so I used celery salt and only 3/4 tsp. salt (since the celery salt.....).  Also, I just dumped all of the ingredients into a container, shook it all to mix everything up, and put it in the fridge.

I think everything is mixed pretty well and I don't see any sugar lying on the bottom, so I think that may be the only reason for cooking it, maybe???

Round 2 of the biscuit and gravy from Hardee's.  Today's cup of gravy actually had sausage in it!  :D

Went outside to see if I could capture anymore bird pictures.  Since they seemed to be chirpy when I took this flag out to air on the line.

A sparrow??

Turned tail and ran when he spotted me!  :D

Bluejay.  They are a fairly large bird.

YES!  The Hyacinths will be blooming soon!

There are 3 plants.

African violets in Tim's office

 Went to the post office with Tim today, just to get away from the house for a bit.

Our street runs into downtown Winston.

I wonder if anyone uses these any more?

After going to the post office, we were close to one of our regular thrift stores, so we made a pit stop.  On the way there, I noticed this building.  "ExtraSpace Storage" is what is on the sign.  Not sure if it is for people's "stuff" or what.  Americans have way too much "stuff" and that includes me!  Are you thankful for the "stuff" the Lord has allowed you to have?

Forsythia.

Tulip tree??

Closer view.  Or is this crepe myrtle?  Not sure.  The shape of the tree tells me it is not a crepe myrtle....too many branches, I think.  Well, the flower is pretty, anyway.

Too much light to see the pink blooms very well on the tree in the center of the picture.

 

I did find a book at the thrift.....actually, Tim found it.

  One of the photo prompts for today is, "Every day I....."

Every day I see more blooms on these 2 trees.

Another one was, "Bright."  This scene was a lot more bright in person than appears to be on camera.  I guess the cloud cover played tricks on it.

 Another prompt was "Evening Sky."

This is the flag as the wind is blowing at a good clip today.  Blowing in the cloud cover.

Watched the President's speech tonight.  Very good.  I usually do not care to watch these things, but I'm glad I did for a change.  I pray the Democrats will eventually give him the support and respect he deserves as President!  He's not a perfect man, just like none of the Democrats are perfect people, just like Americans are not perfect people.  We are all sinners in need of a Savior!

Have a great day tomorrow!

Red

Today's photo prompt of choice is RED!

My favorite color!

Today Tim took the missionary out to breakfast and was just getting back as I was headed out to make the deposit, pick up a few groceries while I was at Walmart (that is where our bank is), and then headed to Hardee's for breakfast, which I brought back to the house.  I had a coupon for biscuit and gravy for $1.00!  So, I bought another one for tomorrow!  :D

After I ate breakfast, I started working on our supper.....15 bean soup.

I let them soak over night and drained the water off and added them to a bigger pot.

Step 1:  Add one cup diced onion and the meat, in my case, a ham hock.  Add 8 cups of water.

Step 2:  Bring pot to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

Step 3:  Add one 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, 1 tsp. chili powder, juice of 1 lemon, 1-2 cloves garlic, minced.  Simmer covered for another 30 minutes.

First bowl I had for lunch.  The juice had not thickened up yet.  But it was still good!

Final product after adding reheating and adding the flavor packet.  YUM!  It was really good!  Tim doesn't care for soup beans, but he said he liked this!  WIN!!

This is the bag the beans come in.  The recipe is for fixing the whole 20 oz. bag.

Since supper was fixed, I went outside and sat in a lawn chair to try to get some more bird pictures.  It became overcast this afternoon and downright chilly!  So, I donned a hoodie and had a seat!

Cloud cover blocked out the sun today.

While sitting under the trees near the back door, I saw this bird fly into this tree in the neighbor's yard.  I couldn't make out what it was until I enlarged it on the computer.

 

Lo! and Behold!  It was a bluejay!

Here you can see the blue feathers.

 

Looking up between the 2 trees by the back door.

The tree in the center of the picture (above the car port) is the tree the bluejay was in.  Have I mentioned that I LOVE the zoom on my camera?!  :D

 

The buds on the maple tree in the back yard near the back door.

I moved the chair to behind the fellowship hall.  Thought I might catch some bird action in the trees back there.  Not so much.  I finally gave up and went in the house.

I didn't realize until seeing this new growth on this weeper above the chicken pen that the neighbors have a weeping willow tree on their property, too.

 

This was the only "action" I caught behind the church building and I can't really tell what these are...

...but, whatever the round things are, they are in those trees at the edge of the woods back there.

Very pale yellow daffodils in front of the church.

This one looks white.  I still like my yellow and orange ones in the front of the house better.

And, that's the rest of today's story!

Routine

There are lots of pictures I could post for routine things done around here, but here is the one I chose for today:

Loading the dishwasher

So, one of the ladies at church told the women about a 15 Bean Soup that she made that was delicious.  The 15 beans are sold together in one bag with the recipe on the back.  She said she put a ham hock in hers, so after buying the beans, we got a ham.  We had the ham today for lunch.  Then I cut the rest off the bone and froze it in several packs and kept the ham hock out to put in the bean soup tomorrow.  Tonight I am soaking the beans.  I also froze a hunk to fix in some green beans and potatoes!  YUM!

Here's our sign for the week.  I would much rather be safe hereafter than safe here on earth.  I pray it does not come to that, but it might.  Are you saved?  Have you realized you are a sinner in need of a Savior?  If you die in your sins, you are NOT safe for the hereafter!  However, Jesus will remove your sins if you put your faith and trust in Him and repent (turn your back on) of your sins!  THEN you will be safe for the hereafter!

There is a story behind this picture, and it is not about the buds on it.  I had brought my camera out to take pictures this afternoon.  There was commotion of birds in the tree in our front yard that you can see behind the church sign above.  There were a couple of birds flitting and chirping around in the tree.  I stood behind the church sign watching and waiting.  They were jumping from branch to branch and back again.  Finally, they settled down a bit.  So, picture time.  Well, don't you know, by the time I got ready to snap the picture, they took off!  Oh well!  Better luck next time!  I think they were chickadees, too!

We have a missionary spending the night with us tonight.  He came to the services tonight to present his work in Kitale, Africa.  We support his partner, so we will probably support him and his family, too.  We have known him for years, ever since we were in Buffalo, WV.  He was there with his mom and step dad, but they left the mission field several years ago, but he and his family stayed.  They are on furlow until June when they will return to Africa.

That was my Sunday!  Pretty quiet, the way Sunday's are meant to be!  :D  Have a great week!

Nature

Today's photo prompt is NATURE and that reminds me of this song:

This is My Father's World
Maltbie D. Babcock, 1901
English melody
arranged by Franklin L. Sheppard
published 1915

This is my Father's world,
And to my list'ning ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas -
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world:
The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker's praise.
This is my Father's world:
He shines in all that's fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father's world:
Oh, let me ne'er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father's world,
The battle is not done:
Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and heav'n be one.

Subjects:  Praise, Creation, Assurance
Scripture:  Psalm 24:1; 50:12; 1 Corinthians 15:25



Nature around us is blooming!  We went to Walmart to pick up some groceries and I took these on the way back to the house.

I believe these are Japanese Cherry trees (?)

More white blooms

This phone picture is not very good, but there were red, white, pink, yellow blooms along this stretch of road going towards the house!

So, today has been super busy.  We have a missionary coming to church tomorrow night and he will be staying here in the parsonage for the night and then leave Monday morning.  So, that always entails a bit more work on my part.  More cleaning than I usually do on the weekend.  Plus still doing the laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, and cleaning the church this month.

And, Tim did a devotion for the neighbor from Psalm 23 while Lori and I sang.  Then Tim came home and I helped Lori get Mrs. Morton's leg bandaged and back in bed.  She was very receptive of Tim, and bowed her head when he prayed and listened quietly while he talked.  Even laughed with him a few times, which was good.  You never know when she will have a bad attitude day and refuses to cooperate.  Thank You, Lord!

Cleaned the church, more laundry, sweeping, mopping, general pick-up of my stuff, changing bed linens, yada, yada, yada.  Saving the dusting til tomorrow afternoon, after the dust from sweeping has settled!

For supper tonight, I fixed the Salsa Lime Chicken that I fixed on Feb. 10th for the first time.  Click on the link if you want a refresher on the recipe.  It is super simple to make!  I used Great Value Medium Salsa this time and it definitely gave the recipe more of a kick heat-wise!  We liked Aldi's salsa better.

Praying you have a blessed Lord's Day tomorrow!