My Peach pies, Lots of them lately!

I really never make true cobbler which has cream in with the peaches and is so good and rich. Rather I make a deep dish pie with a lot of peaches in it and a top crust only, and put chunks of butter on the top and sprinkled sugar generously and cinnamon lightly on the crust.

Here is what I do for the peach filling. Peel and slice a nice sauce pan full, about 5 or 6 cups, with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1 1/2 cups sugar in the pan, which keeps the peaches from turning brown.

In a small bowl combine flour and a little more sugar and cinnamon and nutmeg and a dash of salt. Anounts below.

Heat the peaches pretty hot, stir in this little flour mixture, add about 2 pats of butter and pour in a deep pan like a 9 x 14 cake pan. Top with crust. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and finished off with small chunks of more butter here and there.

By having the peaches hot when the pie goes in the oven, much baking time is saved, and crust is not burned. Important: make plenty of holes in the top crust with a knife or a fork. Bake at 400 or till crust is done AND pie juice is boiling showing slow bubbles in the exact center of the pie when you punch a hole in it to test. Keep watching this hole, it is not done till it boils. These tend to boil over badly in the oven, messy! I use wide aluminum foil under each pie, cupped up on the edges so the juice is caught.

Fresh peaches or sliced apples or blueberries or apricots all use this same recipe. A general fruit pie recipe. Adjust your sugar amounts by how sour the fruit is. Better not too sweet. Always put in the lemon juice. On peaches only, use one or 2 drops of almond extract if you have it, that makes the peaches peachier. not more almond than this or will ruin it.

Amounts: Sugar in peaches, try about 6 cups peaches with 1 1/2 or 2 cups sugar. The lemon juice and almond extract are very bitter and must have enough sugar. You can taste the whole filling when it is warm in the sauce pan before you bake it. add sugar then if needed. When I bake pie in our turkey pan, I use 8 cups peaches, 3 of sugar plus two tablespoons lemon juice. This makes an enormous pie. And takes a double batch of crust to cover it.

Flour mixture: double these for a larger or for 2 pies. stir till mixed well so no lumps will be in the pie.
2 Tbs flour
2 Tbs sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

have a Great Day! E

Our back yard is in what should be it’s glory time, the great Natches crape myrtles have quit trying to bloom for the most part, they would in a normal year be in full white crowned show off mode. But their smaller cousins near our deck are still beautiful. We were up to the minute on watering almost every thing when the newly implemented once a week watering was imposed.
That would still be ok, but the water pressure is very low in our subdivision now, and when everyone in the town must use water on the same Sat or Sun, we are out of luck up on this high ridge overlooking town proper. I fear for the 4 young magnolia trees. Two are standards, the Magnolia Grandiflora, and two are “Little Gem”.

The 14 large pots on the deck want a drink each day in this hot time, so the rinse water from the kitchen is caught in a pan and carried out to them through out the day. We have fresh peaches, tomatoes, lettuce, cantaloupe, watermelon and more to wash off before using all day long, so this water is poured on the pot plants. 4 pots are white geraniums, some are white periwinkles, some all green herbs, and a smattering of blue salvia for a dash of color. I step out to enjoy the deck many times a day, and these nights too, the full moon is awesome.

I am glad our yard is small, the back is just what you see in the photos. Garage and parking apron take up a lot of the space beyond the arbor. In this time of drought for our southwest, it is hard to imagine the floods in so many other states! We topped out here this afternoon at 103 in the shade, on the north side of the house. E

Lovely little clothing for my big papier mache dolls.

The heat and drought have been oppressive. So what a happy boost it gave me when my friend Jan emailed about some tiny old clothing in a local antique shop. I rushed right out to see them. Aren't these dear? The fabrics are old and nice and the stitching that I have examined yet is by hand and the condition is wonderful! Regular readers here know how I love browns. I am showing several shots so you can see the construction. The apron/bib on the infant's dress is a near square, with arm holes cut one half way down and little straight strips added. The apron is finished with a tiny rolled hem. Tags on the little dresses said from Maine.

A high waisted infant's dress like this looks like an empire style on a lady doll. Very nice! Of course a lady doll would not wear this type of apron. I do not know the age of the socks, they are like some I have found on very nice early dolls before, so they must be all right to go with. Any input? Edyth

Paradise is parched!

As people move into the wild, the wild things adapt to live among us. Towns are spreading into the countryside here as in other places. We have deer for neighbors and other wild creatures. The most stirring sighting was a fully grown mountain lion seen by neighbors in their yard across the street from us three years ago. A state game man confirmed that the tracks left were indeed just that.

I have been afraid the wild boars will show up in our neighborhood here, drawn by our irrigated lawns. So far so good. They are in our county but not in our town. Last week my friend Ruby Lee showed me the tusks of a terrible wild boar she and her husband had shot on their ranch. Herds of these hogs are tearing up areas of the rural south.

Eden was not without its serpent to represent the forces of evil. Lucifer these days for the wild turkey population in our Texas Hill Country comes in the form of these feral hogs.
Turkeys roost in trees at night as soon as they have a bit of size and enough feathers! But wild turkey eggs and hatchlings are prime food for the terrible pigs. And then there are fire ants that have greatly reduced all ground nesting birds here in central Texas. Three days ago on Loudon road four miles from here, Jack and his friend Bob saw a wild turkey hen with just one chick.

With this as background, mine and Jack’s happy excitement yesterday evening is understandable. In our own subdivision we saw a small family of Rio Grande turkeys.. the tall stately mother and her five tiny chicks were near the entrance from the highway. The chicks are so small as to be hard to see in very short grass, and will have a difficult time surviving the next few weeks. The drought leaves almost no wild grass seeds and no bugs for the little things to discover and eat. The hen likely began with a clutch of ten or more eggs. Now she has these five fragile hatchlings. As I write these words Jack is gone on his bicycle with some of the wild bird seed which we feed in our back yard. He will broadcast a little where we saw the turkey family walk last evening. I wonder where they can find water! I hope they do not try to cross the highway yet! We will be watching for another sighting. Jack will quietly put out another sprinkling of food for some days. e

Woven treasures

When we lived in the red cape, we had a nice collection of early textiles, some important ones even, like a rare 18th century set of bed hangings! All those were lost, and I resisted gathering any more for a long long time. But one we use over the back of a settle in the breakfast room at the new house, is a woven coverlet with a border of birds like I used in my rug design "Ohio Coverlet". I could not help but purchase that one even though it has a lot of lost edges. The colors are bright and lovely. Then a few years later I saw a large blue and white one which I just NEEDED to hang over the stair rail in our entry way. This was followed last year by a simple indigo and white geometric Jack found at a local tag sale.

So we were collecting coverlets again after all! Five more have found their way to us. The red and white one with the center medallion is a small charmer, I wonder if it was made for a trundle or a child's bed. I date it about 1850, our latest perhaps. I welcome input and comments on all of these, I am not expert though I have bought and sold at least 50 over time.

The deep dramatic colors of the Pennsylvania type Brown and orange shot through with almost electric blue are gorgeous. It does have damage. Most of the rest are in nice condition with the exception of fringe loss. The Overshot in ochre and indigo and natural cream, is one of the nicest, and has a special fringe, I have seen this fringe before and do not know it's name.

A prize is the flower patterned one with folky birds in the border on all 4 sides, woven of deep indigo and natural. It was given to us by a friend of about 40 years. How can that be!! Surely we are not that old!

The red, green, and natural one will be fun to show off at Christmas, and I think could be used near pots of red geraniums for a spring arrangement.

Handwoven textiles have always been loved here. Last Christmas, our friend Penny gifted us with a precious tea towel she wove herself. I think she has not made many and I feel greatly honored! I want her to embroider her initials on it.

Great Granddaughter Elizabeth wove a wonderful red shawl in our living room for six weeks one winter. I count that one of the peaks of my life experiences. Later she won a blue ribbon at the county fair with that entry. From her early years she would stroke handwoven swatches used in our living room on tables as beverage coasters, she was drawn to these and seemed to know they are special. In the busy teen years she is far from these things, but there may yet come a time many years in the future when she will return to this joy of feeling the fibers in her hands as a new textile takes form. A young woman of 13 is so full of wonderful possibilities! She comes along behind me with so many of the same songs in her heart. Edyth

I like small antiques related to sewing

Saturday we had a pleasant morning at yard sales. Jack bought a dear little Shaker sewing box with some interesting pieces inside. I want someone to tell me what these pieces were for. The three sticks are a bit like lace bobbins? If you know what the little winder is for please comment here and I will post it for others. The box is complete except for the pin cushion. That will be replaced with a poof of early fabric. E

Fraktur drawings

Our Antique study club had a great day Thursday, at a winery owned by friends in New Braunfels Tx. The food and beverages would have suited Martha Stewart.

For a program our hostess had the supplies for each of us to complete and paint a bird like the fraktur found in Virginia and Pennsylvania. We worked on water color paper which had been aged with a wash of walnut ink, which comes as crystals.

Jack drove bravely through a driving rain storm to take Penny and me to the meeting. It brought us an inch of precious rain. The weather did keep a lot of San Antonio members from the meeting. One who did make it through said her son texted her not to go! She texted him back that obedient women never make history! It was a special day to savor and remember. E