A full and happy pantry, plus other random scenes from the week

B. and I spent the entire day yesterday canning applesauce.  Our end total was 34 quarts with a partial quart which went straight into the refrigerator.  (That was the result of processing 2 1/2 bushels of apples, for those who like to keep track of such things.)  I have now found a place for them all in my pantry which is now looking very full.  Here are some photos... if you look carefully, you will see canning jars tucked into nearly every available corner.  

I'm hoping the result of all this is that I won't have to buy any canned fruit, jam, or pickles at all over the next year.  I think we're done with the canning except for making 3 more quarts of dill pickles to get us up to the amount we used last year.  (But those are very easy and won't take us very long.)  I still have some other preserving on my list that I want to get to.  There were red bell peppers on sale at the store yesterday so I bought a bunch.  My plan is to roast them and then freeze the slices.  According to the research I did, I should be able to freeze them in layers between sheets of wax paper and then use them as needed.  The texture should only be slightly different and the taste, so they say, is the same.  I'll let you know how it works.

I'm also starting to hoard stock-up on pumpkin.  As of yet, I haven't found inexpensive cans, but have found pie pumpkins on sale.  So I bought a few.  These I will cook, puree, and freeze as well.  Now that we have eaten a little of the beef that is filling the freezer, I have a little room where I can store other things.

And what did the others do while B. and I played with apples?  They spent nearly the entire day building with Kapla blocks.  If you haven't heard of these little blocks, you should investigate them.  They have been a well-loved and well-used toy for many year around here.  (They are very, very pricey, but they are also one of the toys which would make the cut if I had to pare down our collection to just a few.)  Here are some things they built.

K.

K. and D.  (I discovered later that in order to get the blocks to the top of this tower, they balanced a stool on a chair and stood on that.)

Other randomness... P. took this picture of the peregrine falcon she spotted out the window the other day.  There is a nesting pair of falcons which live on our local library a few blocks away and we will sometimes see one or the other of them.

And two pictures of the little girls to save my mother from the complaints she receives from her friends when there haven't been enough pictures.

G., reading

L., coloring

And in return, you could do me the favor of clicking the link and going to my newest article that is up about our field trip to the Grosse Point Lighthouse.