Grandkids, Ginger Ale, Bottle planters

 Yesterday I got to watch a video of my youngest  grand daughter, doing her first crawling. Aw.  The notes said she had also fallen off the couch and pulled dad's computer off the arm of the couch. Shades of Deja Vu, I remember her now almost 4 year old sister doing the same things when I was visiting 3 and a half years ago.  These are my youngest grand babies, I miss them a lot. My oldest grand daughter is married, and has two adorable kids, and her hubby is recovering from back surgery in a military hospital in Texas, due to an injury sustained in Bahrain. I hope he is recovered and able to return home soon, he has had a long time away from his family. This Grand daughter is raising the two  kids and has established her own business, the most creative cakes I have seen! Ones with mermaids, bears, just so imaginative and wonderful. She is super busy designing and creating cakes for customers. My next grandson is working at McDonald's corporate office, will be getting married soon. His brother has just started a new job at a store in Illinois, hope that goes well for him. He is so good at fixing cars and painting them. A grandson in between those two is a grad student, doing post grad studies in  forensics, very smart and studies very hard.  I am so blessed to have such a great family, my kids have done a remarkable job raising their children. I wish I could see them more often but they are between 500 and 1000 miles away, so makes that very hard to do. There are some rifts in the family I have prayed would be healed before I die, but that does not seem to be in the cards. Never the less, I feel truly blessed by all my family.
  I found a great recipe for your own home made ginger ale on a web site this last week. Ginger root is available in grocery stores in the produce section, you need to peel it and then can chop or grate it for use. I keep it in my freezer ready to go. Here is the simple recipe:
 2 lemons, cut one in half, cut the other with a thick slice out of the center, save the slice. Juice the other two parts into a pan. Add 1 cup of chopped ginger and 1 and 1/2 cups organic cane sugar. This
is is in the baking section , in a plastic jug, not hard to find.  Add 2 and 1/2 cups of filtered water and  bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain. Measure so you know how much you have, then simmer to reduce by half. Put this syrup in a jar in your refrigerator. When you are ready to drink, add 2 Tablespoons of the syrup to a glass, and pour in  1 cup of seltzer or sparkling water, stir, ice and enjoy.
 I can only do this idea if someone comes to visit and leaves water or pop bottles behind, but it's a nifty craft. You can use large size pop bottles or smaller water bottles. Cut off the top 1/3 as smoothly as possible, insert cotton cord tied in a knot so it won't slip through into the neck of the bottle, put water in the bottom of the cut off bottle, upend the cut off top half with the wick in the water, fill  the top with potting soil and plant your herbs, flowers etc . Self watering pots. You could decorate the bottles if you wanted.  A good way to recycle  some bottles that might end up I the land fill.
 I am making my first round of zucchini pickles this am, I sliced 3 medium sized zucchinis, and a medium onion, put  them in a bowl with2 tablespoons of kosher salt, ice and cold water and let them soak for 2 hours, now they are simmering in a brine of 1 cup of sugar, 1 and 1/2 cups of white vinegar, 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds and 1 teaspoon of turmeric. They simmer for 5 minutes, then are packed into canning jars and water bathed for 15 minutes. These are really good pickles, and easy to make. Have a great week,  we are looking at more rain, but it does keep the garden producing heavy, Take care til next time