The Finished Product

Here it is! All 21 1/2 jars of tomatoes and 23 jars of salsa. Whew! Glad that job is over with. Wonder what will be next? Maybe apples ....

CANNING AND MORE CANNING!

I've been making salsa practically all day it seems. Someone from church gave us three five-gallon buckets of tomatoes. Hmmmm ... what to do with them. Yesterday, we canned two of the buckets which came out to be 21 1/2 jars. With the last bucket we planned to make SOME salsa and then can the rest for tomatoes. Well ... we kept chopping and dicing, and chopping and dicing, and then decided to make just one more batch .... then, oh yeah, we have a few more peppers left, we can probably make another batch to add to it. I'm FINALLY finished now, and it is simmering on the stove. The aroma is absolutely wonderful! We'll see how many jars we get of this. I'll have to post a picture of everything we've canned in the last couple of days. For now, though, here is a picture of the salsa I've slaved over all day today.

Family Reunion

From left to right: Donald Rish, Bonnie Baney, Charles Rish, Mary Corder, Weldon Rish, Chester Rish, Gilbert Rish

Here is a picture of all my dad's living brothers and sisters, except one, my Aunt Judy, who resides in Idaho. Dad and Mom went to a family reunion in Michigan a few weeks ago where this picture was taken. I haven't seen my aunts and uncles for many years, so it is refreshing to at least have a picture of them. There were twelve children born into Dad's family, with three of them dying at birth, and his oldest brother passing away a few years ago. I really wanted to go to this reunion, but our family had just traveled to this same part of Michigan for a short vacation. We really didn't feel like repeating the same trip again, especially with Joshua on board. :o) Maybe we can go next year if another reunion is planned.