Saturday, January 10, 2009

The Orange Chronicles - Day Two

The juice from blood oranges is as beautiful as it is delicious! I love that old glass pitcher which once belonged to the Mister's mom.




I have three of my bloggie friends to thank today. They posted orange pictures this week which reminded me that I have a tree full of ripe oranges! The first is Marianne who posted pictures of breathtaking orange mandalas! Marianne's artwork is just amazing
Mod Girl was next with a beautifully textured post of red and orange objects.
I then found Yaya's latest post which includes a link to Seeker's blog. Seeker wrote an orange poem just for YaYa!
See? You don't have to hit me over the head with an orange crate- just have half of blogdom post orange. And as a thank you I am doing an orange post today for you!
This morning I simmered the oranges that I sliced for marmalade yesterday. They're tender now and the jelly jars are clean and ready for tomorrow!
I also made fresh orange juice for breakfast this morning. I used 32 oranges for the jam and the juice and still have a tree full.
This is my orange tree! We had a good crop despite the draught. In about 2 months the tree will be in bloom again. Citrus trees are the only ones that bloom while fruit is still on the tree. I can leave the oranges up for several months. When they start falling on their own it means I have to pick the remaining oranges.
I took several pictures of orange objects around my house The bird-of-paradise has been in bloom since August. It's past it's prime right now because the flowering has been going on so long there are lots of brown flowers at the back of each bloom.
This is milk weed - I planted it on purpose to attract monarch butterflies. We've had several caterpillars attach their cacoons to the back of the bird of paridise leaves and have watched them emerge as butterflies.
This is a fresh orange mandala for Marianne!
I have an orange candle on the coffee table along with the latest book that I'm reading, the Maltese Falcon. I've seen the movie, with Humphrey Bogart several times and finally decided to read the book. I love the way Dashiel Hammett writes!
The coin at the bottom of the picture is nearly 250 years old! It's a Russian Kopeck minted in 1768 during the reign of Catherine the Great. These coins were tossed to peasants who lined the road to watch Tzarina Ekaterina's carriage pass by.
The rock sitting next to the coin is kyanite crystals in citrine and quartz. The tiny brownish dot at the top of the specimen is an uncut apricot diamond.
The colors in the picture are not true enough to show that the crystal specimen and the beautiful glass pear share the same shades of blue and gold.
This bright orange bottle hangs out on the lanai. After looking at the orange posts I've decided that orange is my favorite color. I'll quit saying it's yellow because that was never really true anyway.

20 comments:

Patty said...

I have never heard of blood oranges. The photo you have looks like what I have always refered to pink grapefruits. Are they two different things?
It must be wonderful to have orange trees. I could use one right now . I have this horrible yuck that I can not get rid of..(cold, cough, nasal junk)

Christian - Modobject@Home said...

Ahhhh, orange! Those blood oranges are making my mouth water. Beautiful!

MuseSwings said...

Patty - these are differrent from pink grapefruit. These are true oranges that are marbled with bright red.

I'm sorry about your cold!!!! Hope you feel better soon!

They're delicious, Mod!

Martha@A Sense of Humor is Essential said...

What great pictures. The oranges look delicious. I love orange, such a happy color.

Debby said...

Wait!!!!! Orange?!!!!! You've been deceiving us about the yellow?!!!!!!! Oh! What else have you deceived us about? I'll bet we're going to find out that you aren't a humorous person after all.

ChaChaneen said...

Oooh that just looks delicious! You are just a well of talent that we have barely tapped into. I love how your posting pics of all the steps! Very fun!

My very favorite is Huckleberry's but those come from the north like Montana, etc now that's some jam! I have to order those and have them mailed to California, but it's worth it for a splurge now and then.

Anonymous said...

YAY ORANGE!

Jeanne Estridge said...

I just went and got a Clementine from the basket on my dining room table -- it's a poor substitute for a blood orange, but, thanks to your post, I had to eat something orange!

Jane In The Jungle said...

Yea Orange!!!!Now will you tell us your favorite college football team is the Tennessee Volunteers, you know ORANGE and white!! Love the Russian Kopeck, that is so cool, so were you a peasant back them and she threw it to you????

Betsy Brock said...

Hey! I came over to tell you how to do the linky thing, but I see you did it! yea!

Blood oranges...I've only seen them on Martha Stewart! They look wonderful!

Dawn Fine said...

Ha.. nice Orangey post... i want some of that marmalade..well maybe just the recipe..
I buy this marmalade that has ginger in it..it is sooooo delicious...if you like ginger you should try adding some...

MuseSwings said...

Dawn! The ginger sounds good!
Jane - how did you guess!
Yep Debbie, the word is out - not everything I say is true. You just have to figure out which is which...

Janeen - my very favorite jelly is difficult to find - it's not the brand, it's the flavor. Mayhaw jelly. It's pretty and delicious.

Betsy - contrary to popular belief - I haven't figured it out yet - or understand who sets it up but I think i've found an on line help source. Yep Martha has the oranges too - she has all the really good things in her kitchen.

Anonymous said...

The oranges look so good. It looks wonderful where you are.We are having a snow storm.

dianasfaria.com said...

I envy your orange tree! I love oranges!

soulbrush said...

now i find out that you are practical as well as flighty and imaginative, will enter that into my 'facts on muse' page. great, warm photos, just right for this brrrrrrr morning.

Anonymous said...

Hello to all,
I loved the photos you took of the blood orange.It must be great to have your own tree in the yard.I would like to offer you and your readers free samples of our organic blood orange juice from Sicily. We combine all 3 species,(Moro-Tarocco+Sanguinello)to make our juice.It is bottled in an attractive 16 oz glass bottle and can be shipped for sampling upon response. We would appreciate your honest opinion and different applications that can be applied.,Send an e mail from info page contact with shipment details and we will send directlt to you. Thanks again for all the great comments. Ciao,Alfredo

Maude Lynn said...

I would love to have an orange tree!

Blicky Kitty said...

Oh I love orange too. So happy and yummy.
*
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?
*
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?
*
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange you glad I didn't say banana again?

Cassoulet Cafe said...

How have I never been to your blog? This post was just gorgeous. And blood oranges are so scrumptious, especially juice. It reminds me of Italy...

marianne said...

Love these photo´s! Gorgeous!
Thanks for mentioning me. Glad that I was of any help to you!