Orange Marmalade, Day One, And Miscellaneous Musings

Actual Photo - Not Lifted From Flickr!

At the risk of ruining my image - whatever that might be - and appearing domestic, I'll fess up. I spent my afternoon making the beginnings of orange marmalade. This is an actual untouched photo of my efforts. I picked the oranges from our tree moments before slicing them. These are blood oranges - very sweet and juicy with a bright red blush. The juice looks like a sunset.

Did you know marmalade is a three day process? The first day you wash and slice the oranges along with one lemon and set them in a very large bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups water for each cup of sliced oranges. In this case I have 8 cups of oranges so I added 12 cups of water to the bowl. These will sit over night.

Tomorrow, day two, I will put the oranges and water into a large pot and cook them slowly for one to two hours until they are tender. Then I'll let them cool and sit overnight again.

On day three, Sunday, I will add 8 cups of sugar - one cup for each cup of fruit - and cook 20 minutes or until the mixture sheets off of a spoon.

Then I will put the marmalade into jelly jars, seal them, buy a truck load of crumpets and English muffins and enjoy.

The color of the marmalade is a brighter orange than most because of the red juice. This is a sweet marmalade unlike the more traditional version that's made with bitter oranges.

Perhaps I'll bring a few jars over to Mt. Vernon for the Inauguration Day brunch!

An Orchid of Many Colors

This one of my hybrid orchids. It blooms profusely and whenever it feels like it. It's still budding and has been in bloom since Thanksgiving. Notice the flowers? When they first open they are a light purple. Those in the upper left have just opened. Those on the right have been in bloom for about a week, and the color is beginning to lighten and change. The flowers in the front have been in bloom for about 3 weeks and have made their change to yellow! Magic!

Look up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane?? It's Flyboy and the Mister buzzing the house. The Mister called me just as they were flying over and I dashed out with my trusty camera.

A December sunset off of Honeymoon Island.

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This picture was taken a day or two after Christmas. Just before sunset we took a quick trip over to Honeymoon Island in Dunedin. Most folks were leaving the Island just as we arrived. We spent some time finding shells - mostly turbans, cockleshells and a few periwinkles while we watched the sun set and then we all went out to dinner.

I have to admit we left just seconds after this picture was taken - the Island is unlit and finding our way out after dark is a bit tricky. The correct way to watch a Florida sunset is to wait until it is completely over the horizon, give the sun a standing ovation, and then go home.