Back to Summer & It's Fruitcake Making Time-Updated

    Hi Friends,

  Wow we are back to the 90's F here again. Those couple weeks of no humidity and 70's F were just perfect for working outdoors. We got close to the 90 degrees F today but the weekend shows pretty warm and in the 90's.  I am thinking the lake will be packed with boaters-probably the last weekend many will have their boats out til next year May. especially the large ocean boaters who usually hire someone to winterize and store their boats-so we will get a break from those.

 We have been working most every day on the drainage ditch-still. My main job right now is going through the piles of soil and removing all the large rock and some of the smaller as well.  I will end up with much needed garden soil, and the ditch needs the rocks  Quite the job but the pile is growing smaller. 😀 Hope to be able to finish tomorrow.

  Today my back needed a break so last night I filled up my car with several boxes of items. to donate to the animal shelter's resale shop, and  I am in much need of jeans-so decided to shop as well.

   I was able to find a couple pairs that fit pretty well, and I grabbed one a size up bigger for working outdoors-the only pair I have now is pretty thin even with all the patches. I also found some very large well worn and comfy Harley Davidson shirts-great for in the house, and a couple nice tops. I tried on at least a dozen pairs of shorts and found only one that fit.

  There is a church nearby that is open on Thursdays with a thrift shop as well,  but I didn't make it there, as I needed to also stop at the local grocery store for a few items.  Our main meal is at 2 in the afternoon and the animal thrift shop doesn't open til 10 am

  Have you heard of Jello molds made in Japan? They are a china or perhaps ceramic with gorgeous scenes on the bottom. They also are set up for hanging. The animal shelter shop is working on clearing out-all the clothes were a dollar, and these molds were $8.00 each and they announced on sale today for a dollar. I thought they would be fun to make Jello in but once I got them home I could see these are mostly decorative.  So I hung them in my craft/art room to enjoy. They are really beautiful

I was thinking of gifting the one below to a friend, but since they are really made for hanging decided to keep it. Kitchen pieces from Japan are always so lovely

  I think once you mess up your back, and you still need to lift and carry items, and work on projects-it will just give you fits til you take several days off-right now we are fighting the weather clock so that's not going to happen for awhile So we are both struggling through. If it does not rain we hope to get back to the woods house next week one day. I need to check the propane tank, do some grass cutting around the house, and finish packing up the scope shop. Also we have some items to bring back. 

  Larry had picked up this gorgeous solid oak wood working table-if that's what it is called. In his shop he had set up his metal working shop and also a wood working shop.  I have a perfect spot for this piece so I told him I want it.😃 I don't think we will get much from auction sales with the economy the way it is right now. I started a list of things to remember to bring back. Time is running out too for getting an auction done before winter sets in.

  In my title I  mentioned fruitcakes-I know most in the United States make fun of fruitcakes and don't like them. Yes I know this cake is full of sugar and no way really to get around it but the recipe I use is so delicious, this is a treat for Christmas time and through the following year as well.

    I use a 1700's recipe for a dark fruitcake and have been making it most every year since my early 20's. Larry loves this cake as did his father. So last week I  went through my fruitcake ingredient stash and only needed to pick up a few things. I buy what I need at nuts.com as it is always fresh there and available now as well-nothing in the stores yet locally and I like to bake the cakes early October if possible. I also like to dip glazed fruit rinds in dark chocolate-so I made sure I had enough of those too.

  Happy Friday and Weekend!!

    Oh and I think most of our hummingbirds have left today-just saw a couple this morning. Will keep the feeders out for a couple more weeks-for those passing through. The pelicans should be passing through soon and the sea gulls have returned. 

Update: I did a little research online about these Jello molds-these two are part of a fall-winter-spring set by Himark in Japan. considered vintage made in the 1980's From the descriptions these were designed to be hung on the wall but they also can be used for baking cakes or making jellos. They are made of ceramic.

    Here is a photo of the set-found on Ebay   One of mine has the original hanger and the other one was just a thick wire. This set on Ebay was priced at $45.00 plus shipping.  There was also another manufacture in Japan Gailstyn-Dutton. The prices for just one seemed to start at $8.00 and went up plus shipping.   Most listings specified if the manuf. sticker was still in place-mine were.