Getting Ready For The Crowd and Other Musings

We're preparing for a large group this weekend as the Pope Family siblings and Mom and Dad will be here....along with grandchild Katie, who just finished up with summer school at Cuesta. We spent last weekend working in the front yard on the sprinkler drip system. We replaced, repaired, and located sprikler heads that had been long buried from the winter snows! What a job, but Kenny was a big help. We continue to have people stop and tell us how beautiful the yard is....last one was Sat. when two gals in a car stopped and told me that. They said you must spend a lot of time working on it. I said yes, but I love doing it.

My stargazer lilles are blooming and they are gorgeous. They are about 4 feet tall and smell wonderful.

I have heirloom and roma tomatoes and herbs growing in wine barrels on the deck.

As well as a couple of beautiful rose bushes and some pots with smaller plants.

On Sunday we cleaned up Kenny's office since Linda and Dave will be using that room this weekend. He threw away two trash barrels of papers and I organized personal, business, and apartment tax returns and receipts into three large bins and Kenny put them in storage. The room looks great and is all ready for company.

By popular demand I am including my new-found recipe for the best peach ice cream, which we will be making for the Birthday Bash on Saturday (Celebrating Mom, Leslie, Me, Dave and Linda). Enjoy!

Georgia Peach Homemade Ice Cream

Made in a gallon ice cream freezer, this ice cream is fruity and creamy, and can be made in an hour....start to finish!

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 pounds fresh peaches peeled, pitted and chopped
1 (12 fluid oz) can evaporated milk
1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint half-and-half cream

2 cups whole milk, or as needed
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk


DIRECTIONS:

1. Puree peaches with the sugar and half-and-half in batches in a blender or food processor.

2. In a gallon ice cream freezer container, mix together the peach mixture, sweetened
condensed milk, evaporated milk, and vanilla. Pour in enough whole milk to the fill line,
about two cups.

3. Follow the manufacturer's instructions to freeze the ice cream.