A Swan and Eggs Gourd Set

Guess what!? Mom and I went to the auction yesterday and we got one of those "Swan and Eggs" gourd sets!! I'm so thrilled. Wow. It's a beautiful one, and I put it out in the gnome garden this morning. It came in a little wooden crate filled with straw, so that the swan has her eggs all around here, but Mom found out that there is a good chance she'll dry out in three to six months if she has air flow around her --- so she's out on the bed of straw in the garden without her crate. Apparently, there is no "science" to drying a gourd, other than making sure that they have plenty of air around them. I really hope that she'll dry out, as I'd love to be able to bring her inside and make a permanent decoration out of her. The gourd is supposed to dry into a very light natural color, so she'd look a lot like a swan. She's just the cutest thing you've ever seen, and the picture can't really do her justice --- but it gives you an idea!

We also got some other decorations for the gnome garden yesterday. Hoping to get some more tomorrow. I won a box of nineteen small gourds for thirty cents each, so we kind of spread those around. I got an old basket that was squished on one side and laid it down in the mulch with gourds coming out of it. We also got four "Cinderella" pumpkins --- which are the wide, flat ones. They originate from France, apparently, and look just like a fairy-tale pumpkin. A young Amish guy brought two of them into the auction while we were standing there and told us all about them and other pumpkins. All thin-skinned pumpkins and squash are edible. All the hard-skinned ones (gourds) are not. So, we came home and baked the smallest Cinderella last night. It's really cool, and tasted nice. Over the next few weeks we'll work on the other three, but in the meantime they make great garden decorations!



Other than putting all the fun stuff out in the garden this morning we've spent all day canning. Today it has been red bell pepper relish, sofrito and broth. We've got to have everything perishable canned up at the end of the day as we're going to the auction tomorrow and off to Columbus on Thursday. Everything is just about finished "cooking down" now and getting ready to go into the canner. Since there are still a few hours left, Dad's making dinner --- that means driving out to Domino's to pick up some pizza!

Well, it looks like our Gramma and cousin will be driving up here for a quick visit some time next week. I hope that works out, as that should be lots of fun. Maybe we can take them out to Stan Hywet Hall, as there is some big event going on up there then. Dad was out at his fishing meeting last night, so we had a girls' night "in" and watched Meet Me in St. Louis. This is the first time that we've ever seen it restored on DVD. Wow. I love the songs in that, and the colors, and the ending. Oh boy. More later.