What’s New
Homemade Applesauce
The good news is that we are done processing our portion of this year's bumper crop of apples. (Insert crowd-going-wild noise here.)The bad news is that all the appl-ing left little time for trying new recipes for the second week in a row. (Insert groans of...
Top Ten Weather Observations
10. Remember when the specter of chilly fall nights was offset by the promise of new episodes of all three major network television shows? I miss that. 9. The beautiful fall colors and pleasant daytime temperatures almost make up for the fact that both are...
Confessions of a Geranium Hoarder
Hi, my name is Jolene Philo, and I'm a plant hoarder. Yesterday, when the man of steel and I were repotting outdoor plants, preparing them to winter over in the house, I finally realized the extent of the problem. When we ran out of pots, were almost out of dirt, but...
JoLo and J Lo: Do You Like?
A few days ago one of my dearest, wackiest friends left the following message on my Facebook page: Jolene, WHY did I not think of this before NOW? Every celebrity goes by a Hip mini abbreviated version of their name. YOU are a celebrity on so many levels and I have...
Dried Apples
Hiram and I have been doing the Pa and Ma Ingalls thing for about a week now. Ever since our neighbor invited us to pick all the apples we wanted from their overloaded tree. We picked apples for about half an hour, and our efforts barely made a dent in the crop. Even...
Top Ten Things about Fall
Being a spring kind of girl, I am always surprised by people who say fall is their favorite season. But with summer turning to autumn, I'm focusing on what's good about this new season. It didn't take long to come up with this top ten list: 10. Longer nights mean my...