At last I made the orange marmalade to both our tastes. The is the third batch we have made in as many weeks. The first one I liked, it tasted just as I remembered it but Norman found the orange peels that are in it, too hard to chew. I always blames his false teeth. I didn’t find them too hard but wanted to have some he liked also. The second batch I took the peels and put them through the food chopper and almost liquified them. That gave us a “marmalade” that was more like a sauce than a jam and no matter how much sugar I added it was still to sharp for me. Norman likes it and uses that instead of honey on his oatmeal. Today I used a different orange. I used the potato peeler to take off the peeling and then cut that into 1/8 inch strips, I peeled the white under coating off where it was too thick and sliced the whole orange. Then proceeded as before and this time I have a good looking marmalade that tastes great and has the orange peels that are soft to chew and still gives just that little tang to the jam. I have added the new method to my recipe so I can make it again in the future.
This week I took another batch of toys to the learning center. I took the book “Good Night” and it’s toys and “The Little Red Hen”. They were well received and they asked me if I would like to come and read to a class some time. I would like to but not more than once a week as I just don’t seem to have the extra time any more. I don’t see how I ever worked full time and still had time to do all the things I love to do.
I have almost finished the pink sweater for Christmas. Just two more of these to do and then I’ll start on the sweaters for the great grands. I am making them only for the ones that will be at the Tree on Christmas Eve as I don’t have enough yarn or time to make one for all 21 descendants. I have also been working on finger puppets. I got Goldie Locks and the Three Bears done and Little Red Riding Hood. Patty was here for her weekly visit last night and said she would like a set of each to use with the twins. That is who I really wanted to make them for so was pleased. Now I will make a set for the Learning Center before I start another story.
My blueberries are all growing well and even getting some ripe berries on the small bushes. That is very good for their first year in the ground but it seemed as if I was losing some before I picked them and yesterday as I sat in the living room visiting with Patty I was looking out the front window looking at the blueberry bush in the pot on the patio and a Mocking bird came and flew off with a ripe blueberry in his bill. I guess that is who is stealing my berries. The big pine tree across the street is just loaded with birds so I will have to find someway of convincing the birds to leave my berries alone.
Have a great day
Oumapetts's Blog 
That marmalade looks lovely!! As for blueberry plants, they were advertised here last week for $40. on sale, down from $44. Ours never cost that much a few years ago. John ties pastic strips on the plants to keep the birds away. It is still cold and damp here, aas usual. We had furnace fire all day yesterday. Some day it will get warm and sunny again!
Thank you for the tips on the strips, I’ll try that and hope it keeps the mocking birds off my bushes. We are so lucky, our blueberries were $9.95 each. They are very small, one gallon pots but they are breed for Florida. The regular blueberries will not grow in zone 10 because we don’t have a cold winter and regular blueberries need a rest period in the winter. These do bear berries in the spring and early summer, I would guess they do their resting in the hot summer. I do know they lose many of their leaves in the summer but I will learn a lot more about them this year. I do give them water every day, if it rains any day I don’t water otherwise I water well each day and I was told to be sure and keep the roots moist at all times and we are in a very bad drought. Joe and Holly sent me a gift card from amazon for Mother’s day so I got myself three pattern books for small animals and people. I finished a set of the three bears for the learning center as Patty did want the ones I had done. I can get a set done in one day, they are so small so I love doing them.