Canning Pickles

My daughter Jewel and I are canning my first Mother-in-law's Wonderful 9 Day Sweet Pickle recipe.  I probably  haven't canned pickles in over 30 years.  Jewel got the pickles and then we went shopping for all the ingredients and cute little canning jars.  We are at the 4th day, second step right now, which meaning we are rinsing the pickles in cold water for three days.  Jewel will have to finish up after I leave for a vacation to California and the Pacific Coast.  She will have to do the actual canning.  We are planning on having 12 half quarts each, one for each month next year.  We also decided to do the Sun Dill Pickle recipe that my mother-in-law made.  It is an easy and great Dill Pickle...in fact the only homemade recipe that I like.  Today is their first of three days in the sun and guess what?...it is not sunny....it is cloudy!Hope it still works!

Our 33rd Wedding Anniversary

Today was Mike and my 33rd Wedding Anniversary.  We decided to go on a motorcycle ride with a new group.  We went to Fulton County Fair Grounds to a Antique Motorcycle Show.   The ride was great, the old and new friends were fun and the show was nothing to brag about.....unless you like rusty old bikes in horrible repair and tables and tables of dumb motorcycle parts.  The food wasn't that good either.  I was at least hoping for a corn dog on a stick but no the only thing similar was a pork chop on a stick?????????? I guess it was OK.  They didn't even have name brand pops.  We did meet a new group of riders who seem nice that would like us to ride again with us on Fridays.  The ride home was pleasant and the big orange moon was just beautiful.....I could hardly keep my eyes off of it.

Well, tomorrow we are going to celebrate again at Red Lobster and if that isn't good we will celebrate the next day and the next....until we have a great day!

Our Second Day of The Tournament

Friday
We got up early for breakfast and it was pretty good.  But.....I hate to get up early.  I think someone should bring it to me.  We went driving around to see the city.  We looked for a book store but couldn't find one.  Can you believe that?  The next game was at 4:45pm and it was a hard game.  They were from Ontario and they were good.  Mike said they played like a small college team.  They beat us pretty badly.  But our girls didn't give up...they played hard and tried to win.  We rested after the game and then everyone decided to go to Little Italy to have dinner. It was a real pretty area and lots of the restarunts had outdoor tables.  We ate at Nido Italia.....we had a whole bunch of tables together and there was live music.  The singer kinda sounded like Dean Martin.  When we got seated he asked us 'where we had been...that they had been waiting for us'.  we talked about going to a movie tomorrow if we have time.  Destany wants to see Bad Teacher.  It doen't sound like a movie for a 15 year old....but when I asked her Mom she said she could go.  She said that we usually do take her children to these kinds of movies....I DON'T THINK SO!  We told some other girls they could go if they want to.
Mike is reading in bed, using a light he brought from home.  Destany calls it his spotlight.  She says it shines in her eyes all night.  Mike suggested she wear her sunglasses to bed.
I will add pictures later today.

Lenawee Magic...Destany's Basketball Team

We are in Cleveland with Destany and her Lenawee Magic Basketball Team.  She is playing in the Cleveland Cavaliers Continental Cup.  This tournament is held every year and it is for soccer, basketball, baseball, and other sports.  This is her second time to go.  She plays on the girl's high school team and she is only 15 years old....she will be in high school next year.  Kids come from countries all over the world to this tournament....Australia, Brazil, Canada, Guam, Uganda, the Philippians, and the United States....it really is a national tournament.
We got here Thursday afternoon and watched a great game by the boys on the Lenawee Magic team play.  Destany said if Travis had kept playing with them, this would have been his team.  They won but it was very close...both teams played very well.
Destany's game started out very shaky....the  SMAC Attack, other team, had only 3 players show up.  They were given ten minutes for them to get there.  Finally some more girls that seemed to be in the audience came over and put on the some  orange shirts that were on the chairs where the original three girls were...some of those shirts didn't even have numbers.  We think they just asked girls in the audience to help them out.  Anyway, the game started and we were happy Destany got to start out the game.  She thought she wouldn't get to play very much but she did. Destany is number 50.  The teams were very closely matched so it was a fun game to watch.  Lots of times during the game Lenawee Magic was ahead. Destany made two Free Throw baskets...so she helped boost up the score.  I love seeing one player on Destany's team steal the ball away from the other team.  She is so good at it.  In the end the other team won, but it was a close game.....49 to 51...I think.

Then we all went to check into our hotel rooms at the Marriott Courtyard Motel in Independence, OH...very close to Cleveland.  there was lots of heated discussions

between the Coach, Dave, the officials,  and the parents of some of the players.

for dinner we had Mexican at a nearby restaurant called Cozumel's.

 At about 6:30pm we rushed over to a John Carrol University for the opening ceremonies for the Event.  Each team paraded in with their name and Country sort of like the Olympics.

 It was exciting.

We planned on going to the Hot Tub when we got back to the motel, but it was crowded...it was small...and we decided we would go later on.  Somehow that didn't happen...we were all pretty tired.
It is a good thing Destany didn't have to share her queen size couch bed....it was more like a big twin size...but she said it was comfortable at least.