Hmmmm, what am I doing attempting to do right now. Well, don't think I'm nuts but... I'm digging out about two feet of soil from a planter which is cut into a slope. This will be replaced with Sunshine mix No.4 and some compost. Over the years this has been my tomato bed (5 plants) this is the hottest spot in my yard so the tomatoes have the best chance here. Last year the tomatoes didn't grow that well so this year they went into a new raised bed out in the open. We had the most fantastic summer for tomatoes, they grew gangbusters but most years we need to plant them in the warmest spot in the garden (the tomato bed). Each year I have moved the soil back to front in the bed amended it with compost and steer manure but there comes a time when it needs overhauling. This bed has a fiberglas roof high enough that on the backside I hang netting for beans. When you don't have room to grow everything you want you have to get inventive. The old soil is being tossed on a bed where I pulled out the couch grass, it is also being amended with manure, wood ashes and compost, then tilled. I've planted my garlic in the front and I'll plant veggies in the rest of it next spring, hopefully the couch grass is history. The tomatoes will go back in their usual spot next year so when it stops raining I'll be out there moving more soil. It's pouring right now YEA!!! we needed this so badly the soil is parched even with all the watering I've done. I think we've had the driest summer on record or close to it. Annette

The original recipe called for green bell peppers. I used red because I love the way it looks in the jars. I think yellow and orange would also be pretty. We just got in from picking everything in the garden. We have gone longer this year without a frost warning, and even though it was getting cold, they said there was no frost warning up until 5:00 PM this evening, and then all of a sudden weather.com was issuing a FREEZE warning for our area. Picked about 50 lbs. of green tomatoes. More than half should ripen without a problem. The rest will make pickles, and relish. I always freeze some for frying, and some for that great green tomato bread recipe. I hope you try the relish recipe and enjoy it as much as we do.

annie1992 - yes! I wasn't sure how it was spelled. They and my brother had taken a trip to Italy and France and they briefly were in Switzerland for a bit and I knew they had come across this dish somewhere in that trip so I didn't know whether it was French or Swiss! But they did have a special gizmo with little heating plates that sits in the center of the table and they made all these special dishes. Everyone has a little pie wedge shaped plate, and you heap on whatever you want from the assortment of meats and veggies and then top it with the special cheese - where the name comes from, pop it in the machine and it melts the cheese and heats everything up - it was like fondue but with little plates that grill instead of spearing foods and dipping. It was a lot of fun, but it looked like it was also a ton of work getting all the individual foods ready!! But they always do something fun and unique like that for Mother's Day. We're a crowd that loves to cook and loves to eat and loves to travel, so these events are usually used as an opportunity to try a new ethnic cuisine or recreate something someone had in their travels. And I love it because I get to enjoy everything and not lift a finger for a change! Lisa

One of the boxes of old photo fell from the shelf the other day so I decided to go ahead and paste them in scrapbooks. Not the fancy one s the gals are doing these days. (I wish I had started those a long time ago) but just using a glue stick to paste onto colorful scrapbook paper cut to fit those top loading plastic page protectors. First I sorted by sons then by animals then by me (high school dance bids and club activities) and other family members. I didn't think I'd be able to do it with so many memories flying around but got down to business and am almost finished. Not too many family members left to pass them on to but at least I got them out of boxes. I've always taken photos of my pets and my decorated rooms and different places I've rented. I didn't dwell too much on the past but just got busy and did it.