It's been a busy week in Lake Woebegon

We returned to the Fredrick Meijer Gardens last Friday evening to see Garrison Keillor's summer travelling show again this year.
And I have to say Patient Husband and I were disappointed in the show this year. For some reason Mr. Keillor kept his back to the audience most of the show. I emphasize MOST. There was no energy, excitement - on his part - and there were fewer skits, mostly songs that he sang with his back turned to us. The only time we really saw his face was during his monologue about Lake Woebegon at the end of the show, and while he toured the audience during what he calls "standing intermission." He travels the audience singing sing-along songs and everyone loves this part.

The show wasn't a total disappointment......

especially for Friend Marilyn who had an opportunity thanks to our seating, to step close and have her picture taken with Mr. Keillor! This was the highlight of the evening for us. He was gracious as people stepped into the grass aisle to take photos, he stopped to autograph one of his children's books for a little girl (and received applause when he finished - in thanks for his kindness to her.)

I'm now in the midst of making ketchup. I haven't done much research on ketchup recipes to know how old ours might be, but it comes from Patient Husband's aunt, who died at 95 about 10 years ago. The extended family swears by it. PH's cousin won't eat a certain sausage without it. My son uses it as a base for barbecue sauce. But it's not a simple thing to do. It's messy business and time consuming.

I cut a bushel and a half of tomatoes into chunks

and cooked them down.

I cooked down and then ground in a blender a mixture of onions and sweet peppers.

Now I send the tomatoes through a food mill to get the seeds and skins out, measure the liquid into gallons and mix the onion/pepper mix, spices and rest of ingredients together to cook down.

Then process in jars.

It's a two and maybe three day labor of love. But it needs to be done, there are cousins and children waiting at the door with their hands out.

As I procrastinate on making stems for the main quilt project I'm supposed to be working on, I'm making yo-yo pins. This isn't my 409 yo-yo project, this is a byproduct of that.

I have a gazillion old buttons and it was fun sitting with the most colorful and quirky ones in a bowl in my lap while I sewed them on with a pin on the back for attaching.

They're cute, aren't they? My button sewing skills are poor, especially as I wrestled with the pins, too, but I hope the recipients just don't look at the backs.