How to Make and Can Navy Bean Soup

 I made and pressure canned bean soup for winter.

 It's pretty free-form.

Ingredients:

Dried navy beans (or white beans or pinto beans or..whatever) 1 lb 

Garlic 2-3 cloves or more, minced

Carrots, diced

Celery stalks, diced

Onion,diced

Ham (hock or leftover ham from Christmas)

Bay leaf

Peppercorns

Salt, not much

Optional: thyme, rosemary, mushrooms, bell peppers, kale, mashed potatoes

Rinse and clean beans, cover with water and bring to full boil for a few minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let them sit for 1 hour. (eliminates the need to soak overnight).

Rinse beans and cover beans with fresh water, vegetable or chicken broth. Don't skimp.

Add parsley, shredded ham (or hock) and minced garlic.

Add peppercorns and bay leaf.

Simmer about 45 minutes.

Add mirepoix, diced celery, carrot and onion. They can be sauted in butter first or add plain. Cook another 15 minutes.

If using a ham hock, remove and shred ham and return to pot. To make a thicker soup, mash the beans with a potato masher.

Soup is done!

BUT if you're canning it, don't add salt.

Prepare canning jars and lids per best practices.

Add about 2-3 inches water to canner and begin simmering.

Fill jars with solids 2/3 full, fill with hot liquid leaving 1/2" headspace, and remove air bubbles (I use a chopstick). I read somewhere not to use metal. Add a touch of salt to each jar if desired.

Make sure rim is clean, place lid and screwband, fingertip tight. 

Place jars in pressure canner, cover, lock and increase heat. Let steam vent for 10 minutes, then process at 10 lbs. Pints for 1 hour 15 minutes, quarts 1 hour 30 minutes.

Turn off heat and let pressure drop completely. Remove jars with tongs and let sit until completely cool. Lids are sealed if they do not move when pressed. Remove bands, label and store. If not sealed, it can be stored in refrigerator for up to a month

You can modify this recipe to your liking, adding more or less vegetables, ham or turkey, or leave out the protein. If adding tofu, add it later when reheating. Play with it. Toppings can be sour cream, shredded cheese, scallions, chives, croutons, whatever you're little heart desires.

Bon Appetit

Glimpses of hometown, Port Clinton OH 2024

Childhood Home

      Just blocks from the lake

Marblehead Lighthouse

Marblehead OH 

The oldest lighthouse in continuous operation on the American side of the Great Lakes. It has guided sailors safely along the Marblehead Peninsula since 1822. 

 

Ferry to Kelly's Island

No ferries today!

Bataan Elementary School

I walked the 1/2 block to school every day

Abandoned Boat

Port Clinton Fish Company

No fish cleaning allowed at our house. 

Drop off catch and pick up in time for dinner.

Island House Hotel & Restaurant. 

Uppity restaurant where I learned manners. 

Special place, great food.

Port Clinton Fishing Pier

 

Marblehead Lighthouse

Arthur & Carla

Fish

The Shores Condo

Where we stayed for the Eclipse

Driving lakeside

good memories

Grief

It's 2 years since I moved to Lancaster PA and 3 years since I was left alone. While I'm thankful for the years we had, my grief is forever. For the first time, I have no one to share my days with and miss the closeness at the end of the day when we shut out the world, even for just a little while.

"you never realize how lonely you are until it's the end of the day and you got a bunch of things to talk about and no  one to talk to" unk.

Solar Eclipse Port Clinton OH April 8 2024

We were in Idaho, in the Path of Totality for the 2017 eclipse. I never dreamed I'd be fortunate enough to see another eclipse in my lifetime. What a honor!

When I learned that my hometown, Port Clinton OH, would be in the Path on April 8, 2024, I promised myself I'd be there. I'd committed to being there for at least a week so I could see childhood friends, tour, see old sights, maybe take the ferry over to Put-In-Bay. It was even more special when Carla and Arthur decided to join me and flew over from NYC to spend time with me.

The eclipse in Ohio was spectacularly different from 2017 and totally unexpected. The skies were clear, the sun was shining, and the total eclipse looked like a glittering circle of diamonds in the sky...Lucy didn't show. The 2017, the eclipse in Idaho was blurred by the smoke from the forest fires in the area, even though it was a sunny day.

I rented a condo on the shores of Lake Erie, with access to the private grounds and beach to avoid crowds and enjoy the eclipse. 

We packed food, drinks, jackets, and chairs and moved on down to the water's edge well before the eclipse began. There were only about a dozen folks, mostly guests, as the summer residents had not yet arrived. Arthur brought along eclipse music.                                                                                                            

None of my pictures captured the glow of the diamond ring. I was too busy admiring the spectacle to fuss with camera settings. I just set it up, did my best, and reach up to press the shutter button occasionally. 

Believe it or not, most everyone left right after the diamond ring, but we stayed to the entire time. We couldn't bear it to be over.

So let me leave you with this. Arthur filmed the view we never see from the other side...and it's incredible!

Lancaster PA recap 2023

Bye 2023!

Two anniversaries have gone by since I was left alone. I have settled into life in Lancaster PA for the most part. Even though I am free to do as I wish, I can't shake the feeling that I should rush home or call if I'm running late. I'm trying to stay busy, but sometimes I just waste an entire day, staring or sleeping. There is so much to do here, and I have few friends, so I'm fearful of going out alone. My love of hiking and photoraphy will eventually break that habit when I'm fully functional.

I've already been involved at The Creative Factory https://lancastercreativefactory.org/renting studio space to work on my favorite hobby, lampwork beads.

In other news, I had my right hip replaced in April 2023; I went to rehab for 3 months then continued in the MAG (Medically Adaptive Gym) with a personal trainer.

I spent a few days at Ocean City NJ, enjoying the sandy beach and swimming in the ocean.

Despite being active, I was hospitalized with DVT (deep vein thrombosis) and pulmonary embolism, blood clots traveled to my lungs. My doctors were certain this didn't happen due to my hip replacement 4 month ago, so I'm forever on blood thinners.

Christmas guests included brother Ken, daughter Carla and fiancé Arthur, and we had a Christmas Eve fire at their AirBnB. The warmth of family, good food and libations kept us cozy in the chill night air.

Games!

Strasburg Railroad

Stockings, even for the kitties

Sunny

Treking poles!

Goodbye 2023, Happy New Year!

https://youtu.be/YE6bDb13MWs?si=r0feesVIqJJMIEbF

Leaving Texas, back to Snow Country

If you've been following along, you know we traded in our small-town country lifestyle for life on the road in 2015. We sold the house, shipped essentials to my brother in FL, loaded up the car and drove to Florida with 2 Beagles and cat to purchase our new home on wheels. 

We were rewarded with nearly 5 glorious years traveling the US, basking in each new experience, making lasting friendships and relishing our time together. We left the road due to health issues, and settled in San Antonio.

After I lost my partner in November 2021, I stayed in TX for awhile. I love my in-laws, but I wanted to be near my only family, my kids, so I decided to keep only what I could ship or pack in my car. For months I packed boxes, sold furniture and donated everything else. What a cleansing. Back in 2015 before we traveled, we did the same thing, selling all but some keepsakes.

It was a daunting undertaking but I'm thankful for the help from relatives, my daughters and many neighbors

Before I left, I managed to take a few pictures of the "ribbon roads" of TX. I never saw sky roads like this anywhere else and believe it or not, my vertigo is so severe I couldn't wait to get off them! Yet I still think they are graceful and unique. 

My daughter Carla flew down to TX to take Cole the cat back up north so he wouldn't be cramped in the car on the drive to Pennsylvania. It was a great help. She let him out on his leash going through airport security and he was such a champ!! He's a travelin' cat and loved the attention.

Nina then flew down to San Antonio to co-drive with me back to PA. We closed up the apartment, spent the night with my SIL and left early the next morning on our journey north. 

We spent the first night in New Orleans. I was physically unable to explore the area, but Nina walked around and came back with coffee and beneighs from Cafe Du Monde. Oh the best!

   

The next 3 days we continued our journey to Pennsylvania, sharing the driving.

  

 

As we got closer, we stopped at Mr. Ed's Elephant Museum and Candy Emporium near Caledonia State Park. Oh we loved it! It was so trippy and interesting! We bought some candy and went on our way for the final leg of our trip.

  

As we got closer to Lancaster, the landscape changed. It's so peaceful and laid back.

  

On the fourth day, we pulled into our new home and life. I had only seen pictures of the apartment so it was amazing to see how open and roomy the space was. The living room is huge, the bedrooms are at the end of the hallway and there are massive closets and a storage locker in the basement. The kitchen is small but has an incredible gas stove!

  

  

This is what greeted me. You can see only a small portion of boxes to unpack. There were about 40, and each box was numbered and a list was made of each box's contents. Unfortunately, I lost half the list (it never turned up), and as I unpacked the boxes, I didn't keep track of the numbers as I opened them. I naively thought everything was there, but some boxes went missing. Everything of value was packed in the car, so it's not worth trying to track down the missing boxes. 

They weren't insured anyway.

Within days of arriving in Lancaster, my car died. It's all electric with push buttons, and couldn't be towed because we couldn't put it in Neutral so it had to be skid loaded onto a flatbed.  I thank the stars above we made it to Pennsylvania before it died! 

So I made it to Amish Land. 

See you real soon!