Packing a Peck of Pickles

It's pickle time!

For the past few years, my husband has been all about making "Sun Pickles." What on earth is a sun pickle, you say?

Simply put, it's making pickles from cucumbers, using sunlight as the heat source. Google it and you'll find plenty of recipes.

Since we are both retired now, we decided to go crazy on Sun Pickles! Hubby bought a half bushel of small cukes at a Russel Farms, just down the street, fresh dill from Horrock's in Battle Creek and brand new half gallon canning jars from Meijer. 

Oh and we had a few wonderful dill heads from volunteer dill in our garden!

 We started by soaking the cukes in ice water for about an hour to make them as crisp as possible. While they soaked we both worked to chop garlic bulbs, carrots and jalapenos into appropriate sizes to include in each jar. 

Next, ends were cut from the cukes and hubby used a fork to score the sides - all the better to allow the brine to make itself known.

And speaking of brine. The first year we made them, we found the PERFECT recipe. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED those pickles. Alas, we did not bookmark the recipe and thinking we had found the same one the next year we proceeded to pickle.  But... no...too salty, too tart.

So, wouldn't it have been smart to bookmark the recipe we did NOT like to make sure we never used it again. Yeah, it didn't happen. 

Again this year we searched, we discussed, we prayed, we chose a brine recipe. We decided to go with a (seemingly) pretty traditional (it was called grandma's recipe) 6-2/3 cups water to 3-1/3 cups apple cider vinegar, plus 2/3 cup pickling salt.


We sterilized jars and lids in Easy Clean No Rinse Cleaner, purchased from Bell's Brewery, instead of boiling to save time. Hey, it works for beer glasses and growlers, so why not pickle jars? 

Now it is assembly time.  Garlic bulbs, jalapeno slices, black pepper and dill in the bottom of each jar, a layer of pickles, more dill, another layer of pickles and finally the brine. 

Lids popped on top, rings finger tightened, and jars placed on garden wall. Now it's time for the sun to do it's magic.  

As they sit, the lids seal... unseal... seal... and in some cases stay sealed. Some seal for good in the refrigerator and some never stay sealed. Rule of thumb - no seal = refrigerator pickles, eat 'em up. Sealed = up to a couple years shelf time. (Note: remove the rings so if the seal releases the ring does not cause it to reseal and potentially become lethal. Yipes!)

We are happy to say the pickles are YUMMY! We really like them... maybe not LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, but with a few alterations, they will be better next year. And yes, we made notes!

Stay pickled!

Miriam

Why did I retire at age 56 - and a half?

Have you read my bio? Well if not, I'll summarize. I retired nearly 3 years ago from a great job at a fantastic company in Kalamazoo.

I was only 56 - and a half.

Yeah, I know the last time you added the "and a half" to your age, was probably in grade school. But even 56 - and a half - seemed like a really young age to retire.

What is not included in my bio - or any posts to date is WHY? Why retire at such a 'young" age?

I get asked that question a lot and to be honest, I sometimes ask it of myself, which gives me the opportunity to remember -  it was God's plan for my life. Of course it took awhile for me to hear His plan. Here's the story.

Over the course of a year my fabulous job had changed dramatically. Although I had been advised of change in the works and clearly heard God say "I have your back," I was beginning to realize my role and the company culture were transitioning into something that didn't look too pleasant from my vantage point.

As I pondered my reaction to my new work reality and prayed to hear God's plan for my life, two things happened.

First, my mother, who was 87 at the time, decided to take me up on my long standing suggestion that she move from Iowa (her life long home) to the Kalamazoo area. She was needing more help and had no family in her small town and few friends still around and healthy enough to assist her. 

This seemed like the worst possible time for mom to make this decision. The leg-work to find the right senior living arrangement was sure to be time consuming and right when my job was getting much more hectic and there were new players to impress.

I continued to pray for God's guidance on my work situation. I even prayed for a Whack on the Side of the Head if necessary to help me see His plan for my life. (History has shown that a less than gentle approach is sometimes required to get my attention.)

Then a "whack on the side of the head" was indeed delivered. My 21 year-old daughter flew over the handlebars of a bicycle, landing on her bare head. Just out for a quick 10 minute spin to test a borrowed bike, she hadn't taken time to don a helmet.  The result? A severe concussion.

I'm not suggesting God made this happen, or that it was my fault it  happened (several therapy sessions later), but I do believe God knew it was about to happen. I also believe He cushioned her fall as the outcome could have been SO much worse.

Over the course of the next few weeks, my daughter realized she would need to take a medical leave from her junior year at the University of Michigan. She was finding it impossible to concentrate on her school work, having a hard time getting restful sleep and not able to plan her activities. But more concerning to me was the anxiety and depression she was experiencing which are typical companions of brain trauma.

It became obvious that I needed to be around to help her through this and make sure she received the right care as her brain did the hard work of healing.

God knew my daughter and my mother would need me and I hate to admit this, but the decision to leave my job would have been harder had it still been the one I loved. The job changes were part of His plan for my life.  

After serious discussions with my amazing, supportive husband, I decided to retire.  I could've "resigned," but the benefits would not have been as great. Also, we live in a time and country that - even as it becomes more accepting of alternative life styles - is rife with age discrimination.

Essentially, the decision to retire, not resign, gave me mental freedom from worrying about finding a new paid job and allowed me instead to focus on these two important women in my life. 

At last, I knew where God was leading me and I submitted my retirement plan, effective immediately.

After a year of recovery, my daughter returned to her college coursework and is just about to finish her degree. What a blessing that year was, as we healed together from abrupt changes in our lives and built an even stronger bond. Praise God and thanks to all who prayed for her since the accident. 

Mom is living at Crossroads Village in Portage and I do her grocery shopping and have the opportunity to help her out in numerous ways. It's been nice to get to know her as a person, not just my mom.  Here's a photo of Marilyn taken after the celebration of June birthdays at her place. The theme was baseball so she wore her LA Dodgers visor!  

I've done a bit of consulting and volunteer work in my field of marketing, but other than that I remain retired - a pretty good gig if you can get it!

I'll be honest, there are days I feel like I should be doing something more meaningful. So I continue to pray that God show me His plan for my life and what's next and I do my best to be still and listen. 

I no longer pray for a whack on the side of the head.

God Bless,

Miriam