A mid-summer bouquet and a summer collection

The lady at our church, who does the table arrangements for the fund-raising teas, made pretty bouquets of white daisies and giant violet-blue hydrangea blooms, a couple of weeks ago. I thought they were quite pretty, the white daisies adding just that pop to liven up the hydrangeas.

A few days ago, I put together my own bouquet for our kitchen table, fashioned after hers.

In the bottom of this vase, I keep my collection brown and white, washed, sea glass. Whenever I go to the beach, I look for sea glass.

I'm partial to the blues, greens and whites. I've collected these pieces, above, over the last 25 years. I keep them in a bowl on display in the living room.

I have other nature collections, from the other seasons, on display in our home, also. Collecting from nature is not only frugal, but I think trinkets from the outdoors are some of our loveliest home decor pieces, connecting us to the natural world, each time we look at them. And while these pieces of glass were once man-made. It's their life in the sea that has given them their character and beauty.

Making caramel topping to use as dip for apple slices

The apples on our early apple tree are ripening fast and furiously. I had been picking one or two at a time, directly from the tree. Then every morning, picking up and using all of the apples that had fallen in the night.

Over the weekend, the fallen apples had multiplied, significantly. I got out the taller ladder and began harvesting that tree, filling 2 drawers in the fridge with good, unbruised apples. I suspect we have enough apples for fresh, daily eating to carry us through the month of August. I can skip buying bananas or other fresh fruit, for the time being.

After some hard work, yesterday afternoon, I decided it was time for my dessert from lunch. I had thought to just make enough caramel topping to dip my own apple dessert. Remembering how much my other family members love apples and caramel dip, I decided to make a half-pint, to keep in the fridge. It really doesn't take much extra effort to make a half-pint over 2 tablespoons.

I didn't follow a recipe, but cooked some white sugar, molasses, water, corn syrup and salt in a small saucepan, until it was nearly sheeting off a spoon. Then turned the flame off, and swirled in vanilla extract and butter. (Those last 2 ingredients are what give the caramel topping it's old-time, candy store aroma.)

Anyways, a nice reward for all of the up and down on the ladder picking apples -- a plate of apple slices and some caramel dipping sauce.

For a little price comparison, 8 ounces of caramel topping costs about $1.25 to $1.50 at Wal-Mart. My 8 ounce batch of homemade caramel topping cost about 30 cents, and I got to lick the spoon!!