Cherry Pie

     I picked my pie cherries this morning and put a cherry pie into the oven before leaving for work.  When I combined the crop from both cherry trees I was still about a cup short and had to get a few pie cherries from the freezer in order to make the pie.  I had them sorted into two piles in the bowl.  The larger pile were the cherries I had managed to milk off and leave the pit behind.  The smaller pile were the cherries that still needed to be pitted. The upper picture of the cherries in the tree is the Surefire tree (red juice).  The lower picture is the Montmorency tree (clear juice).  I have to admit that the morello type cherries with their red juice make for a much prettier cherry pie.

      Linda asked for whom the pie was intended and I told her "me."  Mr. Buttercup was unhelpful in the extreme when it came to rolling out pie crust.  I finally banished him to the pantry so I could make my pie crust in peace.  As is tradition in our family the scraps from the crust are always baked with a little cinnamon and sugar.  That part is a lot more fun with a few grandkids around.

   Our favorite daughter-in-law made us some wonderful apricot-pinapple jam, one of my very favorite jams.  Linda said that she hates to open them because they are so beautiful.  I, on the other hand, am dying to open one of them. Unfortunately, I have a firm rule that we can't have more than two jars of jam or jelly open at the same time. I have to finish off one of the already open jars before I can open one of these beauties.