Waiting on a heavy frost!

While it is true that the weather has cooled down a bit and we had a light frost, I am waiting for a heavy frost..a light freeze. Both the kumquat trees and the grapefruit trees are loaded but need a bit of cold to make them to my liking. They are delicious now but..oh, my goodness will they ever be sweet after a freeze! There is a poem with a line about "frost on the pumpkins" well, I am waiting on frost on the kumquats! This is the first year that our kumquats have really had a bumper crop and I cannot wait! As soon as it is cold enough, I will drag the ladder around to the trees (there are five!) and begin to pick! This year there appears that I will get nearly a bushel of kumquats from these trees! After being picked and washed, the fruit will be seeded and chopped. Then with a few other ingredients, the kumquats will be made into marmalade! Oh, the wonderfulness of kumquat marmalade on fresh from the oven buttermilk biscuits..I can taste it already! The grapefruit will need to be picked too but that will be a job for my son and his friends. These trees are about thirty feet tall and the fruit is all the way to the top. My son and his friends will have to climb the trees to pick the fruit. I can get the lower ones with the stepladder but those up high can only be reached by going up the tree. This is no easy task. Grapefruit trees have thorns..big thorns! I am not brave enough to attempt the climb but the challenge seems to intrigue these young men. My son will climb to the top and toss the fruit down like they are softballs. I actually do rather well at catching them before they splat on the ground! Bushel after bushel will be picked. Last year we picked seven bushels off of one tree and it seems as if we will get close to that again this year. Most of these we will give away, some will be made into grapefruit/ginger marmalade and the rest will be dried and ground to be used as a spice and in home remedies. Nothing will go to waste!

I love this time of year..we get the most amazing sunsets on the Bay! The evening sky is almost always a beautiful array of golds and reds. This reflects on the water making the whole thing seem like some artist splashed paint everywhere..it is breathtaking to say the least. I try to catch every sunrise and sunset that I can and I am never disappointed with the show. November always promises quite a performance and always exceeds expectations! I do wish I could share each one with you all!