jelly, syrup, and sun

Wednesday morning was so beautiful.  There were no clouds in the bright, blue sky, and the sun was shining at such an angle that everything it touched seemed golden.  I especially love the sun in the late summer and fall, its light so rich and heavy.  

After eating breakfast, Riggs and I went on a walk together in that warm, morning sun, and I spent about an hour and a half scavenging for the last fireweed blossoms and for as many ripened rose hips as I could find (we did not find too many that were ripe - it's still a little early for them I think).

When we got home, we separated them out and processed them, getting them ready for making syrup.  I picked a diluted syrup recipe from an old Alaskan cookbook I have.  It was very simple and quick - my kind of recipe!  I only had about 2 cups of rose hips, so I had to modify the recipe for that reason.

Those rose hips smelled so good while cooking, and the syrup turned out just delicious.  But as you can see from the photo above, I'll need about six times what I found for next time that I make the syrup.

Around my house, fireweed is about blossomed out, so it took a while to find enough to make the jelly. I think this weekend if Steve and I take the dogs on a long walk we will go somewhere nearer to Anchorage where the fireweed still seemed pretty abundant (at least as of the last time I was there).  I'd love to make some more jelly for the winter and for gifts.  As it was, I found enough to make two and a half jars of jelly, and I can't wait for it to cool and be ready for eating!