Venison, Herbs and Comfort

It's been a gray, rainy day today. What to do on such a day?



We could sit inside by the fire, which was very inviting this morning...

but there are those herbs I dried that need to be crushed and jarred...

and then there is the deer meat that was cut up yesterday...

and stored in the freezer in freezer bags.

We could can some of it...

and grind some of it into hamburger...

So that's what we did. One deer equaled 7 quarts of canned meat and 1 quart of burger. We still have one more to process, and it will all be ground into burger.

Then there were some pears that still needed to be worked up. What should I make with them? See tomorrow's post to find out.

Larry had some lights to put up in the cellar top. A local grocery store went out of business and is being remodeled. He got 4-foot fluorescent lights, with covers for $5 a fixture. Our outbuildings will be well-lit when he's finished installing the new lights.

After all that work, the fire seemed like a good friend for our tired feet. And that is where I'll spend the rest of the evening.

If you are interested in canning meat, it's very easy. The meat is fully cooked by the end of the process and that makes it very convenient to use, especially those times when unexpected guests show up.

Here is one place with instructions for processing venison by freezing, drying canning, mincemeat, etc. I trust this website's authority, which is important when it comes to processing meat.

And now to rest!

Leftover Pumpkin?

Cushaw pumpkins--the green striped ones in the photo--have a yellow flesh that can be used in any pumpkin recipe. The color will be different but the flavor and texture is excellent. Butternut squash in the right of the photo is also a good substitute for the traditional orange pumpkin, and it also has a lovely smooth texture. I canned and froze my prepared pumpkin. Freezing is a lot faster, but the canned pumpkin is very pretty and easier to use, I think.

You made the pies and now you still have some pumpkin left over. Or you didn't make the pies and still have a can of pumpkin or prepared fresh pumpkin to be used. Or you just love pumpkin and seek out recipes of all kinds to try.


I'm in the last category. I like pumpkin in cakes, pies, loafs, cookies, bars, ice cream and butter. There are other ways to eat it that I haven't yet tried, like pumpkin soup, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin fudge...ah, the possibilities! I posted a few of my favorites last year, and you can find them here.

Here is one of my favorite recipes for this versatile vegetable.

Pumpkin Nut Bread (or Muffins)

3 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup cooked, prepared or canned pumpkin (see below)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup softened butter
1 cup chopped pecans

Stir together flour, baking powder, soda, salt and spices. Combine pumpkin, sugar, milk and eggs in a separate mixing bowl; add the dry ingredients and the softened butter. Mix until well-blended. Stir in nuts. Spread in a well greased standard size loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

This bread can be frozen and used later, and that's a handy thing during the holidays. I often bake it in muffin pans so that I can carry it easily in my lunch. If you use muffin pans, expect them to bake in about 20 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness as above.

How to Prepare Fresh Pumpkin
You can learn more about how to prepare and preserve pumpkins by freezing and canning at this site.

Ballad: The Wagoner's Lad

I suppose it was seeing a cardinal and blue jay chasing each other across the ridge this evening that called this little ballad to mind.

This is the version I know; as with almost all ballads, there are many variations of the lyrics and the melody.

The Wagoner’s Lad

I am a poor maiden, my fortune’s my own
For long I’ve been courted by a wagoner’s lad
He’s courted me duly by night and by day
And now he’s for leavin’ and going away

Go put up your horses and feed them some hay
Come site down beside me for as long as you stay
My horses ain’t hungry they won’t eat your hay
So it’s goodbye little Nancy I’ll be on my way

Your wagon needs greasing your bill is to pay
Come sit down beside me for as long as you stay
My wagon is greasy my whip’s in my hand
So it’s goodbye little Nancy my horses won’t stand

Your parents don’t like me they say I am poor
They say I’m not worthy of entering your door
I work for my living my money’s my own
And if they don’t like me they can leave me alone

So early one morning this poor boy did ride
Across the deep water with a tear in his eye
I’ll build me a cabin on a mountain so high
Where the bluebirds and the cardinals can hear my sad cry

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DigiTrad has a different version of the lyrics, and links to the tune.

A YouTube performance of the song has the tune slightly different than the way I know it, but I like this one too.

Of course, the Folk Index offers various spellings and a long list of recordings of this tune--proof, I think ,of its lasting attraction. But then, songs of parting lovers are popular in all genres of music. (You'll need to scroll down the page to find the title listed alphabetically on the index.)

Sheet music is available online here and here. The first is from the UK, the second from North Carolina.

Cecil Sharp, the British songcatcher who visited the Appalachian mountains in the early 1900's, included Wagoner's Lad in his collection English Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians.

Like many other ballads, the Wagoner's Lad was sung by many of the folk musicians of the 60's including Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead, Joan Baez and others. I prefer the older versions sung by mountain balladsingers myself. I learned the song from the Smithsonian Folkways recording of Mr. and Mrs. John Sams on Mountain Music of Kentucky--Mrs. Sams sang while her husband played the banjo, and the first time I heard it I knew I had to learn the song.

The Jar of Rosemary: A Christmas Story

From the book The Story-Teller by Maud Lindsay (1874-1941)

This book is no longer copyrighted and is available full-text online in several places. This particular story is a Christmas story, and may be useful for some of you who are looking for new stories to tell, or tales suitable for use with your Sunday school classes.

I found my copy of the book at a friend's antique shop in Weston, WV. How could I not buy it with a title like that! The stories are a bit on the "sweet" side, as many children's story books were during the time Lindsay was writing, but they are well written tales. Several copies are available for sale at Abebooks.

There was once a little prince whose mother the queen was sick. All summer she lay in bed, and everything was kept quiet in the palace. But when the autumn came, she grew better. Every day brought color to her cheeks and strength to her limbs, and by and by the little prince was allowed to go into her room and stand beside her bed to talk to her.
He was very glad of this, for he wanted to ask her what she would like for a Christmas present. As soon as he had kissed her and laid his cheek against hers, he whispered his question in her ear. 'What should I like for a Christmas present?' said the queen. 'A smile and a kiss and a hug around the neck. These are the dearest gifts I know.'

But the prince was not satisfied with this answer. 'Smiles and kisses and hugs you can have every day,' he said. 'But think, Mother, think. If you could choose the thing you wanted most in all the world, what would you take?' So the queen thought and thought.

At last she said, 'If I might take my choice of all the world, I believe a little jar of rosemary like that which bloomed in my mother's window when I was a little girl would please me better than anything else.' The little prince was delighted to hear this.

As soon as he had gone out of the queen's room, he sent a servant to his father's greenhouses to inquire for a rosemary plant. But the servant came back with disappointing news. There were carnation pinks in the king's greenhouses and roses with golden hearts and lovely lilies, but there was no rosemary.

Rosemary was a common herb and grew mostly in country gardens, so the king's gardener said. 'Then go into the country for it,' said the little prince. 'No matter where it grows, my mother must have it for a Christmas present.'

So the messengers went into the country here, there and everywhere to seek the plant. But each one came back with the same story to tell. There was rosemary enough and to spare in the spring, but the frost had been in the country. There was not a green sprig left to bring to the little prince for his mother's Christmas present.

Two days before Christmas, however, news was brought that rosemary had been found-a lovely, green plant growing in a jar right in the very city where the prince himself lived. 'But where is it?' said he. 'Why have you not brought it with you? Go and get it at once.'

'Well, as for that,' said the servant who had found the plant, 'there is a little difficulty. The old woman to whom the rosemary belongs did not want to sell it, even though I offered her a handful of silver for it.'

'Then give her a purse of gold,' said the little prince.

So a purse filled so full of gold that it could not hold another piece was taken to the old woman, but presently it was brought back. She would not sell her rosemary; no, not even for a purse of gold.

'Perhaps if your little highness would go yourself and ask her, she might change her mind,' said the prince's nurse.

So the royal carriage drawn by six white horses was brought and the little prince and his servants rode away to the old woman's house. When they got there, the first thing they spied was the little green plant in a jar standing in the old woman's window.

The old woman herself came to the door, and she was glad to see the little prince. She invited him in and bade him warm his hands by the fire and gave him a cookie from her cupboard to eat. She had a little grandson no older than the prince, but he was sick and could not run about and play like other children. He lay in a little white bed in the old woman's room. The little prince, after he had eaten the cookie, spoke to him, took out his favorite plaything, which he always carried in his pocket, and showed it to him.'

I wonder if you can guess what the prince's favorite plaything was?

"It was a ball, which was like no other ball that had ever been made. It was woven of magic stuff as bright as the sunlight, as sparkling as the starlight, and as golden as the moon at the harvest time. When the little prince threw it into the air or bounced it on the floor or turned it in his hands, it rang like a chime of silver bells.

The sick child laughed to hear it and held out his hands for it. The prince let him hold it, which pleased the grandmother as much as the child. But pleased though she was, she would not sell the rosemary. She had brought it from the home where she had lived when her little grandson's father was a boy, she said, and she hoped to keep it till she died. So the prince and his servants had to go home without it.

No sooner had they gone than the sick child began to talk of the wonderful ball. 'If I had such a ball to hold in my hand,' he said, 'I should be contented all the day.' 'You may as well wish for the moon and the sky,' said his grandmother.

But she thought of what he said, and in the evening when he was asleep she put her shawl around her. Taking the jar of rosemary with her, she hastened to the king's palace. When she got there, the servants asked her errand, but she would answer nothing till they had taken her to the little prince.

'Silver and gold would not buy the rosemary,' she said when she saw him. 'But if you will give me your golden ball for my little grandchild, you may have the plant.'

'But my ball is the most wonderful ball that was ever made!' cried the little prince. 'And it is my favorite plaything. I would not give it away for anything.' And so the old woman had to go home with her jar of rosemary under her shawl.

The next day was the day before Christmas, and there was a great stir and bustle in the palace. The queen's physician had said that she might sit up to see the Christmas tree that night and have her presents with the rest of the family. Everyone was running to and fro to get things in readiness for her.
The queen had so many presents, and very fine they were, too, but the Christmas tree could not hold them all. So they were put on a table before the throne and wreathed around with holly and with pine. The little prince went in with his nurse to see them and to put his gift, which was a jewel, among them.

'She wanted a jar of rosemary,' he said as he looked at the glittering heap. 'She will never think of it again when she sees these things, you may be sure of that,' said the nurse.

But the little prince was not sure. He thought of it himself many times that day. Once when he was playing with his ball, he said to the nurse, 'If I had a rosemary plant, I'd be willing to sell it for a purse full of gold, wouldn't you?' 'Indeed, yes,' said the nurse, 'and so would anyone else in his right senses. You may be sure of that.'

The little boy was not satisfied, though. Presently, when he had put his ball up and stood at the window watching the snow, which had come to whiten the earth for Christ's birthday, he said to the nurse, 'I wish it were spring. It's easy to get rosemary then, isn't it?' 'Your little highness is the king's parrot that knows but one word, with your rosemary, rosemary, rosemary,' said the nurse, who was a little out of patience by this time. 'Her majesty the queen only asked for it to please you, you may be sure of that.'
But the little prince was not sure. When the nurse had gone to her supper and he was left by chance for a moment alone, he put on his coat of fur. Taking the ball with him, he slipped away from the palace." And where do you think he was going? I think you've guessed.

"He hastened toward the old woman's house. He had never been out at night by himself before, and he might have felt a little afraid had it not been for the friendly stars that twinkled in the sky above him. 'We'll show you the way,' they seemed to say. He trudged on bravely in their light, till by and by he came to the house and knocked at the door.

Now the little sick child had been talking of the wonderful ball all evening. 'Did you see how it shone, Grandmother? Did you hear how the little bells rang?' he said. It was just then that he heard the little prince knocking at the door.

The old woman made haste to answer the knock, and when she saw the prince she was too astonished to speak. 'Here is the ball!' he cried, putting it into her hands. 'Please give me the rosemary for my mother.'

And so it happened that when the queen sat down before her great table of gifts, the first thing she spied was a jar of sweet rosemary, like that which had bloomed in her mother's window when she was a little girl.

'I should rather have it than all the other gifts in the world,' she said. And she took the little prince in her arms and kissed him."

In the morning, thoughtful moments with Earl Grey tea before the cooking begins. Our dinner was scheduled late in the day so that Derek, who had to work, could join us. Aaron worked midnight shift the night before, so a late dinner allowed him to get a few hours sleep before traveling to our house.

My parent's big banquet table has leaves added (only 2 of 4, this table can stretch to 12 feet with 4 leaves) is set and ready for dinner in the log room. This table is perfect for big dinners, parties, craft projects, you name it. We keep enough folding chairs so that we have seating for about 17 people. This is the first time we've actually used the table for sit-down dinner. We've had it for about 2 years now and in future it will be put to use much more often. Having dinner in here means no dirty kitchen in view.

Youngest son Tommy (the bodybuilder) will break his strict diet regime for the day.




James and Michaela wait impatiently for dinner to begin. James said, "This is the best Thanksgiving ever!" Both started the day with stomach viruses which made for an interesting 3-hour trip to Granny's house, but by dinner time they were fully recovered, including their appetites.


The meal begins!

(Apparently my camera is having issues again. Time for a new one, I think )

What ended up on the menu?

The turkey of course, and gravy
Mashed red-skinned potatoes
Beets in orange sauce
Green beans with water chestnuts and mushrooms
Sweet potato, spiced apple and cranberry casserole
Zucchini, squash, and aristocrat pickles
Pears in raisin-cider sauce
Corn bread
Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc wine for the grown-ups
Hickory nut cake
Pumpkin pie
Mincemeat pie
Cheeses with water crackers
Apple cider

What made this year really special for us is that almost everything prepared for this meal came from our own place.

And the funniest things?

*Only two pieces of pie were eaten, but Jaime and I had to try the hickory nut cake.

*That cake took 4 hours of picking nuts (thank you, Larry!), an hour to make (it's a complicated recipe and I think I had every counter in the kitchen covered with bowls by the time it was done), and an hour to bake--and then would not come out of the pans. It was by far the ugliest cake I've ever made, all falling apart. I made the icing for it anyway and "glued" it together. But the taste? Oh my. Worth every minute of work and frustration. Thank you for the recipe, Matthew! I'll have to figure out why it stuck to the pans.

*James reporting that because they came in Uncle Tommy's truck (car swap so Aaron could haul an engine) he had to sit in the jump seats in the rear, and had to "stare at Michaela (in the other jump seat) for three hours!"

It was a lovely day, and we were all so sleepy after dinner that everyone was in bed by 9:00 pm. Amazing--I can't remember the last time I went to bed so early.

How was your day, and your dinner?

Why I Give Thanks

*because I can see, walk, talk and hear--things we take for granted, but what value they have if lost

*because I have a large and loving family. We're not perfect, but we tolerate each other's weaknesses and love each other anyway.

*because I am able to live in the country and do the things I love to do--cooking, canning, gardening, and watching the seasons pass in these hills

*because I am a granny with many grandchildren to love

*because I am old enough to appreciate my grandchildren, and young enough to play with them

*because all my sons are healthy, working/going to college and happy

*because all my twelve siblings are well and we stay in touch with each other

*because my sister Elizabeth is still sober

*because my brother John can walk again, and work full-time despite being paralyzed 3 years ago

*because my brother-in-law Roger is still living and thriving after severe burns and many near-death emergencies

*because I can tell stories and share the joy of storytelling

*because I have good friends who know when to call

*because I can share my life and joys with all my online friends

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Wherever you are, thank you for being part of my life, and taking time to share your life with me.

What's on Your Thanksgiving Menu?

I'm working on our menu for Thanksgiving, and looking for new ideas. So far, the menu is the usual:

Roast turkey
mashed potatoes/gravy
green beans almondine
cranberry sauce
yams and apple casserole
pumpkin pie
mincemeat pie
cornbread (instead of rolls--more traditional, and we just like it)
apple cider

The nice part of this menu is that much of it is homegrown or homemade--the turkey, potatoes, green beans, apples, pumpkin, mincemeat, and cider; and the corn meal is locally ground.

So what are you cooking this year? I'm looking for some new ideas for vegetable dishes, salads, or anything else you might be cooking up!

Congratulations, Tammy!

Tammy was one of the readers who commented on the post "What's Wrong with this Picture" and her name was the one I drew from those who participated. Congratulations!




I will be mailing Tammy a copy of my CD "Mountain Story, Mountain Song" as soon as I get her mailing address. Thank you all for participating. Another contest is coming soon, so watch for it.

(By the way, my CD is available for purchase and makes a nice Christmas gift. The price is $10 plus $4 shipping and handling. Please get in touch if you're interested)

Apple and Orange Garlands

These garlands are so easy to make and take very little actual time. I plan to use mine to decorate my Christmas tree this year. Here's the process:

First, select firm apples and oranges with no bruises. I had some Golden Delicious apples (native to WV, did you know?) that were starting to get wrinkly but were otherwise blemish-free, so I used them.

Slice the fruit as thin as possible while still keeping a full circle of rind around the outside edge. (Don't try to use the stem and blossom ends for the garlands; instead, dry them for potpourri mixes).

Spread the sliced fruit on a cookie sheet or in a dehydrator and dry until leathery and no moisture is left in the fruit. I put mine in my electric oven on "warm" to dry overnight, and it worked very well. I also dried some by placing very near--but not on--the wood stove. Don't over-dry or your fruit rings will shatter when you try to string them.

Some people recommend dipping the apple slices in lemon juice first to keep them from turning brown, but I liked the way mine turned out without this step.

Once dry, push small holes in each piece of fruit with a nut pick or other small sharp tool; string the pieces on jute string in any arrangement that suits your fancy.

Use strips of fabric, cinnamon sticks, or other decorations to add to your garland as you like. I used fabric strips this time; in the past I've also used bunches of herbs and cinnamon sticks.

That's all there is to it! It took me about 15 minutes total to slice the fruit and about 30 minutes to make three garlands that are each about nine feet long.

Weekend Whirl

This weekend was all about family, food and cooking:

Friday evening:
*oldest son and his son arrived for deer season.

Saturday:
*breakfast with sons #1 and #3 and their sons at the Downtowner; joined by friends with their daughter.
*shopping at Wal-Mart (ugh, but sometimes we gotta go because there's nowhere else to get certain things)
*grocery store
*feed store
*junk shop (came out with two crystal wineglasses, a glass casserole, and a neat Christmas gift for son #3)
*home to clean house and make apple pie and mincemeat tarts
* off to son #3's house for steak dinner with son #1 and friends, admire son #3's truck restoration progress, and enjoyed a late bonfire before coming home. Did you know a bonfire can get so hot that glass bottles will melt enough to soften the glass enough push a long wood stick into the bottle's mouth, and that the bottle will make long glass strings if you pick it up just right? Very cool. (Don't do this at home! But I can see further experiments down the road...)
*home to talk, get the fires going well and off to bed.

Sunday:
*electricity went off just as we were starting coffee. Got the turkey fryer burner and gas tank and cooked bacon, sausage, and eggs; filled a big kettle with water for coffee (tried to use an old 30's era percolator to drip coffee--bad idea!) using individual coffee bags, made toast on the Fisher wood stove and had a great country breakfast despite the outage. Grandson was intrigued by the antique things we used to get the meal together--and I realized that sometimes education happens at unexpected moments.
*power back on just after we ate
*cut the pumpkins to bake and peel for pies later this week (it's much easier to get the pumpkins processed this way--peeling raw pumpkins is just hard to do, and a recipe for getting cut.)
*washed pumpkin seeds and set to dry behind the wood stove (to save for planting next year)
*dried more apple and orange slices
*made potato leek soup with my oldest son--what fun to cook with your grown son! Made cornbread to go with the soup for lunch. Experimented with using cider for half of the milk--good!
*thawed a roasting chicken and prepared it with herbs and butter; roasted it with potatoes, carrots, onions and herbs for dinner.
*washed a few loads of laundry
*worked on apple and orange garlands for the Christmas tree. (Photos soon).

I had registered to go to a writing workshop but when I realized my oldest son was coming and that son #3 was off work this weekend, I decided to stay home.

A wise decision, and a wonderful weekend.

Book Review: The Book of the Bizarre

The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts & Strange Stories

by Varla Ventura

Published by Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. 2008. $14.95

From the mysteries of history to the strangest of medical cures, The Book of the Bizarre provides conversation starters for a lifetime of parties. Ever wondered if you should offer a cigar to animals in a zoo in Zion, Illinois, or where the belief in four-leaf clovers originated? You can find the answers to these and hundreds of other questions in the short entries that fill this interesting little volume.

I often have days when I come home from work too tired to read, and yet reading is one of the best ways I know to relax. Short stories and trivia are the perfect medicine for the brain-dead after-work syndrome. Lively, intriguing and sometimes downright unbelievable, The Book of the Bizarre has a little something for every reader's interest. Strange animal stories, ghost tales, odd coincidences, weird laws, superstitions, folklore and more share the pages of this fast read.

As a storyteller, I am always on the lookout for new material, and here I found the kind of ticklers that can send me searching for more details about the story of Lady Glamis, who tried to murder the King of Scotland in the 16th century and was convicted of witchcraft. There is just enough information included to pique my interest. Although there is an extensive bibliography included, individual entries are not annotated; the point of this book is to entertain and intrigue; it is not intended to be a scholarly resource. For a storyteller or a writer, it's a gold mine of story ideas and writing prompts.

Consider this title a sure bet for teenagers who don't like to read because they will love the variety and weirdness, and for friends and family members who enjoy strange phenomena and odd history. The Book of the Bizarre is a fun, engaging read for all.

Mincemeat Tarts

Mincemeat is a grown-up taste; few children seem to like its rich sweet-sour combination of ingredients. When I was young, my mother made mincemeat pies and little mincemeat tarts every Christmas. I didn't like the pies because there was just too much mincemeat in one bite, but I remember loving the little tarts.

Mincemeat began as a way of preserving meat with sugars, vinegar and spices, and evolved into a dish that is usually associated with a traditional English Christmas. Cooking in America gives an interesting dateline of the history and folklore of mincemeat.

The tarts are really just miniature pies, and making them is a simple process. What you end up with is pretty, delicious and nowadays unusual addition to the holiday table.

I make my tarts using green tomato mincemeat. If you didn't have a chance to make your own mincemeat, however, there is still a commercial variety available at most supermarkets, usually under the brand name Nonesuch. It comes in either a dry, condensed package or ready-to-use in jars, usually in the pie filling section of the store.

First, make your pie crust. It's easy, really. Here's my recipe:

Gather your tools: favorite mixing bowl, pastry blender, measuring cup, rolling pin, cutter for the circles, pastry board(or table or counter top or wherever you plan to roll out your dough), and muffin or tart pans.

Ingredients:

2 cups plain flour (not self-rising)

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup of butter (margarine or shortening can work; I like real butter)

about 6-8 tablespoons cold water (put ice cubes in the water to get it really cold. Really.)

Mix the flour and salt together. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or a fork (but the pastry blender is works best). Add the water, using only a little at a time, until the mixture will hold together. Divide the dough into two parts. Roll out on a floured surface to the desired thickness and size. (you may need to sprinkle a little flour on the dough as you roll it out if it sticks to your rolling pin, and add a little to the floured surface

Now if you were making a pie, you'd lift the pastry into the pie pan at this point for the bottom crust of the pie, then roll out the rest of the dough for the top.

But we're making tarts, so after you've rolled out the dough find something to cut it into circles. I used this one--I suppose it's a cookie cutter, but it was just the right size to cut the dough to fit into my muffin tins.

Line your muffin or tart pans with rounds of cut-out dough; then drop in spoonfuls of prepared mincemeat. (I used the green tomato mincemeat I made a few weeks ago.)

Roll out the rest of the dough and cut out tops for your tarts. (At the holidays I sprinkle the tops with red and green colored sugar. Yesterday I just left them plain.)

Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until the top crusts are lightly browned.

Remove the tarts from their pans as soon as they come out of the oven. The juices in the filling usually spill over the sides of the tarts during baking and if you leave them in the pans, the sugars in the juice will harden and you may have a difficult time getting them out in one piece. I use a dinner knife to gently loosen each tart from its pan and lift them out with the knife and one finger.

Then...eat! That's all there is to it.

The taste of these little pies sends me back to the old house in Manassas, the smell of pine and eggnog, the music of Christmas in the air, and everyone laughing and happy. It's a very good memory.

What a Difference a Month Makes

October 18th

November 18th

Goodness gracious how the weather can change!

Ready for Winter

Once it sheltered babies,

smelled fried bacon and baking bread,

heard laughter and crying,

felt joy and sorrow,

within its rough-hewn rooms.

Time has not been easy on the house.

Foundation stones tumble and corners sag,

the tin roof is rusted through.

Only one thick board

keeps the porch attached.

The people left.

The windows shattered,

mice burrowed in its walls.

no longer home to man and child

today it's just a barn

But the farmer

patched its roof and shored the walls

to keep his golden haycrop dry.

He loads it full, stands back to say

"Now we're ready for the winter."

Otis and the Wild Kitties

Otis, if you recall, is the black Lab shelter puppy we rescued in July. The wild kitties are courtesy of my son Aaron and wife Jaime who found these kittens by the side of the road. I had said I wanted a barn cat.

Now I have two.

The kittens are still wild. We cannot get within 10 feet of them. They live in the top of the root cellar, feed from the dog's food bowl, and keep their distance.

Except from Otis. He was so lonely after Baxter's death that he somehow made friends with the kitties. We acquired Jeb, another Black Lab, from Jaime and Aaron too. Otis and Jeb have become good friends, but still...

Now Otis is wild himself. He acts first and thinks later. But he was lonely and the only creatures around (except Baby the Cocker Spaniel and she doesn't count because she thinks she's a cat) were the wild kitties.

I am sure he got his share of claws applied to his inquisitive nose. I am sure the kitties put him away from the food bowl more than once. But somehow a relationship was forged.

Otis the Hyper-Active Black Lab will sit (trembling to be sure) quietly while the kitties rub against him, clean his fur, bat at him with paws that have the claws pulled in, and eat with him out of his food bowl.

It is a relationship forged in desperation and loneliness, but the outcome is that our wild child Otis is the only live creature that can come close to the kitties.

It's a miracle, that's what it is.

On the Contest Trail

Our youngest son Tommy has started training for a bodybuilding contest in April. The boy is buff, no doubt about it--it's almost scary! Here's a link to a video of him lifting 315 pounds for 20 reps (for some reason Blogger won't let me upload the video itself):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrXnihjf8oE

His trainer is a man named Kurt Weidner, who believes in natural methods as opposed to the usual supplements and steroids approach many bodybuilders follow. That makes me more comfortable because I know this is a grueling and competitive field.

I wish him success with his training and competition!

Spiced Pears

Wednesday night's project was to finish canning pears. We worked on them Monday night too, and now I think we're finished, except for making some Spiced Pear Jam. That will have to wait until I have a little more time. Larry had everything ready to go when I got home a little after 6pm, and he helped. We can get 9 quarts, a full canner load, ready to process in about 40 minutes when we work together.

We ended up with 35 quarts of pears canned in light syrup. When we finished tonight I still had a few pears left. I remember my mother making spiced pears when I was a girl. I remember them on the shelves in the pantry, more amber than the other pears. I also remember I didn't like them! But my tastes have changed and I wanted to try making them myself and see if the flavor is more agreeable now.

And oh my, it certainly is! I tried a taste of the one last piece of pear left over from filling the jars, and it was delicious. I only made 5 pints, and now I'm wishing I'd made more.

Here's the recipe I used, based loosely on a couple I found in Joy of Cooking:

About 6 pounds of pears (I used Bartlett)

Sugar and water (allow one cup sugar to one cup water per pound of pears)

6 cinnamon sticks, about 3" long

2 tablespoons whole cloves

2 teaspoons whole allspice (the recipe called for whole ginger but I didn't have any. However, a different recipe called for allspice, so I used it instead).

Wash, peel and core the pears. Put the spices in a cloth bag.

Mix the sugar and water, add the bag of spices and simmer to a thick syrup. Add the pears and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and place pears into hot sterilized jars. Pour the hot syrup over the pears. Tighten down the hot lids and process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes. Remove from the canner, check and tighten the lids and store.

I took the spices out of the bag and added them to the jars too--one cinnamon stick and a teaspoon or so of the other spices per jar. I'm wondering if this will make the flavor too strong, but there's only one way to find out--try it. And in another cookbook, the photos showed the spices in the jar with the pears, so I'm willing to give it a try because it just looks so pretty.

The turkey cooker and the canner on the deck, still doing duty in the snow.

Good Morning!

The first pink of dawn

becomes glorious orange
and as the sun bursts over the hills, turns to gold and yellow.

Good morning, ridge! See you at sunset!

The Old Road

I wrote this a while back. Today seems like a good day to post it for some reason--perhaps because this time of year makes us feel reflective?

The old road
used to travel between the houses on the hill—
looks like a lane now, a forgotten path,
buried under lawns and driveways.

Its faint trace--
just there, by that tree, do you see
the sunken track with the fences
lining its sides with straight wire lines?

You’d need to know how it was
to see it now—
You’d need to remember
how the wagons lined up to get into town

on market days, filled with cattle or corn
or maybe just a family
all dressed up
looking for excitement

on the streets of a small country town,
Saturday morning before the banks closed
and all the stores and the courthouse
were still open.

Men on Carson’s Corner,
wearing faded bib overalls,
tobacco juice flowing rich
in dusty churning air

while kids ran after the wagons
fading into time,
leaving only the memory of a road--
all the noise and bustle gone,

replaced by cars
with air conditioners and closed windows
traffic lights and signs
that point the way

to what once was.
The shadowy trace is now seen only
by those who still remember
where the old road was.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

I love these things. According to the note at the bottom of this picture from The Book of Knowledge published in 1912, there are 17 things wrong in this photo. I don't think I've ever found all of them. And the answers are in the next volume--which I don't have! Oh, the frustration.

I found the book in the trash and it is just full of vintage pictures, historic photos and miscellaneous useful and not-so-useful information. The cover and binding are rough which is why it was tossed, I suppose, but I'm more interested in what's inside the cover anyway.


If you think you know what's wrong in the picture, put your answer in the comments. I'll draw one name from those who try to guess, and that person gets a copy of my CD!

If you click on the picture, you can see a much larger version.

I sure hope someone gets all of them right--or maybe this will take a group effort?

Happy Birthday, Jaime!

Here's to you, Jaime--

Great gardener

Caring mommy

Lovely wife

Creative cook

Peace lover

Home maker

and lucky me, my daughter-in-law!

Happy, happy birthday!

(Ha! Caught you looking at the camera for once! Who is that wild woman with you?)

I'm a Featured Blogger on BlogHer!

I don't know how they choose people, but tonight as I was browsing the topics on BlogHer, I saw my profile on the right as a "Featured BlogHer." How cool is that!

If you haven't visited BlogHer, take a look. It's a site for women, about women and covers just about anything of interest to women. I enjoy reading the political posts especially, even when I don't agree. The wide range of viewpoints is what makes the site so refreshing.

Thank you, BlogHer!

First Real Snowfall This Year

The world shifted from autumn to winter overnight,

but Otis didn't care. He had an apple to play with and snow to discover--this is his first experience of it, and I think we can say he liked it!

Not really much to look at but my goodness did it cause problems. The snow wasn't the issue--it was the black ice that caught everyone by surprise.

A regular traffic jam on Joe's Run--three vehicles in a row. I waited for them to clear the curve before I went through. The bus traveled slowly and when I was happy to take my cue from him. When we got to the highway I understood why. I got to try out my all-wheel drive and was glad to have it.

Truckers were taking it easy too. The one in front of me kept squirreling off to one side or the other in the ice. I kept a good distance between us, just in case, you know (we were stopped when I snapped this photo). I didn't have my boots with me for mucking about in the slush. The truck to the left is actually stuck. He needed to turn but the road was nothing but ice and he couldn't move.

My usual one-hour commute to work turned into 2 hours of slow, careful driving interspersed by glimpses of smashed vehicles on the side of the road. Certainly a good way to keep a person awake. Fortunately, it did not appear that anyone was hurt in the wrecks I saw.

Black Walnuts

While I canned pears on Sunday, Larry had another project: picking black walnut meats from the shells.

He used a hammer and a piece of steel to crack the nuts outside to keep down the mess, then brought them into the log room for the real work.

Picking nutmeats is tedious, there's no other word for it. But he had National Public Radio to listen to, so from Thistle and Shamrock through Prairie Home Companion and most of Mountain Stage, he picked walnuts and enjoyed the best of entertainment.

The reward--almost 2 pounds of black walnuts, shelled and ready for holiday baking. At today's prices, this is about $32.00 worth of nuts. Considering that it was a blustery cold, snowy day, this was a worthwhile way to spend time.

When he was finished, he came in the kitchen and helped me finish canning the pears. Now that's a good man.

Next, hickory nuts. I've got to try that cake recipe Matthew sent me.