Graduation and Grandchildren and Other Thoughts

55°f/13°C, hazy from Canadian wildfire smoke.

Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit! Happy June, friends. Wishing you all luck, fortune, and health this month. If you can only have one, which would you choose? For me, it would be health. Although fortune sounds pretty good!

Yesterday was granddaughter Michaela's graduation party. She received her degree in forensic chemistry from WVU earlier this month. I am so proud of her, as that degree was no cake walk. I cannot even fathom how one's mind understands chemistry, but Michaela loves it.

Michaela with her mom and her brother James. My son Aaron is her Dad, but he was on the road for work when this was taken.

The party was in Fairmont, about 2 1/2 hours from here if we don't stop. But of course we stop so it takes us 3 hours. It was a beautiful day, highs in the 60s, and just the beginning of the arrival of the Canadian wildfire smoke.

Fairmont

I felt so blessed to have 5 grandchildren and one great-grand all in one place. Michaela is the youngest of the grands, and all the rest are working, and scattered from Florida to California. 

From left: grandson James, daughter-in-law Jaime Haley's partner Desiree, Haley, Michaela, Aaron, Hannah, me, and Kaye with baby Jonny.

I sometimes joke that the next time all 14 will all be in the same place at the same time will be my funeral! But that might be close to the truth, actually. Just so hard to get 14 young people with busy lives together. But all of them are well and thriving. 

I was thinking this morning about the grandchildren's life choices. Of the 14 of them, 8 have college degrees.  Of the six without degrees, one is full-time National Guard, one is in the Navy, one is currently in electrician trade school, one is a songwriter/bartender, one manages stores, and one is currently unemployed but was an office manager. Four of these have some college credits, and two own their own homes. Two of the college grads also own homes. Three of the 14 have children.  Quite a crew!

Neither of my parents went to college, although all of Dad's siblings did. Of us 13 children, I think 6 have at least a 2 year degree, and 2 of us have Master's degrees.  One brother has enough credits for a four year degree but was pretty eclectic in his class choices so never really put it all together and didn't care---his interest was geology so he took courses related to that. None of us with college backgrounds had any parental assistance, of course, and none had GI Bill benefits either, so we managed on our own with scholarships and grants and working.

I wonder how our large family stacks up against national averages? For the grandchildren, with 12 of 14 having some college, they are well above the national average of about 66%. The same is true of my siblings--for our age group (60+), the national average is about 42%, so with 7 out 13 having some college, we are at about 53%. 

Well,  all of this is probably boring to anyone but me! I do wonder, though, with the current push to discourage college in favor of trades, what these statistics will be like for the next generation.  Will they choose college,  go to a trade school, or eschew formal education altogether? The Pew Research Center noted that college enrollment fell from 70% in 2020 to 62% among high school grads in 2022 (most recent available figures). Is this a continuing trend, or another effect of the pandemic? Are kids today opting for a more "free" type of life, free-lancing, working multiple part-time jobs, choosing the gig economy over a longterm career? This may well be the new trend. 

I must say, I have enjoyed my retirement "jobs" of storyteller and reseller far more than I enjoyed my traditional career as a librarian. There is something to be said about controlling your own time and schedule. Of course, I have the safety net of Social Security, which may have fallen by the wayside by the time today's generation reaches retirement age. There may not even be such a thing as retirement age by then! Even today, most retired people i know have some sort of side gig.

Changing times for sure. More exciting, or more worrying? What do you think?

Ending today with last night's sunset. That Canadian smoke makes for a pretty sky as the sun goes down!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Covid Journal, Day 290: Unpacked, and a Book Recommendation

Raining and 43 this morning. Rain showers off and on all day, with little spots of sunshine. This evening it's turning colder, but I believe more rain is expected tomorrow. Soggy weather.

We unloaded the van today and I've been sorting things out, deciding what to keep and what to take to the thrift. In most auctions, smaller things are sold in lots, and there always seem to be some items that I just have no use for. This time was no different.

I don't think there were any fabulous finds this time. No "paid a dollar and it's worth hundreds" kind of things, just some good booth fillers that will return a modest profit over time. 

As I said yesterday, this is different than what I usually buy. The real antiques went sky high, but there were a few reasonable lots. I have found that busts are a good seller in my booths, so I bought several of the ones available.

The dog plaque in the above photo is cast iron, as is the gofer doorstop. And the vase in the center is by Hull.

There's a McCoy cookie jar buried up in this photo, and on the right corner a wicker hand mirror and little wicker holder for something--maybe toothbrushes? 

I got several small white wicker items. Not pictured here are a wicker frog wastebasket and a couple other small things.

There were two of these plaster pedestals too. I suppose there were plants on them? or maybe the busts?

The hall tree was the only piece of furniture that was reasonable, so it came home with us.

There was quite a lot of other things I didn't photograph--Christmas items that Larry packed away with our stuff, a lot of nice, new bath towels and rugs I'll list on ebay, some braided rugs and chair pads, and more. Plenty to keep me busy listing for a few days.

One of the most interesting items I bought were these two compotes, both labeled Emch Glass. 

I'd never heard of this glass company, but apparently Emch Glass operated in Huntington, WV, in the 40's and 50's. According to what I read in the online article West Virginia Glass Towns: Huntington, the company was known as Bruce and Emch Glass and was located in Huntington, WV; but the labels on these pieces say only Emch Glass. I need to research further to clarify what little I have found so far about this manufacturer.

The job now is to get everything priced, wrapped and packed in totes for the booths. And to load the boxes of unwanted things into the van for drop-off. Stuff in, stuff out. The story of our lives sometimes.

There was a nice bright spot in the day: a call from granddaughter Allison, who is working on her masters in social work in Florida. It has been a while since I talked to her, and it was such a pleasure to catch up. I was delighted to hear that she is interested in permaculture and is planning on starting a permaculture garden with her boyfriend this year. She is also interested in canning and preserving--I always wondered if the grandchildren would pick up on this tradition, which as we know is slowly dying out. I am so happy that she wants to learn how to put up her own food, and hope we'll have a chance to get together this year, Covid permitting.

Isn't it odd how the virus is really dictating much of our lives these days? It used to be "weather permitting" or "job permitting" but now it's Covid that is the barrier to so many get-togethers and activities. One of my brothters is now sick with it, and possibly his wife as well; a nephew and his family are also ill with Covid now. The toll goes on, and we seem powerless to stop it. Right now there is yet another surge, probably brought on by holiday gatherings, shopping and related activities. Our governor plans to open schools no matter what come January 19th; is it a good idea, or a rash decision we will regret? My heart goes out to the teachers struggling to teach, and the children who don't have online access, or who live in crowded homes where it's almost impossible to hear, much less learn. The difficulties are deeper than most people realized when online school was implemented and so many children are being left behind. There doesn't seem to be any solution that is 100% acceptable.

Last night I finished one of the most intriguing books I've read in the past year, Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman. The story revolves around an old house and all the different people who have lived in it, and there are elements of magic and superstition woeven throughout. It's a strange read, cozy at times, and at others eerie, sad, funny, and touching. And totally memorable. I'm really considering re-reading it cover to cover because I feel that I've missed things in the first reading--it's like there are pages hidden within the pages, if that makes sense. If you have read it, I'd be interested in your opinion. 

One thing that delighted me in the book was the mention of a belief that witches wear red shoes. Now, when I was in England summer of 2019, I had to leave my red shoes behind to make room in my suitcase for the things I'd bought to bring home. I missed those shoes terribly, even though they really were worn out. So this summer I bought another pair onlne. I'm no witch, but I had to laugh when I read about the red shoes in the book and remembered my longing for another pair. Maybe my husband had better look out!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

How Time Does Fly

Granddaughter Kate is graduating from college this weekend! Seems like just days ago that she was:

playing with masks in my storytelling room,

hanging out with Baxter on the courthouse lawn in Ripley,

experiencing her first time as an aunt, and being there at the birth of her niece,

making spoon puppets with the other grandkids,

being silly on a rock at Blackwater Falls with her sisters when they were on a storytelling trip with me,

and graduating from high school--pictured here with her four sisters and her granny (me!). 

I'm leaving this evening to fly to Virginia so I can be there for the ceremony. But my, how the years have flown by.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

A Soldier on the Fourth of July

We are staying home today, missing the parade and festivities in town because we have a soldier visiting. Or maybe I should say we have Soldier visiting.

Granddaughter Haley leaves for Army National Guard basic training in a few days, and Larry and I will be taking care of her new kitten while she's away. The kitten, a rough-and-tumble little fellow, is named Soldier. It suits him pretty, well, although from the way he's bossing the dogs and other cats around, I think he should be promoted to Sarge.

This little guy is a survivor. Haley found him dumped at the side of the road. She brought him over to show us a few days later. One of our cats had killed a mouse and we had not noticed dead thing was lying by the sidewalk. But that little kitten saw it, jumped from Haley's arms, dragged the mouse under a bush and ate it, growling the whole time as if defying anyone to take it away. Our other pets watched with interest from a safe distance. I think they were impressed.

Soldier arrived for his extended stay yesterday, and he's had a big time exploring here. I had forgotten how entertaining a kitten can be; we spent an hour last night just watching him play. He settled in quickly, and I can see we're going to have an interesting time watching his antics and the pecking-order process resolve. I'm betting Soldier will find his place pretty quickly, and it just might be at the top of the line.

Happy Fourth, everyone! I hope your holiday activities are as fun as ours have been so far. Tonight we'll be by the firepit, grilling hotdogs and watching the continuing adventures of Soldier. Stay tuned.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Experimental Jam

Granddaughter Michaela and her brother James are here for a few days, and yesterday Michaela and I got into jam-making. Strawberries and cherries are ripe, and I had a few currants so we made what I call Cherry Berry Jam. The cherries make this jam a beautiful bright red, and the currants give a nice zing to the strawberries.

The kids were intrigued by the hand-cranked cherry stoner and it certainly made our work easier.

We decided to try something else too: we had some bananas and we mashed up one of them and added it to one batch of the jam. Bananas have such a strong flavor that I didn't want to add too much for fear of overwhelming the berries. When we jarred it up the jam was still pretty runny.

"No problem," said Michaela. "We'll have syrup!" But by this morning all the jam had set beautifully. We tried the Berry Banana this morning on pancakes. It's delicious! We could taste the banana but it was nicely balanced with the other flavors. The consistency was beautiful, too, thick but not too firm, just right.

More berry-picking today, along with some fishing for the guys and painting and summer program practice for me and Michaela.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

When Cadyn Came to Visit

Great-granddaughter Cadyn and her parents came to visit yesterday. What did she do while she was here?

Tried out Granny's big binoculars--and liked them better when she looked into them from the opposite end and made everything smaller;

Showed me her long her hair had grown, and told me she wants it to grow to the floor (Rapunzel?)

Made her Poppa Larry laugh and smile--a lot. She went to his workshop to get him because she wanted to go and see the new chickens. She didn't ask, just told him, "You need to come right now and show me those chickens."

She was amazed that there were "all little chickens, no big ones!" The chicks did not want to be fed, although Cadyn tried patiently for quite a while;

Brought this huge old broccoli stalk to the porch. "I thought it was a bone," her mother said. "Well, I thought it was a cat!" Cadyn said;

Stood out in a soft April shower, looking for a rainbow. We didn't see one, but the sun shining through the rain was beautiful all by itself.

And this little lady is so beautiful too, with her pretty smile, busy mind and surprising imagination. She'll be turning four this month, and it is so hard to believe she is so old (her birth seems like only last year) and yet so young because she knows so many things and can talk about anything, real or imagined. Her grandfather (my son Jon) would have been fascinated, amazed and completely besotted by her. I am thankful every day that he was there for her birth and had at least a little time with this special little person.

Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

What's Been Missing This Christmas

Kids! That is what has been missing at my house! Today my granddaughter and her friend were here to help make cookies. Well, actually they were here last night and helped me set up and take down for the open mic. We had a good time there; poets, writers, storytellers and one musician gathered to share the mic.

Here, writer Patrecia Gray shares her "cracked" version of Froggie Went A-Courtin'.

This morning, I could have cooked breakfast here but the girls jumped on the offer to go to the Downtowner, so off we went. While we were in town we stopped at my friend Reta's antique shop and I found two more Ruby Red cups and saucers. They're not matched--the cups are round punch cups instead of the square cups that should have been with the square red saucers, but I don't care; I just like them. Reta sold me many antiques at very good prices when I first moved to Jackson county, like the cast iron wood cookstove for $75. I still find a few bargains in her shop, 35 years later.

Who should we see wandering the streets of town but this suspicious guy:

I didn't get a chance to tell him how good I've been, but he did corner a few people on the street.

 Soon after we saw Santa, we stopped in the library briefly. On the way in a cute dog--half-grown puppy, really--ran up to us and we petted him and talked to him. He ran off again to some kids on the other side of the street but he ran right in front of a car. Poor puppy, he was hit and rolled. That is not a good thing to see or hear. Fortunately he jumped up and ran back to us as Hannah called to him. He had no collar and no one seemed to know whose dog he was. So he ended up in our car and now he's here. I am sure he is littermate to Hannah's pup Tillie and he's already been dubbed Willie. His owners may come to claim him--the library knows we have him--but in the meantime we're quite enjoying him. I don't really want another dog, but what else could we do? If he doesn't develop a taste for chicken like the last stray did, he may be a permanent resident.

Then it was home to find a tree at last, and make cookies. We cut a tree on our neighbor's farm (with permission!) and shoved it in the back of my car on top of who-knows-what. It was only a half-mile to home anyway.

We could have gone home and gotten the truck of course, but that seemed kind of silly. The tree will need a bit of trimming as we are planning to keep it smaller this year. Planning being the key word in that sentence. We'll see how it plays out.

Then it was cookie time! Hannah and her friend were champs.

They followed recipes effortlessly, and made those Hershey's Kisses cookies, Chocolate Cherry Cookies, and Orange and Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti, and got some refrigerator cookie dough in the fridge to be finished later. I pretty much stayed out of the way; I showed them what I wanted to make and helped when asked, and did the clean-up.

We went up on the ridge to see how Warren was doing with his new cabin. He's the guy who bought land from us last spring. Their cabin is under roof and they can rest easy now. (The pic is from a couple weeks ago, when the roof was put on.) Hannah drove my car--her first time driving! She's almost 14 and this is a good place to start out because there's no traffic and you can go v-e-r-y  s-l-o-w-l-y. She did fine.

Today made me realize how much I miss having kids around at the holidays. The grandkids are mostly teens now and so busy, but today and last night was a return to something special that I have always cherished. Maybe I need to borrow a couple kids more often!

Cassidy: Her Latest Song

My granddaughter Cassidy has been working on recording an album and it's just about ready for release. Every now and then she puts a song online so we can follow her progress. I thought you all might be interested in hearing her most recent release. If you like it, you can join her fan page on Facebook and get any new songs she posts.

Blindsided by Cassidy Ford and Todd Wright

I might just be a proud granny, but I sure didn't sound like this when I was 16---or at any other age for that matter. She plans a career in music and I love watching her follow her dream. Her dad, Jon, would have been bursting with pride too. Cassidy writes songs, plays guitar, and sings. She's been working with Todd Wright, a musician and producer who lives in her area and has quite a career in music.

Cassidy has a Facebook Fanpage too. Check it out!
CassidyFordMusic

Canning Time, Grandchildren, and Crisp Dill Pickles

This week is a canning-and-grandkids week! We've got some fun things planned to do with the kids but at the same time the gardens are giving us a lot of work to do in the canning department. So to get ahead of the curve a little on Monday, I worked on tomatoes, pickles and grapes and ended up with 10 quarts of tomatoes, 20 pints of dill pickles and 10 of concord grape jelly.

Tuesday was shopping day and pick-up-the-kids day. We're looking forward to a few days with Clayton and Grace, and Haley and Jared who live close by will also be around a lot while the other two are here because Grace and Clayton live about 200 miles away and we don't get to see them too often. I like the way the cousins make an effort to be together--they stay close even with miles separating them.

We started today with a big country breakfast, late since the kids were up til the wee hours catching up with each other. While they slept in, I spent some quiet morning time weeding my gardens and dead-heading, trying to get things looking more presentable now that the extreme heat and dryness have abated for a bit.

We didn't really get started on anything until after lunch. Then granddaughters Haley and Grace helped make about a bushel of grapes into jelly. Cleaning the grapes before processing gave us some nice time on the porch to talk as we worked.

Then Haley had to leave for cross-country training so Grace and I carried on. Grace is now well grounded in making jelly, and I think she cold probably handle making a batch on her own. Bless her heart, she stayed right with it, until all the juice was used up and the last jar filled.We made 8 pints of Niagara Jelly from the white grapes and 12 more pints of Concord.

While we worked in the kitchen, Larry and grandsons Jared and Clayton dug on the footer for the new log room and took care of a few other outside chores.

There is nothing that makes work more fun than doing it with a houseful of grandchildren. Our grandchildren are mostly in their teens now and they're even more fun than they were when they were younger, if that's possible. Now they have opinions, are aware of what's happening in the news and the economy, have all kinds of interests and talents and are becoming fascinating people.

 The canning piles up on the old wood cookstove until there's no room for more, then it's moved to the root cellar. I am running out of pint jars already, and the elderberries are just turning. Reckon I'll be buying a few boxes of jars this year to finish out the season.

The dill pickles are a real hit again this year. I can hardly can them as fast as they get eaten. Here's my recipe: for crispy dill pickles:

Small pickling cucumbers
Vinegar
Water
Non-iodized salt
garlic
dill

Slice cucumbers into rounds or into spears. Sprinkle with salt, mix the salt in, and cover with ice cubes. Place a plastic trash bag or plastic sheet over the ice cubes, and then lay a folded bath towel over the plastic (the plastic keeps the towel from getting wet). Let stand at least 3 hours.

Drain off the cucumbers, rinse to remove the salt. Drain again.

Sterilize jars and lids. Place a sprig of dill (to your taste) in each jar. Fill each jar with slices or spears.

Put vinegar, salt and water in a large pot. Add one clove of garlic for each jar you plan to fill. Ratio of vinegar to water is two cups of vinegar to one cup of water and 1/3 cup of salt. Adjust the amount to the amount of cucumbers you have to pickle. For a large washpan full of slices, it takes 8 cups of vinegar, 4 cups of water and makes about 12-15 pints of pickles.

Heat the vinegar, salt, water and garlic until boiling. When it boils, remove the garlic (I save it in a plastic baggie in the refrigerator and use it for three batches before discarding it). Pour the liquid over the cucumbers in the jars until each is filled to 1/2" from the top of the jar. Put on the lids and tighten. Process 5 minutes in a boiling water bath or follow recommended procedures for pickling.

The longer these sit, the better the flavor.

Tomorrow's agenda includes a trip to see mummies, a lunatic asylum and who knows what else?

Birthday Cake, Vintage Style

So what did we make for George's birthday cake this weekend?

Here it is:

And it was delicious.

This is the recipe we used.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Topping:

• 1/2 cup of butter, melted
• 1 and 1/3 cups of packed light brown sugar
• 12 pineapple rings (it takes more than one can for this recipe, so you'll have leftover rings to eat--that's a good problem to have)
• 12 maraschino cherries (drain and remove their stems)

Melt the butter in a microwave or on the stove top. Pour into a 10x14 baking pan (we used a glass pan). Add the brown sugar and mix well. Arrange the pineapple slices on top of the butter-sugar mixture and place a cherry in the center of each pineapple ring.

 Cake:

• 2 and 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (I had bread flour on hand so we used that)
• 2 cups of granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup of shortening
• 3 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 and 1/2 cups of milk
•  2 eggs

 Mix all cake ingredients with an electric mixer for 30 seconds on low speed and then for 3 minutes on high speed. You may need to scrape down the bowl to be sure all ingredients are completely mixed in as you are beating. (This is a little different--with most cakes you mix wet and dry ingredients separately, then beat together by adding a little of the dry ingredients alternately with the milk to the other wet ingredients. However this worked very well--the cake is not as fine-textured as most cakes but the taste is delicious.)

A little segue here--

Grace and I did not use an electric mixer. We used my old manual cake mixer that I used to use when we didn't have electricity. It works very well and gives the user a good aerobic workout in the process.

The gears on top provide a lot of velocity to the paddles as they mix.

Mixed!

Now where were we?

Pour the cake batter evenly over the pineapple/cherry mixture. Back for about 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and invert onto a serving plate--leave the baking pan over the cake for a few minutes before removing it to be sure all of the topping comes loose and remains on top of the cake instead of in the pan.

The finished product, with beautiful baker:

Singing at the BrazenHead Inn

After the triathlon, the family returned to the BrazenHead Inn for an evening of music and fun. The inn's owners, Will and Jill Fanning, incorporate music into the inn's offerings as often as possible, and frequently provide it themselves since they are both gifted musicians.

Saturday night, however, Three Degrees of Hair was on stage. This diverse group from Beckley plays a wide range of music and we enjoyed all of it. They also did something pretty nice: they let some of us sing.

I was first, before even the band took to the stage. Since the tragedy at the Big Branch mine three weeks ago, the song by Jean Ritchie called West Virginia Mine Disaster was on my mind, and that is what I sang. It's powerful and moving, and I sang it in tribute to those miners and their families.

An hour or so later, we convinced Cassidy, Jon and Jennifer's daughter, to take the stage and sing one of her favorite songs, Free Falling. You can listen to her performance here thanks to cousin Emily's forethought to record Cassidy. Thank you, Emily!


Amy sang later on, a lovely ballad of love and longing.

What a group of guys, to allow us to be part of the evening's music. Special thanks to the Three Degrees of Hair for sharing the stage with us.

And still later, everyone in the place joined in on Country Roads. In this picture: James in front, then clockwise Aaron, Cassidy, Haley, Jennifer and Jared, with Emily in the far background.

The relaxed atmosphere and camaraderie made it feel like we were at home instead of 150 miles away in a log cabin tucked into a valley in the Randolph county mountains. That's what true mountain hospitality is, and it's what Will and Jill give to their customers in plenty.

(Do you see that orb floating over Amy's head? If I believed in such things, I might almost be convinced that Jon was there listening to the fun. Actually, I am convinced that he was with us in spirit, for an evening in which his name was much spoken and his life remembered with love. It doesn't take an orb to tell me so.)