Covid Journal, Day 238: A Fun Day with the Sisters, Virtually

57 with sun early, but rain showers by 9:00am. Looks to be an overcast, wet day. 

We did it. The fruitcakes are done, and five sisters gathered to do it together, online.

It wasn't as much fun as our usual gathering, I have to admit. But it worked to bring us together for our annual cake-making ritual.

I prepared in advance, making sure all my ingredients were on the table or close at hand. 

I zested and juiced the oranges and lemons beforehand too, as that process can take a while. I was ten minutes late to the gathering because I forgot our kitchen clock was 10 minutes slow, but I quickly caught up, and my cakes were the first in the oven. The advance prep really helped.

Almost mixed...notice my rigged-up place for the laptop. I have to leave it hooked to the modem because my satellite internet wifi signal is not really good enough for Zoom. So to get the computer in a good spot and high enough up, I used a little table I'd just painted and a cardboard box as a stand. It worked.

Preparing the pans is a lot of work. I planned to do that in advance too but ran out of time. Each pan must be greased, then lined with parchment paper, then the parchment paper greased. I didn't have any parchment paper this year, but used aluminum foil in its place, which worked just as well.

Into the oven of my old 1950 Tappan stove.

And done. Aren't they pretty?

Thirteen cakes later, I could sit down with my coffee and visit. We stayed online together until almost all the cakes were baked, a long, leisurely few hours. Most of my sisters and I get together weekly on Zoom, but this time we stayed longer and really got to cover all the bases. 

Our get-together was certainly different this year, but it worked. Some things were better, in a way. I didn't have to travel hours to do it, and I had all my familiar tools and my own kitchen to work in. I am pretty efficient in my kitchen, but cooking in someone else's...well, you know how that is. When it was over, I was right here at home, not facing more miles of travel. This might be the way I participate as we get older, since I live at least 5 hours from any of my siblings. It's nice to know I will still be able to do it if travel is no longer an option.

Time with my sisters. What a precious gift.

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

Fruitcake Day

They're done. About 50 fruitcakes, all packed up, some soaked with brandy, and waiting for the holidays.

Three of my seven sisters made the long trek from northern Virginia to my home in the West Virginia hills, not far from the Ohio River. My aunt and her daughter-in-law, our beloved Bridget, also came, as did three granddaughters and a couple of their friends.

We had a blast. We ate and baked and laughed and mixed,

made messes and cleaned them up and completely enjoyed our time together.

The tradition came from our mother, who may have learned it from her mother. Get together with other women and girls to make the holiday cakes. And everyone gets three stirs of each bowl and makes a wish on each one. We are passing it on to our grandchildren in hopes this fun tradition will continue to bring our womenfolk together long after we're gone.

We make good cakes too. Even those who say they don't like fruitcake like our cakes. Each batch comes out a little differently from the others, and every year the cakes are different from the year before. Which is odd because we use basically the same ingredients. But sometimes we add more or less fruit; the fruits vary year to year; sometimes some of us use honey instead of molasses, or sorghum molasses instead of blackstrap. Sometimes we put in peach jam, other times blackberry or other berries, sometimes jelly; sometimes the eggs are bigger, and other years some might use dark brown sugar while others use light brown. Sometimes we add brandy to the mix, sometimes not.

Mine are now soaked with brandy, to sit and absorb the flavor into the fruits and cake. I've already sampled one without brandy, and it was delicious...but the brandy will make it better!

My house is now back in order, the dishes washed and put away, the bed linens and towels washed and sorted and put away, the floors swept. But the joy that permeated this place over the weekend is still here. It seeped into every corner and cupboard, and still hovers around the corners of my mouth.

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

The Cooking Class

"Remember when we had cooking class? Mom had a friend of hers come over and teach us how to cook. It was you and me, and our friends Sue and Nancy, I think."

This must have been about the time we had cooking class, 1959
I was 8 and Judy would have been almost 7

I had forgotten all about it until recently when my sister Judy mentioned it on the phone. But as we talked, I began to recall those after-school classes. It was pretty exciting stuff! I must have been about 8 or 9 years old, and Judy was a year or so younger.

Class began at 4:00pm. We put on our aprons and waited for the lady to come. Who was she? I cannot remember at all. Maybe it was the lady we called Aunt Helen, although she wasn't our aunt. We had a lot of "aunts" and "uncles" who weren't real relations, probably to make up to us the lack of family living close to us.

I can remember only two things we made in class. One was Floating Island. It was a thin custard, made with egg yolks, and the whites were whipped into meringue and dropped by spoonfuls on top--uncooked. It was delicious. Today's recipes for this treat are updated to include cooking the meringue, I have found, but I've never tried to make them. I wonder if they have the same wonderful lightness and taste?

We also learned to make an appetizer. This one was made with saltine crackers, buttered and then sprinkled with a variety of toppings and placed under the broiler just briefly, enough to melt the butter and hold the toppings in place. The toppings were simple: I remember poppy seed, sesame seed, and some sprinkled with paprika. They were very tasty, although our Dad commented that they were still just crackers and why all the work?

I wonder if cooking class was where we made baked meringues? Maybe so. And cakes? We used to make cakes for every family birthday, and with 13 siblings eventually and Mom and Dad that was a lot of cakes. I can't recall if we learned to make them and the buttercream icing in class, or if Mom taught us. I think, however, it was something we did in class.

Judy and I did a lot of cooking as young girls. Besides the cakes, we sometimes made cookies, and as we got older and Mom's health began to give her trouble we often took over making dinner for the family. The year I was 13 Mom went away to a health facility for a while, and was sick a lot of the year while she was carrying our youngest sister, so Judy and I alternated taking days off from school to take care of Mom and our home.

It was a lot for such young girls, I now realize, but we never really thought about it at the time. And both of us maintained good grades in school. Today, of course, such absences would not be allowed but in those days parents had the right to keep children out of school as needed.

I smile thinking back to the cooking school. Maybe Mom knew she was going to need us in just a few short years. Maybe when she was young someone came to give her cooking lessons. I don't know, but I do know that those early experiences developed in me a love of cooking that has lasted a lifetime.

And Judy and I still cook together at least once a year, when my sisters and I get together to make fruitcakes. We wear aprons when we do that, too! Judy on the left, me in the middle, taken at the fruitcake bake in 2013 at our sister Mary's home.

I looked online for a Floating Island recipe, and found this one on Allrecipes.com. It sounds very close to the recipe we used, with the exception of cooking the meringue.

Floating Island

3 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Custard:

1. Separate two of the eggs. 
2. In top of double boiler, combine 1 whole egg and 2 yolks with 1/4 cup sugar and the salt, whisking until smooth. 
3. Whisk in the milk and cook over simmering water, stirring constantly with a spatula or wooden spoon. 
4. When the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, remove it from the heat. (Do not boil. If custard should start to curdle, remove from heat and beat vigorously until smooth.) 
5. Pour the custard through a strainer into a bowl and stir in the vanilla extract. 
6. Cool and refrigerate.

Meringue:

1. In a heat-proof bowl, lightly whisk the 2 egg whites with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, just enough to dissolve the sugar. 
2. Place the bowl on top of a pot of simmering water and stir constantly until the temperature of the whites reaches 145 degrees F (63 C) or hotter. 
3. Immediately remove the bowl from the heat, and use an electric mixer to beat the warm egg whites until they form stiff, glossy peaks.
4. Pour the chilled custard into a serving dish. Drop the meringue by heaping tablespoons onto the custard to make islands. Chill before serving.

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

What Else Has Been Going On in July

I am almost finished posting my Oregon photos--today I will download the ones from my phone and post those. I have been doing other things this month, really I have!

Most of what I've been doing is storytelling. July is always a big month for me with library Summer Reading programs. I hit the ground running when we returned with three programs as soon as I got home, and then followed up with six performances the following week. The gardens have managed pretty well while I've been gone so much, thanks to lots of rain (LOTS!). A small tornado passed through while we were away one weekend but fortunately missed our place by a couple miles.

Last week, though, we had a really wild time.

You see, while I was gone overnight on a storytelling trip, Larry managed to roll the riding mower and cut his fingers pretty badly. He also broke two of them. This was just before three of my sisters were coming to visit, and I still had another day of storytelling to do. His hand was a real mess--and he did it at 3:00 in the afternoon and was still cutting grass with that bloody mangled hand when I got home at 6:00! He said, "Just wrap it up and tape it, it will be fine." I about fainted looking at it, it was so bad. After some persuasion ("I'm going to call an ambulance if you don't go with me now!") he agreed to go. He slipped in the shower and blood went flying everywhere. It looked like a murder scene in there by the time I got him cleaned up and dressed.

So about 40 stitches and much bandaging later, we got home around midnight. I was up and out early the next morning for my last summer reading programs and our son Derek took Larry to the VA Clinic for follow-up. The next morning I did not like the look of his swelled-up hand, called the VA and we were off to the VA hospital a couple hours away to have it looked at again. Meantime, my sisters were on their way here. I called them, told them to make themselves at home until we could get back. Derek (who wins Best Son Prize this month!) offered to cook dinner at his house that evening. His barbecued chicken is the best I've ever eaten, and his grilled bread and veggies are excellent too. So that wild day ended on his patio with a nice fire in the firepit, good conversation and time to finally relax.

Liz looking like a movie star--
and Theresa caught in the act of dishing up some salsa!
Judy got lucky and missed out on getting snapped.

The next morning my sisters and I took off junking. We hit a good sale in town, visited my booth at the Ravenswood mall, then drove over to Pomeroy for lunch at the Wild horse. Who knew it was Blues & Brews week in Pomeroy? Lots of traffic, music and people but the Wild Horse, with its outside covered deck overlooking the river, was a perfect place to eat--and their food is awesome.

We wound up that day with a fire in our own firepit, lots of laughter and conversation. Next morning was blueberry pancakes, sausage, and breakfast on the deck, and then my sisters left for home, and my house was quiet once more.

Larry's hand is healing nicely. I've had a little time to do some cleaning of this house which has been neglected for weeks, and even got started on organizing the workshop in the new room--the room is nowhere near finished but I don't care. I desperately need a place to work besides all over the house. One day maybe we'll get it done but my need for space to paint and repair has taken priority. It's covered, it's heated, it's lighted and it will do.

I've also been working on my upcoming performances for the Inland Waterways Festival this weekend in Marietta, starting August off right with storytelling. I have found so many intriguing facts, legends and stories about the Ohio River and the areas surrounding it I will have a hard time deciding what to tell. Today I'll be whittling and honing the list, a fun task with such a wealth to work with.

That's a little bit of a catch-up. There's more of course, but that can be a later post!

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

Sugar Cookies

We ran away from home.

It was so unfair! I mean, all we did was take the sugar bowl and eat the sugar. And for that Judy and I were sent to our rooms for an entire afternoon.

“I know what we can do,” I said. ‘Let’s run away!”

“Yes!” Judy and I packed our dolls into brown paper bags, slipped out the back door and ran to our usual hiding place under the cherry trees.

“Where are we going, Sue? I’m scared.”

I looked up the street and saw Mr. Knox working in his garden. Mr. Knox was tall, thin and ancient. He had been in the “Great War” and had a German soldier’s helmet with a bullet hole in it in his hallway.

“There’s Mr. Knox. I bet he baked some of his sugar cookies today.”

“We’re not allowed to go without permission…”

Mr. Knox walked over to his porch and disappeared inside.

We crept out of our hiding place and ran to Mr. Knox’s front porch. He seemed surprised to see us. “Come in, ladies. I was just about to have some lemonade. Would you like some?” We nodded, suddenly struck dumb as we watched him pour lemonade into tall glasses.

“How is your mother?” he asked. I nearly fell off my chair.

 “S-s-s-he’s fine, sir.”

“I’m surprised she didn’t call to tell me you were coming. Maybe I missed the phone while I was outside. You should get on home before she worries about you. Why don’t you take some of my sugar cookies with you?” He counted fifteen cookies into a brown paper bag.

“Um…thank you sir.”

As the door closed behind us, Judy hissed, “Mom will know when she sees the cookies! We’ll be sent to our rooms for a week!”

“We’ll eat them. She’ll never know.”

Understanding dawned. “Well, all right. Give me one.”

I opened the sack. The cookies gazed at me with their single raisin eyes. I stuffed one in my mouth. “Isn’t this great? All these just for us!”

Judy stopped eating after four cookies. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“You have to eat your share! Don’t go!”

“I don’t care. It was your idea anyway,” she said as she ran down the street.

Twenty minutes later the incriminating evidence was in my belly. I walked up to the front door to find Mom waiting for me, tapping her foot. She didn’t look pleased.

“Where are the cookies?”

“Did Judy tell?”

“She didn’t need to.” She glanced upstairs, where Judy was tossing her cookies into the toilet.

“Mr. Knox called.He wondered if you were running away. You left your bags at his house. You get to your room, now!”

 “I think I’m going to be sick!” I dashed upstairs and joined Judy in the bathroom.

I cried myself to sleep that night. In the morning, I woke to voices in the downstairs hall.

“It was a pleasure to see your girls, Mrs. Connelly. I thought they might need their bags they left at my house so I brought them over. By the way, I had quite a few cookies left from my last baking. Thought you might like them.”

I peaked over the rail and saw Mr. Knox hand my mother a grease-stained paper bag. He glanced up at me and winked.

That was fifty-five years ago, yet I can still remember that day and Mr. Knox’s cookies. I sure wish I had his recipe, and even more, I wish I could have spent more time with this elderly neighbor who treated two wayward girls with such kindness.

For a recipe very like the one Mr. Knox must have used, go here. The photo above is from this site.

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

The Convent: Visiting My Past

I made my annual fruitcake-making pilgrimage over the weekend, but there was a side trip that was completely unplanned, a trip that took me back 55 years to my early elementary days and the nuns of the Benedictine order who taught our school.

I picked up my granddaughter Grace on my way across West Virginia so that she could be part of our annual bakefest. Grace is 15 and I hope that she and our other children and grandchildren might continue this tradition. First step is to have them be part of our day and learn to make the cakes. So Grace and I drove on to my sister Judy's, who lives not far from Grace actually, in eastern West Virginia. We spent the night there and drove together to Virginia Saturday morning.

It was on the way home that we made an unexpected detour. Our easiest route took us past the entrance to Linton Hall. This was a private military school for boys run by the Benedictines when I was a child, but our church (All Saints in Manassas, VA) decided to start a school, and the best available space was at the Benedictine convent. The nuns would be our teachers and the school would have 2 grades, kindergarten and first. The second year we had 2 grades again, this time first and second. I attended the first year (1957-58), and Judy attended first grade the next year (58-59).

In fall of 1959 the school moved to rented space at the National Guard armory and added 2 more grades so we had grades K-4. That year a new school was under construction and we moved in for the next school year. My class grew a little each year. We started with 7 students in 1957, but as the school grew to have 8 grades (K-7th), my class grew to 14 children at graduation. Each year we were doubled up in the classrooms, two grades to a class, so Judy and I were always in the same classroom together which suited us just fine. But Linton Hall was the place I always called to mind and the place that holds many memories. So as we were driving home and approaching the entrance to Linton Hall, I asked Grace, "Want to see where we went to school when we were little?"

It hasn't changed much. The piney woods where we had end of the year picnics is still there; the military school is now a private K-8th grade school but it is the same red brick building. The convent and chapel looked the same too. And down over the hill we saw the sign to a place we both recalled vividly--the grotto.

We pulled over and ventured down the path, memories flooding back as we walked. A gaggle of geese honked overhead, heading south on that chilly morning.

There was the wall of round stones, there the damp cave,

there the statue of Mary and the kneeling girl.

I did not remember it being a shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes, or the memorial plaque in the wall.

I thought there were more flowers but perhaps there are when the weather is warm. We were pleased to see that the shrine had been maintained; both of us remembered getting in trouble one day for sneaking down to the grotto during recess, and having to stand with our faces to the brick wall of the convent during the rest of recess. I can still feel the shame and misery of that! Other than that time, however, my memories of the nuns are of love and laughter, nothing like the grim tales we often hear about Catholic schools.

We thought we'd walk over to the chapel, a place I remember as hushed and sacred, filled with wood and brick and stained glass. But to get to the chapel we had to pass the convent, and there was a doorbell. Was there any possibility, we wondered, that one or two of the nuns still living who were our teachers?

"One way to find out," I said. And pressed the bell. No one came and we started to leave, but then a nun came down the hall and let us in. She didn't look like the nuns I remember with their stiff wimples and black habits. She was dressed in casual clothing, with short hair and really could have been anyone on the street.

"Yes," she said. "Sister Lawrence is still here. She's 88 now, you know. I'll see if she's up to visitors."

We looked at each other. Eighty-eight. She was probably in a wheelchair, I thought, or at least using a walker. She might have Alzheimer's; she might not even remember us. We read the history of the convent while we waited; I don't think I ever knew much about it before.

The door opened and a white-haired lady walked briskly toward us. She was trim and moved with ease, eyes alert behind her glasses. 

"So, you're the Connelly girls!" She remembered us with ease, and we spent a half hour with her, talking about our family, the school and our memories. She told us about her visit to Germany to meet her family; her parents were immigrants to the U.S. She described a bunch of roses they gave her on her arrival, and how the roses held well enough that she could bring them back with her on the plane.

I was sad to hear that Sister Ernestine and some of the other nuns who taught us passed away some time ago. My mother had urged me to go see them but whenever I was in Virginia my time seemed so crowded there was never an opportunity. I am very glad Judy and I took the time this weekend to go back--back in time, back in memory, back to when we were little girls. And I am very glad Grace was with us to share in those memories.


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

First Snowy Day Photos, and Stories and Storytelling

I was lucky enough to be on the road on Tuesday when we had our first snowfall, so I got to see it for my entire drive. The ridge always looks lovely dresses in demure white.

 This log cabin will not be with us for long, I'm afraid. It has been used as hay storage for years.

I was on my way to the University of Charleston to speak to a class about storytelling and Appalachian folklore. I wondered what they might want to know. My approach is usually to ask if the students have any burning questions or something they've always wondered about and then go from there. My group on this morning was unusually quiet--perhaps that was because they were, for the most part, freshmen, and were not yet used to speaking out in class. 

Once we started a few began to talk; one told a story of things that happened after the death of a beloved grandparent, another of some old sayings she'd heard in her family. I told several stories and sang a couple ballads and talked a bit about Ruth Ann Musick who was one of the primary gatherers of West Virginia lore and stories from the 1940's until her death in the 1970's. 

I enjoy speaking to groups like this. For many, it might be their first exposure to a storyteller; for others it is a revival of family memories or of stories they've heard in their neighborhoods. For all it is a trip to another time and place when stories and the storyteller were the primary bringers of news and entertainment and all gathered around to listen and share. 

Tomorrow I'll be making new stories as I bake fruitcakes with my sisters in Virginia. We are creating our own family legend of the eight sisters who would gather every year to make the recipe their mother used to make, a cake packed with fruit and nuts and goodness and laughter. I hope that our children and grandchildren will carry on the tradition when we are gone, so that this story will be one written over many, many years and not confined to the memory of only the few who took part. 

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

Holiday Cookies!

Yesterday was baking day. Today was cleaning up, putting away, putting up the pumpkin and more work on the booth day. But I promised recipes for the cookies I made, so here they are:

First recipe: Italian Cookies. I got this recipe from a friend and loved making them. These were easy, easy. The only down side was dipping them all in the glaze, since the recipe made about 80 cookies. I mixed these with my KitchenAid mixer and it worked great.

Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening (I didn't have any so I used all butter)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons baking powder (yes, 5)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons anise extract or vanilla or lemon extract.

 Melt the butter and shortening together; then add the sugar and mix well. Add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Mix in the extract. Sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the creamed mixture gradually; if the dough is too sticky to roll into a ball in your hand, add a little more flour but remember the dough should be very soft. Roll the dough into small balls (about 3/4-inch diameter or smaller); the cookies raise quite a bit due to all he baking powder. Place the balls on ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. The cookies should be lightly browned on the bottom but the tops will still be light. Remove from the cookie sheet to a wire cooling rack and let them cool completely before glazing.

Glaze:
2 cups confectioners sugar
2 to 4 tablespoons milk

Mix milk gradually into the sugar to make a thick glaze--you want it to be thick, not runny. Place waxed paper under the cooling racks to catch dripping glaze and scattered sugar or else you'll have a mess.

Dip the top of each cookie in the glaze and sprinkle with colored sugar or your choice of toppings. You will want to dip a few and then sprinkle the sugar as he glaze will harden pretty quickly. Allow to set until the glaze hardens, and store.

Second recipe: Chocolate Orange Shortbread. This is from Better Homes and Gardens Cookie Classics cookbook. Lots of delicious recipes in this book, and this is one that is quick and easy to make.

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I like unbleached best)
1/2 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
2/3 cup butter (no substitutes)
3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 to 1 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel (use a zester for best results)
Granulated sugar

In a medium mixing bowl stir together the flour and powdered sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs and starts to cling together. (I cheated and used my KitchenAid andit worked just fine--this mixture is pretty stiff and I was tripling the recipe). Stir in the chocolate pieces and orange peel. Form mixture into a ball with your hands ; return to the bowl and knead until smooth.

Shape the dough into 1 1/4" balls. Place balls 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using the bottom of a glass dipped in granulated sugar, slightly flatten the ball to about a 1/2" thickness. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, just until the bottoms start to brown. Cool on the cookie sheet for one minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Makes about 28 cookies.

According to the recipe, these can be packed in a freezer container and stored for up to one month. Just take out of the freezer and thaw in the container for about 15 minutes before serving.

Those were the two I made yesterday, along with the brownie bites. For those, I made my usual recipe but baked them in the small size muffin tins. When they were about 3/4 of the way baked, I added a small chunk of semisweet chocolate in the centers, then let them finish baking. The only problem I had was getting them out of the pans. They really wanted to stick! I used spray cooking oil on the pans, but wonder if butter would have been better. Any suggestions?

So now my cookies are packed and ready for my trip to Virginia this weekend to bake fruitcakes with my sisters. We'll swap (and probably taste-test!) our cookies too. Can't wait for the fun to begin!

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

A Sisters Birthday Celebration

This is the plate,

and these are the cupcakes we put on the plate,

and this is Theresa who baked all the cakes to put on the plate,

to surprise sister Mary whose birthday had come

and this is sweet Julie, the other birthday one. 

These are two sisters, having some fun

This

And here we all are, every one!

We really did have a great time together. You'll notice the plastic "bling" on the cake? Mary and Julie are serious lovers of bling so Theresa decided to supply some, at a reasonable cost of course. (You know, I counted backward, and I think these two sisters were birthday presents to my mother; count back none months, and you get June, which was her birthday month. Hmmm...)

We were fortunate to find a very accommodating young man who took pictures for us. Bless his heart, I know he had a time trying to get everyone to be still, and the wind was enough to carry off a good-sized hog so it's a wonder any of them came out well.

Our day was short, but we certainly packed it full. I hope we can plan another get-together in a few months. I really want to show them the West Virginia Museum of American Glass in Weston, WV, and then there's that antique mall in Buckhannon I've been wanting to visit. Definitely, another day is in order, I think.

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

Hangin' with the Sisters

Last weekend I visited my sister Judy in her home in the mountains of eastern Virginia.Well, I started out at Judy's, but there was more to the visit than that. Six of my seven sisters got together for a day of fun, shopping, celebration and laughter. Four of us had a sleepover at Judy's and I wish you could have heard the chatter! 

Let's start with the view from my sister Judy's house on a cold spring morning. Her horses were happy with their hay as the daylight slipped across the mountains. Judy runs Hidden Trails Stables at Lost River State Park in addition to her job as a nurse, and she's one of the busiest people I know.

All of my sisters love antiques and junking as much as I do, so a trip to local shops was in our plans. We decided to check out Broadway, VA, which is only 45 minutes away from Judy's house, and she had seen some shops she thought we should investigate.

Our first stop with the Ben Franklin store, where we met up with sisters Mary, Cathy and Julie who had left home early to meet us. When I was young Ben Franklin stores were five-and-dime stores, but today many of them seem to have converted to craft shops--and this one had an attached antique mall. This was where I found those cute Hull baskets, and also the small wood knobs I have searched for in many places without luck. Everyone seemed to find something here, then we were off again.

What does that sign say?

Aha! It looks like it might be our kind of place. Theresa is a pro at the fast stop, and also at turning around and going back if we missed something (like a turn!).

We found all kinds on interesting things here. Junk for sure and plenty of it, and most prices were very reasonable. I bought a few items, nothing big, but sister Julie came away with a dining table and 6 chairs for a steal. If I'd had my truck, it would have come home filled with furniture, but alas, I had only my car so I was careful with my shopping.

Next stop was the Shoppes at Mauzy (pronounced Mosey). I'm usually a little leery of places called "shoppe" because that extra "pe" on the end usually means It's going to cost more.

This place had many buildings, all filled with antiques and collectibles. (Liz and Cathy are telling secrets, I think!)

The main house of the place was filled on both floors with to-die-for beautiful things. I could have spent a small fortune here, but I was happy with a canning funnel and a very pretty turquoise and gold vase that I think might have been made by Cameron Clay Products in West Virginia.

This little building was the jail! At one time this was a small community so it had a jail, ice house (upper right),

a country store and feed store, and a church (not in these photos). Other nice old farm buildings were scattered about the property. With its location just off Rte 11 and I-81 in the Shenandoah Valley, the Shoppes seem well located to attracted business--and it's a beautiful place to visit.

Judy gamely hobbled around with us on crutches. She hurt her leg a few weeks ago but wasn't about to miss out on the fun, and she's a real trouper. I know it had to have tired her, though. Mary scored a few things here too, and we all admired the beautifully arranged rooms. Definitely worth another visit sometime.

That was the shopping part of our day. By this time it was after noon and we were hungry--and we wanted some time to just visit and talk too. Tomorrow, pics of a sister birthday!

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