 It is always exciting to hear from a reader who has jumped with both feet into the wacky world of canning! I love to hear the stories and see the results because it is wonderful to know that the art is being passed on. As I hear the excitement in the notes attached to photos, it takes me back to my early days of canning with visions of my first little kitchen, its unfinished concrete floor, boxes of bottle lambs in the corner and my brand, spankin’ new pressure canner gleaming on the stove. That was a long time ago. I received this photo from reader, Carol, who really took on some unusual produce to attempt her first experience in pressure canning. She wrote the following: “The farmer’s market started last Saturday and bought some nice fresh asparagus and spinach and had some mushrooms from the grocery. I took my pressure cooker for a test drive then I commenced to canning! 3 pints of asparagus, 3 pints of spinach, 4 1/2 pints of mushrooms. I am so excited. I have always wanted to do this. ( I know, I need to get a life) I have never canned or used a pressure cooker before. My family is terrified of pressure cookers after my Grandma exploded one while cooking stew and for years they found splats of stew around they kitchen and it took forever to get it all off the ceiling…” So I am offering a “congratulations!!!” to Carol for overcoming the family phobia and successfully processing some really unique items! đ Yay! |
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Archive for the ‘Encouraging Words’ Category
A New Generation of Canners!
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
Kudos!!
Sunday, April 10th, 2011
 I’d like to give a shout out and kudos and ‘atta-girl’ and ‘way to go!’ (can you think of anything else?) to reader, Debbie, who sent in this photo of her first attempt at canning chili. It was such a success that she is moving on to canning soup for her very large family. Congrats, Debbie!! We are so proud of your success and eagerness to plan ahead for your family. If you have a success story or ideas that you would like to share, please email us with your pictures and story. Again, congrats, Debbie!! |
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Encouraging Creativity in Kids – A project
Monday, April 4th, 2011
  Do you remember lying in the grass and looking at clouds, while making out the shapes of everything from whales to sailboats? That’s called ‘imagination’. Being a retired home school mom as well as a former art teacher in the public schools, I know only too well how bored children become if they are not encouraged to be creative – to use their imagination – and to be funny. Funny is a plus. Our family has always included humor as one of the pillars of our home structure and be assured that when holidays roll around, stomachs hurt from all of the laughing. When I was growing up, my extended family was the same way and we were encouraged to use our noodle in our humor. A performance of my sisterâs original country spoof for all, and I mean ALL, our relatives at a family reunion ranks top silliness in my memory. We had no shame. For our Missouri kinfolk, in our heaviest East Tennessee accent, I and my three sisters belted this ditty that included the chorus: âOh, a band-aid and some iodine will make yer bruises feel sublimeâŚ.But ya cainât put a band-aid on yer heart.â Children love to create if they are encouraged. (After that, you may wonder why in the world my parents encouraged us!) And I know that a youngsterâs first reaction to any challenge is, âI donât know howâ, âI canâtâ or âItâs too hard.â But if continually encouraged to step out on a limb and try something new without the fear of ânot doing it rightâ, children develop reasoning and cognitive/physical skills that will last them a lifetime. Toward such an end, I used this art project for kids of all ages in my art classes. It challenges kids to pretend, create, draw, and be funny all without there being any ârightâ answers. No two drawings will be alike. I have done this with young children to high school kids and while the results will depend on the motor skills of the age group, the results are always funny and creative. You will need:
 Give each child a sheet of paper and pencil and have them close their eyes. Tell them to make dots on their paper without looking. Establish a particular number of dots. Here I have made 20 dots. For younger children, count with them as they make each dot.  Tell them to open their eyes and to connect the dots without crossing any lines. They are doing an outline. You can use this opportunity to explain the concept of an outline and a perimeter if you like.  Have them turn the paper different directions to look at the shape they have made from different angles. Tell them to pretend the shape is an animal and to pick out the way that their shape looks most like an animal. On this particular shape, I have settled on this direction because I can see a head and will make the rest work as a body. Tell the children to find the head to their âanimalâ.  Here I have added a nose, mouth, eyes and an ear to the head. Tell the children to give the heads of their animals these features.  Next, I have decided where the legs will be and have added feet  In order for younger children to see their shape better, they can go over their pencil outline with a fine, black marker or dark pen. Older kids like to do this too because it makes their âanimalâ more cartoon-like.  Have the children color their animal however they like. Remind them that they can put in fur, feathers, scales, teeth, etc. to help define their animal.  When they have finished designing their animal they can get really silly. A name for the animal, where it lives, what it eats and how it sounds are just a few things that can be added to the drawing.  It is fun for a child to keep an âAudubonâ style scrapbook of their animals to look at later on. For young children, you can write their descriptions for each animal in large letters, put the papers into plastic sheet covers in a looseleaf notebook and use the book to help your child learn to read! They will have made their own book and learned to read it too.  You can hang the drawings on the frig, or cut the animals out to use for silly decorations. Nowâs the time for YOU to get creative! |
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Showers of Blessings
Monday, March 21st, 2011
  Friends are so special, but friends of like mind and understanding are that much more special! A friend of that sort, Mrs. B., gave me the nicest suprise this past weekend. You know how you just go about your day in the normal way, thinking normal thoughts and doing normal stuff when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, God uses a person to just overwhelm you with gratitude and humility? Well, He used my friend in that way and I’m still in awe. On Saturday, I got a call to meet Mrs. B at Bass Pro Shop in OKC because she had some things for me. When Mr. Fix-It and I arrived, she and her daughter opened their truck bed cover to reveal boxes and bags of canning jars, buckets of wheat, bags of flax and powdered milk, a ZojiRushi Bread Machine and wonder of wonders, a brand new Bosch Universal Plus Heavy-Duty Mixer. She informed me, because we are “Sisters of the Order of Home Baked Bread” that the mixer was mine!! Oh my gosh. Talk about a dough kneading machine, this thing is the king – queen? And she was giving it to me!! Mr. Fix-It loaded the mixer into our vehicle and the ZojiRushi that Mrs. B was giving to a wonderful woman who has taken in 6 foster children and has mucho mouths to feed. (I get to deliver this surprise to this precious lady with some of the grain, and watch her face!). My friend then gave us the buckets of wheat, some powdered milk, canning jars and flax seed and said, “Have fun!” Fun? It was Christmas in March!  But the “fun” had only started. I got to spread the blessing on the way home by dropping off some of my gifted grain and powdered milk to another large family of many tummies, as well as some canning jars, and will be taking powdered milk to another.  When I got home and unpackaged the mixer, I decided that it was the strangest looking thing I ever saw. If it had beeped, “R2D2” I would not have been surprised. I actually DID read the manual before trying it out, which only goes to prove I am not a man, and decided to try a couple of loaves of bread. Using my sandwich bread recipe, I decided to make one loaf of sandwich and another loaf of cinnamon/cranberry bread. And I used all whole wheat flour that I ground and then sifted and sifted and sifted, instead of half whole wheat and half all-purpose.  For the cinnamon bread, I removed half of the dough from the mixer and then added 1/2 cup sweetened Craisins and 1/4 cup sunflower seeds. You can actually let your dough rise in the bowl of the mixer, but because I had to divide it, I let each batch rise in two separate bowls, covered with damp towels and placed in the oven that had been heated to 150Âş and turned off. After the first rising, I formed the sandwich bread loaf and then I rolled the dough with the Craisins and sunflower seeds out about 1″ thick. I sprinkled the surface liberally with cinnamon. Then I formed it into a loaf like I demonstrate in the instructions for the sandwich bread. I put the loaves into greased and floured loaf pans, let them rise a second time and then baked at 350Âş for 20 minutes.  Yes, it was yummy!!! So thank you so much, to Mrs. B for generosity deluxe and for the opportunity to get to participate in spreading the blessing! And you KNOW I’ll be trying out new bread recipes, using my new Bosch Mixer, and putting them on the blog!! |
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Time To Think
Monday, March 14th, 2011
 Today, I woke to news photos and videos of Friday’s tsunami that followed the earthquake in Japan. These pictures of utter devastation and loss are too much to get one’s head around. Here in Oklahoma, we see similar pictures that can be a mile wide from tornado damage. But to comprehend that kind of thing for a whole country is just mind boggling. Photos of empty store shelves, long lines of people patiently waiting for rationed food or water and numbed and dazed individuals struggling to crawl through rubble made my heart ache. But it was the news of the staggering flow of bodies floating along the coast to the horror of onlookers that gripped my gut. I have come to a conscious acknowlegment that prepare as one might, one is never physically prepared. I teach classes on canning, dehydrating and cooking, grain storage and grinding or flaking grains, as well as bread making and I encourage the art of buying on sale, in quantity, to process in order to have a well-stocked pantry. I coupon with the best of them and gleefully (I try not to be too smug) cart off my 50 tubes of toothpaste for free. The Girl Scout in me whispers, “Be Prepared” for anything and lately that preparedness has been regarding rising food prices. There is nothing more gratifying than knowing that one does not have to run to the grocery store and can even survive without a grocery store for a very long time. Food storage is like having a savings account. And then I look at the pictures of Japan. Have you seen the one of the man who was rescued 9 miles out to sea, floating on what was left of his roof? His house is gone, as well as his wife – and everything in that house is gone as well. All of the planning he might have done, all of the specials he might have purchased, all of the grains he might have stored would be gone as well. All he has is the clothes on his back just like hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of other Japanese. So where does that leave the idea of preparation? Does it mean just “eat, drink and be merry because tomorrow may never come”? The answer to that question can be found in Mathew 6: “Do not focus on storing up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But focus on storing up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” While there are quite a number of passages in scripture that encourage people to be diligent in putting up a store of food, etc, the deeper truth is that all of the storing in the world isn’t our safety. A trust in God is the only sure thing. I see the numbers of deaths in Japan and it’s just an obvious truth that these people’s provisions helped them not one whit. And as they stand before God today, had they stored up for this day by accepting who He is rather than counting how many pounds of rice they had on hand? My prayer is that they did. But for those of us left staring at the reality that is here on earth, we have this moment to make that very preparation. God is the creater of this earth and all of the power that is in it. We see His power mimicked in the force of the earthquakes and tsunamis of our time. These powerful occurrences only prove to man just how powerless man really is, in spite of all his planning and storing and intellectual mumbo jumbo. It proves how much man needs God. My father used to tell me that when I think I am in control, to just pick up a boulder, hold it over my foot and drop it and then will it to stop dropping. Right. Man can be awfully arrogant in his assumption of his own power. On Friday, we found out that we don’t even have the power to control our own inventions like nuclear plants. The fact is, there is absolutely nothing wrong with storing up in times of plenty to prepare for times of want. Joseph did that very well. But the question one must ask one’s self is, “Is my dependence on my stuff and my plans or is it on God?” If the answer is, “In my stuff and my plans” then one will find that one is not prepared at all. In the words of Robert Burns in To A Mouse, “The best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry.” |
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Egg and Muffin Sandwiches
Monday, January 3rd, 2011
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“De-Serve” (A Recipe To Serve!) OK, so that was kind of a crazy thing to write, but I was thinking about that place with the golden arches and their old slogan. Remember? It was that catchy song about what you deserve – you know – like a break today? However, as I grow older and older I am finding that what I think I deserve ain’t all it’s cracked up to be! I bet you can’t get that song out of your head now, can you?  In my youth, I had the “prestigious” honor of being a “crew member” of the McDonald’s Restaurant team – aka, a “hamburger flipper”. I lived, breathed and literally ate McDonald’s. I don’t know how it is now, but back then, McDonald’s was run like the army and there was a real pride in the job and a sense of ownership in the company. Each year there was a competition for all crew members in order to become part of the “All American Team”. The more All American Team members at a store, the more prestigious the store in the eyes of the corporation. Competition was fierce and hard and not just a little scary. It was like participating in the Olympics, only instead of swimming you were waiting on and serving customers in under a minute, or in place of throwing the shot put, you were assembling, wrapping and tossing cheeseburgers onto a warming tray to a stop watch. The competition went on during the day while customers were actually being served and “The Suits” were there watching your every move. The one year that I decided to take the plunge, I competed at the cash register and outside the restaurant in grounds cleanliness. I won. I have proof. But I’m still waiting for the endorsement offers.  Now, I need to remind you that cash registers at the time were not the electronic wonders they are today. Computers were something only ‘brainiacs’ even considered and, as far as we were concerned, still occupied an entire room with magnetic wheel thingys (my hubby tells me they were called column tape units and he would know) whirling synchronistically . If that isnât a real word, it sounds good â canât you just see it?? Yep, the cash box on which I registered counter sales was an upright mechanical monster with round, brown keys in rows all down the front of the unit. The first vertical row was for the cents, the second, tens of cents, the third, ones, the fourth, tens and so on. The number totals showed up in white on black placards, side-by-side, in a window above the buttons. In order to put in a monetary amount, one had to punch each row of places matching the numbers of the entry. I remember starting out punching one button at a time with one finger as the customer stood there looking at me like, âYou moron, canât you work any faster than this? My Big Mac is gonna mold before I get it.â However, I eventually mastered the beast and could use multiple fingers to put in a total all at once â three fingers for â$1.99â and the thumb and first finger to âenterâ. I thought I was hot stuff. And, oh yes, I was there when the Big Mac was first introduced. I had a “Mac Attack” on a regular basis.  I learned to count back change. Those cash registers only told you what the total due was, not the total cash back. A $20 bill for that $1.99 order? A penny – two dollars, three dollar bills – three dollars, four dollars, five dollars, a five dollar bill – ten dollars, and a ten dollar bill – twenty dollars. Give a clerk today, if there is no computerized cash register, a ten dollar bill and a nickle for a $1.95 purchase and watch him slowly come unglued trying to figure out how much money you should be getting back!!! Crew members were required to be âversatileâ and oneâs pay scale and evaluation was based on just how many things one could do in the restaurant. That meant that I didnât just work the front, but I cooked too and I loved it. It was a fascinating process and I am here to tell you that a McDonaldâs hamburger or French fries are no more unhealthy for you than a hamburger or French fries that are fried at home. Food is food and frying is frying. Back then, however, there was one breakfast ingredient that seems to be missing these days and that was butter. But I’m getting sidetracked – back to versatility. Another job that was a requirement back then was being a morning host or hostess. That has gone by the wayside too, apparently, but it was a fun job that involved making sure tables were clean, visiting with the customers, refilling coffee and bringing extra food items requested. It is a job that taught me the value of a servant attitude. I found that the more gracious I was and the more willing I was to do for the customers, the kinder they were and the more appreciative they were. Even when I would get a real grouch, I found that if I didnât take offense and just treated them kindly, their grouchiness didnât bother me and they seemed to leave a little less grouchy. Itâs a lesson to practice every day.  I never would have picked McDonaldâs as my career of choice at that time. I was fresh out of college with a degree in Fine Arts, but there werenât any jobs out there in âArtâ even if one did think that one’s art was âFineâ. McDonaldâs was the only job I could land. I found out however, that even though I was not getting what I thought I “deserved”, I was learning an enormous amount of information and wonderful skills that would serve me the rest of my life. I’ve found that to be true in everything I’ve done that hasnât jived with what I thought I had to have. I have figured out that I really donât know what is always best for me and that I just have to chill and let God do the leading to whatever “best” is. It has led to a much more peaceful life, believe me!! We are at the beginning of a new year and stress is pretty heavy in the country and in the lives of many individuals. Seeking to serve rather than to be served is a heck of a way to deal with stress. When we seek to serve, rather than focusing on what we think we “deserve”, there is a change in attitude and actions for everyone involved. Anyway, because with any lifeâs lesson there really has to be food involved, it is time for a recipe. The following is my way of using the homemade English Muffins, from the last post, for egg and muffin breakfast sandwiches. Your kids will love you for them! Sandwiches Per Sandwich: 1 egg or two egg whites 1 English Muffin 1 slice American Cheese 1 slice Canadian Bacon or 2 slices thin-sliced Smoked Ham Melted butter or olive oil              |
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Home Canned Apple Butter
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
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In Deuteronomy 32:10, we are told that God protected Jacob as “the apple of His eye”. The Greek word for apple in this verse actually means “pupil” of the eye. The pupil of the eye is what actually sees and focuses on an object. God saw Jacob and made him His focus. Isn’t it neat to know that God sees us and focuses on us? Nothing in our lives is missed and we are encircled just as the pupil is encircled by the iris. Of course, when we are going through things that are so tough, if we could only remember that God sees it all and surrounds us, we might learn to be content no matter what our circumstances. God focuses on you and me like the pupil of His eye. We aren’t some insignificant part of the universe. We are loved!  But speaking of apples, today I’m going to deal with apple apples. We all know that,âAn Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away.â Or so every child has been told since Johnny Appleseed. Apples are high in fiber, vitamins and they just plain taste good. Now that it is Fall, apples are in abundance. Apple bobbing at Halloween or caramel apples and candied apples at fairs and bazaars are a yearly treat. There are so many varieties of apples that it is hard to keep up with whatâs what. My favorite eating apple is the relatively new Gala Apple and among our apple trees, we have one Gala. My second favorite is the Yellow Delicious and we have several trees of that variety. Add in a Red Delicious and a Lodi and we have our own mini orchard. It is so fun having apple trees and when planting, it is nice to consider both summer and Fall varieties of the fruit. Our Lodi, which is a California apple and very prolific, is a summer apple, ripening in June. The Lodi apple is a cooking apple and is pretty doggone tart. I use them for applesauce and apple butter. They are also good for drying for snacks. The Fall apples are more for eating and using in pies, cakes and other baking. They can also be dried. Nice, firm, crunchy apples are best for pies because they hold their shape while cooking. The Lodis cook down to mush and a pie of Lodis winds up being an applesauce pie!! I think that I will use two posts over the next few weeks to offer you some ideas for using your apples. In this post, you will find my recipe and photo directions for making apple butter. I use our Lodi apples, but you can use any type you like as long as they are relatively tart apples. Apple butter has a lot of sugar in it and so you want nice tart apples to give it the tangy flavor characteristic of good apple butter. Lodis require little mashing or running through a colander. Apples that are more firm may require that step in order to make a nice, uniform applesauce base. Also, some cooks leave the skins on the apples for more flavor, but that requires a lot of colander work to separate the skins. I will just have to admit that I have a lazy bone but my apple butter gets rave reviews even without cooking any skins! And if youâve never had apple butter on a hot, buttery biscuit, you just havenât lived!      1/2 Cup Sugar 3/4 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp cloves pinch of allspice pinch of salt For example, 20 cups of pulp require 10 cups of sugar, 5 tbsp of cinnamon, 4 tsp clove, 2 tsp allspice and 2 tsp salt. Cover and cook until sugar dissolves.     
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Tornado Alley
Sunday, May 16th, 2010
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This past week was a really rough one for many Oklahomans in the Oklahoma Pastry Cloth⢠Company area. A total of 25 tornadoes pummeled our communities that left homes, businesses and churches in shambles and thousands of people hurting and baffled. Many are still without electricity. We, here, got to play “Little House on the Prairie”, ourselves, for three days. I am amazed at the Okie spirit that permeates the people here. No sooner had these wind monsters attacked and vanished, then neighbors, safe in storm shelters, emerged to check from home to home to make sure that fellow neighbors were OK. Just yesterday, we were amazed by the stories of two of our neighbors, one of whom we were helping to recover what was left of their yard and their home. It seems that the wife of this particular family sought shelter with her little boy in their cellar, only to have a tree fall on top of the cellar, while their house was being torn to bits. The two were trapped, unable to lift the door under the weight of the heavy tree. Another neighbor was checking each home and heard the wife screaming. With the help of others, the tree was removed and the scared and exhausted duo gratefully emerged to the shock of seeing their destroyed home. The house immediately to their east looks like a giant game of “Pick-up Sticks” and the owner’s story is even more incredible. The same neighbor who discovered the two trapped in the cellar, saw that the only thing standing in the next home, was the very center of the home, next to where the garage had been and with door barely intact. Inside was the owner of the home. As his home disentegrated around him, this poor man was protected by the tiny closet in which he took refuge. He was obviously in shock when the neighbor found him, but he will be fine. All across this area, friends, neighbors and even people from other cities have joined together in the cleanup effort, giving of time, money, food, clothes and household goods. In the subdivision where we worked on Wednesday and Thursday, alongside friends of ours, it was just amazing to see the tough resolve that the affected families exhibited. They cut downed trees, hauled load after load after load to the street curbs, piled bricks and two-by-fours, covered destroyed roofs if they had any roof left at all, starting at first light and finishing near dark, only to return to start again the next day. There was no anger and no bitterness, just a deep resolve to move on. The police officers at the entrance to the disaster areas have been friendly and sympathetic, asking for IDs, names and addresses in order to keep an accounting of people who enter and leave the areas. It has been announced that no looting has occurred. That is also amazing. I just want to say that I am so proud to be an Oklahoman. We have been through so many tragedies including the Dust Bowl, the Oklahoma City bombing, the May 3rd, 1999 tornado that was the mother of all tornadoes, the collapse of the I-40 bridge at Gore and these tornadoes this week. Throughout this state’s history “True Grit” has been a characteristic and the character of the people who live here shines through every time. So here’s a shout out to the special people in the Sooner State. You know what the term “neighbor” really means!!  In a neighborhood, where we were able to help with a large group of friends, nearly every home was damaged  It was just painful to see the damage to the beautiful homes.  Just over from the neighborhood, on I-40, Anderson’s Truck Plaza and Love’s Truck Plaza were obliterated.  Those who just suffered roof damage had to work precariously to place tarps over the affected areas.  Many people willingly volunteered to do the dirty work of cutting up mangled and toppled trees, piling debris and fixing meals for those doing the dirty work. Thanks everybody!!  |
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You Rip What You Sew
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
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| Today is my motherâs birthday. She is 79 years old and among the many things she has taught us four girls and 6 grandchildren, she has proved that age is all about attitude. My mother is a member of Jazzercise, which she attends 3 days a week, and participates in national Jazzercise activities when they are close by. However, the most valuable lesson that she has given us is that joy is an inner peace in Jesus Christ that transcends circumstance and emotion. She is the picture of joy and her laughter is infectious even in the most serious of situations. |
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I have written before about the traditions that are handed down in my family and I have usually shared those traditions passed on from my fatherâs branches of the family tree. There are also stories and skills from my motherâs side and there is one skill, in particular, that my mother passed on to us â the skill of sewing.
My mother is a seamstress deluxe. She has made my father suit coats, shirts, robes, etc. and made most of the clothes that we girls wore until we were old enough to make our own. Sixty years ago, she made her wedding dress. She has made quilts for all family members and knits and crochets to boot. Anybody remember those loosely knitted or crocheted vests of the 60âs and 70âs that were worn over a long-sleeved shirt and with a short, short skirt? Well, I have one. I still have it. My mom made it and I wore it with pride! I remember one shirt and short set that she made for the three of us older girls. The shorts were red and the tops were red gingham with appliqued cherries on the left bodice. I think that I would have been in around the third grade! Do I dare admit that this would have been in the 60âs too? We looked like we should have been the characters in a children’s sleuth series! Mom shared a few of her thoughts on plying the needle and I am posting them here for your enjoyment: âSewing is something I love to do for those I love. When your Dad and I were first married, I found some fabric printed with a design that looked like some of the little German villages we both loved when we were dating. I got enough of it to make him a shirt for his birthday. My grandmother Allen sewed dresses for me from the time I was a little girl. She made me my first long dress, a pink organdy one I wore when I was crowned “Queen of the 4th Grade.” My mother also sewed for me. One day I came home from high school and she was down on her hands and knees in the living room surrounded by beautiful wine-colored velvet. I said, “Oh, what a beautiful new rug!” I didn’t realize that she was cutting out a long dress for me to wear to a dance. When I was about 9 years old, I decided to make some napkins for my mother. I pulled the threads on the edges to make a fringe and I hand appliqued a design of cherries on the corner of each. I wanted them to be a surprise, so I stayed in my bedroom to work on them. One day I was working on one and suddenly thought of a question I wanted to ask Mother, so I just walked into the kitchen with the napkin in my hand. That kind of ruined the “surprise”, but she loved the fact that I had thought of and made them all by myself. Sewing has been handed down in our family from grandmother, mother to daughter to granddaughters and grandson I’ve enjoyed teaching not only my daughters and granddaughters and my grandson to sew, but also our Japanese friends. I helped Toshie make herself a cape and showed another Japanese friend how to alter her jeans so they fit her tiny waist. It’s great to be able to pass on a skill to the next generation.â I still have the pillow that my son, at age 8 and the one grandson, made with my motherâs patient hand guiding him on the sewing machine. It made such an impression on him that he hand stitched another one and painted âMOMâ on the corner. I still have that one too. Oh, and he is now 26 years old! I’m sure that he loves my sharing this with you! The wine-colored velvet dress that my mother wore to the dance is still around as well. One of the granddaughters is now making the costumes for college video projects. And the tradition goes on. |
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A Granddaugther Plays Dress-up In The Wine-Colored Gown |
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My first project involved a shift â remember shifts – you know, those dresses with all of five seams (one on each side, one down the back and one at each shoulder strap and two darts?) They could be worn with or without a blouse underneath and they were about as flattering as a flour sack that had a hole cut in the top for the head to go through. And just to add a final touch of ugly, one accessorized with a silver chain belt that dropped just to the top of the hipbone and left about a foot of chain to dangle and clink-clink with each stride. It was 1967 donât you know?! Go-Go boots would have been the piece-de-resistance, but I wasnât allowed to have those white, zippered treasures. I remember that the material of this dress was white with brightly colored flat, cutout-style flowers with round middles. I mean bright. Red, Yellow, Royal Blue, Green Green. Could I have tried any harder to destroy any semblance of taste that my parents had attempted to pass on to me? Hyacinth Bucket would have died. I am constantly reminded of this dress because my dear grandmother, who made beautiful quilts, used the scraps of the dresses that we made, to create all manner of fine works of art. I have a flower garden quilt that she lovingly pieced, by incorporating many scraps of my first attempt at dressmaking. These scraps were also used for my first try at hand-piecing a quilt, guided by my grandmother, when I was in my teens. |
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A glimpse at the material from my first dress, put into my first attempt at a bowtie quilt |
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I am happy to say that my sewing skills increased exponentially from that first project and my favorite machine is still my old Kenmore 15814300, a gift from my parents when I left for college in 1972. They just donât make them like that anymore. It will sew through three layers of canvas without a single huff or puff. I still have many of my old patterns from the days of bell bottoms and mini skirts and I am so pleased to also have some of the patterns that were my grandmotherâs â my motherâs mom. Of those patterns from the past, a few are of the old aprons that my grandmother always wore. She made them for herself and I remember her âclothes pinâ apron that she would wear in the backyard as she hung out clothes to dry on the line. It is from these patterns that I am very excited to introduce a new item that is being offered on the shopping page, produced by a lovely young entrepreneur who’s first goal is to purchase a new sewing machine! She has taken my grandmotherâs patterns and put her own artistic skills to color and design and has come up with some beautiful aprons. The aprons will be debuted at the Taste Of Home Cooking Show in Shawnee, Oklahoma on April 9th. They will then be available online at the Shopping Page |
 Some of my grandmother’s patterns |
 A new Spring apron from a vintage design! |
| So Mom, as you see, another generation and even another family tree is carrying on the tradition. Happy Birthday and thank you for all youâve given us! |
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A Supermarket Education or “What I’ve Learned From Grocery Clerks”
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
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I learned about stocked pantries and grocery deals from my dad, who was the grocery shopper extraordinaire in our home. My father used to take us girls with him (there were four of us) on Saturdays to go grocery shopping. I always supposed it was because he wanted our input into which cereals and candies we would prefer he purchased. Right. Today, I realize that he was just a glutton for punishment and that my mother was blessed. Ladies and Gents. Take lessons. My father was the original liberated man. Dad taught me that one need not limit one’s focus to one store for all grocery needs. He searched ads from all of the local establishments, compared prices and made lists. He had a tight budget and lots of mouths. But I do remember buggies full to the brim and running over. My dad also taught me, by example, to get to know the checkers, managers and service people so that a shopping experience was not only pleasant and fun, but also if any problems arose they would be dealt with quickly and cordially. One might say that I inherited the family “bargain” gene on the DNA strand of competitive shopping. The game is, “find it cheap” and the rule is…well…there are no rules except “free is best”. |
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Now, as the grocery shopper in my own family, I have come to realize that I continue to learn many unique truths on each excursion. The following are some of the things that I have learned. They are real. The names and dates have been omitted to protect the innocent: 1. The older you are and the younger the clerk the greater the chance that you will be called “honey” or “dear” or “sweetheart”. Live with it. 2. If there is a bathtub in the store, hooked up as a decorative fountain, there is the possibility that people from other countries may assume that it is available for real baths for their small child, and that said child may bolt from said parent, running stark naked through the store, eventually attaching to your leg for cover. (Yep, really happened) 3. Salmon comes in cans that are wider at the top and narrower at the bottom to accommodate the salmons’ little tails and big heads. (no joke – I really was informed of this by a young checkout clerk) 4. If lemons are four for $1 and you buy three lemons, if your checkout clerk is under 30, you will cause him no end of mathematical grief. 5. On a trip to Georgia, at a famous specialty grocery store – which shall go unnamed – I was enlightened by a fresh-faced, ponytailed, young man of the following: If Oklahoma is north of Texas (“It is, isn’t it?”), the reason that no famous specialty grocery store – which shall go unnamed – can be found in either state is because the trucks cannot make it over the mountains of Texas and Oklahoma. No kidding? “Oklahoma -where the wind comes whipping down the PLAIN”? |
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Yes, grocery store shopping has taught me that life is never too short for humor, kindness and a smile. Here’s hoping that your shopping experience is a pleasant one. And I promise that salmon are quite a bit bigger than those little, pink cans. |
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