A Quilting Mystery

When we were down at Bruder Bear's over Labor Day, Karen reminded me that they have a quilt given to them by my dad's sister, Betty Jane.  According to our aunt, the quilt had been made for our great-grandfather Cummings by his mother.  Karen had showed it to me briefly some years ago, but this time we got it out and examined it carefully.  

It's beautiful, made with gorgeous fabric, possibly silks, and obviously not made from scraps.  

Isn't it gorgeous?  The center is all done and quilted by hand.  The borders, however, are quilted by machine. Here's a corner with our great-grandfather's initials, GC for George Cummings.  

The mystery?  Well, another corner had the date 1865, also done by machine.  And here's where I need answers that I'll never get.  George Cummings' mother was Mary and family history has her suffering from "consumption" from an early age.  I have a sampler made by her when she was thirteen and it says she was "abed."  In my family searchings, I have found the 1850, 1860, and 1870 Missouri census for the family. Mary was listed in 1850 and 1860, but a new wife is listed in the 1870 census, along with several small children who were born from 1864 on.  So, how did this quilt get an 1865 dating? Did the new wife finish it up and use her sewing machine? (I guess this is why today's quilters are told over and over to make labels for their quilts.  I confess, I don't do it very often.)  

George Cummings enlisted in the U.S. Missouri Second Cavalry in 1862 when he was eighteen and saw action through the next three years of the Civil War including the battle of Gettysburg.  Sometime during his absence, his mother died, apparently without completing the quilt she was making for him.  I like to think that the second wife finished it out of respect for Mary and love for her husband and his son.  But we'll never know.  It is interesting to note that the first child born to the new wife was named Mary.

George William Cummings in 1929, a year before his death in 1930 at age 85.  (Photo taken behind the Clearwater Tribune building following an interview with him and a confederate Civil War veteran for the Lewiston Morning Tribune.)

More Zucchini Stuff

When I recently wrote about zucchini, I mentioned in a comment that I had a recipe that we loved and said I would do a post on it.  It's one I created the summer of 1982 when we had not much money and a glut of summer squash.  It's been a keeper and we've even managed to finally grow enough zucchini that I've made it again this summer.

Summer Squash Skillet

1/2 pound burger

8 oz can tomato sauce

1/3 cup water

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

3 medium summer squash/zucchini

diced green peppers (opt)

Topping:

1 1/2 cups Pepperidge Farm Stuffing 

2 T butter, melted

Brown burger in large skillet.  Add sliced squash (and optional peppers) and lightly stir fry.  In a small bowl, mix rest of ingredients and pour over meat and veggies. Cover and let simmer for about ten minutes. Mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over squash mixture.  Cover and continue simmering on low for about five more minutes.  

We set the skillet on a trivet and serve right from the pan.  It makes a tasty, inexpensive, complete meal. Enjoy!

My dishes are Longaberger Heritage Green, and I'm blessed to have these great shallow soup bowls that work perfectly for one-dish meals like this.  

Here's how the whole dinner looks in the pan:

Next time I'll use my new pan!  ♥

Yada, Yada

Boy, this retired life is hard to keep up with.  And Dan and I have come to conclusion that days are shorter than they used to be.  Don't really know how this can be, but I've heard it from lots of other, um, older people. Anyway, it seems that there isn't as much time to get things done as in the past.  I taught two machine embroidery classes at the shop last Thursday, worked there as usual on Friday, and then after our traditional Friday night date at a local Mexican restaurant, Dan and I found ourselves so tuckered that we were in bed around eight!  Yikes!  

Then on Saturday, Dan got up early to split wood for Dad and Mom, loaded it and we took off for their house where Bruder Bear and nephew JR were already hard at work on a few chores.  Dan had taken a load down on Friday, too, so he was able to avail himself of some good help with the unloading both days. 

John and Dan worked on putting a new light/heat lamp/fan in the ceiling of one of mom and dad's bathrooms, and in between, all the guys went out for a little practice shooting with their muzzle loaders in anticipation of hunting later this fall.  By all accounts, some more practice will be needed.  

It was a fun and productive day and we all had a great time.  Bruder Bear drove his new truck up and we had fun giving it the once over.  It's a beaut!  

Sunday was church and a nap.  Monday, we decided to head for Costco because certain necessary supplies were running out.  I know I've said it before, but I love Costco!!  It's better than a trip to Disneyland for sure. As usual, in addition to those necessary supplies, we found other items that seemed to find their way into the cart.  (I got a gorgeous new 5-quart stainless pan that I've drooled over for months.  Can't wait to use it.)

Tuesday and Wednesday have come and gone, housework, keeping up with some Bible study lessons, a little cooking...and here we are on Thursday night.  Back to work at the shop tomorrow.  Saturday I'll be cooking up a storm to provide some food for a family of four whose wife and mother is just recovering from breast cancer surgery.  They're special friends and so I want to make some good stuff.  And so, the days and weeks pass.   ♥

The Shingles and Me

I got the shingles for Christmas last year, and even though it rhymes with jingles, let me assure you there's nothing festive about them.  Oh, they are rather red, but again, nothing festive.  So when I went to the doctor for the second time (the first one was young and inexperienced and didn't recognize what I had), in addition to saying, "Shingles!  You've got shingles," she mentioned my blood pressure was high.  I said it was probably due to the fact that, until that moment, I didn't know what was wrong with my arm and suspected some horrible, dread disease, possibly resulting in my arm falling off.  Anyway, a follow-up appointment was scheduled for me to check out the situation.

I dutifully took myself to the doctor (a new one recommended by the lovely lady doc who had recognized my shingles) and he said, yup, it looks high.  I said I didn't want to take a bunch of meds and amazingly enough, he agreed to let me try without, concentrating on diet and exercise.  He also mentioned the DASH diet which gave me a starting point.

I went home, researched DASH and ordered several books from Amazon.  By this time it was early January and the exercise issue was a real dilemma.  There was snow outside, and ice, and it wasn't looking good for walks which was his recommendation.  As I was talking about all this to Ann, she mentioned that my old NordicTrack was languishing in her basement because, as she put it, she had a two-year-old.  The whole family brought it over that night and left it for me.  My exercise issue was solved.  (Of course, I had to use it myself, but thanks be to God, I have used it five days a week since then.  We're talkin' real miracle here, folks.)

I got my DASH books and set about reading them.  Of course, one main course of action is to limit salt intake, but another is to eat a lot of grains, fruits, and veggies. And not in chip form!!!  When you start limiting foods based on sodium content, it's amazing what gets tossed from your diet.  I began to try many new foods and cooking methods.  A new row of spices showed up on my shelf.  Good thing I enjoy cooking!  It has actually been, for the most part, fun, and I look at it as a challenge. Some good stuff has resulted and even Dan says he enjoys it.  

Oh, a couple of points I've almost forgotten to mention: it worked!  After two follow-up visits to the doc, he turned me loose, saying it was a pleasure to work with someone who actually did the right thing.  And second, a totally unexpected benefit has been my new shape.  I had long tried to lose some pounds, with no luck.  The combination of my new diet and the NordicTrack knocked off twenty pounds and tightened quite a few of this old girl's muscles (formerly known as dimpled flab).  Who knew?!?  

I have tossed almost all my old clothes and purchased new ones and it's actually been fun!  And it's helped me to keep motivated.    I have to confess, I'm still not a lover of exercise, but I force myself to the family room each morning and get on and go.  I tell Dan I feel like an alcoholic, but instead of a drink, I'm just one missed morning away from going back to my old ways.  I also confess to slipping a few chips into my mouth on occasion, but I guilt up pretty fast and swear off for at least a week or so.  

On the food front, one of my favorite new lunches is a huge salad.  In my old days, a salad was just a way to add croutons, olives, cheese, and yummy salad dressing. After reading labels, it turned out that wasn't such a good idea.  Right now my current fav is:  a huge bowl of spring mix greens, strawberries, blueberries, a little reduced fat feta cheese, sliced chicken breast (home cooked on my George Foreman), and sliced almonds.  I make my dressing using olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sugar.  It's yummy!

I have to say, getting the shingles was a blessing.  And outside of not knowing for a few days what I had, it wasn't awful like you hear on the ads on TV.  I have some residual scarring, more like polka dots, but I can't complain.  Dan says the scars are on muscle, not flab.  ♥

Oops! I Lied!

A day or so after I wrote my last post, I realized I had made a grievous error.  I said that no work was done on Labor Day at Bruder Bear's, but that's not true.  I didn't work, but the other three did!  

Karen's decorating guru is Candace Olson of TV and book fame, and she said Candace says every home needs a little bling.  Karen decided a chandelier in the entryway would be just the thing.  So she bought one and brought it home some time ago.  Of course, as with most things these days, the instructions were a little, well, incomprehensible.  John looked at them and was baffled, so the light was put away for the time being.  

Enter us and someone (Dan) to help figure the instructions out.  They read, they pondered, they spread things out.  They compared parts to the pictures.  It was slow going.  Finally, John decided to just start in.  

(Turns out those trusty Swiss Army knives are just the thing even when hanging chandeliers.  That's what Dan is handing John in the photo above.)

Meanwhile, Karen started sorting the crystals to be hung. There are many of them!

The project progresses!

And we have bling!

Oh wait!  I did document this momentous occasion, so maybe I did work?  Hmmm....♥

Home Again

It seems that for the past few years, August is our month to travel.  We're not very adventurous, often preferring to remain home after years of both of us working long hours away from home.  In fact, I distinctly remember sitting in my living room one morning four years (!!) ago when I first retired and thinking, "So this is what my house is like on a Tuesday morning in September!"  And I loved it!

But, I digress.  We had our wonderful trip to the coast a month ago, and we returned home for a week or so and then it was time to leave again.  Dan had a talk to give in McCall and we used it as a springboard to further adventures.  We had a leisurely drive to McCall and it was my first road adventure in our new truck. Let me just say that it goes!!  What fun to drive!  And the six-speed automatic transmission was amazing as we blasted up and down the grades between here and there.   So fun to kick it up and down the gears--Dan may be wondering if he's lost his truck to me!  

After a night at the hotel and Dan's talk in the morning, we headed for Boise where I requested a stop at Target for new sheets for our bed (I think it's a sign you need a new set when the thin spots are so thin that hole might be a better word...)  Following that, a little visit to the Quilt Crossing was in order, and yes, several purchases were made, but none were fabric.

We met special friends Michael and Suzanne for dinner and had such a great time!  Michael is the pastor who married both our kids and Suzanne is a dearly loved friend.  We chatted and shared as the time flew by. After three hours, we had to leave because our next spot was Bruder Bear's house, two and a half hours further down the road.  

Suffice it to say, we had another great time with John and Karen.  We did a little shopping in a neighboring town, drove to Sun Valley and on to Stanley on Sunday, and did no labor on Labor Day!  It was a lovely, restful visit and we loved every moment.  John was looking for a new pickup so some time was spent perusing the local dealers with no decisions made.  He did find just the perfect truck the next weekend, though, and is happily getting acquainted with his new Dodge diesel.  

Monday afternoon John, Dan and I spent a little time down at their dock.  You'll remember that Dan and John put in the framework for the adjoining deck two years ago.  It's a wonderful spot, right on the water, and the weather was perfect.  John snapped this picture of Dan and me.

We drove home Tuesday after Labor Day and had two days at home before we drove to Spokane to take part in Dan's high school's 50th reunion.  By the time we got home from that, we were ready to stay home. However, work beckoned both of us and I've worked two days this week and Dan is in Coeur d'Alene doing another tour. It's good to be busy, but it's also good to be home. Maybe next week.  ♥

UPDATE:  Just visited the tour FB site and snagged this photo of Dan doing his "thing" (the caption they had on the picture was "Dr. Dan's bus classroom").

Of Gardens and Zucchini

When we were young marrieds with two tiny children, we moved to the valley where summers are HOT. Dan put in a garden and we had a wonderful crop of corn, beans, squash (summer and winter), beets; you know, all the standards. And it was a good thing because we didn't have much money! The first year we froze everything but in those pre-microwave days, it was not always easy to thaw what was needed unless one thought ahead. I usually didn't. The next summer, we invested in a pressure canner and from then on, veggies were processed that way.

Zucchini was always a good producer and both Dan and I have always been fond of it as a vegetable. Steamed, breaded and fried, no matter--we love the stuff. The summer of 1975 my friend Roxy offered me a loaf of zucchini bread, which I had never eaten before. Yum! She copied the recipe for me and I've made many loaves over the years. Every summer when I get it out, I see her handwriting and I miss her--she and her family moved to Oklahoma twenty-five years ago and there they've stayed. I'm reminded that handwritten recipes are a double gift--the recipe and memories of the friend who wrote it.

Zucchini has a reputation. It has long been believed that just a plant or two will produce more zucchini than one family could eat in a year. Sadly, our plant production the last few years has forced me to repudiate that claim. Last year we got nary a one. This year we have grown a few, but not nearly enough to satisfy me. What gives?!? And I really needed them--our supply of zucchini relish gave out last winter, an unheard of disaster in our home since 1979 when our pastor's wife gave me the recipe. So, the few zucchini that managed to set were left to grow to giant size for their noble purpose: to be shredded, mixed with onions, peppers and spices, cooked, and canned. I am happy to report that twelve jars are now in my pantry; they should last us until next summer. I made two batches, six jars each, and used the extra shredded zucchini to make double batches of the bread. Yay! Here's a picture of the first batch.

The first years I made both the bread and the relish, I grated every cup by hand. Then along came my first food processor and I was thrilled! This year I used my new Cuisinart and I must say it made even shorter work of the shredding process. And so quiet!

Only the mess in the sink remained. It's such a blessing to have the right tools! ♥