Family Day

This was our year to do a sightseeing tour as a family. We had to go all the way to the end of the summer before we found a date that suited everyone--August 29. We planned to spend the day at Valley Forge doing outdoor activities. Plan B for a rainy day was to go to Harrisburg where we could do indoor things. The forecast at the beginning of the week looked good but the closer we got to Saturday the worse it sounded. The rain began about 10 p.m. Thursday and continued on and off all day Friday. The big question was whether it would stop for Saturday or not. Finally, late Friday afternoon we decided it would eliminate the stress if we just went with Plan B. There was some light rain on the way to Harrisburg Saturday morning and we knew we had made the right decision.

All 27 of our tribe met on the steps of the Capitol building soon after 10 a.m. and took the 11 a.m. tour of the building. I was there on a school trip when I was in about sixth grade but did not remember much of it. Even if I had, I would have seen it from a different perspective now. I could not believe the amount of real 23-carat gold used in the trim. Our guide told us this is one of the most ornate Capitol buildings in the United States and I believe her!

This is the third building, constructed in 1906 to replace the one which burned at the end of the 1800s. Thirteen million dollars was spent in 1906 to construct this building and today it is priceless. Some of the building materials are granite, marble, bronze, mahogany, stained glass, and Moravian tile. The marble used on the walls of the House of Representatives was quarried in France. The quarry closed after it was removed so this is the only place in the Western hemisphere you can see that particular kind of marble. Some of the chandeliers weigh as much as an adult elephant. A lady was commissioned to do the paintings on the walls. She spent 28 years completing the project.

Here is the sweeping staircase in the rotunda.

When the tour ended, it was lunch time. We carried our finger-food lunch to a large patio behind the Capitol where there are a lot of small round tables for that purpose. Just as we started to set up, rain began to fall. We quickly grabbed everything and dragged it to a wide porch. It was close fellowship with no tables or chairs, but we munched our lunch while it rained. By the time we finished the rain had stopped so that no one got wet carrying the remains to the vehicles. We walked across the street to the William Penn Museum where we spent the afternoon in dry, air conditioned comfort.

Some of the families with children headed back to our place first and started cooking supper. When we arrived the men and boys were finishing the grass cutting Leroy had been unable to do because of the rain. The food was ready by the time they finished mowing. Just as we began to eat, the rain came back. This time there was wind but we were in the house instead of on a porch. Gerald's contribution to the meal added a memory but was not popular and tasted by very few. I took a small bite of his Pickled Pig Snout and it tasts like tripe. In the end, the offending plate containing a whole pig snout was removed from the table for the sake of the squemish majority.
We had a good day that stretched out until 9:30 p.m. even if we had to take our second choice of activities. Where we are is not as important as simply being together. I am thankful to have a family that can enjoy each other's company.

Spaghetti Sauce

I just finished canning 10 quarts of spaghetti sauce. That makes a total of 25 quarts to tomato products from four (yes, 4) tomato stalks. I never dreamed just four stalks would produce so many tomatoes, but this has been an unusually wet year and everything is producing by the bushels.

The flash sort of washed out the color in this picture but, trust me, the spaghetti sauce is a deep red. Some of that lovely color comes from using tomato paste to thicken the sauce. This is the best spaghetti sauce recipe I have ever used. It doubles well as pizza sauce too.

If you have an abundance of tomatoes and don't know what to do with them, maybe you'd like to try this recipe.

1/2 bushel of tomatoes (3 gal. juice)

2 tbs. onion powder OR 3-4 onions cooked and pureed

1 tbs. garlic powder

2 c. vegetable oil

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 tbs. dried parsley

3 tbs. oregano

1 tbs. paprika

1 tsp. black pepper

1 tbs. chili powder

1/2 c. salt

48 oz. tomato paste

Add all the ingredients to the tomato juice except tomato paste. At boiling point, add paste and boil until thickened. Pour into jars and process in boiling water bath 10 minutes. Yields 10-12 quarts.

Pickled Pig Snouts

Ever seen these things before? I'm sure you have, but have you ever seen them in a jar?

Yesterday we had some guests here for a cookout. Leroy grilled some bratwurst I got at Dietrich Meats in the upper end of Berks County. They specialize in PA Dutch meats and have things you won't find anywhere else. When I told the guests where I had gotten the bratwurst I said that one of the unusual things Dietrich Meats has is pickled pig snouts. Gerald thought that was something he had to see. He passes by there on his way home from work, so this morning he stopped in and bought a jar. What you see there below the label is a whole pig snout snuffling up against the side of the jar. Anybody want a taste?

He's Back!

We're back to a three-ring circus. :-) Gerald came home from Haiti yesterday and our nest is no longer empty. As we feared, his flight out of Port au Prince on Wednesday was delayed which made it impossible to catch his connecting flight in Miami. American Airlines gave him a voucher to stay at a hotel and rebooked him for 8 a.m. Thursday morning. It was a hassle for him but they took care of him and we were actually happier that way than if he had landed on schedule at 12:20 a.m. Thursday. We got to sleep all night and drive to the airport in the daylight instead of at night. We never were city slickers and it's too late to start now. I hate to think what might have happened if we had tried to find the airport in the dark.

At any rate, Gerald enjoyed his visit to Haiti. Helping his cousin in the clinic was only one of the things he did. He helped with anything from wiring lights to installing programs on a computer, to hauling rocks. If you want to hear more about his experiences and see some pictures you can get it straight from the horse's mouth on his blog.

http://bubbsyte.blogspot.com/

Ripe Hour

(Here is a piece I clipped from a newspaper many years ago. It's still beautiful and true. The writer is not indentified.)

After a humid August day when a hot sun has pressed heat on the land, there comes that poignant hour between dusk and darkness when one can feel Year's ripeness.

Time is sliding downhill. Now the shorter days and longer periods of darkness mean that Nature is hastening toward the time of maturity.

When the sun is low above the mountain rim and shadows have started to thicken in the valleys, there is an interlude when one can feel the ripeness. Perhaps it is psychological; perhaps it is man who is in tune with the Great Symphony of the seasons.

But when the countryman walks his acres at day's end in the eighth month, he feels he can sense the ripeness.

Ripeness is a cumulative process. Countless small insects and plants have finished their life cycles earlier in the season. Now it is the beginning of the ripening hour for field crops and fruits.

Stand beside a cornfield on an August evening when the brooding silence is like a blanket and you may think you hear the corn grow. A man cannot hear apples swell nor acorns grow in their saucers, but he knows as he looks at them that growth is occurring and ripeness coming.

This it has been since plants took their places on our earth. Seeds sprout in the magic of humus; they grow to maturity and insure the continuance of the species.

Life goes in its ordained cycle. The Master Planner decrees that after the time of growth there is ripeness. The ripeness of an August evening is a meaningful lesson.

It is not sad. It is part of life.

Mementos From The Past

Yesterday Leroy was sent to Ephrata for something so while he was down there he stopped at the place where I was born and took some pictures of the bare spot where the house used to be. This is how it looks now.

The barn is still standing but the big old tree that was in front of the house is gone and there is an empty hole where the house was. Some of the limestone rocks that had been used to build the cellar wall were still scattered around in the hole. Leroy asked one of the construction workers if he could have a few of them as mementos and was given permission to take anything he wanted. He brought a few small rocks home and we used them to form a short path in a flower bed behind the house. The most ordinary objects become precious when they are the only visible things that are left.

"Save a few mementos from your past

or how will you prove it wasn't all a dream."

Runs Like a Deere

Last evening Leroy came in from the garage all excited and with shining eyes. The antique Novo engine he bought in February was running! It did not run when he bought it at an auction and he did not know what it would cost to get it going. He started by taking out the cherry seeds some rodents had stuffed in the muffler and kept tinkering with it. He spent a lot of time but not another dime to get it running.

Since he takes me out of state and patiently walks cemeteries with me to find people I am seeking, the least I could do in return was walk down to the garage to hear the engine run and share his victory. It ran like a top and really does have the sound of an old John Deere. He bought it for that sound and now can actually hear it. The next step is getting it mounted on the frame of the scale model John Deere B he is building from scrap parts of this and that. It may take another year or two but someday he'll get it together and drive it out of the garage.