Memories that we might have roses in December 10/3/11

Isn’t today an interesting date? More than just interesting in numerical succession, it brings back memories of a favorite person in my life. October 11 was the birthday of my older brother whom God wanted in His garden of fantastic people. Rest in peace, Kenny, or “Deke” as he was affectionately known to his siblings. October is a great month to be born. The 1st is my first born son’s birthday, October 4th brought my first grandchild. October 8th was my husband’s birthday just 16 days before mine which made him think he was boss!!  This week marks the birthdays of 2 great granddaughters, and the birth date  of my paternal grandmother. The nineteenth was the birth date of my maternal grandfather. Bringing up the end of the month is a granddaughter’s birthday who just became a new mother herself. Too numerous to mention are the October birthdays of cousins, in-laws, nieces and nephews. When I was a teenager our minister’s birthday was the same as mine. I still have a birthday card in which he wrote “A great day when great people celebrate their birthdays.” That was in the 1940’s and I still have the card among my treasures!

On the sad side of life was the recent damaging of the Spencerville Covered Bridge when a truck driver drove a semi through it even though it was posted as a 3 ton weight and a height limit. Damage has been estimated from between $100,000 and $300,000! Besides the monetary damage is the historical value since it was built in 1873. It had a special significance to me because my husband had expressed his desire to have a covered bridge picture. Since he did not drink nor smoke, I agreed to let him have this special wish.  He came home from work one night and said he was going to get his bridge picture. A co-worker, Jill Ordway, was going to paint it for him.  He went to Spencerville and took a photo of it and gave it to Jill. He gave me frequent developments as time passed with the fact that it was going to be bigger than he thought, then that it was going to cost more than he thought.  I asked him if it would be enough for a Christmas present which he readily agreed.  He got the picture 2 feet by 3 feet without the frame, just a week or two before Christmas. A friend made a frame for it from barn siding. On Christmas Day I realized his thinking, not mine, was that it was to be a present for both of us!  He died on the thirteenth of January and enjoyed it only a few weeks. It has graced my living room wall for thirty years, and is one of my most prized possessions next to our family photo that was taken less than a year before his death.

Since the photo that he took had no leaves on the trees, she wanted one to paint from.  He called our youngest son and told him to go down to the bridge and where to stand and take a photo of the trees with their fall colors. She drew small squares on the photo and painted from that picture. From this history, when I am gone, that son becomes the owner of the picture. To diminish thoughts of favoritism, a friend took a picture of the picture and made a nice sized framed picture for each of my kids for a Christmas present a few years ago.

I experienced a few magic hours this evening when I received a telephone call from a son wanting to know if I were going to be home for supper.  He and his wife were coming to Parkview Nursing home to see his mother-in-law and they wanted to bring her to my home for a meal. They were bringing the essentials for a salad.  I quickly thawed some meatballs I had in the freezer especially for such an occasion. Also,  some apple sauce that I made from apples given to me from a kind gentleman who was generous in bringing me apples from his farm. I think I neglected to mention him when I was acknowledging  my wonderful and kind friends in the past.  It was a special visit with me realizing the fantasy that I have been listening for—noises from the kitchen insuring that someone was doing my dishes! I will give you the idea of their salad which would have been a meal in itself without my meatballs and apple sauce.
                                  
SANDERS SALAD
Torn salad greens to fill a nice sized plate
Garnish with :
     Shredded cheese
     Diced apples
     Diced strawberries
     Fresh blueberries
     Thinly sliced deli turkey (can use chicken or ham)
     Raisins
     Chopped hard boiled eggs
Top with salad dressing of your choice.  I chose Russian and Ranch, complimented with a slice of baked Texas Toast!  Like I said, we really did not need meat balls, apple sauce, nor the raisin oatmeal cookies.
                      
SOUTH WESTERN BEEF COMBO
1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
6 cups frozen potatoes, O’Brien, thawed
2 cups salsa
Brown beef and onion in large skillet. Pour off any drippings. Stir in potatoes and cook over medium-high heat for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in salsa and continue to cook for 10 minutes longer.