Blogging Update

Please note that Steve and I are having the same problem, along with several others on Blogspot.  Our blogs do not update on other blogs list.  So even though "the list" shows no action on our blogs, check us out.  You may be surprised!

DUMP RAKE

Ann and I would play on ours forever, the only thing more fun was the seed drill.

(this isn't a dump rake, but alas a substitute)

Telegram from the Past

I was doing some paper sorting tonight - the pile gets very high sometimes, and ran across the only telegram I ever got. It represents a drastic change in my life, because it meant that Dwight had obtained some jobs for me, and I would be able to go to UW instead of spending my days taking shorthand and transcribing it for the Welfare office in Cody. Thank you, Dwight, for looking out for me at a transition time in your life, too.

Hidden Treasures in the Flower Bed

As I was cleaning out the flower beds and went to pull the hollyhocks, because they never do very well where I have planted them, I found a late treasure. These are very different from Grandma's hollyhocks. So, maybe I won't pull them up and see what happens next year - they seem to keep coming back each year and maybe they will keep getting better.

THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS

The only thing missing is the John Deere with the manure fork. I swore dad loved doing this on Saturday morning so that we could all enjoy it.

Antique Baby Spoon

This baby spoon is a far cry from the soft, padded "first" eating utensils that I have seen the babies in the family use now. So who all used this treasure?

JUST LIKE PENROSE

I doubt that any of you have forgotten this contraption but thought that you would like to know that there are dozens of these still in use in western NY by the Amish. Mary Lynn and I love to go to this area especially in the fall. There are so many things about their way of life that are similar to the way we grew up. There is more to come.

Dad and the Marquetry Society of America

Dad made so many beautiful marquetry pictures in his lifetime, and people constantly admire the ones that I have hanging in my home. However, he suffered from an inferiority complex and uncertainty about how his work stacked up against other marquetarians. He subscribed to the "Fine Woodworking" magazine, and invariably, moaned about how his work was not good enough. However, he did join the marquetry society of America, and I am the proud recipient of his membership pin. Good memories of the few years that we worked together! (The above plaque was also made into a small picture - Mother named it "Holy Night" - don't know if that was the original pattern's name or not, but it's very appropriate.

More Fun in Layton

Ann seems to be reacting to a tall story - possibly one that Dwight toldl????

Love this picture - it's so wonderful to still be able to laugh - even if it's at ourselves!

Louise looking very thoughtful and states'woman' like. After all, this meeting was at her house.

Another good round laugh. We've read that a good laugh every day is good medicine. If so, the four of us will feel well after this get-together for a long time. Louise's house did prove to be a sort of central place for us.

The Utah Quilt Guild Show in Layton

A rose by Louise's front door
I cheerfully went to the Utah Guild Quilt Show with my sisters in Layton, which was a better proposition from Ann than a 4 sq. ft. garden, for which Liz was the only one who "bit", but I did draw the line when the words "fabric store" were uttered. Quilts were amazing. Most of them are on Facebook, so you need to go there to see them. If you're not on Facebook, let Ann, Louise, Judy, or me know, and you will be invited to be a "friend." Sorry I did not get photos of Liz's quilts. Just far, far, far easier to post 58 photos on Facebook than piddle around all day waiting for Blogspot photos to dither and then finally post.
P.S. Judy announced several months ago she was consolidating the labels for Penrose Mornings so we would not have 2,000 of them?

The 29 cent puzzles: Have We Had Our Money's Worth?

Louise claims all the pieces are still there

Just for fun - Now It's Tomatoes

Don't have time for a photo - so much to do, so little time to do it. Have you tried freezing tomatoes? I really don't want to get out the pressure cooker so am trying this recipe. If you have already tried something like this, were you pleased with the results?

Teresa's Freezer Tomato Sauce
16 medium to large ripe, but firm, heirloom (or whatever) tomatoes
1/2 cup torn fresh basil leaves
6 to 8 garlic cloves, thickly sliced
2 tablespoons white balsamic or red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
1. Preheat oven to 375degrees F. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Cut an X in the bottom of each tomato and place on parchment with X side up.
3. Roast tomatoes 20 - 30 minutes, until skin begins to pull away at the X. Remove pan from oven and let tomatoes cool.
4. When cool enough to handle, core each tomato and peel skin away from meat of tomato using a sharp knife. Work over a large nonreactive bowl to catch juices.
5. Coarsely chop tomatoes in bowl using knife or scissors, or squish with your hands. Add basil, garlic, vinegar, salt and pepper. Mix well.
6. Label clean glass jars, freezer boxes or bags. Fill containers two-thirds full with sauce; seal or close and place in freezer up to 6 months. Makes about 12 cups, depending on size of tomatoes.
(Recipe by Teresa Blackburn, Relish Food Stylist)
Per (1-cup) serving: 45 calories, 0.5g fat, 0mg chol., 2g prot., 10g carbs., 3g fiber, 170 mg sodium.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRO

And the brothers are still amazinly slim, showing great restraint by refusing our birthday cakes.

Mother's Blue Sunday School Chair

Was this chair once red? Mother must have liked blue, because she painted this chair and it's larger companion blue - and who has the larger chair? Note the little rubber feet, placed there to save the hardwood floor at Penrose. Lots of children have enjoyed this chair - Who sat in this chair to read? It is a real treasure, but I don't know the complete history of it. I hope for some help in the matter.

Wedding Reception in Provo

Unfortunately, these are all the photos I had a chance to take at Gail's son's wedding.  Gorgeous yard, beautiful bride, handsome groom, Sorensens all looked great.  Mark cornered us so didn't have much of a chance to visit with the others.

Pictures from the Past

Mid-May of 2007 was the last time we stopped in Riverton at Dwight and Velna's house. We had been in Orem, for Ron to attend the Woodturner's Seminars at BYU, and Louise had come down to Ann and Paul's to spend some time with us. This was a precursor to our year from purgatory - both of us having our individual challenges. And we haven't been back to Riverton or Orem since them. Have to reform! In the meantime, these pictures were in the internal memory of my camera, not on a memory stick. To my frustration, I couldn't figure out how to retrieve them without reconnection the USB camera port....Finally, after almost memorizing the inscrutable instructions that go with the Sony camera, I was able to move the pictures to a memory stick. In fact, I did it so well, that I managed to put each picture on that stick 8 times each - overkill, for sure. Anyway, I was glad to retrieve these three special pictures to add to my family album.

Z is for Zucchini

This is all we have left after our give-away yesterday. Yes, we still can find people who don't have any. But, if they get to the possible behemoth size, you can do one of two things with them: (1) decorate them and enter them into the contest at the Franklin County Fair, and/or (2) chop them up and add them to the compost pile.
Found this recipe, and think it's pretty good:
Zucchini Patties ( found on the Internet, attributed to a Sherry McCarty of Albuquerque, NM)
Ingredients:
1 cup baking mix (Bisquick)
1/2 shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups shredded zucchini
2 tablespoons chopped onion (optional)
2 tablespoons butter

Instructions:
1. Combine Bisquick, cheese, salt, eggs, zucchini, and onion in a mixing bowl. Blend well.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet (I used olive oil)
3. Spoon heaping tablespoons of zucchini mixture onto melted butter Fry for 3 to 5 minutes per side, until golden brown. Place browned patties on a paper towel. Add more butter (olive oil) to the skillet when necessary for additional batches. Serves 5 to 6.
This recipe first appeared in American Profile Magazine, and came from a website called "Relish"
You might include diced red peppers, or crumbled cooked sausage or hamburger - or use a sharp cheddar.

What to do with a bucketful of Zucchini

Ok, at the risk of changing the mood of the blog for a few days, I thought it might be fun to find out what everyone is doing with produce from the garden. Has anyone tried dilly beans (made with string beans)? Yummy and so easy to do!
On the other hand there is the "Z" (zucchini for those non-gardeners). My neighbor brought over a few pieces of the following "z" coffee cake and I was left wanting more. Don't know if it was because of the frosting or what, but I thought I would share the recipe because it is quick and easy, and I had never seen this recipe before (that I can remember).
2 cups grated zucchini (or a little more - whatever!)
1/2 cup oil
Mix these together and set aside.
Mix together the following:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar (could this be reduced - only an experiment will tell you)
1 1/4 tsp soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
Add dry ingredients to zucchini mixture. At first it will be kind of dry, but the consistency improves as you stir.
Add 2 tsp vanilla and nuts, if you like them.
Pour in pan (greased? or ungreased? Hmmm, the sharer of the recipe didn't include that little tidbit). Bake at 375 for app 22 minutes.
Frost with Duncan Hines Creamy Homestyle coconut frosting - see, I told you there was a reason I really liked this little cake.

The Beaded Purse - Early Style

This little beaded purse used to live in Mother's cedar chest with the other treasures of the past, including Mother's flapper dresses and the elegant green dress with the hobtnail-type trim. Judy remembers it as being our grandmother Louise (Mach-Krajicek)'s - Perhaps Louise will remember its' origin? Somehow I associate it with Aunt Rose (Kray) Allgeier, but my memory about these things may be faulty, too. Anyone who knows and remembers, please let us know.

Ross Leaves For Afghanistan

On Tues, August 18, Ross reports to Everett, WA and thus begins his one year recall assignment. Afghanistan will be his home where he will be directing a medical team. As the Petersen clan gathered to bid Ross a safe return, he reminded us that he is a very good shot.

A more somber moment with his much loved beagle.

Our families have indeed gone north, south, east and west.........they leave one shore with the sure knowledge that another shore awaits them.

TURTLE HEADS

For Judy who has every plant on earth, but no turtle heads.

"Home in the Valley"

For those siblings who purchased the book on Powell's first 100 years, let it be known that I am in the picture of the band on page 117. I'm the only feminine French horn player, and you can see me if you look straight up from the majorette on the far right. Just in case you wanted to know. ;-)

Relics of the Past

Sewing clothes for children, darning socks, and mending everyone's clothes was an ongoing occupation in our house as we were growing up. By the time we were in Junior High School, Mother was teaching me how to sew with the treadle sewing machine - admittedly I was very proud of my handiwork. We ordered fabric, thread, etc. from Montgomery Wards, or Sears Roebuck. I have several old "Monkey Ward" spools of thread in my stash. The old green metal box, with paint almost gone from it, was used to hold the straight pins - thin pins with a tiny head poked in the red tomato pincushion that were so easily to lose. After a day of sewing, we had to scour the floor for any strays, both because they were needed, and because Mother didn't want anyone to step on them. I remember once when we were older and had our own families, Judy called me from her home in Washington to me that she felt liberated because she had just swept the floor and hadn't bothered to sort out the straight pins. There is a moral there somewhere, but I'm not up to speed today, so you'll just have to bear with the anecdote. The blob of old beeswax in front dates way back. When you darned socks or did any other hand mending, you pulled your thread through the beeswax to make it stronger and less apt to tangle. I didn't know how to darn the holes in toes and heels until I came home from my first quarter of college. There were some holey socks, and Mother "made" me sit down and taught me how to darn them. Sad to say, I don't do that any more, but I do have the beeswax. Someday, when I'm gone, my kids will look at that blob and wonder (1) what is it? and (2) why did I bother to save it.

I went back to live in the white house with blue trim and roof from the summer of 1971 to the summer of 1973. During that time, all of the old glass doorknobs began to fail from wear, so Burchell replaced them with new ones - not so pretty, for sure. I asked for the old knobs, and gave each one to my siblings - do you all still have yours? Just wondering.

Penrose Church

Dwight is feeling grumpy, we all are busy with stuff, but when I ran across these photos, which are very poor in quality, I thought perhaps you might enjoy seeing them. If I remember correctly, the film these photos was on got wet (or something), but Mother felt the recording of the dismantling of the Penrose Church should be preserved. So, through the ripples in the film, see if you can imagine where Dad and Uncle Norman took out tubs and tubs of honey comb. Even though the front steps are hard to pick out, I remember spending hours on them. And I suspect we all wish we had the tin ceiling tiles. Wonder if we could find them in the dump piles across the river?

The Real Salt Shaker

I do believe that Louise is correct in the fact that the little blue salt and pepper shakers were considered too small. I remember Dad at one meal shaking the blue one and saying forcefully that he couldn't get anything out of it and he wanted a "real" salt shaker.

Mother replaced it with this version and it was used at the table thereafter.

Remember East Side Grade School?

Ron and I stopped in Thermopolis on a side street under a shady tree to make a sandwich and eat a bite before going on our way to Burlington. I happened to look over to the new grade school, and saw this name on the side. Check your first grade report cards, Louise and Dwight, and you'll see that Ralph Witter signed his name as our principal (before the days of Helen Hays). I forgot that he had gone to Thermopolis and stayed there for years. Just interesting.

Wedding Present 1930

This salt and pepper set was given to our parents for a wedding present. (I do not know who the giver was. ) While they were small and required frequent refilling, the pretty blue glass earned a place of honor in the white cupboard above the refrigerator. They were used on special occasions and whenever we could talk Mother into letting us use them for a tea party.
Does anyone know any more about them?

Happy Birthday Louise 2009

Happy Birthday to Louise

Because Louise was born in July, and the days tend to be very warm, I thought it would be appropriate to post a winter picture of her. Love this photo - I suspect we all know right where she was standing (approximately) when this was taken on South Church Street in Penrose.

I remember how I wanted to be like her - pretty and smart. And I remember how Dad would call her "Louisie Babe" - at least in my memory. And the year she taught school in Powell was the same year I was in 3rd grade, so I felt very important - and at the same time very sad that I couldn't have her for my teacher, to say nothing of being in the same building where she was teaching. Life has been very good to us as sisters - I continue to learn from Louise, and to admire her determination to find happy and good things in each new day. When the day comes that I call her and ask "how are you" and she says something like, "miserable, life stinks, I can't keep doing this, etc." I will know it must be the worst of days!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful sister. May this next year be a wonderful one for you.

It's Louise's Day!

I remember reading a book from a long time ago, called "Our Hearts Were Young and Gay", and this picture reflects Louise's youth and perhaps not quite "carefree" days, but I love this posed picture taken with the Baby Brownie that Dwight gave me. (Didn't we love kitties?)

This is the latest picture of my beloved older sister, taken when she came to Preston with Cheryl when Cheryl taught the mystery quilt at our quilt guild in June. Louise was still recovering from her knee surgery, but she enjoyed sitting and chatting with others, while working on some applique blocks, and it was great to have her here. She was always trying to guide my footsteps - sometimes in ways that I didn't appreciate. (Why did I have to keep my things in the cabinet from infringing on hers?) She kept a scrapbook, so I kept a scrapbook. She collected pictures from The Saturday Evening Post, and other magazines for a teaching file, so I did the same. We cut out paper dolls and played with them. We learned to cook together, and did the dishes together - Louise washing and me rinsing and drying. We told each other stories, and when I wasn't old enough to see some of the movies that she went to, she told me about them blow by blow. She taught me how to count to 15 in Spanish when she took it in high school. And on and on. It's wonderful to have sisters, and share interests, hopes and fears and faith with. So, Happy Birthday, Louise - and, as we like to sing the addendum - "And many more". May your day be very good.