Hey Sis, I had no trouble posting a comment on the previous post.

Recipies

APPLE BUTTER (Grandma Nora Ferris' recipe)

4 quarts of thick applesauce
8 cups of sugar
1/3 cup of vinegar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon of allspice

Place mixture in roaster or very large baking dish with a wide surface.
Cook at 300 F for about 4 hours stirring every 1/2 hour.
Yields 7 -8 pint jars.

Boil jars & lids 10 minutes. Fill hot jars with hot apple butter and seal. Set aside to cool then check to be sure lids are sealed. If not sealed store in fridge. Keeps a long time in fridge.

Grandma actually made her apple sauce for this recipe in the following way:
Wash and cut apples in quarters, cut out bad spots and leave in seeds and cores. Put enough water on them to cook goo. when mushy drain juice off . Strain apple pulp through colander.

I just make a thick apple sauce by not putting much water on the apples when cooking but I don't drain any of the juice away.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All my readers I hope you really enjoy the Apple Butter - just pretend you are having a good whiff of the stuff right now. This "bread spread" is not very well known here in Wpg. I don't know if you can even buy it here. One of our friend who recently went to ND to shop had a sample of AB in a store or restaurant and came home really excited about it. So of course he is getting a jar of the homemade variety the next time we see him.

Mini Vacation Results

It was nearly dark when we arrived at LacLu community building and dock. Cousin Achim and son Matteas were waiting to with the boat to take us to Johnson Island where Hanna's cabin is. This trip to the cabin required two crossings because we were a group of four adults and two dogs beside A. & M. All arrived safely and hungry so the first order of the evening was to eat followed by a time of visiting and then settling down to sleep.

Fri. morning was cool and partly cloudy. Achim, Suzanne, Eva & Matteas got on their way back to the states right after breakfast about 9 o'clock.

In the later part of the morning we Helmut & I went canoeing around the island, by the time we returned to the cabin dock Hanna was ready to go in her kayak for a paddle so she guided us to the west end of the lake. There we did a little exploring through a big patch of reeds, water lilies and other water plants. It was about 1 p.m. when we arrived back at the cabin quite famished and a little low on blood sugar. Both dogs had to stay at the cabin while we were away. Truffles, Hanna's dog, had to be corralled in the cabin because she just howles all the time. Abby, our dog stayed outdoors to enjoy the fresh air and a little sun, however by the time we returned she had crawled under the veranda.

After lunch we sat around , visited, did some baking and took some short walks around the property. Much the same type of activity went on in the evening.

Sat. morning we woke to a beautiful sunny day. We were relaxing and sunning ourselves on a rocky place on the shore and then decided to go canoeing again. Since Abby needed a boost to get up the hill from the rock I got her started but she lost her footing and started to slide towards the water- she is not a swimmer so I quickly got up to prevent her from falling into the lake and promptly lost my footing and landed with a great splash in the lake. Turns out it wasn't very deep at that point but it sure was wet. Abby didn't fall in and Helmut rescued her from the rock and me from the water. The rock was very slippery under the water. I sustained a scraped knee and the camera got baptised.

After I completely changed we went ahead and had a very nice long canoe & kayak trip to the east end of the lake where there is a rapids into another lake. It was 2 p. m. before we got back for lunch.

We saw a pair golden eagles, a family of mergansers, a deer and some loons as wildlife. Also at the cabin we could observe several types of little birds.

We returned to Wpg. in the late afternoon. All in all it was a very nice time.

By the way the camera isn't working now and will have to go in for repairs.

Mini Vacation

There will be "silence" for a couple of days . We are going out again. This time we plan to spend two nights and a day and a half with H.'s sister H. at her cabin at LacLu near Kenora, ON. I'll try to get some pictures of interest and maybe when A. gets home he'll be able to set me up for posting them again.

Are some of you folks having trouble getting the comments to be accepted? I am not sure why this is happening. Just keep trying.

Any readers out there?

Do I have any readers out there? If you are reading this blog please say "Hi & where you are from"

No pictures again as our own computer is down again - while A. is away I don't want to try to use the CDs in his computer less I mess up.

Now I have no excuses to not do my projects.

We took a trip to Faith Bible Camp today to take second cousin E. from Germany out to be a camper for four days. While in that neck of the woods we visited some other friends.

HELP

The next episode of our travels took us to the village of Zussdorf to a nice Gasthaus that the friendly woman at the church in Wilhelmsdorf had reserved for us. Our neighbors at this hotel lived in this nest on the top of this pole especially erected for them.

HELP - the poor birds really weren't living in this horizontal position - I just don't remember how to rotate the picture. Andrew actually showed me the process several weeks ago but my memory is full of holes and the details slipped right out. (Andrew is away for 10 or more days yet - he is always saying "what will you do when I'm not there?") My good friend S. said to use the R click on the mouse and find the proper bar to rotate with but I don't seem to find any place - HELP

Family Reunion Cont.

This is it for the reunion pictures folks. We have only a few others and they aren't very good.

Family Reunion in July

At long last I have several pictures from the family reunion to share. I had picked out 9 frames to include in this post but for some reason 6 seem to be the limit for one post so if you don't see your favorite member of the family perhaps they will show up on another post or perhaps he or she didn't get photographed by my ever present cameraman.

Sure looks like eating and water play were main activities of this reunion.

Tid Bits

A little time of relaxing and fellowshipping on Thurs. & Fri. kept me away from blogging.

Our dear brother & sister in Christ, Oscar & Shaun, asked us to visit them at the cabin where they are vacationing with another sister, Joanne & her son David. (Joanne's Husband had taken the older two sons camping to the Manitoba desert.) The cabin is at Gimli, MB about an hour's drive from our place. It is on the west side of Lake Winnipeg.

Gimili was an Islandic settlement originally. There are many permanent residents living there as well as a large influx of summer residents in cabins and weekly holidayers. the town is situated right on the lake shore. The cabin Oscar & Shaun rent is near the beach with a beautiful view of the lake and only a very short walk to actually get to the water.

Since it was a little cooler while we were there and O.,S.,J., & D. are not real water babies no one bothered to go for a swim either day. We did enjoy walking along the beach path (it is concrete or gravel most of the way) both days. Yesterday morning I had an early walk alone because no one else was up. Interestingly I had the opportunity of observing some cute little otters at play or "hunting" in a rocky spot on the lake shore. They either didn't notice that they had company or were not timid at all. After looking up information about them here at home I concluded that they were likely young animals because of their size. Of course when it would be nice to take pictures I didn't have the camera along.

Most of the time we visited our friends was spent in fellowshipping and eating. Helmut had some games to play on paper that any of us could participate in but were particularly for David's benefit.

Joey, a Shiatsu puppy, belonging to O. & S. and our old Beagle, Abby were also our companions for this visit and of course needed exercise and attention. Joey is just in the process of training but is very cute and active. Abby, developed more trouble with her hind legs and part of the time, especially later in the day needed help to stand, she needed to be carried down to the yard as there were way to many steps from the deck to the grass.

A fun time was had by all.

Welcome to Wilhelmsdorf. After leaving Insel Mainau we drove on into the afternoon looking for this village of Wilhelmsdorf as it was one of the places Helmut lived during his childhood. It is located about twenty five miles north of Lake Constance.

In the center of village stands the church that H. attended - the roads all lead to the church.

Across the road from the church is the Kinderheim (orphanage) where Helmut and his siblings spent most of three years after their Mother passed away. (During this time their Father was rebuilding the home in Duesseldorf). You can see the back door of the home, the barn and court yard, the side of the building with the fruit trees espaliered on it just as they were years ago. You will also see Helmut standing in front of the front door of the Kinderheim. We were allowed a brief tour of the inside of the main building - not the dorms.

The brown building is another place in the center of the village.

There was a small cafe with patio tables out front, in what used to be the doctor's house back in the 1940's. The folks sitting at the table started talking to Helmut and I went on window shopping - since H. didn't follow me I went back. The folks asked us to sit and visit for a while. The man standing behind me bought us something to drink-hot tea for me and coffee for H. The woman seemed to be the proprietress of the cafe, the person I took for her husband took our picture and the other fellow who is from Togo, Africa, is an employee of the man who bought the drinks. (They of course seemed to be having beers - very common all over Germany.)

Following our visit with these folks we went over to investigate the church. A woman of about our age (Renate P.) was sweeping the sidewalks and street all around the church. She asked if we would like to see inside - Helmut wanted to see if it still looked like it used to. Renate had the key so let us in and also visited with H. for a while. Since she was born and raised right there she remembered some of the staff of the Kinderheim. Incidentally the inside of the church had been renovated and painted white so was much lighter than H. remembered.

The day was coming to the evening so we needed to find a place to stay. Helmut asked Renate if there was a place in the village - she directed us to some woman who had a room for rent. We couldn't find the place so went back to ask Renate again - so off she rode on her bike to look for the place. After several minutes R. returned with the news that the room had already been rented out to someone. She also told us that there was a guesthouse in the next village and she had called ahead and reserved their last room for us - what a kind thing to do for strangers.

Helmut was able to recognize several other places in the village that we didn't photograph. We also drove a little way out to see a small lake that he remembered but now it seems to be privately owned so we didn't stop to really look around.

More of Insel Mainau

Looking at the lake from the garden - gorgeous yellow flowers that I cannot identify.

The rhododendrons were at the peak of the season and they come in so many colors - how beautiful.

Helmut is leaning on a huge California Redwood tree (I think). We certainly saw some of them in the garden.

There are dozens more pictures taken in this lovely place but I will quit before you fall asleep looking at them. Our kids think we took far to many flower pictures - a habit established many years ago.

We had our lunch in an outdoor cafe near the boat house where you may get a cruise on the lake for another substantial fee. We could have gone up to see the castle from this area as well but we chose not to pay another fee and take the climb up, etc.

PS - Wasn't it nice that Ruth showed me how to get the pictures going again? Perhaps you wish she hadn't done it. Hopfully all these posts will keep everyone busy for a day or two until I can get back to more posting.

May 18 Insel Mainau

On this day we drove to Lake Constance to visit Insel Mainau. a beautiful island in the lake where there is a beautiful huge garden. It is very warm here year around and many plants that will not grow in other parts of Germany will grow here.

You park in a mammoth parking lot on the main land and then walk across a bridge to the island and entrance of the garden where you pay the entrance fees. If You can't make this fairly long walk you may take a shuttle bus for an extra fee. I am not sure if the view from the bridge is of the island or the main land.

First we viewed an herb garden that had little patches of various herbs with signs that told their use; some for eating, some for medicinal purposes and some poisonous ones.

The roses were so lovely and there were hundreds of them. I am just sharing a few pictures. Too bad I can't pass along the fragrances. some of the roses looked past their prime and some blossoms had been damaged by the rain.

The flower troll and peacock in the children's area were planted but not fully developed yet. I am sure they would be beautiful by this time of the year.

the shrub that I am holding the branch of was very gorgeous but I don't know what it is called in German or in English.

Travels on May 17

We stayed in this hotel one night in Rielasingen. It was a three hundred year old building. The restraunt was on the main floor, the bedrooms on the second floor and the kitchen in the basement. We were told that the basement walls are a meter thick. Helmut has his arms around a pillar in the dining room to show how thick the pillar is. The building was first a grist mill, then a lumber mill and finally for about twenty years a hotel/restraunt. sorry we have two pictures of the same lamps - that is my mistake in uploading them. these lamps were electricfied but not the way Dad would haave done them.

On the left side is the mountain stream where we parked to have our lunch on our way to Triberg.

Some examples of the Kuckucksuhren - that I talked about a few posts back.

Ruth spent some valuable time showing me how to use the cd's of the pictures in the computer so that I can post them on the blog. Her going away gift to her Mom. Thanks, Ruth

I haven't quite got the hang of posting the pictures and getting the writing next to the picture. I'll post this group and start a new post for the next episode.

Recipies

I was recently asked for this recipe which my Mother used for eggplant.

Scalloped Eggplant

1 medium eggplant
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbs. melted butter or margerine
1 small onion chopped up
1 cup bread crumbs 1/2 cup buttered dry bread crumbs

Pare, dice & cook eggplant in boiling salted water for 8 minutes then drain.

Add egg, milk, butter, onions & 1 cup of crumbs.

Place in ovenware bowl, cover top of mixture with buttered crumbs.

Bake at 350F. for 30 minutes

Serve hot and enjoy.

I have no idea where Mom found this recipe but probably in some book or article.

For all you Canadian readers - sorry this doesn't come in metric measurements - figure it out for yourselves.

Oh What Do We Smell?

In the process of closing up the house to run the A/C this morning I went to the basement and was met by an unpleasant stink coming from the work shop. My good husband was hard at his work and had been sawing a piece of some plastic with the band saw. So of course I commented on the "stink". Then I told him I had shut up the house and put the A/C on so he adjusted the ventilation in the basement in hopes of getting the "stink" cleared out.

A while later he came through the kitchen and said "It smells so good" I actually couldn't smell what he was talking about but knew it must be the applesauce cooking on the stove.

He finished his job and is likely working at something else. I am waiting for the applesauce to cool so that I can do the next step, then there is another potful to cook afterwards.

Harvest

For a little break from the apples I'll post a short message here.

The harvest of apples began in earnest on Sat. and continues today and likely many days to come. It is the Rescue variety that are ready right now. they are officially a cross between a large apple and a crab apple. they average about 1&1/2 inches in diameter are yellowish with pink tints when at the perfect ripeness for processing or eating raw. When they are totally pink to red they are too soft and mushy for our taste- only good for apple juice then.

My preferred way of preserving them is to wash, quarter, remove the stem and core, and freeze. To keep the color bright and normal I put them in a bath of water, salt and vinegar as soon as they are cut, then I rinse them in plain water and drain before placing them in freezer bags and freezing.

The best use for these pieces of apple next winter is in crisp and pies (skins and all).

Andrew consumes a large amount of them in the frozen state as snacks.

Many of these apples usually end up as apple sauce and they make a very tasty kind.

We have a tree full of Heyer's #12 apples that are a bit off taste and deteriorate very quickly. Most of them end up in the garbage can. We keep the tree because it is perfect for shade.

We have two more trees of large apples that will be ripe in two to three more weeks. These we use for sauce, drying and keeping in the fridge for later.

Back to the work, Jean

Kuckucksuhren

Continuing our travels on a rainy May 17th - we got a rather delayed start in mid morning. It was a religious holiday to celebrate Christ's acsention to Glory. Lots of people were going to church services this particular morning, most places of business were closed and it was holiday from school.

In the early afternoon we stopped beside the road in a pull off near a mountain stream to have our lunch (mostly stuff we brought along from Suzanne & Achim). Since the rain wasn't too heavy we walked along beside the stream for a little exercise after eating.

As we came close to Triberg we noticed the Kuckucksuhren Fabrikverkauf was open so we stopped in to see what they had. Hundreds of cuckoo clocks adorned all the walls of the little display rooms. The factory was closed for the holiday so we didn't get to see the construction in process. After much browsing around and choosing a few little postcards and trinkets Helmut indicated that we should decide on a clock for ourselves. This process took a while longer as we had to look at all of the lovely carving and cutouts that give the character to the individual clock, then consider the various types of functions that each clock could perform and of course make a decision what our budget would allow for. Finally we purchased a pretty clock with three weights which means it runs to give the time, the cuckoo pops out every half hour, the chimney sweep pops up on the hour and the musical 'water' wheel turns and plays a tune every half hour. It took the proprietor quite a while to specially pack the clock for safe travel - he treated it with utmost care.

This box of clock travelled safely with us the remaining weeks of our visit and home as hand carried luggage on the airplane. Several weeks after our return Helmut had the time to find a place on the dining room wall to hang it up and start it going. It has an on/off button to control the noise making functions - some of the family don't appreciate the various noises that it makes particularly at night. The weights arrive at the floor in less than 24 hours so I guess it is not hung high enough on the wall.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent driving on towards the south and the Swiss border. We located a nice Alte Muehle (hotel) in Rielasingen. It was a three hundred year old building right beside a river. As indicated by the name it was a hotel and restaurant. This place had real character - a very quiet atmosphere - clean and lovely fine dining. The prices turned out to be comparable to many of the other places that we stayed. After supper we took a nice walk along the riverside path. All of us with memories of The Lamp Shop in Des Monies would have been interested in the lighting fixtures in the dining room - they were converted kerosene hanging lamps with glass or brass founts and big glass shades ( we've seen many such that Dad electrified) - these were electrified also but the socket and bulb were suspended inside the top of the shade instead of being mounted into the burner (the wicks remained in the burners).

I have some neat pictures of these places that I'd sure like to share with all of you.