Buildng Ginger Bread Houses - Nov. 2008

On the Sat. morning after Thanksgiving with the Shorts we went to the Malvern Bible Chapel to help prepare ginger bread houses for an outreach activity that they were planning for the next week end. We had lots of fun working together with the other believers and visiting at the same time.

The gal in the dark blue in the top picture is Laura Short.

Second picture is Merve, Nancy & Ziggy

Third picture the gal in white is Carla, the "contractor" "supervisor" or the moving force behind the project.

The precision builder in the striped shirt is my dear Helmut.

In the bottom picture you have Andrew, Audrey, Barbie and the lady in red -whose name I don't remember.

On the Friday after U.S. Thanksgiving Andrew, Barbie, Ruth, Helmut and I took a day trip to Lancaster County, PA. First stop was a photo op at Zimmerman's store. We didn't go in so I'm not sure if it was a general store or a little grocery store. Then we continued on to the Kitchen Kettle "Mall" which is a Mennonite/Amish shopping area. Helmut had forgotten his cap so that was the first thing we had to purchase. Mostly we walked around looking at the various wares but bought very little. We were in a place that sold hand made furniture and wooden items - it was very interesting. I found the quilt shop very nice to look at but the beautiful hand made quilts were very high priced. No doubt they require many hours of labor.

I had a baked ham sandwich for my lunch and the rest of the family waited until later in the afternoon to eat.

U. S. Thanksgiving 2008

On Nov. 25Th. in the evening we left Winnipeg for the long drive to Exton, PA where our future daughter-in-law's family live. After about 28 hours of driving and riding with tired minds and bottoms we finally arrived near midnight on the 26Th.

The Shorts welcomed us and after a brief time of getting acquainted we all turned in for the night. The long ride had not been very kind to my legs so I had many cramps during the night and didn't sleep very much.

We had a leisurely morning with a late breakfast. Laura and Will had the dinner preparations in hand and their three girls helped a lot. (one of their daughters was away visiting her boy friend in Florida) There were so many items to be cooked in the oven that they had borrowed space in the neighbor's oven so they were running back and forth.

Top picture: Andrew, Barbie, Susanna with the dog Paris, Mom-Laura, Jackie and Jean.
Second picture: Dad-Will, cleaning the patio of leaves.
Third picture: Most of the Short Klan. Will has seven siblings, four of them not in the picture - the youngest sister and her family came later and didn't eat with us. One of the adult men in this picture is a nephew. Laura's Father is also at the table.
Bottom picture: Two "visitors" that passed through the back yard while we were at dinner.

Thanksgiving with the Shorts is like this every year they say but it is their main family get together of the year.

Andrew, Barbie & Ruth went to a football game in the evening while Will, Laura, Helmut & I had a good visit.

Bright Spots

Do you think you could see these guys in the bush on a snowy day?

This particular style is for the avid hunters or parking lot attendants. Especially made by Opa Z.

The three in this picture are "models" - only one is a hunter. Two of the toques are for his friends.

Party Fare

A party is coming up to introduce Barbie to the rest of the family that live here in Winnipeg.

For parties I like to make these two bite size meat buns. They are called Flieshpershki, a traditional Mennonite treat.

The bread dough is cut into little round pieces, the filling is placed inside and the edges of the dough are sealed together to make a little bun. I tend to put too much filling in them so they can be hard to seal.

Recipe for dough:

2 packages of yeast
1/2 cup of warm water
1 teaspoon of sugar
Mix & let rise

4 cups of scalded milk
1 cup of lard melted
1/2 cup margarine melted
2 eggs
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons salt
Mix these together .

Place 2 cups of flour in a very large bowl and add all the liquid ingredients from above. A cup at a time, stir in more flour up to a total of 10 to 12 cups. Place on flat surface and knead. ( I have to do this in two parts).

Place dough in bowl to rise and keep in a warm place.




FILLING

3 pounds of lean ground beef - browned and crumbled
1 package of dry onion soup mix
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
Black pepper to taste
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
Mix all of these together.
Let cool a while so that sauce isn't so runny.

Roll portions of dough to about 1/4 inch thickness and cut in small circles about 1- 1/2 inches across. Place a small amount of filling in the center of the dough round and then fold over and seal. Place on greased cookie sheets. Let rise a little while. Bake at 375 F. for 15 -20 minutes.

If only one person is making these it takes several hours.

They may be frozen after baking to keep for a longer time. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Garden Notes

A few pictures of the new perennials that we added to our garden this fall to enhance the fall color of our garden.


The pink balls are a type of hydrangea.

The bluish ones are asters.

The wine colored blooms are on a plant that is probably a sedum (I can't remember what the clerk at the nursery called it and it did not have a tag.)

We also got one yellow, one red and one deep pink mum but I don't have very good pictures of them.

It has turned winterish now so the flowers, even the mums, will be going to sleep for the season.

Special News Release

Barbie arrived this past Tues. for a visit.

Her reaction to Andrew's bushy growth was "You look like a homeless man".

Later in the evening Andrew shaved off the bush.

On Thurs. Oct. 30, 2008 Andrew told us "I asked her to marry me and she said ,yes."

Congratulations to both of you.

Views from two angles on the nearly finished drive/patio project.

It is all done now and there is one more row of pads straight out from the back door.

The brown thing in the lower part of the picture out from the back door is the top of the picnic table - it will get moved back on to the drive/patio by the back door for summer time. In the winter we have to use that part to park the extra vehicle which stays on the street in the summer time.

The Driveway

Last week my dear husband decided that it was time to do something about the deteriorating driveway. There was also a need to make it a bit wider or at least more accessible in its width.

First step was to remove about half of a large lilac bush on the north side of the driveway area - it can be seen just on the outside edge of the evergreen tree at the corner of the house (if you enlarge the picture).

Secondly a area near the lilac needed to be excavated about 3 to 4 inches deep and two feet wide and about 12 feet long to give a little more parking space for one of the three vehicles that need space across the driveway.

Then comes the sand spreading step.

Followed by laying of the concrete tiles. Getting the tiles was more economical if H. picked them up in the big van but that required several trips to the company. At first he was told that they didn't have as many tiles as he required - when he returned today for the smaller size tiles they told him that they had found about 50 more of the bigger ones so he got them and then on another trip picked up the small ones that were still needed.

The pictures were taken on Sat. when there were only a few tiles laid down - as of supper time this evening most of the tiles are down - I didn't get out there a take a picture before dark.

I hope that this picture of the Snowy Owl shows up a little better than the one in the previous post.

Oak hammock Marsh

Sat. Oct. 18th. was a very pleasant day so we decided that we needed to have another canoe trip before the cold weather would close in on us.

Oak Hammock Marsh is about 45 minutes west and a bit north of where we are located and is out side of the city. It is a conservation area and the marsh has controlled water and plant growth to attract the water fowl especially at the migrating seasons. Generally there would be thousands of geese and ducks in the area at this time of year.

We were told that the best place to put the canoe into the marsh was on the north basin so this is where you see us launching from. As soon as Helmut put the canoe down all of the geese and ducks that were in the near vicinity took to the air and dispersed to a different part of the marsh.

All this beautiful wide water body is hardly more than two feet deep and we wondered if we would become stuck in some places but we were able to keep the canoe afloat as we paddled or "poled" with the paddles around this basin in and out among the reeds and cattails. We saw a few more water fowl but mostly they were scared off before we were close enough to get a good look.

After our canoeing excursion as we drove back along the road we saw this beautiful Snowy Owl sitting beside one of the water inlets a few meters (yards) from the road. It stayed put in its place until Helmut tried to sneak up rather close to get a better look and photo. Most of the pictures were taken using the zoom feature on the camera.

Near the marsh there are lure crops planted for the geese to feed on so we saw more geese there - both Canada geese and another type that is white - you can barely see the difference as they are in flight in the picture. ( double click the picture to enlarge it.)

Remember that dog from a post a few days ago - the one that was pretending to leave home?
This evening she can't make up her mind if she wants to be inside or outside and since she doesn't know how to open the door she keeps me running to do that part of the process.

Supper is ready if any one wants to eat - Penne pasta with hamburger sauce. Aw the eaters have arrived.

Fall Colors

These pictures give an idea of how the fall colors are on display right now or have been in the last week.

The yellow leafed trees are our apple trees today. The top one is taken through the kitchen window.













The small red tree is a Amur Maple that belongs to the neighbor across the street. The dark red one is our Chokecherry tree. The Amur Maple has lost most of its leaves now.

The arrival of fall is a week or two late this season - many times most of the leaves are on the ground by mid October.

Departure????

LEAVING HOME - no one here wants to and this little gal is just pretending to be.

Rainy Day Jobs

This is one very wet gloomy day in fall.

Working out doors is out of the question unless one feels like being a duck or fish.

This morning I quartered up all of these plums and lined them up on a tray to freeze. When they are nice and frozen I will transfer them to ZipLock bags for the freezer. You are wondering what I do with frozen quarter plums? One fine day they will be made into a very delicious plumb cake with buttery crumbs on top. A much sought after dessert at this house. Plums are hard to come-by except at this time of year so the last two years I have decided to freeze some for later use.

Here is the recipe:

Fruit Struzzel Cake (similar to Platz)

1/3 to 1/2 c. of butter
3/4 c. white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix together as for a cake. Add

2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder

Should make a medium stiff dough. Knead the dough until it sticks together then roll it out thin on a jelly roll pan or large cookie sheet with sides.

Top with plums placed very close together. Use fresh or frozen plums or any other fruit such as apricots, cherries, peaches, blue berries or apples ( which don't turn out so colorful).

Make struzzel of:

1/2 to 3/4 c. flour
1/2 to 3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. hard butter
Worked together with fingers until large crumbs form. Spread over the top evenly.

Bake at 350 F. until light brown about 15 - 20 minutes keep a close eye on it while baking.

Have a fun baking day on your next gloomy day.

Quiz

Is there anything about this picture that reminds you of Polk Blvd. in Des Moines?

Be sure to make the picture as large as possible.

"Great Is Thy Faithfulness O Lord My God"

We are thankful for God's faithfulness everyday.

On Aug. 24, 2008 we celebrated our 40th. wedding anniversary.

Our children planned and worked and gave us a beautiful party to celebrate.

Helmut's living siblings with respective spouses and Jean's sister were the guests as well as Cammie's parents.

We enjoyed a great time of visiting with one another and eating the great food that the kids had put together.

Ruth introduced the little program with greetings.

T. our grandson provided a solo - "Jesus Loves Me" accompanied by Ruth with the guitar. T. also strummed on the guitar.

Ruth started off some remarks about our example over the years based on Phil. 2:3 "in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves" using the example of how even though Helmut is a runner he would take time to walk slowly with me because of his love for me. (It is interesting the things that the kids notice in the family.)
Others continued with some remembrances from the past.
then Helmut made a few remarks about the rope with the double knot.
We sang "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and a couple of hymns in German.

Thank you family for making such a lovely day for us to remember.

For some reason I've got the pictures in the opposite direction of the comments- maybe one day I'll have this blogging all figured out.