I met Renae during a homeschool chat with Twitter. Upon reading her blog I felt like I had found a new friend. Her site is welcoming, and warm. Encouragement from Renae is truly that. For the past week she has been hosting guest bloggers from around the homeschool community. I have a post there today. Although I did not plan to post on Shakespeare’s birthday it has happened that way. Serendipity at it’s finest!
I hope that you enjoy spending some time there and continue to visit me as well. Please look for the link on the right to subscribe.
Posted in Photography, Uncategorized |
Today I got the most lovely note from my mom. I walked to the mail box and I found the regulars, circulars, bills…and then I saw it. Something hand written and addressed to me. I savored the words over a cup of coffee. Just a short note and yet I felt like a queen.
I began to wonder who uses snail mail anymore? This year I received virtual birthday cards, have made friends on twitter, wrote on Facebook walls and “skyped” family at holidays. I’ve “IM’ed” my cousins who are in Italy. (My twelve year olds think this is hip, by the way)! I have been connecting…but I have not ventured into one of my most favorite haunts of old, a stationary store. I don’t even know of one in Madison and we have lived here almost 6 years. I have not lingered…longing to buy each pretty paper or a beautiful pen. I have not taken the opportunity to wonder who will get this lovely gift of paper and words straight from my heart. I regret that.
Before the age of technology. I wrote letters. Lots of letters. To my sweetheart studying in London, my sister in France or anyone I was thinking of…just because. I loved choosing stamps as much as I enjoyed finding beautiful stationery. But I have allowed connecting via cell phone and the internet to replace this simple pleasure.
My mom is so good at sending notes. She uses her computer. But honestly getting a note in the mail is a treasure! Thanks Mom.
I think I need to hunt down a Stationer. I need to choose that beautiful paper. And then I need to make a cup of tea and write a letter or two. Watch your mailbox because you might just get a love note from me.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cell phones, postage stamps, simplicity, snail mail, stationery, technology |
World Series Caramel Corn used to be called oven caramel pop corn. But that name just does not do justice to this special treat that we make especially during the World Series of Baseball. This is a recipe that came from my great-grandma. She used to make it at Christmas time and put it in personal treat boxes created just for the little people. I don’t remember the caramel corn that much but I do remember the 5 dollar bill that was always tucked in the box.
I first made this caramel corn during the world series when my twins were two. We were living with my husband’s grandma and I was frequently looking for entertaining things to do in the early evening. Dorothy, was 91 when we moved in with her. She kept a notebook of all her favorite recipes written in black Sharpie as her eyesight was waning.
That evening as Dorothy, the boys and I waited for Andy to make the long trek across the city from Chicago Vocational High School to our home on the North side we turned on the World Series. I popped the corn and started the baking. Periodically, Dorothy would ask what was smelling so good? When I finally filled the large wooden bowl with the caramel corn Dorothy could
not stop eating it. She loved it! And then she asked me to write the recipe in her special book. I was pretty honored because this was not just any book, these were the recipes that Dorothy had used for years, and now my humble caramel corn was being added to the collection.
I hope that you and yours enjoy World Series Caramel Corn!
World Series Caramel Corn
Grandma’s oven caramel corn.
6 quarts popped popcorn
2 Cups nut meats, if desired
2 Cups brown sugar
1/2 Cup butter (2 sticks)
1/2 Cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
- Combine sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt in a sauce pan and boil for five minutes.
- Remove from heat and add 1 tsp of baking soda.
- Pour syrup mixture over the corn and stir well.
- Spread on large baking sheet.
- Bake at 200 degrees F for 1 hour, stirring at 15 minute intervals.
- After baking put immediately in storage containers and store until use in a cool place.
Enough for 1 game if serving a crowd! 
from Nicole Huebner Wetzel, October 29, 2008
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Baseball, caramel corn, grandma, Traditions, World Series |
What is it about watching a ball game that seems to bring so many emotions to the surface? So much love, passion, disappointment, hopefulness. There is something electric about the ball and the bat making contact. CRACK! (…or PING! as the case may be). Something nostalgic about all of that bubble gum and sunflower seeds. Something timeless when fans wear their rally caps.
I am a latent baseball fan. I never watched baseball as a kid, played in gym class only once in a great while and did not marry my high-school crush who loves the game. (He later became my brother in law.) So my feelings are somewhat shocking. And I wonder if they can be real, or if you can only truly be affected by baseball if you never “grew up with it.”
My true love for the game came after seeing the Baseball exhibit at the Field Museum in the spring of 2003. What I thought was a history field trip for my boys turned out to be the flip of a switch that drew me in. That summer after moving to Madison my love continued to grow…I bought score sheets and read all kinds of books for novices like me. The book that was most influential was Wait Till Next Year by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. After reading that I knew I wanted baseball to be a part of my life and the life of my family. Continue reading “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”
Posted in My Story | Tagged Baseball, Chicago White Sox, Comisky Park, Family, Madison Mallards, Mom Life, Rite of Passage, Traditions, World Series |
Thursday morning as I looked into the rear view mirror, I caught a glimpse of the future–not what I have passed on the road but what I will be looking forward to. I was filled with a bit of ache in my heart.
Alex and Joseph sat in the back seat white shirts, black ties…all ready for FLAME’s dress rehearsal…formal concert attire this year. There they were so serious, looking so handsome and yet the night before there was sword play and wrestling in the grass with a friend. What I saw this morning were not my little boys -but my 11 year olds on the brink of becoming young men. And perhaps the ache came from wanting to hold time just a bit. Hold their innocence. Hold onto their boyhood. And yet I have so much to look forward to in the years to come.
It is interesting that several months ago Alex came to me and asked if he could still call me mommy. I immediately thought some one had made fun of him but he said that he was just wondering. It was like calling me mom was a rite of passage that happened at a certain prescribed time. After that conversation he called me mom for a few days and then went back to mommy. But recently I have become Mom again and Andy has become Dad. This time the change is permanent. (I asked.)
What I saw in the mirror was a bit of maturity, still mingling with the boy, and I look forward to mentoring in a new way. I look forward to seeing Alex and Joseph blossom and begin to walk into their callings. I look forward to the new relationship that we will have even though it is hard to say goodbye to my little boys.
Posted in My Story | Tagged Boydhood, Dear Husband, Family, Mom Life, Rite of Passage |
…the first slice of watermelon of the season, juice dripping down your arms, spitting seeds at an unsuspecting cousin?
…the bands from the local high schools and middle schools…the long walks to the cemeteries in the end of May heat…the speeches honoring those who have served?
…standing to take off your hat when the flag passes by?
…the flags lining the street waving in the breeze?
…waving your own small flag?
…a trip to the cemetery, to remember?
…family members sleeping under pregnant plum trees on benches covered with homemade quilts.
…beginning new traditions of rootbeer floats and hot dogs on Grandma’s deck, a wonderful welcome to summer.
…large bowls of potato salad?
…wedding bells ringing -celebrating new journies and new families being made?
…graduation parties and the goodbyes that come with them?
…the husbands, brothers, fathers, sons?
…the wives, sisters, mothers, daughters?
Do you remember to be thankful?
Posted in Events, My Story | Tagged Holidays, Memorial Day, Questions, Seasons, Traditions |
It has been awhile since I have had a two year old around, and although I have been a parent for 11 years and was and accomplished babysitter, it is easy to forget the AMAZING amount of work generated by a precocious toddler. Here are just a few gems from the past few weeks:
A metal cookie cutter in the toaster. Naomi came to me and said her fingers hurt. They were burning her. I asked her to show me what happened. She went to the toaster and told me that she put her fingers in there…she must have seen horror in my face as I quickly unplugged everything and fished out the cookie cutter, because she started to cry and say she was “so sorry.” My heart was beating a million times per minute as I thought of all the awful things that could have happened.
Calling out her elders. During a recent visit to Chicago, Naomi was promised a special waffle breakfast. After about a half an hour she came to me with a very dramatic pout on her face and said “Grandma lied me–where are my waffles?”
Making use of what’s on hand. A friend came to visit overnight and forgot her liquid face soap in the bathroom when she went home. Naomi found the soap and in a cleaning frenzy used all of it to clean the bathroom.
Fun with chemistry. Andy and I were sitting in the living room with both of the girls. While we were chatting, they started giggling, hilariously, around the corner in the hallway to the kitchen. Upon investigating the source of the giggles, we found Naomi squirting Windex from point blank range at her sister Gwenna, who was licking the nozzle of the bottle. Oy Vey! We really do watch them…but they can move so fast, and can think of the most creative uses for things.
And in case you think we have not been toddlerized before…
Helping with the dishes. When he was two, Charles flooded our entire kitchen. The water had even started to form a waterfall down the basement stairs.
Keeping daddy busy. When Alex and Joseph turned three I made a cake with a Busy Town theme. It had roads made out of black frosting and buildings made out of cookies, the whole neighborhood on a sheet cake. But the very best part was the die cut toy cars that were on the city roads. In a moment of sheer delight the boys climbed up on my buffet and drove the cars all over the cake. Let’s just say there were more than a few potholes created in the time it took my husband to bring a basket of laundry up from the dryer in the basement…. (Andy was the parent in charge at the time, since I was part of a search committee at our church.) In addition to calling into the meeting to tell me that there was an emergency at home, he must have really yelled because when I got home the boys said they were sorry and that they sang Amazing Grace with daddy several times. The boys probably thought that was why I put the cars on in the first place. To drive on the cake, right? Our friends’ reaction: “Those kids must have had such fun!”
I am sure that Gwenna will have her own surprises for us. She seems happy enough scooting around on her hands and knees, but she’s already blowing raspberries and climbing stairs…
Posted in My Story | Tagged Dear Husband, Family, Mom Life |
Have you ever had it? Do you know anyone who makes it? Each spring as the dandelions begin to flood the open spaces along the highway, in sidewalk cracks, and heaven forbid our yards, I am reminded of my great-grandma and her dandelion wine.
~~~
“Pride of lions in the yard. Stare, and they burn a hole in your retina. A common flower, a weed that no one sees, yes. But for us, a noble thing, the dandelion.” –Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine
~~~
She died when I was in high school, but every year until then my sister, my aunt and I would gather the biggest yellow dandelions heads that we could find. My mom had a BIG green tupperware bowl that we would have to fill. (We still have the bowl; I think it was much bigger when I was a kid…) The three of us would sit in a field covered with these weeds. Pluck the heads and fill the bowl, and pluck the heads and fill the bowl, for as long as it took till Great-Grandma had enough.
There is not a spring that goes by that I don’t think of that plentiful field and the green bowl and Eva Huebner, the memories of her home. Her old fashioned ways: she ground her coffee with a hand grinder, wound her LONG braid around her head, and made her own wine. Each Christmas she filled a pillow case with hard little German cookies, Peppernuts.
In the fall of 2004 I had a chance to taste for the first time Great-Grandma’s dandelion wine. It was the last bottle left, made in 1977. Honestly, the memory of filling that BIG green bowl in a field of yellow was much more pleasant than the wine, which could have put hair on my chest. For me, that nemesis of a weed brings with it memories of happy times, and just a little longing for an opportunity to help make dandelion wine again.
Posted in My Story | Tagged Family, Food, Seasons |
