Mudbound

For this month's  Reading Club we read Mudbound by Hillary Jordan.  It is set during the 1940's in Mississippi.  Laura married Henry late in life and they had two little girls.  One day Henry came home with a surprise!  He had bought a farm and they were all moving from their nice city home to a 3 room shack without running water or electric.  Oh, and by the way, his crotchety, mean dad was moving with them and would live in the lean-to attached to the shack.

Laura did the best she could living in that shack that was surrounded by mud whenever it rained.  A few months after they moved to the farm, Jamie, Henry's brother moved in with them when he came back from the war.  Laura fell in love with Jamie, and I think he fell in love with her.

Jamie became friends with one of the sharecroppers sons, Ronsel, who had also served in the Big War.  That friendship led to the local Klu Klux Klan (which Jamie's dad was a part of) making a visit to Ronsel one night, which was the same night Jamie silently smothered his dad in his sleep.

There were about 30 people at this months book club meeting.  Most people in the group had grown up in the south.  Some grew up during the 40's and agreed that black people were not treated with respect.  One lady spoke about how the black help always sat in the back seat of the car and ate in the kitchen while they ate in the dining room, but that didn't mean her family was prejudice.  Oh no????  That's the way things were done back then and everyone accepted it.  The black help had their place in society and the white folk had theirs.  It is always interesting to see how Southerners have very different view points from us Yankees.

Our next book is Same Kind of Difference as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore.  It is a non-fiction book and the librarian said she thought it was about mental illness and the other members said good, they didn't want to talk about race anymore since we dealt with it in the last two books.  I just looked it up on Amazon and it's about a black, uneducated, sharecropper from Louisiana who meets a wealthy art dealer at a homeless shelter and they become friends.  Looks like we'll be dealing with the race issue one more time....

The Valle Country Fair

The fair from afar

Yesterday hubby and I went to Valle Crucis for the Valle Country Fair.  My plan to get there at 9 AM was foiled when I didn't wake up until 8.  After a stop in Boone, to the only place in the High Country that makes their own bagels, Mountain Bagels, we were off.   We didn't get too far when traffic came to a crawl.  It took about 45 minutes to limp to the festival, with hubby complaining every 30 seconds.

Once there, it was a delight to all of the senses.  There were over 150 vendors selling anything from dog cookies, toys, birdhouses, clothing to apple butter made in large pots.  There were two stages for music and a plethora of food vendors.  There were so many people there that the food lines were 20 deep.  I enjoyed every minute and the weather was perfect, bright and sunny and a little nip in the air.  Hubby, however, said that he is staying home next year.  Party pooper.

Apple butter anyone?

I loved this bubbling bird bath

Bird houses were the most popular items sold

Country music

Isn't this beautiful?

Rag Quilt

Rag Quilt

I have finally finished the rag quilt I started over a year ago.  Once I got going, it went pretty fast.  It took me a while to figure out how to position the stars on each square.  Sewing the pieces together was a breeze with my new Janome sewing machine.  The machine had no problem sewing through 6 layers of fabric.

The most time consuming part was snipping the edges.  I used a pair of spring scissors, which are much easier to hold than regular scissors.  All you do is squeeze the handles together and they cut.  I had piles of string under my chair, on my clothes and floating through the house.  After putting the quilt through the washer and dryer the edges fluffed up nicely.  Although the washer and dryer were a mess of strings.

Fluffy seams

If you are not a perfect quilter, this is the project for you.  I cut the 8 1/2 inch squares with a ruler and scissors and when I pieced them together, they did not match up very well.  The seams are actually on the front of the quilt and the cut edges hide the mistakes.  Now that I have learned to use a rotary cutter, my future seams should perfect, but don't hold me to it. 

Ready to snuggle up 

River House Inn

River House Inn

The New River

The lawn in front of the Inn

Yesterday afternoon hubby and I took two friends from South Florida, who live here five months out of the year, to the River House Inn for some entertainment and dinner.  The River House Inn was built in 1824 and is now a bed and breakfast, as well as a restaurant.  Their Sunday Salon Series includes music,
hors 'oeuvres and dinner.  Yesterday the featured artist was Mickey Harte who is a popular singer in Ireland.  He recently won the You're A Star show, which is the equivalent of American Idol.  Mickey is going to be touring the country and his first stop was ASU.  His producer lives and works in Grassy Creek, so his second gig was here.

He has a wonderful singing voice and was very personable.  I took this video with my little Olympus camera.  He had a lyrical Irish brogue and I could easily picture him singing in a pub with a beer at his side.  The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny and warm.  Every once in a while leaves would rain   behind him from a tree hidden by the house.  There were about 50 people there.  We sat on the porch in wooden rockers and there were people sitting in chairs on the front lawn.  Everyone was sipping wine and enjoying themselves.  Mickey sang for about 90 minutes and we went in to dinner around 6 PM.  We didn't leave until 8:15.

Our first course was squash soup-about 1/4 inch of soup in a bowl.  Next we got a 2 inch round potato patty with a small piece of haddock on top covered with tomato puree.  The third course was two pieces of pork loin 1/2 inch thick and 2 inches round on top of lentils and savoy cabbage.  Dessert consisted of cooked apples on top of a stack of phyllo with a melon ball sized scoop of coconut sorbet.  While none of went home hungry, we were sore from sitting all day.  The food was actually quite tasty and was wonderfully presented.

What I couldn't figure out was why he wore those short pants with the buckles.  Is that the style to come?  I had better get a pair for hubby.

Here are some links to Mickey Harte:
http://www.mickeyhartemusic.com/
http://www.mickeyharte.com/
I'm sure you'll be hearing more about Mickey Harte.  You can tell people you saw him here first.

Church Bazaar

Looking good

Homemade baked goods

Yesterday was the annual church bazaar.  My job was to work in the kitchen.   It is a tradition to sell soup and sandwiches.  This year the ladies made beef vegetable and potato soup, with the help of a caterer.  They were still making the potato soup when I got there at 9 AM.  The vegetable was made the day before.  Other helpers were making the sandwiches-pimento cheese (yuck) and peanut butter and jelly (?).

jars of beef vegetable soup

I helped by dishing out cake slices and getting the table set up for customers.  Customers could buy a bowl of soup, sandwich, drink and slice of cake for $6.00.

People began coming in at 10:00 and didn't stop until 1:30.  Almost all of the items were sold except for some plants and jewelry.  This year the ladies had collected costume jewelry to sell and there was a lot of it.

It was busy like this all day 

Unfortunately, it was a beautiful, warm fall day out, and not many people wanted a steaming bowl of soup for lunch.  Many did go home with a jar or two for later.  (including yours truly).  I also purchased a quart of homemade chili, some apple butter and a tomato knife and knife sharpener(both new) and a shamrock plant.  My partner, Glee (yes her real name) and I both bought a jar of chili and put them next to our purses in the kitchen.  When we were ready to go home, only one jar was on the counter.  We never could figure out what happened to the other one.  Another lady offered to give us the jar she had put aside and hadn't paid for yet.  Hubby and I ate it for dinner last night and it was tasty.

I was glad to get home after a long day.  The caterer was still there at 2:30 putting vegetable soup in canning jars to sell at church this morning. I think I will suggest to make the soup earlier next year. That way they can freeze and can it and the ladies won't be working so hard on bazaar day.

Chunky Applesauce

I am so looking forward to my first fall season in 33 years.  The weather has turned cooler.  During the day it is in the 60's and at night it is in the 50's.  The leaves are just starting to turn.

This morning I went to Welch's produce stand and bought some Fuji and Golden Delicious apples.  I came home and peeled and cut them up to make 8 cups.  I put them in a pan with 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and cooked them on low for 35 minutes.  Then I used the potato masher to mash them down.

The kitchen smelled wonderful and the warm applesauce was delicious.  I am going to make more and put it in the freezer for later. Yum.

A long week away from home

We just got back from a whirlwind week in Florida.  Our first stop was Port Orange for two nights with our son and his wife.  On our first night we went to Zen Bistro, which is an organic Thai restaurant.  I had a huge bowl of noodle soup with shrimp and steamed veggies.  It was so full of food, I ate it with a fork.

I spent Friday at a huge flea market that had a little bit of everything.  Went home with sugar coated nuts and a bag of cashews.  Then it was on to Beach Street and Let's Talk Antiques.  I was looking for  halloween costumes for me and hubby.  The store had clothes from the 40's through the 80's.  We spent over an hour just trying things on and never did get to look at all of the other marvelous items.  I did pick out the perfect dress for my costume, but you will have to wait a few weeks to find out what it is.

Let's Talk Antiques

I love Beach Street.  It is funky and has a lot of stores and restaurants that offer unique and eclectic stuff.  No chain stores there.

Saturday hubby and I went to Kissimmee to visit my parents. Dad is looking really good after his open heart surgery in July.  We had lunch at Woodsby's Countryside Cafe.  Everyone had a large salad except dad, who had country fried chicken, scrambled eggs and fried potatoes.  

The most exciting part of the weekend was the four alligators in the canal behind our son's home.  We watched one float in the water for hours.  It even came up into the back yard.  

On Sunday we headed for Deerfield Beach to help our youngest son move out of his apartment.  Teenage boys sure can be messy and we had our hands full whipping the place into shape.  About 8 PM we got out the blow-up beds and found out we did not bring the inflating gadget.  We decided to stay at a near-by hotel by the railroad tracks.  Bad decision.  Leaky toilet, stopped-up sink, TV that turned on in the middle of the night, funny smell and did I mention it was by the railroad tracks?  We won't be staying there again.

Monday morning was spent at Boca Middle visiting all of my favorite co-workers.  Molly, the media clerk, treated me to breakfast at Denny's.  (thanks Molly)  It was wonderful seeing everyone again. It felt like I had never left, especially when I patted my pocket to make sure my office keys were still attached to my waistband.

We had lunch and dinner at hubby's favorite spots, Sweet Tomatoes and Muddy Waters.  The next afternoon it was back to Port Orange for the night and then the long drive home.