Any young people reading this article and the words “Wunnerful, Wunnerful”, will say… what is he talking about? But all of us old codgers will know that the magic words “Wunnerful, Wunnerful” meant that the Lawrence Welk Show was on the air. Lawrence Welk had born in a German speaking immigrant community in North Dakota. He didn’t learn English until he was 21, which led to that distinct, … [Read more...]
“Soul” Food
It’s funny how tastes remain with you for long periods of time. It seems like just last week that I was on a church picnic at Beaver Creek Lake just outside Beckley, WV. I was 9 or 10. Boy, what a spread those Beckley Presbyterian Church ladies set before us. Fried chicken, ham biscuits, yeast rolls, homemade pies and cakes, but the one thing I remember to this day were the pimento cheese … [Read more...]
Front Pocket Wallets
A few years ago, Nancy gave me a new billfold. It was designed to fit in your front pocket. It’s thinner than a cell phone, nice and compact, and it indeed fits in a front pocket. But how in the world was I supposed to put all my stuff in that tiny wallet? My old wallet was much like that of George Costanza on Seinfeld. It had more stuff inside than a sixth grader’s school backpack. When I put … [Read more...]
“Leaf” Them Alone
They do it every year. They fall off the trees. Leaves. Every single one, which means get out the rake and get to work. Or not?For the past few years I have eschewed the rake and leaf blower and cranked up my lawnmower instead. Not only is this far easier than raking and bagging, it’s also better for your yard. By mowing a few times each fall the leaves are shredded into fine pieces where … [Read more...]
Bluebirds: Always Shopping Around
Almost every day, my resident male bluebird flies over to one of last year’s birdhouses and peeks through the hole. He sits there for about a minute, then goes inside and pokes around. He does this every day, as if something might have changed. Bluebirds, it seems, are always shopping around for next year’s nest. I haven’t taken the old nests out of the houses yet. There’s some controversy … [Read more...]
A Sad Day
Yesterday was a sad day. We ate the last fresh tomato from our garden. For the next 6 months or so we will be eating plastic, tasteless tomatoes from the grocery store. If there is one reason to have a garden – even a little garden, it’s fresh tomatoes. My tomatoes didn’t fare as well this year as it did the year before. The early drought and heat wave slowed thingsdown, and many of my tomatoes … [Read more...]
Amish Butter Noodles
If a recipe ever says “Amish”, I’m interested. I have never eaten any Amish food that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. I eagerly await our annual pilgrimage to Lancaster County each spring, where we eat any and everything Amish - and lots of it. When I saw this recipe for Amish Butter Noodles, I had to give it a try and I must admit, this gives ordinary noodles a new lease on life. Here’s … [Read more...]
Saltwater Action Not Cooling Down
The temperature is dropping but the saltwater bite remains strong in Virginia. Pier and bottom fishermen are still catching croakers, spot, whiting and bluefish in the lower Chesapeake Bay. Red Drum: Good numbers are roaming the shallows, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, reefs, and local inlets like Lynnhaven and Rudee Inlet. Cut bait or soft plastics are working. Speckled Trout: … [Read more...]
Counting Crickets
We had a couple fat bullfrogs in our goldfish pond, and I had been tossing them mealworms for snacks. I was buying mealworms from an outfit called Fluker Farms and saw that they also sold live crickets. No doubt that my frogs would like a couple fat, juicy crickets as a special treat, so I ordered a box of 100 from Fluker. They arrived in two days and were secured in a heavy corrugated box with … [Read more...]
Cooking Tips: Better Scrambled Eggs
Brent, my son-in-law, had cooked breakfast: Crispy bacon, hot biscuits and a big plate of scrambled eggs. Yumm! But the eggs were unusually good and I asked his secret. Brent said he had simply added a little olive oil to the batch. The eggs turned out moist and creamy, not dry and starchy. They were delicious. For 2 or 3 eggs, add about a teaspoon of oil. For a larger batch, use about a … [Read more...]
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