Tag Archives: Family

Our Grandtwins

15 Feb

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Reblog

I wrote this back in 2013, so these “grandtwins” are in their late teens now. 

In previous musings, I have mentioned our “grandtwins.”  I would like to think that I coined that phrase, since I’ve never heard anyone else use it.  But that’s probably rather vain of me to think so.  However, they are our grandchildren, and they are twins.

Our youngest daughter and her husband went through the very expensive InVitro process to have their children.  And we are thrilled with the results of that process.  Our grandtwins are delights to our lives.  There are 15 years between our older grandchildren and our grandtwins, so I’m afraid these cousins won’t be very close to each other, and that hurts our hearts.  However, our grandtwins were both in our oldest grandson’s wedding just a few short weeks ago, and they are all quite familiar with each other.

But the birth of the twins was quite an experience – for us all.  Our daughter (Janet) called to say that the twins would probably be born within a few days via C-section, as she had developed toxemia. The twins would be born about six weeks early.  Fred immediately called and made airplane reservations for us for a couple of weeks out, staying one week.

However, we had a call from our oldest daughter (Karen), that her husband insisted that someone from the family be there for the delivery, it should be at least her, as well as me.  So Fred called and changed my reservation to the following day.  It was to be a surprise to Janet.  Janet called Fred’s cell phone as he was driving me to the airport, and was surprised to hear my voice instead of his.  She seemed quite disappointed to learn that “we” wouldn’t be coming up for another week.  When I hung up, I rubbed my hands together and said, “Oh, this is going to be GOOD!”

Karen flew in first, rented a car, and picked me up at the airport.  We, of course, got lost trying to find the

Our arrival was such fun.  Karen and I had planned it all out on the way.  She would walk into the room first and greet her sister.  Then she would say, “I picked something up at the airport that I thought might make you smile.”  That was my cue to walk into the room.

Well, it worked.  However, Janet hadn’t seen her sister in over a year…..Karen had let her hair grow…..Janet was in pregnancy “fog”….. and she actually didn’t recognize Karen at first.  She said to herself, “I know this person.  Who is it?”  It wasn’t until Karen was at her bedside that she recognized her and exclaimed, “It’s Karen!!”  After they hugged, Karen said her prepared speech, and I walked in.  Opened mouth – Janet was speechless!  I had anticipated hugs and laughs, but instead got hugs and tears.  It was quite an emotional time.

Later, Janet was taken into surgery, and those two beautiful babies were born.  God is good.

God is with you in everything you do.

Genesis 21:22

 

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

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January in Central Florida: Came In Like a Lamb, Went Out Like a Lion (With Actual Flurries!)

12 Feb

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

March has a rhyme “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.

In Central Florida, January came in like a lamb and went out like a raging lion. It was part of a historic cold snap described as the coldest in 16 years. Some places in Florida experienced snow flurries and even accumulation.

I generally enjoy cold weather but this cold “snap” hung around a little too long. Covering and uncovering plants got old, but thankfully many were unscathed.

The other plants and neighborhood landscaping didn’t fare as well. This may be depressing, especially to the newer Florida residents.

But don’t give up. I’ve lived in Florida for decades. The resilience of nature is inspiring. Yes, some plants will be lost but even ones that appear truly dead can survive with adequate watering and judicious pruning.

I took some pictures while walking our granddog. The Crepe Myrtles look awful now, but I am sure they will bounce back. I think the row of entrance shrubs will also be ok. I am not sure about the landscaping between the orange dividers.

The amaryllis below I call legacy bulbs. Their ancestors originally were brought to Florida from North Carolina by my mother in the 1950s. They moved with her from house to house. Eventually they ended up at our daughter’s home. I am fairly certain the bulbs will be fine. My mom would run the lawn mower over them.

We have a few of the amaryllis started at our home in the North Carolina mountains. We hope they survived.

Spring will arrive in Florida soon. I am anticipating nature’s rebirth.

Our home in North Carolina received eight and one half inches of snow. Our neighbors were housebound for several days. Glad we missed that.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

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Uncle Jess

8 Feb

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

Reblog

I wrote this back in 2013…and got a good laugh out of the story again.  I hope my readers do, as well.  Enjoy!

I have a really quirky family.  And most of them I have enjoyed through the years – or stories about them.

My Mother’s family is originally from Ireland, with a good old name of McBratney.  I don’t know a lot about the family history, but only some stories from my Great-grandfather on.  He was one of 11 children, eight of them male.  I know that they called themselves “The Boys” and got together occasionally. 

The McBratney Boys

About the time I was “aware” of life, there were only four “boys” left, my great-grandfather not being one of them.  I made a trip to Kansas once with my Aunt Jessie and Granny, and got to see them then.  However, my fondest memories are in 1958 when those four “boys” came to Albuquerque for a visit.  They were my Granny’s uncles, my Mother’s great-uncles, and so my great-great-uncles.  But they were fun and funny to be around.  

1958 – The Boys – as I remember them

While I enjoyed them all, I guess Uncle Jess was the one I remember the most.

Judy and Uncle Jess

And this story about him always delights me – and makes others laugh when I tell it.

Back in 1958, one of the favorite things to do was to grill steaks on the outside grill.  Big, thick, juicy steaks – lots of fat to flavor the meat – special seasoning to give it just the right tenderness and flavor.  You remember, right?

1967 – Fred and Judy = grilling steaks, Albuquerque, NM

Well, one of those times, after the meat had been cooked and all were seated at the table, Uncle Jess began to meticulously cut all the fat from off his steak….and then proceeded to EAT THE FAT!  My Mother exclaimed – “Uncle Jess!  The doctor told you not to eat the fat on your steaks!”  And he calmly replied, “No he didn’t.  He only told me to be sure and cut it off.”  

As I said, he was a sweetheart!

1958 – My Granny and Uncle Jess.  He always had that little stogie in his mouth!

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

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January Recap

5 Feb

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Well, here we are in February already.

Over Christmas we were blessed with a ten day visit with our daughter.We made low carb cookies and candies together. Working together in the kitchen is one of my great joys.

My mother and I did the same. In her later years mom and I would sit at the kitchen table and chop up pork for Eastern North Carolina style barbecue, peel potatoes and snap green beans together.

But I digress..

We have very poor cell service at our place in Western North Carolina. My cell phone uses wi-fi assist to make phone calls. When we tried to activate that on my husband’s phone it wasn’t there.Assuming we were simply not tech savvy enough, we went to the Verizon store for help.

Many attempts by the Verizon employee failed.

But wait! There’s more.

You guessed it. Verizon had a new and better service plan for us and would throw in a new iPhone.

After 4 hours of the salesman juggling numbers, adding and deleting phones, we left with one new phone, a new plan and exhausted. It was worse than buying a car.

Of course it didn’t end there. We spent the first part of January deciphering strange and exorbitant bills and oh, I forgot to mention, we also had to get the Verizon Visa to take advantage of $20.00 credit on bill, Like we needed or wanted another card.

Next came the big Verizon outage.We were leaving a visit to a neurosurgeon in Orlando when I noticed my phone was in SOS mode. I thought the problem was my phone and began checking all the settings.

The SOS message set off a mini PTSD moment from Hurricane Helene days.

None of the “fixes” put out by Verizon eliminated the problem. Apple tech told me the fix but said it was up to Verizon to do it. Too stressful to write about but it was finally resolved. Hours of my life gone.

Next up- The brutal winter weather in the Southeast.

The frontal rains of the first cold front was moving in the day we planned to return to Florida.

We staged our belongings at the garage door and waited for the rain to slack off. My husband was anxious to get started. As soon as the rain lightened, we threw our belongings in the truck.

We were fortunate to only travel around 100 miles before the rain stopped. When we arrived at our Air BnB we unloaded our overnight items then found a place for supper.

Meanwhile, the weather reports for the cold front in North Carolina were looking ominous. Not much snow but major ice and power outages.

We were concerned about our water pipes, but decided it was foolish to be worrying. The pipes and our house were in God/s hand.

Thankfully, there was no damage except a tree leaning toward my husbands shop at the bottom of our property

A few days later, a rare snow storm arrived. We are in a valley town and the snow tends to go around us. Not this time. Our neighbor said we received around 8 1 /2 inches. Due to the extreme cold the snow melt turned to ice. We are glad we missed that. Once again thankful that our home experienced no damage.

To our surprise the cold weather actually made its way into Florida. Some areas had snow flurries!

Yesterday was gorgeous and walking the granddad was delightful.

January wasn’t all stress, of course. But I think it is why the month seemed to fly.

The month ended with a special evening event. So much fun and the fireworks were spectacular!

Did January whiz by as fast for you as it did for me?

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother. I hadn’t practiced them for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2025 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

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Kitty

25 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Reblog

My mother-in-law was a gem.  She was funny, cute, elegant, classy, down-to-earth, loved to laugh, and welcomed me into the family as a daughter.  Of course, it didn’t hurt that I married her first-born.  

Her name was Charlotte Emily, but I had never heard anyone call her anything but Kitty.  Occasionally a niece would mention “Aunt Charlotte” but that’s about it.  She rapidly became a second mother to me, and I loved her.

I was always curious as to where the nickname “Kitty” came from, and found it to be a most interesting and amusing story.  In her own words:

“…when I was in 7th or 8th grade, I was given a nick-name, Kitty!  This came about in the winter when we were skating on a small lake in Monroe, New York.  My sister Eleanor told some friends about an episode when we were living in Windham, New York.  Our Mother and her three daughters were enjoying the evening sitting on our front porch, when a small black and white animal came creeping up the front walk.  I began calling, “Kitty, kitty” and started down to pet him or her.  As I got up my Mother said, “That’s not a cat – it’s a skunk!”  Well, luckily, it turned and ran away without leaving the usual odor we associate with skunks.  That winter when we, El and I, were skating, El told this story and from then on everyone on the ice began calling “Here Kitty, Kitty!”  And I’ve been called Kitty every since!”

Mystery solved!  I’ve heard similar stories before, but not where the name stuck.

Her father was a Scottish Presbyterian minister, who immigrated to the United States from Scotland during the Potato Famine in 1910.  I remember her saying that she loved to hear the bagpipes play – it really got her blood up to a good boil!

She was devoted to her husband and their four children.  Being a U.S. Air Force wife, she moved and traveled frequently.  She had a flair for decorating, and her home was always elegant yet comfortable.  I remember the story of how, in 1947 after World War II, her husband was assigned to an installation in Italy.  He went over first, and then she made the trip with those four children in tow – ages 8, 4, and 2-year-old twins.  She was a brave woman!  They lived all over the world – many places in the United States as well as Italy, Japan, and Hawaii.

She was a great cook.  She taught me to make turkey stuffing the “New England” way – with bread rather than cornbread.  She taught me to make German Springerle Christmas cookies – the best I’ve ever eaten! 

She loved to have fun, and was a bit of a cut-up.  I will always remember her with me on the beach in northern California, dancing barefoot through the wet sand and kelp.

She left us in 2010, after about 10 years of dealing with Alzheimer’s disease, and so she actually left us many years before that.  I miss her, still.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.

I do not give to you as the world gives.

Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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A Small Serendipity

18 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Reblog

I wrote this post back in 2014, and in re-reading it, I enjoyed the memory of it.  I hope my readers enjoy it, as well:

I really love the serendipities that happen in our lives at times.  Some are so large they just overwhelm us when they happen.  Others are just sort-of average, but just enough different to make us sit up and take notice.  And then there are the small ones.  Those that just happen in a flash…and then are gone, leaving us to wonder how/why did that happen?

Fred and I experienced that just recently when we went to Disney’s Magic Kingdom.  Busy day – lots of high school bands around – lots of Senior Trips around – kids in the same color t-shirts.  We usually enjoy seeing these groups.  Most of them are not terribly rowdy, and are just having a great time.   Occasionally we see them doing the “flash” thing – breaking into song or the “wave” or something like that.  

We had just finished a ride and were on our way to lunch, when a young man caught up with us and said, “would you be my stand-in parents?”  We stopped and I asked why?  He said his parents had just gone on a ride but he couldn’t get on, so…..  I began laughing and ask him what we could/should do.  He hesitated a minute then said, “how about a hug?”  And so that’s what we did – a group hug for the three of us – all of us laughing at the same time.  

And then he was gone.

I told Fred he was probably dared to do that by some of his classmates, but that was okay.  It was a fun thing.

MUCH later, I told Fred we should have told this young man that we couldn’t be his stand-in parents, but would stand-in GRANDparents work?  Nothing slow about me!

Photo credit – Google search; Disney.com

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Wood Inlay

5 Dec

SUNDAYMEMORIES

Judy Wills

Reblog

I wrote this back in 2013, but enjoyed reading it again.  I hope you do, as well

I’ve never thought I would be particularly interested in wood, types of wood, or just about anything related to wood.  I guess the first time I really became interested was when I was graduating from high school and a local furniture store gave a Hope Chest to every graduating girl in my class.  Now, I must say that the chests were VERY MINIATURE!!  More like a keepsake box.  But they were made of cedar, as a real hope chest would be, and finished beautifully.  After all these 50+ years since that time, my miniature hope chest still smells wonderfully fragrant.  That’s probably why I love the fresh smell of cedar so much.

When we were stationed in Germany in the late 1960’s, we came across some wood inlay pictures that really caught our eye.  The intricate “jigsaw puzzle” work of the artist…and the different color of the woods used…were fascinating.  We purchased just one picture, thinking that was all we could afford.  And while we cherished that picture, we couldn’t help but wish we had purchased more.

Marienplatz – Garmisch/Partinkirken 

Back to Germany we went in the early 1980’s – and we began our search for more of those wood inlay pictures, and especially by the same artist.  And we found them!  We snapped up two more.  All of the scenes are of places in Germany that were important to us and our memories.  We treasure them.  And we learned that this particular artist had cut enough puzzle pieces to make pictures for up to five years after his death! Amazing.  

Neuschwanstein Castle 
Konigsee 

But we’ve found other wood inlay that intrigue us, as well.  While visiting in the Chicago area, we stayed in a great old house that is now a Bed & Breakfast.

Roxana Bed & Breakfast 

It is situated on a lake that is reported to have been a playground for the likes of Al Capone and his cronies.  As a matter of fact, the room we stayed in was dubbed the “Al Capone Room,” and had pictures of him, one of his famous cigars, and two bullets he might have used.

Al Capone 

But what interested us the most was the dining room and sitting area.  When the new owners purchased the house, most of the rooms had wall-to-wall carpet.  When they pulled it up, thinking to replace the carpet, they found the most beautiful wood inlay floors imaginable!  So they left them uncarpeted, and open to admiration.  We most certainly admired them.  Just think of the imagination and planning that went into putting these floors down.  Beautiful!

Our favorite Mexican Restaurant in town has a gorgeous wood inlay Aztec calendar hanging at the front of the restaurant.  I’ve seen quite a few calendars before, but none this beautiful.

I’m still a carpet girl – and here in Florida, we have either carpet or tile.  But that doesn’t stop me from admiring the craftsmanship of those artists from long ago.

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

 

 

 

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After Thanksgiving

30 Nov

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

As with last week’s blog, I wrote this a few years ago, but it fits this year, as well.  Enjoy!

Well, Thanksgiving 2023 has come and gone.  It’s amazing to me how fast that happens!  You gear up for it, then POOF!  It’s over.

So what do you do now?  Well, Christmas is on its way now, and there is soooo much to do to get ready for that.  However…there’s still some turkey left over.  Okay…more than a little turkey left over.  What to do?  Well, there’s always turkey sandwiches…made on a hoagie roll with thin slices (or thick if you like) of turkey, lettuce leaves, tomato slices, sliced onions, pickles and any condiments you like (mustard? Mayonnaise? Oil and vinegar? Some kind of salad dressing?).  Cheese of course.  Warmed in the toaster oven perhaps? Or just eaten cold.  Subway…eat your heart out!

But our very, very favorite way to eat up that leftover turkey is by picking the turkey carcass clean of all the meat (light and dark) and cubing it up in about 1″ or smaller pieces, and making my Mother’s recipe of Turkey Tetrazinni.  Fred says it is his favorite part of the turkey!  I’ve included the recipe below.  I cook it in either a 9″x13″ glass pan, or a 10″x10″ Corning Ware dish.  It works well with either.

This recipe makes quite a bit, and with just the two of us eating it, it takes a couple of days to finish it off.  But we manage to do just that!  We really enjoy this dish.  I’ve never tried to freeze any leftovers, so i don’t know how it would work.

I hope you will try this – and enjoy it as much as we do.  It’s a GREAT way to finish up the turkey!

TURKEY TETRAZINNI

By Agnes Lites Yearout

1 cup cooked rice**                                                             2 Tbsp flour

2 sticks diced celery                                                            2 cups (total) broth and milk**

½  onion, chopped                                                               Salt & Pepper to taste

1 small can mushrooms with juice                                    1 tsp Worchestershire Sauce

¼  lb. butter (1 stick)**                                                         ¼ lb. grated cheddar cheese

                                                                                                Cooked turkey, cubed

Cook celery and onion in butter until transparent.  Combine vegetable mixture, flour, broth, mushrooms and juice, and seasoning to make the sauce.  Add turkey and most of the grated cheese to the sauce.  Cook until cheese is melted and mixed in with the sauce.

Put cooked rice in a greased casserole and cover with the turkey sauce.  Top with remaining cheese.

Bake in a 350º oven for about 20 minutes.

**SOME NOTES:  

  1.    Instead of butter you can substitute ½ cup Olive Oil
  2.    For the “broth and milk” – if you have any turkey gravy left over, use that and top it off with milk to make the two cups.  If no broth or gravy, use chicken bouillon and milk.
  3.    This is really good over cooked thin spaghetti or Vermicelli (we like Angel Hair pasta the best).  We like the pasta better than rice.  We’ve not tried it over Couscous, but I think it would be good, as well.  Cook the Couscous in chicken bouillon.  I’ve also made it with egg noodles and that is good.
  4.    I like sliced mushrooms, but stems and pieces can be used as well.
  5.    I am usually more generous with the cheese – we like cheese!

Enjoy!!

Photo Credit by Google Search and Betty Crocker website

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Cooking Collard Greens: A Family Tradition

24 Oct

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Since October first, life has been a little crazy here in the mountains. Hubby was scheduled for a simple procedure that turned out to be not so simple, leading to tests, more doctor visits and complete but temporary diet changes.

At one point he was only having clear liquids such as jello, broth and clear beverages. I have to confess that the days of clear liquids were a mini no cooking vacation for me.

Eventually, the clear liquids worked and he is on the mend.

What I really want to write about today is collard greens. I have wonderful memories of cleaning and preparing collards with my mom and I look forward each fall to going to the produce market to choose a couple of bunches.

According to my mom, the secret of tasty collard greens is they must be harvested after the first frost, or at least once the temperatures drop into the lower 40s.

This week, the temperatures dropped and on one of our fun road trips for doctor visits, we stopped and shopped. I bought two double, lovely bunches.

My mom taught me to cut the bottom stems off, then run a knife along the leaf stems to remove them. I prefer to do this messy job on the porch but the day was too cold for sitting outside. The weather forecast for the following day was warmer and i stored them in the refrigerator.

On Collard day I gathered up knives and the necessary paraphernalia and set up on the porch.

The first two bundles went by quickly. As I began the third bundle, I began to think I may have bought too many. By the time I finished the final bundle I was sure I had bought too many.

I put 2 bunches of collards in the kitchen sink and began swirling them in the water. Fortunately they had a scant amount of dirt and only required one wash.

I have the large pot my mom used to cook collards in and I was able to fit all of the washed ones into the pot.

Then the nightmare began. I like my collards to be tender and these collards would not cooperate. I think I cooked them for three hours.

Then I had to chop them up.

I use a Rada hand chopper. It does a good job. I love all of the Rada products.

Photo credit Rada website.

Finally that batch was finished and put into the fridge. I washed the second batch and that was as far as I got. I left them out to drain the water off them and went to bed.

The next day I decided there had to be a better way than my mom did it.

I asked Grok if collards could be cooked in an electric pressure cooker. Grok said yes and even gave me cooking instructions. Using the pressure cooker was so much easier.

The cooked collards are now sitting in my fridge and in the morning I will divide them up for the freezer.

I should have enough collards to last until next fall.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2025 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

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Escape from the Mice.

13 Jun

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I mentioned last week that we were blessed with an unexpected beach vacation opportunity.

This came about while we were in the midst of the mice debacle. I was determined that the pesky mice would not deter us from the beach. Besides that we were experiencing mice fatigue.

How the vacation came about.

At the end of April, a friend texted and asked if we would like to join them for a week at a condo in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Ironically, I had just been looking at the calendar and was pleased to see that we had an entire month with no doctor appointments. (If you are old, you know)

I told here we were available and she gave me the details.

Her friend had booked the condo but decided after the cancellation date to not use it. She offered the unit to my friend and since it had two bedrooms she invited us to spend the week with them.

We were still dealing with the mice invasion, our closets were emptied and the contents scattered. I debated for about 5 seconds whether we should go or stay and root out the vermin. We set out traps, packed our suitcase and left.

The condo was on the beach and we had a lovely beach view by day, and the lights at the pool area were beautiful and soothing in the evening;

Morning coffee on the balcony was a perfect start to the day. We spent time in the evenings chatting on the balcony while the men were glued to their devices.

One day we ventured out to find a seafood restaurant a friend had suggested in Murrell’s Inlet south of Myrtle Beach. I had looked them up online and their menu was enticing and the prices weren’t awful. Trusting the GPS we drove south. We weren’t sure what the restaurant looked like and we almost passed it by.

The food was delicious, each of us chose something different. I decided to step out of my comfort zone and ordered shrimp quesadillas. I was not disappointed. It was delicious!

Another day we visited a shopping and amusement area, Broadway at the Beach. It is laid out around a body of water and to walk around it is two miles. Fortunately motor scooter rentals were available and each of the men rented one. We women walked with a few rest stops. I was proud of us.

My husband loves hats and he enjoyed browsing but he didn’t buy anything. My friend adores purple and there was a purple shop. It was fun to see the variety, everything purple. Of course I had to browse the candy store.

There were a lot of shops to browse and Interesting restaurants. I wanted to have lunch at the Grumpy Monk, but the others weren’t enthusiastic about it.

On check out morning, we weren’t able to score a luggage cart. But the resort had very sturdy shopping carts and my husband grabbed one. It worked really well. Steered better than a luggage cart too.

It was a laid back beach week and exactly what we needed.

We had made plans to go from Myrtle Beach to visit with family in North Carolina.

But plans can change in a moment. A phone call from our daughter in Florida sent us driving south rather than north. More on that next time.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2025 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I’m a general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  

My 2025 goal is continue to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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