Bittersweet

This time of year is summed up in this one word, don't you think? Because, although Autumn is a lovely time of year, we have to come to terms with the fact that Summer is over. And so, as the beautiful berries of Bittersweet ripen, we are reminded of our loss.

I was originally going to do a post on decorating with Bittersweet Berries, but today is a sad day for my dear sweet Sister-in-Law and her very loving Hubby.

You see, they have lost Hubby's brother after a long battle with cancer.

Not only have they just lost this precious family member, but earlier this year, they also lost their son.

They need all of our prayers.

Life can be so incredibly Bittersweet, don't you think?

But just as the long tendrils and vines of the Bittersweet encircle and twine, we all must do the same with those that we love.

Especially in times of sorrow.

And so as the door closes on another lovely summer, we will have Bittersweet memories and fond remembrances.

And circle our loved ones with warmth and love, as we symbolise our sentiments with the lovely gifts of the season. The harvest of our hopes and dreams and wishes.

And save a place in our hearts for all of our Bittersweet Memories.



Our Life Together; Our Second Meeting

It was 1968 and it was a very tumultuous year in our country. We had just lived through two notable assassinations; Martin Luther King on April 4th, and then Robert F. Kennedy on June 5th. Many people including I, had witnessed that assassination live on television during a campaign speech during his Presidential bid.

The whole decade was one of turmoil. The assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, the escalation of the Viet Nam war with half a million troops sent and 58,500 eventual casualties. The Cuban Missile Crisis, escalation of nuclear threats, with China detonating it's first atomic bomb in 1964.

Not only was the world in a very destabilized condition, but socially things were also in turmoil. The 'Counter Culture' was in full swing when young people began to revolt against the conservative norms of the time, as well as remove themselves from mainstream liberalism, in particular the high level of materialism which was so common during this time, and against the U.S. Govt's. extensive military intervention in Viet Nam and the implementation of the Draft in 1966. College attendance soared as a result. The youth involved in the social aspects of this movement became known as 'Hippies'.

Meanwhile the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing and the Feminist Movement began when a presidential commission on 'The Status of Women,' found discrimination against women in the workplace and every other aspect of life. This created 'The Equal Pay Act of 1963' and launched two decades of prominent women-centered legal reforms and the 'National Organization for Women' in 1966, founded by Betty Freiden and other prominent feminists. By 1968, 'Women's Liberation' became a household word.

These groups created a movement toward liberation in Society, including the sexual revolution, questioning of authority and Government, and demanding more freedoms and rights for women and minorities.

Psychedelic Drugs, especially LSD were widely used and encouraged. Timothy Leary was a prominent speaker at public rallies and encouraged young people with his slogan, 'Turn on, tune in, drop out' at the 'Summer of Love' in San Francisco in 1967.  There was growing interest in Middle Eastern Religions and Philosophy, and many attempts were made to found communes, which varied from supporting Free Love, to religious Puritanism.

There were 'Sit-ins' and marches opposing the war with slogans like 'Make Love, not War' and participants calling themselves 'Flower Children' and putting flowers in the barrels of the National Guard Troops' Guns that surrounded the gatherings.

There were Riots and Ku Klux Kan killings. War Demonstrations and Marches for equality. The Viet Nam combat was broadcast live every evening on the nightly news. We watched as soldiers were shot, blown up by grenades, bombed. In those days, correspondents were allowed on the front lines. Young men we knew checked the draft registers weekly at the post office to see if their numbers were being drawn.

This was our world that summer of 1968 when we first met.

My first day of high school began two weeks later. In those days, girls still had to wear dresses and boys had to have buttoned up, collared shirts, tucked in, with hair no longer than their collars. No jeans were allowed.

By the end of the year, the dress code was abolished. One of our classmates brought it to court and won.

But my mind was elsewhere. I was adjusting to my first week in high school. I had made a few new girlfriends and we were eating lunch in the cafeteria, chatting and laughing. And then one of my new friends asked me if I 'knew that boy with the white belt who keeps walking by and staring at you'. As I followed her gaze, my heart skipped a beat! There was 'Blue Eyes', and he was smiling at me! And he had on a white belt! (well, it was the 60's) I returned his smile and he came over and gave me a shy 'hello' and asked if I would be going to the school dance that weekend. Of course I said, 'Yes'. And then the bell rang. He walked me to my class, shyly asking for my phone number.

Next time: Our first dance to 'Our Song'.



Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake

This is a quick and easy recipe using Bisquick and published years ago in Bon Appetit magazine. It has no added oils or fats, and is light and lemony. It is best served while still warm, but will keep a day or so if tightly wrapped or placed in a cake dome.

Blueberry Lemon Coffee Cake

1 Egg

2- 1/4 Cups Bisquick

2/3 Cup Milk

1/3 Cup Sugar

Grated Peel of 1 Med. Lemon

1 Cup Frozen Blueberries

Lemon Glaze

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a round 9 inch pan. Beat egg in medium bowl. Stir in Bisquick, sugar, milk and lemon peel. Fold Blueberries into batter. Spread in pan. Bake 20-25 min. or until golden . Cool 10 min. Drizzle with Glaze.

Glaze: Mix 2/3 Cup Powdered Sugar and 3-4 tsp. lemon juice until smooth.

Enjoy!!



Monday Morning

It is misty and gray here in our little corner of the world, the foothills of the Cascades. When the clouds settle into the folds of the hills, we are given a different perspective. The hills and trees are outlined in a way not apparent when the sun is shining brightly. The view is ever changing, minute by minute. Our view is limited, our little world becomes smaller. We are able to focus more on the details.

This time of year we gradually move inside to attend to the details of being cozy and warm. We spend more time looking out windows rather than being outside. Soon, Hubby and I will dismantle our little canopy room on the deck. High winds during the winter make it impossible to keep it in place. But we will leave it up just a little while longer. It is a nice place to have a hot cup of coffee or tea during the frequent Autumn rains.

When we do venture out, it is with a nice warm sweater or jacket. Hubby has been keeping the wood box full and the fire burning.

Nothing feels cozier than a nice warm fire after an afternoon of yard work and wood splitting.

Hubby has been stacking his enormous pile of firewood. He is getting a late start because of a pulled shoulder. He is feeling much better now and will be spending all of his 'thinking time' at his wood pile for the next few weeks. We go through about 8 cords a year.

I have been doing a lot more cooking and baking. On weekends I try to bake at least one special treat for Hubby. He works so hard. On Sunday morning I treated him to this blueberry lemon coffee cake. I promise to post the recipe this week. He loved it and had a second helping.

I also made this delicious pear, feta and bacon pizza for dinner. I have already posted this recipe, if you would like to make it yourself. It is perfect for a fall weekend.

But now the weekend is over and Hubby has gone out the door, headed to work. It's time for me to do some housework after a weekend of shopping, yard work, and cooking. It looks like we are in for a long stretch of cool and wet weather. A perfect time to stay indoors and make things cozy. I hope you are having a cozy fall, too.



Lost and Found

My sister 'K' called me the other day. She told me the most amazing story. It all started years ago, 33 years to be exact. She was riding home in the passenger seat of her boyfriend's car. They were having a little argument. She took her boyfriend's class ring off her finger, telling him, if that was the way he felt he could have it back. He must not have said the right thing. She threw it at him. The window was open. Out it went.

The argument was over. They searched and searched. It was no-where to be found. They went back many times, as it was close to our childhood home. They never found it. I heard this story many times over the years. My sister married her boyfriend. They have 3 grown children. They have two granddaughters. They are still together.

They live here in Washington, now. Far from the childhood home. Far from her and Hubby's relatives.

But 33 years almost to the day, they received a phone call from her brother-in-law in the distant state. Hubby's older brother. He had good news. Someone found the ring! The wonderful people who lived in the home along the road where the ring was tossed, found it, tracked down the owner by it's serial number, knew my sister's brother-in-law.

Aren't people wonderful? It really restores your faith when you hear stories like that.

When I was dating Hubby, the first gift he gave me was a gold ID bracelet. I loved that little bracelet and I wore it every day. It had a little dangling gold heart. My name was engraved on the front. Love, 'D' was engraved on the back.

But during PE class, we had to remove all of our jewelry. We had wire baskets that slid into shelves that we could lock, for our belongings. But one day my bracelet was missing. I looked everywhere for it. I checked the lost and found every day for a month. It never turned up.

But on the first day of school, the very next year, my PE teacher told me to come into her office after class. I thought I had done something wrong. I was nervous when I walked in. But she opened her drawer and pulled out my bracelet! She had remembered how I had searched for it the year before. She told me that over the summer, they had dismantled the shelving unit to move it, and there it was, where it had slid behind. 

After that, I always had a tender spot in my heart for that gruff old PE teacher. We became friends.

I still have the bracelet.

Around this same time, I was walking home from my bus stop. We lived in a neighborhood of recently constructed homes in a wooded area along a pond. There were still a few empty lots that had not been built upon. This particular lot sat empty for many years. It was still part of the woods. The sun was low that Autumn afternoon when I was walking home alone after taking the late bus from school. It must have been the way the sun rays were shining through the trees, but I saw something sparkling. It caught my eye. I walked into the the empty lot to investigate. And there on the ground, partially hidden by fallen leaves was a Sapphire ring.

When I showed it to my Mother, she told me that she would ask around the neighborhood to see if anyone had lost it. It was a beautiful ring, with 18 karat gold hand worked designs. It looked very old. I also asked all of the kids in the neighborhood, thinking maybe one of them had gone into their Mother's jewelry box.

But no-one ever claimed it.

It perfectly fit my finger and I have worn it ever since. I often wonder about the woman who lost it. Maybe it was lost many, many years before when the area was still a forest.  

I have one more story to share with you. This is also an amazing story. But true.

We had just moved onto this land. We had no laundry facilities, as we were roughing it in a small trailer and what is now Hubby's workshop. We had spent the day at the laundromat and doing errands, using Hubby's big International Scout to get around. We had gone to so many places that day, grocery shopping, laundry, post office, and even to the little pub for a bite to eat.

And that is where I noticed it. My diamond was missing from my wedding ring! One of the tall prongs had broken and it had slipped out. I was beside myself, searching everywhere. We back tracked to every place we went, frantically searching the ground, the floors, inquiring. It was gone.

I took my ring off and tucked it away inside my jewelry box. We had no money to replace it. We had 3 little ones, a 4th on the way, a home to build.

I forgot about it. A year went by. It was our Tenth Wedding Anniversary. Hubby said he had a surprise for me. He pulled out a blue velvet box. When I opened it, there was my ring. With a diamond!

I asked him where he found the money to replace the diamond. I was a little bit upset, as we had very little money for unnecessary things. And then he told me this story.

He said that he was cleaning out his Scout. He was sweeping out the front passenger side with a whisk broom. And something very sparkly caught his eye. He followed the sparkle all the way until it hit the ground. And then he marked the spot with a rock, as it had fallen into the gravel. He went and got his flashlight. And there it was. A diamond. My diamond.

I didn't believe him.

But he insisted it was true.

He knew our wedding anniversary was coming up. So he had it re-mounted. And presented it to me in the blue velvet box. With a dozen red roses.

Isn't he so romantic?