An August Morning on Dale Hollow Lake

We rented a houseboat on Dale Hollow Lake, on the border of Tennesee and Kentucky a couple of weeks ago. This was the view as we were heading out one morning for some water-skiing.

An Evening of Society Craps

Last evening, with two members of the family gone for the night, my youngest and I were looking for something to do in between listening for the strains of the Jonas Brothers that were drifting over to us from the fairgrounds!!

"Let's play Society Craps!" I suggested. When I was a kid we loved to play this game with my mother, who would sit down at the dining room table with us and deal out the cards.

Society Craps was once a fun way for women to gather together...and gamble!! They would usually use pennies or nickels, as this game was popular at a time when a penny would actually buy something. But I grew up using buttons. My mother always had jars and jars of buttons...something she inherited from her mother and grandmother, both of whom had tins and tins of buttons. Now, I am the proud owner of some of those tins so I brought one out and dumped a couple of handfuls onto the table. Using buttons does nothing to quell the competition of the game. It is amazing how prized certain buttons will become during play (usually the largest, or those with unusual designs), or how concerned kids can become when their stockpile of buttons begins to diminish!!

Besides the buttons, a deck of cards, a pair of dice, and a dish of some sort (for the "kitty") is all you need. Each player chooses a suit and receives all the cards of that suit. Lay out the cards in numerical order in two rows as seen above, face up, but discarding the seven and the king:

2, 3, 4, 5, 6
8, 9, 10, 11 (jack), 12 (queen)

Each player receives a pile of buttons...40 or 50 each is a good starting point, but everyone should have the same amount. Place the "kitty" in the middle of the table and everyone "sweetens" the pot by throwing one button into it. Now each person takes turns rolling the dice. If they roll a number on one of their cards, they flip that card over. If they roll a 7 or a number they've already flipped, they throw a button in the pot. The first person to flip over all of their cards wins the "kitty"!!

If played in earnest, you would eventually want to be the last one left...with all the buttons!! How rich you will be! But, as I have always played as a child or with them, the banker is usually very generous in handing out loans to those in need!

We had a great time last night playing a simple, old game. So much better than watching TV. But having the Jonas Brothers providing the background music added a modern touch, for sure!

A Visit to Monticello

On our way southward to pick up our children from a weeklong visit with the Grandparents, we decided to stop at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson in Charlottesville, Virginia. Being a huge history buff, I felt that walking in the footsteps of one of our Founding Fathers would be worth the 1 1/2 hours it added to our trip...and I was right!

We left Central New York at 4:30am and drove straight through, arriving at the ticket booth just after the noon hour. It was gray and misting rain, but we boarded the shuttle bus and climbed the steep mountain on which Jefferson built his home. Arriving at the top, we could see the home through the trees and it was...well, it sounds silly, but it was almost breathtaking. I've seen this structure in so many documentaries and history book photos...not to mention the back of every nickel I've ever owned! Seeing it in person was really something.

We toured the interior of the home with a very pleasant, very southern gentleman who showed us such things as the clock over the door that is run by weights that hang so low he had to cut holes in the floor; twin dumb-waiters on either side of the dining room fireplace that allowed empty wine bottles to be sent to the cellar...and full ones to be sent back up; and a set of Don Quixote books written in Spanish that Jefferson used to teach himself the language on a trip across the ocean.

But more than anything else, we were moved by the beauty of the place and significance of the home, who's owner and designer was such an important player in the creation of this country.

Our visit, which included a guided tour of the gardens and time to wander around and walk down to the cemetery, took about 3 1/2 hours. It is well worth the time....and yes, even with an 8-hour drive!!

To the right is a slide-show of some of the photos I took of the grounds (we were not allowed to take photos inside). For anyone who is interested in visiting or learning about Thomas Jefferson, please click on the following link.

http://www.monticello.org/index.html

Three Brother's Wineries - Seneca Lake, NY

I like wine. I'm not really sure what's "nostalgic" about it, but it sure is nice to share a glass with friends, or with a good book on rainy days. I am lucky enough to live in an area rich with some of the country's (world's?) best wines...at least in my opinion. The Finger Lakes region of New York State is flowing with unbelievably good varieties, and the wineries they come from are full of character, especially with the addition of a little group of wineries we stumbled on a couple of weeks ago.

We recently headed for the Seneca Lake wine trail and stopped at Nagy's winery to pick up a particular bottle we like. What we found there were three new wineries owned by "The Three Brothers". The buildings were not officially opened when we stopped, but they invited us in and let us taste the offerings and experience the individuality of each tasting room.

We were told that each building has a different theme based on the personalities of each brother. Stoney Lonesome is an elegant, upscale tasting room complete with a beautiful toucan, who we got to see only minutes after being introduced to his new home; Passion Feet has a jazzy, colorful and somewhat sensual feel to it's decor; and Rogue's Hollow is a renegade-themed building at the end of a winding dirt road, complete with old, rusty trucks and a run-down shack...well, at least it looks like that until you get inside!!

But the creativity doesn't stop there! The labels on the bottles are just as imaginative, with names ranging from sophisticated, to suggestive, to comedic (yet somewhat humorously offensive)...with great illustrations to match. They were fantastic! We came home with bottles of "Backseat Bounce", "Lonely Seaman", and "White Buck".

Most of the wines are combinations of varieties, and the results are some of the best tasting and most "fun" wines we've come across. I can honestly say that I did not try anything I didn't like. I have a tendancy to choose semi-sweet varieties, but even the drier wines in these tasting rooms appealed to my taste buds!

The impression we left with was one that will lead us back again and again. I predict that this little group of wineries will do very well. They offer great wine and a great atmosphere. There's something for everyone!

For more information and directions to the wineries, visit their link at http://threebrotherswineries.com/

Decorating with Antique Postcards

A few years ago I fell in love with vintage Christmas postcards when I came across a little gift shop selling them for a dollar or two. I couldn't resist the charming images, or the simple and thoughtful notes written to friends on the back. Until the shop closed, I would pick up one or two each year to add to the collection, including one signed by a person who shared my last name!

I don't hold a large collection...only 10...all postmarked between 1917 and 1926, none of them museum quality. But I wanted to find a way to display them so that everyone could enjoy the charm and holiday greetings they so lovingly convey.

My solution was a simple one, in keeping with the vintage holiday decor that appears throughout the house each December. I carefully stuck them between the branches of a little alpine tree that I have sitting on the window seat in my dining room...a perfect solution!

From time to time I pull them out and read the friendly greetings sent to family and friends so long ago...and hope that I can somehow find another little gift shop with vintage postcards for $1!!

Crisp Air and Apples!

Fall is such a great time of year! After weeks of unusually hot weather (and breaking a sweat while standing still) I am finally able to enjoy the crisp, cool breezes of October with a light sweater and some hot spiced cider. Hallelujah!!

To celebrate the change of seasons, we packed the kids in the car and headed for Behling's Orchard in Mexico, New York, to pick a heaping pile of juicy apples. Apparently, most of Central New York had the same idea, as the grounds were packed with people...but there are a lot of trees, so fun was had by all.

We picked 42 pounds of apples, which sounds like a lot but really doesn't go nearly as far as you would think. On Sunday we canned 9 quarts of applesauce, and left the rest for fresh eating and making Apple Crisp. I am including the recipe below. My youngest brought this home from school, where they had made it as a class and loved every bite of it. It's very, very sweet, so a little goes a long way. But if you serve it with plenty of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream you can pack more away!!

- Apple Crisp -

12 apples

4 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

4 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 cup flour

** Butter a 9x13 baking dish. Peel, core and slice the apples and spread them in the dish. Sprinkle the sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon over top of the apples. Mix together the butter, brown sugar and flour and sprinkle over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

The Incomplete Pump

This is my home's original water source, just outside my kitchen door. I would like to preserve it and eventually put in a garden (maybe a water garden) surrounding it...but it is missing it's handle and connecting parts.

Does anyone know where I might find replacements?

The Smell of Late Summer!

Ahhh... Pickling time!! The end of summer is near. Although we're currently having record warm temperatures in central New York, we've had just enough cool, crisp days to remind me that fall is just around the corner. Of course, the groans of the kids heading out the door for their first day of school yesterday left no doubt. The warm, hazy days are almost at an end. But that also means that pickling time is here!

When I was a kid my mother spent many days at the end of each summer packing the bounty of our large garden into jars. For two or three weeks the whole house would have a sweetly tangy smell that emanated from the numerous batches of tomatoes, pickles and relishes that she sealed in her canner on the stove. My sister and I would help peel and chop the vegetables, but mostly she worked alone adding this spice and that, until the smells made us positively drool! Then all winter she would send us to get a jar or two off the heavily loaded shelves under the stairs, and we would open up the flavors of warmer days.

I was fortunate to have parents who loved to garden, and who had the space and time to do so. With my small yard, my garden usually only gives us enough to eat fresh. My poor kids have only tasted grocery store pickles! Horror!! But that's about to change. In four to six weeks we will get to taste my first experiment with canning my own pickles! Rest assured, it's not the first time I've canned something, so I had some idea of what I was doing. Hopefully they'll taste as good as they look!!

Following is the Ball Blue Book recipe for Bread and Butter Pickles that I used:

4 pounds 4- to 6- inch cucumbers, cut into 1/4 inch slices;
2 pounds onions, thinly sliced (about 8 small);
1/3 cup canning salt;
2 cups sugar;
2 Tablespoons mustard seed;
2 teaspoons turmeric;
2 teaspoons celery seed;
1 teaspoon ginger;
1 teaspoon peppercorns;
3 cups vinegar;

Combine cucumber and onion slices in a large bowl, layering with salt; cover with ice cubes. Let stand 1 1/2 hours. Drain; rinse; drain again. Combine remaining ingredients in a large saucepot; bring to a boil. Add drained cucumbers and onions and return to a boil. Pack hot pickles and liquid into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

So Sorry! I've been out of town or incredibly busy for the past month and haven't had time to post any more info on House Histories. I will have to wait to share my experience of conducting a deed search because I have not yet been able to experience it myself! I had hoped to do that this summer, but life sometimes gets too busy. So, until then, I will post on other topics. But keep checking back as I am still hoping to get that done in the near future.

My apologies!