Odds & Ends...

The new sofa is coming! The new sofa is coming!  

I know...not quite as profound as 'The British are coming!' but it does sound good to me just the same.

About six weeks ago, Claude and I started looking for a new sofa and love seat. We found one at Haverty's in Lexington. We didn't like the fabric. Wonder of Wonders, you can pick your fabric and they will make the sofa in that fabric for you. You just have to be willing to wait for it to arrive.  Now, sofa buying is not a do or die situation. Waiting is definitely an option. Claude and I combed the rack of fabric samples until we found one we both really, really liked. The nice lady brought up the sofa on her computer and overlaid it with the fabric choice. We pronounced it good and placed our order. 

Thursday morning I received a phone call saying the sofa was there and we could schedule delivery. They only deliver to Sadieville on Wednesday and they only are here in the afternoon since the items will be at the back of their truck. Okay.  How about Wednesday afternoon?  Checked my calendar which also displays Claude's calendar and figured we could do it this Wednesday. Yippee!!

Next, what to do with the current sofa and love seat. I took pictures of them and posted on Facebook that we were looking for a nice family to take ownership of our lovely possessions. Within minutes I had a phone call from a friend who really wanted this furniture. Yippee again!!

Today Mike came and picked up the sofa and love seat.  Now we have some big empty spaces in our living room. Claude is going to vacuum the floor where they sat and move two other chairs in the places where we sit.  That will have to suffice until Wednesday when the new sofa and love seat arrive.  Can we hear a third Yippee!! 

This week I received a message on Facebook from a friend from my Louisiana days. Claude and I moved from there in 1971. Donna asked if I might like to join a closed Facebook page named 'S'port 1st & 2nd Ward 1970-1980'.  The Shreveport, Louisiana 1st Ward is the congregation I belonged to when I was a child until Claude and I moved away.  I thanked Donna profusely and found the page on Facebook and requested to join. 

The second picture on this page was of my family when I was a little girl. A picture I did not have and am so very happy to get.

My parents are on the back row: Vernon and Virginia Lawrence.  One the front row are: Junie, Neffie and Sandi. I'm guessing I might be about 10 years old here. I remember the skirts and blouses Junie and I are wearing. My mother made them for us. What a treasure to find this great picture.

I have gone through a lot of the S'port 1st & 2nd Ward 1970-1980 Facebook page. I've saved the pictures that my father might enjoy seeing and will put them on my Kindle to share with him tomorrow. What a fun trip down memory lane we will have when we visit tomorrow.

I realized as I posted a few pictures I have, that I'm really older that the dates for this page. That simply means I was married in 1970 and Claude and I moved to California in 1971.  I'm not going to have much to share about being in Shreveport during the dates on this Facebook page. But the pictures I posted were welcomed by those who have seen them. Children seeing pictures of their parents or teachers when they were much younger. To me this is the best part of Facebook.  You can communicate and share with lots of people at one time the memories and pictures of your past and remember and enjoy.  

Happy Donna shared this page with me and look forward to seeing what others continue to share.

The Girl Can Cheer...

Last night we visited the Marx family in LaGrange to watch Bailey do cheer leading for Oldham County High School. She did this last year and totally enjoyed it. So she was enrolled again for this year's camp. And...she totally enjoyed it again.

It really is fun to watch the expressions on the little one's faces as they go through their events. It was harder to get pictures of Bailey this year because there were more people and they seemed to walk right in front of me when taking a picture. I'm going to make me a big sign to wear on my clothes that says something like "Grandmother taking photos. You are required to stay at least 4 feet away at all time!!"  I think that would do it.

Bailey found me taking pictures at one point and waved. Can't believe our girl is getting so grown up.

I caught this picture and it puzzles me. All the little girls gathered closer to the bleacher area. If you look closely at the picture you will see most of them with their cheeks puffed up. What is that all about? I really don't know but it is cute.

Then there are a few of Bailey doing the cheering thing.

And, lastly, proof that cheer leading can just be exhausting.

I did manage to get a cute video clip of the final dance they did with the cheerleaders but I shall not post it here. 

The girl is confident and really enjoys cheering and dancing. Such fun.

Homemaker Learn About Melons...

Countryside Homemakers began Wednesday, September 2nd, at JoCarol Wilson's home. I was to teach the lesson. The class...'Melons 101'.  I attended the training the end of August and looked forward to teaching this class.

After studying the material and matching it with my notes, I came up with an order in which to teach about melons: growing, selecting, preparing, storing, eating and health benefits. There are three melons that are most popular and all grow in Kentucky: cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon. I wanted to incorporate each of these in something edible for the class.

To pique everyone's curiosity, as everyone arrived, I served them a tiny cup of smoothie made with honeydew melon. The reality is I saved the things I left over after preparing my other taste treats and dumped them all in the smoothie. It contained honeydew melon, blueberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, applesauce and some strawberry Greek yogurt. Yummy!

We started the lesson with a brief quiz to about 'Melons'.  Here are the questions. Give it a try and I'll try and remember to put the answers at the end of this Blog post.

1. What is another name by which cantaloupe is known?
2. What three melons are native to Kentucky?  (I already gave you that answer)
3. A cantaloupe will continue to ripen if picked green?  T  F
4. A honeydew will continue to ripen if picked green?  T  F
5. A watermelon will continue to ripen if picked green?  T F
6. What are the two ends of the watermelon called?

It was a good way to begin and get our brains engaged about Melons.

Then I shared these two interesting facts about watermelons:

1. Mark Twain was once quoted as saying, "Watermelon is the food that angels eat."
2. Early explorers used watermelons as canteens.

Then we covered types of melons. I brought two types for display that are not the norm. One was a 'Casaba' melon. It is onion shaped and bright yellow. The flesh is light yellow and tastes like a really sweet cantaloupe. The other was a 'Canary' (also spelled Kanari) melon. It's football shaped but the ends are rounder. The color is also bright yellow with a smooth skin. It takes a bit like cantaloupe also.

We covered each of the topics in their order as stated in paragraph three.  Some interesting things I learned from each area are:

1. Growing:  Don't save your seeds to plant the next year. It seems they have done so many hybrids that you don't get a good a product unless you purchase starts.
2. Selecting: That spot where the melon laid on the ground can be a good guide for which melon to purchase. It indicates the melon laid on the ground to ripen and that is a good thing, particularly in a watermelon. If that spot is yellow/white in color, it indicates your watermelon is ripe. If it is white or pale green, it indicates your watermelon is not ripe. 
3. Preparing: There was a huge emphasis in the material about cleaning the melon before preparation. They have water, dirt and animals to contaminate them when growing outside. Then the pickers and grocers can also contaminate them as they handle them. Particularly true of cantaloupe as the netting like outside can have germs caught in the webbing. Really rinse well and scrub with a brush before you ever cut. Clean your knife as you cut so you don't contaminate.  The salmonella outbreak in Indiana in years past was directly linked to cantaloupe that was not cleaned properly when being prepared.
4. Storing: You can freeze cantaloupe and honeydew. I tried this. I scooped them out with a melon baller. Then I placed the balls of melon on a cookie sheet and set it in the freezer until they were frozen. Next I put the frozen balls in a bag to stay frozen. Doing them this way keeps the balls separate in the bag. I do this with blueberries as well. The melon can be cubed or sliced to freeze. Your choice. The reason to do this is to buy the melon while it is at its lowest cost and freeze for use in the winter. You can make smoothies or breads out of them. The texture after thawing it a little different for eating by itself. But the Vitamin C remains through the freezing process.
5. Eating: We were given two new recipes: Cantaloupe Bread and Watermelon Salsa. I prepared both for the lesson. The ladies were so happy. They came in their newsletter from the extension office and many wanted to try them but just were not sure. Everyone loved both and Claude and I did as well. These recipes are a keeper. I'll post them after this listing.
6. Health Benefits: Cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon are classed as super foods.  Basically they have things in them that help prevent certain types of cancers and many other good things. I learned about lycopene, cartenoids, and phytonutrients. Such big words. Look them up! 

These are the two recipes. I made them both the night before and they were fine the next day. The cantaloupe bread is an excellent way to get some cantaloupe in someone who really doesn't like cantaloupe. I did not put the glaze on the top of the cantaloupe bread in an effort to save on some sugar and everyone still loved it that way. I'm sure you could add nuts to it if you wanted. 

And lastly, here are the answers to the quiz:

1. Muskmelon (because of the musky scent meaning it is ripe)
2. Canteloupe, honeydew and watermelon
3. True
4. False
5. True
6. Stem end and Blossom end

This was a very fun class to teach. I learned some things and that is always good. And, we added two great recipes to our collection.