Loving the Change ~ Banana Recipe ;)

I love the color change in the leaves of the trees!


I am seeing the change everywhere I look...

On my previous post, someone asked if I had a recipe for my banana bread... Here it is.

Banana Nut Bread

1/2 c. Crisco shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. chopped walnuts
1 c. granulated sugar
2 c. sifted flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3 ripe bananas, mashed

Mix Crisco, sugar and eggs; fold in flour, salt and soda. Add last 3 ripe bananas and chopped walnuts. Bake in loaf pan for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

enjoy~

Have you ever...

Mentioned that you didn't like throwing over ripe banana's away?...

...and then, two days later at work, everyone brought you their over ripe banana's that they had saved especially for you? I am still trying to figure out if this was a joke on me. Anyhow, I came home and made many banana loaves of bread and mini banana muffins. I went into work with a bag full of them for everyone and said, "Just call me the Banana Queen. By the way, my name is Chiquita!" We all had a good laugh to start our work day!

Vintage Photos

This is my Grandma's oldest sister, Genevieve. Everyone called her aunt Veva. I absolutely love this picture! I can't even really tell you why. I have always felt a connection with the woman in this photo. Maybe it is because we are both the oldest sister. I can see by what she wrote on the front and back, she had a sense of humor. My Grandma was born in New Mexico. Her heritage was Mexican, and she was also a native to the American tribe of the Navajo.




This is my Grandma Josephine (my daddy's mama) with her brother John and my aunt Mary (my daddy's oldest sister) when she was little.


This is my Grandma, again, with my aunt Mary and uncle Joe, I think.

I will never forget looking at and admiring my grandma in photos. I always noticed that she had a little tummy. Then as I got older I realized she was pregnant in most of her photos. She had 11 children; nine of which had lived.

Autumn

For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together.
For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad.

- Edwin Way Teale

Kennedy Meadows

Fire Destroys Historic Lodge In Tuolumne County


Kennedy Meadows Lodge


The plaque was taken just two weeks ago when we spent part of our day here. In 1943 this lodge was burned accidently by a marine corp and rebuilt in the summer of 1944.


String of Packs (I bought this card for my step dad to be framed).

I recently visited the Kennedy Meadows Lodge while we camped at Dardanells two weeks ago. The lodge burned to the ground early Monday taking a chunk of history with it and threatening a way of life that has existed in the high country since World War 1 still raged. The blaze began in the lodge, which housed the restaurant and grocery store. Kennedy Meadows holds so many memories for me. When I was a teenager, my family would go camping there. My step dad would ride his horse there. My little sister Kiersten and I would pick daisies there and make daisy crowns to adorn our heads. All of us kids would go get a ice cream or some kind of treat and watch the cowboys and girls saddle up their horses and get ready for their rides.

Jeff Jardine from the Modesto Bee mentioned that the "Kennedy's pack station remains open as deer hunters comb the back country in search of a four-pointer.

His artical also mentioned that Kennedy's Lodge was built a long time ago. They didn't use any drywall. It was all plywood, with shingles on the side walls. There weren't any summer rains at all either. It was like a tinderbox. Even if there's a new lodge in place by the end of next summer, the sense of loss will be felt by anyone who ever vacationed there, stayed in the cabins, ate in the restaurant or shopped in the store. The vintage photos of the high-country lakes, the bridges and the area's namesake, Andrew Kennedy, throughout the restaurant and resort office might be impossible to replace. It will be missed by generations of families who took their first trail ride or pack trip from the stables behind the old lodge. It will no longer serve as a backdrop for the meadow alongside the Stanislaus River's main fork, where generations have picnicked, barbecued and listened to cowboy poetry. The good news is that the bar is still there. The Last Chance Saloon, about 20 yards away, is the last over-the-counter whiskey or beer before you head into the back country can be bought, escaped the destruction. Kennedy Meadows became a destination even before it was a resort and pack station leading to that pristine playground known as the Emigrant Wilderness."

I could just go on and on about the history this lodge holds. The stories are countless, there are so many.

This makes me sad. I am in shock to hear this. It is gone. We were just there. I walked around and took pictures, bought a Kennedy Meadows Sweatshirt, and two cards to be framed for my step dad. We went into the restaurant, bar and checked out the lodge for the possibility of a future stay.

You just never know...
this just makes me sick.

~ To Be an Angel ~

"To be an angel, one need not have wings.
In giving love there is an equal grace.
Nor need one seek the aura in the face,
As love unveils the beauty of all things."

By Francois Couperin.

*Photo taken in Monterey from an old building that I have fallen in love with. It has a charming little flower shop on the first floor of the building. Make sure to click on photo to enlarge. Admire the detail ~

A Little Something to Try to Live by~

To laugh often and much, to win the
respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children, to
earn the appreciation of honest
critics and endure the betrayal of
false friends, to appreciate
beauty, to find the best in
others, to leave the world a bit
better, whether by a healthy
child, a garden patch... to know
even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived. This is to
have succeeded! ~ Emerson

When my children were in school, it was important to my husband and I that I was a "stay-at-home" mom. I wanted to get a job; I felt my options were limited because of how we both felt. I was reading the local newspaper, The Hughson Chronicle, and noticed the ad in the paper for several jobs. One of them was in the office, one was a sub for the cafeteria, and the other was a cafeteria/yard duty aid. Well, I applied for all three. I got the one job I wanted the least. I had such a problem with this job. I can remember watching Saturday Night Live with the Cafeteria skits. I think it was Dan Akroid and John Belushi or Chris Farley, dressed up as women with a hair net and a big mole on their chin, glopping the food on their trays with a cigarette hanging out of their mouth growling at the children. Sigh

I was going to a bible study group and they asked if anyone needed prayer. I didn't want anyone to know... just because of the way I thought about cafeteria ladies. I asked for prayer and explained where I was coming from. They prayed for me.

At first when I began working in the cafeteria, I told myself that when my kids were all grown, I would get a real job. HA! I did not realize how hard the job was. It is like doing aerobics for 3 1/2 hours straight. There is so much responsibility that goes along with it. I was a sub for three years. That is unheard of. It is so hard to keep a sub. They only get called in when someone can't come in. You have to drop what you are doing and go. When I was hired permanently, it was so nice to be home when the kids went to school and be home when they came home. They never even knew I was gone. I had all of same days they had off; Thanksgiving, Winter break, Spring break, and of course summers. Being at school I also had the perfect opportunity to see my children, and help them with anything they may have needed. I fell in love with the other children as well and felt very protective of them. I have been asked to attend their school programs, birthday parties, sport activities and on occasion they have come to my house after school because they had no where else to go. I guess you would call my house a safe house. I have always felt honored to be asked. I love my job and wouldn't trade it for anything.

There is a little girl whose name is Carina and she is in the fifth grade now. She is the tiniest little girl, and is the baby in her family. She has been held back... I believe this is her second time. Carina is the pickiest eater. I ask her if she ate breakfast and a lot of times she says no. I coax her into eating something by giving her some choices. I tell her how important it is to eat, because it nourishes our body and also makes our brain smarter. She will listen and go eat her choice of breakfast, shortly after that she will come back to give me a hug before she goes into class. I will always tell her to be a sponge (something I always said to my own children). She now comes back with "Okay, a squishy sponge!" I have noticed that she will never take all of her meal, because she can't eat it all. I will tell her to take the graham cracker and/or fruit and put it into her backpack to eat later when she gets hungry. It will then tie her over until lunch. Carina looked at me and then added, "It will even help my brain." I had to smile .... she is listening!