Country CousinIssue Date: September 8, 2021 Remember the Twin Towers!!!
Labor Day has come and gone, which means Summer in TIMESland is over. The kids are back in school. A few leaves are turning color. Despite some intermittent rains, we enjoyed a pretty glorious Labor Day weekend, and then, right on schedule, to prove it's Autumn, a storm thundered through on Sunday night and by Monday morning chilly but sunny autumn style weather had settled in.
TWIN TOWERS REMEMBERED
Saturday, Sept. 11 marks the 20th anniversary of one of the saddest days in American history - the tragic attack on the Twin Towers and other targets in America, the only enemy attacks ever brought onto American soil.
Only the heroism of countless individuals thwarted destruction planned for other American sites on that sad day, and only the heroic response of emergency workers prevented the Twin Towers and Pentagon tragedies from being even worse than the holocausts that they were. Heroism of American civilians brought a plane down in Pennsylvania that was reportedly heading for Washington, D.C., and limited the success of the attack on the Pentagon.
In memory of that day and the heroes who responded, the City of Peshtigo Fire Department are sponsoring a walk that along with the Town of Peshtigo, Grover-Porterfield and Wagner Fire Departments that will be held in Peshtigo at Fire Station #2. The public is invited.
TWIN TOWERS TRAGEDIES
There were a total of 2,996 deaths from the attacks on that fateful day, including the 19 hijackers - believed to be members of al Qaeda - and 2,977 other victims. The victims included 246 on the four hijacked planes (from which there were no survivors), plus 2,606 in New York City in the towers and on the ground, and 125 at the Pentagon. All the deaths in the attacks were civilians, except for 55 military personnel killed at the Pentagon.
We Americans rallied in that trying time, and showed the rest of the world just how we could come together when the need arises. Much like sibling rivalries disintegrate when the family is threatened, so were partisan politics set aside while a saddened America turned a united face to the world. Today we need to remember and renew that spirit of unity.
We also should recall how the rest of the world rallied round, since the attack on America was only a part of the larger terrorist attack on freedom around the globe.
Friends in Crivitz, Germany that day sent us copies of the front page of their newspaper - a large depiction, front and center, black bordered, showing tears falling from the eye of the great American Eagle. That paper carried the message that their part of the world, at least, was mourning with us.
ON THE SOAP BOX
FRESH START FOR AL QAEDA?
How quickly that feeling of unity dissipated, but the world needs to know that whenever and wherever the need arises, if anyone in the world attacks us anywhere, the United States will again show a united front, no matter how we may squabble at home! Sadly, that message was pretty much bungled lately.
We went after al Qaeda in Afghanistan and had them beaten, or at least held down, for 20 years. Now it appears they've been given a fresh start. Many top al Qaeda terrorists prisoners in Afghanistan reportedly have been released by the Taliban, and are once again free to win entry to Muslim heaven by bringing death to Christians.
So this year on Sept. 11, we not only mourn the lives lost in the Twin Towers and related attacks on that day 20 years ago, many of us are still in a state of shock over President Joe Biden's bungled handling of the American withdrawal that left hundreds, of American citizens and friends of America stranded in Afghanistan at the very un-tender mercies of the Taliban.
We're also in fear of what may come next. May God help us all!
GRANDPARENTS DAY IS SEPT. 12
On a happier note, Grandparents Day comes each year on the Sunday after Labor Day. This year it is on Sunday, Sept. 12.
Used to think Grandparents' Day was dreamed up by Hallmark or the American Florist Association to sell more of their products. Nope! It's a real holiday, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 at the urging of Marian Lucille Herndon McQuade, a West Virginia housewife who had worked with senior citizens for many years. Her original idea for the holiday was not only to recognize grandparents but also to bring attention to the needs of people living in nursing homes.
Carter signed the Grandparents' Day proclamation on September 6, 1979, and the first Grandparents Day was celebrated three days later. Today, there is even an official American Grandparents Association, with its own set of web pages with ideas on everything from crafts to do with grandkids to maintaining long distance relationships with them.
REMEMBERING MINE
Was privileged as a youngster to spend a lot of time with my grandparents on both sides of the family. They were hard working people who passed along their wisdom and their views on life while they worked. Generally, if we wanted their company, we had to work with them, or at least they pretended we did. Realize now that working alongside them meant they were keeping us out of trouble while they were working. We weren't eating chicken feed or getting under horses's hooves.
It wasn't all work for them. Got to watch my old French grandpa - Dad's side of the family - dance an Irish jig with his Polish wife at their youngest daughter's wedding - and he was well over 60 at the time.
Once challenged his order to get dressed for Sunday Mass with the argument that he wasn't going, and he roared his standing rule: "You do as I say, not as I do." We did, too.
Loved the big goose down comforters that Grandma Boivin used to make from feathers of birds that she raised herself. But she was soft hearted, and didn't want me to know that the geese had to die so she could have comforters on every bed. So she told us kids that on summer evenings she would bring in the geese one by one and pluck the down from them to save for the comforters. Believed her too, for a long time.
She rightly told me to stay away from those geese. They were taller than me, and really, really mean.
She also taught me to make the wonderful rolled egg noodles - guess we'd call them kluski - that she used to feed her family of a dozen kids and their husbands, wives and children who regularly dropped in unannounced for Sunday dinner. If there were to be 13 at the table, grandma always took her plate and ate in the kitchen. Good excuse! It was quiet there.
My German grandpa (mom's side of the family) and his Scotch/Irish wife from the hills of West Virginia would occasionally take time out from their chores to play games with the rest of the family, including one called "Quaker's Meeting." In that game the players were supposed to remain silent and straight-faced while the person who was "it" tried to make them laugh or talk. If you broke the silence rule, you were "it" and had to perform.
We called that set of grandparents "Pa" and "Ma." Once Pa got some laughs by putting his heel behind his head. Worked for him, but he was sort of tall and lean. My short and somewhat stout father tried to repeat that trick and got his foot stuck there. Trust me, everybody was laughing while he rolled around trying to get it unstuck.
They had no electricity, but they did have a crank-up record player and a small record collection, and a radio that ran on some type of battery system that Uncle Dorsey devised.
Ma was a wealth of sayings for just about every occasion, including, "Whistling girls and crowing hens will always come to some bad ends," and that, when it came to helping, "One boy is a boy. Two boys are half a boy. And three boys are no boy at all!"
She had some strong opinions. We once had to bring a newspaper from home so she could burn a picture of the presidential candidate she did not like. They couldn't afford the price of a subscription to the daily newspaper.
Partly by genetics, and partly by example, (both of the grandmas I knew were second wives of my grandpas, and stepmothers of my parents), the grandparents on both sides of the family passed along their personality traits, and their knowledge of gardening, cooking, family heritage, God and nature. We assimilated some of their wisdom just by hanging around.
We are all far richer for having known them!
And now, as a Grandmother and great grandmother myself, I am proud to be able to pass along at least a smidgeon of that wealth to the younger generations.
ON THE SOAP BOX
FAMILY TEASING
Note the varying national heritages of our family. Some of our ancestors were first generation immigrants. Others came to this continent centuries earlier, in the late 1700s. Doubtless other American families have the same mixtures of national backgrounds, and doubtless those families, like ours, did a bit of teasing. If not, too bad for them!
Pa was sometimes berated for his German muleheadedness, Ma for her Irish temper, Grandpa for his French temper, and Grandma for some of her Polish traits. Their kids and grandchildren were occasionally accused of inheriting these traits.
But the teasing, and the scoldings, were all done in love, and taken in stride. Homemade ice cream, mosquito smudges, tractor rides, horse and wagon rides, fresh baked cookies, dandelion wine, home made chicken noodle soup, home churned butter, and fresh caught fish were the frosting on our family cake of mixed heritages.
Teasing actually helped meld it all together. Today's world of political correctness takes a lot of the fun out of life!
Grandma and Grandpa, Pa and Ma, you're all gone now. Hope that from your new lives of ease in Heaven you look down sometimes and know how much you meant to all of us!
GREAT GRANDKIDS
We oldsters need the companionship of the young ones to help us remember how to notice, pay attention, appreciate, and be inquisitive. They keep us young. They help us get into mischief we haven't thought of on our own, and give us an excuse to buy toys we've always wanted to play with.
On the other hand, keeping up with the grandkids and great grandkids can be exhausting. As one unknown pundit observed, "On the seventh day God rested. His grandchildren must have been out of town." Another said there are two times she dislikes being around her granddaughter: "When she won't take her afternoon nap, and when she won't let me take mine."
COOKIN' TIME
Garden produce is super abundant right now. Locally raised, vine ripened tomatoes are a far different fruit than the cardboard imitations we too often get from supermarkets.
SOMBRERO CASSEROLE
Corn and squash were major staples the original inhabitants of our American continents enjoyed. Both are featured in this take on an enchilada casserole, along with tomatoes, black beans and cheese. This is a very mild south-of-the-border casserole, but flavorful nonetheless, and heart healthy besides.
2 tablespoons canola or olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 19-ounce can black beans, rinsed
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups corn, frozen (thawed) or fresh
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 small corn tortillas, quartered
1 19-ounce can mild red or green enchilada sauce
1 1/4 cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly coat a 9-by-13-inch non-reactive (glass or ceramic is best) baking pan with cooking spray. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until starting to brown, about five minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and boil until most of their juice is gone. Add zucchini, beans, corn, cumin and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are heated through, about three minutes. Scatter half the tortilla pieces in the baking dish. Top with half the vegetable mixture, half the enchilada sauce and half the cheese. Repeat. Cover with foil. Bake the casserole for 15 minutes, then remove foil and continue baking until the casserole is bubbling around the edges and the cheese is melted, about 10 more minutes. Time short after work? Prepare this the night before, up to the point where you cover it with foil, but put it in the fridge instead of the oven. Then when you get home, turn on the oven to 400 degrees (do not pre-heat if the casserole is in a glass dish, which it should be) and bake for 25 minutes, then remove foil and bake another 10 minutes or so, until the cheese is melted and starting to turn brown, and the casserole is bubbling around the edges. Less than 46 minutes after you walk through the door you can be sitting down to eat, and you will have made no mess at all.
PEACH-CANTALOUPE CONSERVE
A refreshing combination of sweet peaches and cantaloupe captured in a tasty conserve. Wonderful on biscuits or toast, and also baked as filling for homemade sweet rolls.
3 cups chopped peaches (about 6 peaches)
3 cups chopped cantaloupe (1 medium cantaloupe)
4-1/4 cups sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/3 cup slivered blanched almonds
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon grates orange peel
In 8 to 10 quart kettle or Dutch oven mix peaches and cantaloupe. Bring mixture to full rolling boil; stir constantly. Add sugar and lemon juice. Bring mixture again to full rolling boil. Boil, uncovered, 12 minutes.
Add the slivered blanched almonds, nutmeg, salt and grated orange peel. Boil hard, uncovered, till syrup sheets off spoon, about 4 or 5 minutes. Remove from heat; quickly skim off foam with metal spoon. Pour at once into hot sterilized jars; seal. Makes 7 half-pints.
NUTTY APPLE SQUARES
Substitute old fashioned oatmeal or rolled oats for the nuts if you like, only then you have Oaty Apple Squares instead of nutty ones.
Crust:
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds or hazelnuts, divided
3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Fruit Filling:
6 cups diced peeled apples, divided
1/2 cup apple cider or orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
pinch salt
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Generously coat a 9X13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Combine 3/4 cup of the nuts, the two kinds of flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Add butter and pulse until well incorporated. Whisk egg, oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla and almond extract in a small bowl. With the motor running, add this mixture to the food processor. Process, then pulse, scraping down the sides as necessary, until the mixture begins to clump, 30 to 45 seconds. It will still look crumbly. Measure out 1/2 cup of the mixture and combine in a bowl with the reserved 1/4 cup chopped nuts and set aside for the topping. Transfer the remaining dough to the prepared baking dish. Spread evenly and press firmly into the bottom to form a crust. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine 4 cups of the apples, cider or orange juice, sugar, salt and cornstarch in a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is very thick, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining 2 cups apples, cinnamon and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Spread the fruit filling over the crust. Sprinkle the reserved topping over the filling and pop into oven. Bake the bars for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 and bake until the crust and topping are lightly brown, 25 to 30 minutes more. Let cool completely before cutting into bars, at least 1 1/2 hours. Covered or wrapped bars will stay good in the fridge for up to five days, if they last that long, or the whole pan can be frozen for later use. If frozen, reheat to crisp the topping before serving.
Incidentally, whole wheat pastry flour should be stored in the freezer. It has less gluten forming potential than regular whole wheat flour and makes a more tender crust. Find it in the natural-foods section if it isn't with the regular baking ingredients, or just go ahead and use regular whole wheat flour.
The Country Cousin
Thought for the Week: On Saturday, Sept. 11, say a prayer or three in memory of those who fell in the Attack on America two decades ago, for those who have fallen in the fight on terrorism since, and for those who are trapped there, hoping to be rescued before they are killed by the Taliban. And add a prayer that God - our God who demands only love - will not turn His face from us, despite our many, many sins. Lord, forgive this nation for turning our backs on You. We pray that You continue to protect and preserve us, and help us as a nation to regain the will and the sense to fight for You - to make us once again a nation that values freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. Amen.
P.S. Lord, Thank You for beautiful autumn days, and for wonderful children, grandchildren and great grandchildren who make life worth living!
(This column is written by Shirley Prudhomme of Crivitz. Views expressed are her own and are in no way intended to be an official statement of the opinions of Peshtigo Times editors and publishers. She may be contacted by phone at 715-291-9002 or by e-mail to shirleyprudhommechickadee@yahoo.com.)
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