Bern's Eye View
by Bernadine Hildebrant
Good Morning, all of you who are up early and enjoying another beautiful sunrise, a bit of rain, AND all of the gorgeous trees, lilacs, and, of course, thousands of dandelions. Even they're pretty, at least until they start to shed their “fuzz.” TREES I think that I shall never see, A poem lovely as a tree. A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair. Upon whose bosom snow has lain, And intimately lives with rain. A tree that looks at God all day And lifts her leafy arms to pray. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree. (Joyce Kilmer)
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For Easter, Anna and Ellen Ingebrand brought me a cute pail full of lovely green grass and adorned with paper flowers they had made. There's more to the story. Read on. I have a BIG flowering geranium plant in my east window. One day when I was watering it, I foolishly broke off one of the stems - no root, just the stem, with a white flower about to bloom. Now what do I do? I looked at my dining room table where the pail the girls gave me was setting. SOOO, I took the geranium stem, placed it in the center of the pail, along with the green grass and paper flowers. Guess what?!!!! The beautiful white flowers took root somehow and bloomed into a large, gorgeous arrangement. Just the thing, along with the green grass and paper flowers. Thank you, Anna and Ellen.
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If you would like to see a beautiful group of green trees, drive, or walk, on my street, North First Street, right here in Waterville. I'll bet the boulevards in New York City cannot match the God-given beauty you can see here.
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Thank the Good Lord for Shannon who cleans my house for me - and this week my oven, also. Story goes on! I purchased one of those flexible rubber baking pans, similar to the bread pans I have. I decided to make banana bread. That should be nice in that “flexible” pan. So I did and poured it into that new pan. As I got it almost to the oven door, which was open, the whole thing collapsed, batter, pan, and all! What a mess. The next time I use the pan I'll place it on a cookie sheet before it goes into the oven. (Live and Learn.)
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Speaking of Shannon, when she came last week to clean, the first thing she said was "Do you have a bird in your house?" I thought she was joking, and of course I said NO and why did she ask. Story goes on. As a gift several years ago, my friend Lila (Beese) Graham, who now lives in Dallas, Texas, sent me a beautiful embroidered pillow, just the right size for my back. I decided to warm it up a bit, so I put it in the microwave for a couple of minutes... Answer, a nice brown hole in the pillow. It still does the job on my back, however. Result: My inquisitive cat Jinx, found the hole, pulled out the feathers, and distributed several of them around the living room. I took some tape and closed the hole. End of story. Shannon was happy that she didn't have to fight with some birds while she was working.
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We celebrated Mother's Day last Sunday at Kathy and Glen's home. The feature cook outside was Glen who is an expertise fixing chicken on the grill, while the indoors expertiser (? Is there such a word) Kathy, satisfied everyone - MOM, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and one dog, Spencer, who enjoyed any food that was dropped on the floor. A fun time was enjoyed by all. Now comes another GREAT PARTY. My birthday (95) is May 17, and Eileen and Mitch Madsen (daughter and son-in-law) who live in New Ulm, are planning another party for me this coming weekend. All my family will be there for that. I don't know what they've planned, and they won't tell me. I know it will be fun for all--rain or shine! *
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It's rhubarb pie season. I found this recipe in the Citizen's State Bank cookbook. I'm waiting for my friends to bring me some rhubarb so I can make some jam and pies. I hope they read this!! Rhubarb Pie 1 beaten egg 1 cup sugar 2 cups chopped rhubarb Dash of nutmeg 9 or 10 crushed soda crackers 4 T. melted butter or oleo Mix all ingredients together. Place in unbaked pie shell. It forms its own topping. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until rhubarb is tender. (You can also add a cup of sliced strawberries to the mixture. (Davis' MarketPlace has beautiful strawberries this week.)
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BH
P.S. Jack, I have to apologize! The error I hoped you'd find in my last column disappeared. The girls at the office thought I had made an error (how awful?) so they corrected it. I forgot to tell them it was an intentional error - The saddest words by tongue or pen are these four words "It might have been." I typed “three'” on purpose to see if you'd notice! Sorry, they caught it before it went to print. If you can answer the following correctly, I'll bake you some snicker-doodle cookies so you won’t eat them all again, when I bring some to the office. Ready?
Did Hank Aaron beat Babe Ruth's home run record in 1963, 1974, or 1981? Here's the second one: How many pints make up 15 gallons? I know the answer so you can't make up one!
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Joke of the Week: Why is an empty coin purse always the same? Answer: Because there's no change in it!
