Southern Porch Extension

[Inkpen]

Mariane, I've been welcomed before but none as... uh...welcomey as yours. LOL

[Laurie]

That's great, George, that you were able to get a job with less stress.

[ready2go]

I made tacos for dinner tonight. Now I remember why I don't make them very often. They are a big mess to deal with when eating them. Tacos are hardly worth the effort.

The big problem? The hard shells need an endcap formed in at least one end to prevent the filling from falling out while munching on the opposite end. They are best served on a large dinner plate with a fork and spoon handy...and a couple of napkins, too.

If I weren't retired I might design and manufacture a closed-end taco shell for the world's dining pleasure. Is that a great idea, or what? I would probably become rich and famous, too!

Don

[BeachGrandma]

Don, my mind isn't on tacos but rather on apple pie! I miss the apple orchards we had in New York state! Oh those Northern Spy apples made the best apple dumplings, pies, cakes, fried apple pies, apple sauce, cider, apple butter and on and on. Notice that it was the beauty of an apple that figured into Eve's downfall. It wasn't a banana or a kiwi fruit or some berries. It was an APPLE. I used to collect apples, crystal ones, gold plated, etc and decorated my kitchen with apples. I finally got tired of them when there wasn't a surface left in the house left to hold another apple. But now I want a delicious apple pie, hot from the oven with a big hunk of sharp cheese on one slice and two scoops of Breyer's vanilla bean ice cream on the second piece. Laurie mentioned spending the day in an apple orchard and it made me homesick for the days we'd spend on the NC/Virginia border gathering apples that had fallen on the ground. We'd get them for a dollar a bushel. Amazing how many fell from the trees when we were innocently picking apples from the ground!
We can dream, can't we?

[Edy]

Apple orchards - another reason autumn is my favorite time of year (next to Christmas)! After yesterday's 79 degrees, we're barely in the 50s today. Chilly days forecast for the next week. That always makes me yearn to bake - and I do make the best apple pie, if I do say so myself!

Perhaps I'll have to fire up the oven before the day is done.

[BeachGrandma]

I just saw an ad for Ben and Jerry's Apple Pie ice cream. I wonder how that would taste on a piece of my warm apple pie.....

Let's do a poll. People here in the South have never heard of serving cheese with apple pie. In New York state, we loved it. Let's see how many of you prefer on your pie:

Cheese
Ice cream
Neither (I like it plain)
I like either one

[ready2go]

Don, my mind isn't on tacos but rather on apple pie! I miss the apple orchards we had in New York state! Oh those Northern Spy apples made the best apple dumplings, pies, cakes, fried apple pies, apple sauce, cider, apple butter and on and on. Notice that it was the beauty of an apple that figured into Eve's downfall. It wasn't a banana or a kiwi fruit or some berries. It was an APPLE. I used to collect apples, crystal ones, gold plated, etc and decorated my kitchen with apples. I finally got tired of them when there wasn't a surface left in the house left to hold another apple. But now I want a delicious apple pie, hot from the oven with a big hunk of sharp cheese on one slice and two scoops of Breyer's vanilla bean ice cream on the second piece. Laurie mentioned spending the day in an apple orchard and it made me homesick for the days we'd spend on the NC/Virginia border gathering apples that had fallen on the ground. We'd get them for a dollar a bushel. Amazing how many fell from the trees when we were innocently picking apples from the ground!
We can dream, can't we?

Yep, anything edible made from apples would be very near the top of my list of fall season food items, too.

Why do you ruin a nice piece of apple pie with a hunk of cheese on it? French vanilla Ice cream or caramel sauce is so much better. Even Cool Whip is good on top, but cheese? Uff da!

With our home's country decor, Carol has lots of things sitting and hanging around here with apples in/on them.

Hmmm...Eve was tempted with an apple? Which reputable translation made the determination that it was an apple? All of the ones I use refer to it as the "fruit of the tree."

Don

[BeachGrandma]

That's my translation. LOL

Why do people think of an apple? One reason is that the Latin word for evil is malum and the Latin word for apple is also malum.

[Edy]

BeachGrandma - 'fess up - is that really the Latin for apple AND for evil? Or, is that one of your literary fictionalizations? I suppose I could check the internet, but I'm too lazy.

I love hot-from-the-oven apple pie with extra-sharp cheddar cheese and a cup of coffee with a dash of whipping cream in it. MMMmmmmmmmmmmm!

Also, same pie with a scoop of real old-fashioned Blue Bunny premium vanilla ice cream and same cup of coffee.

Or, all of the above all at the same time!

[Edy]

Uh-oh! BeachGrandma

From online dictionary reference:

ap·ple
   [ap-uhl] Show IPA

noun
1. the usually round, red or yellow, edible fruit of a small tree, *Malus sylvestris,* of the rose family.

2. the tree, cultivated in most temperate regions.

3. the fruit of any of certain other species of tree of the same genus.

4. any of these trees.

5. any of various other similar fruits, or fruitlike products or plants, as the custard apple, love apple, May apple, or oak apple.

And, I already knew that "mal" (root of "malignant") refers to evil. So, this time, BeachGrandma was not pulling our legs.

She knows what she is talking about!

[Green Leaves]

Been fighting something since we got home from our kids.

But wanted you to know that there are cases of memningitis from steroid injections for back pain. It said it could spread to 25 states. So just alert, please.

[Allison]

Been fighting something since we got home from our kids.

But wanted you to know that there are cases of memningitis from steroid injections for back pain. It said it could spread to 25 states. So just alert, please.

I'm glad 1) it's already been found and recalled, 2) that it doesn't appear to be the same as cortisone injections and 3) that none were shipped to Missouri, seeing as I'm having a cortisone injection on Monday. But thanks for the alert! That's scary!

[BeachGrandma]

I'm glad they isolated it and recalled, and thanks Carol for posting the info.

I remembered that Ruth Bell Graham had the same back condition that I have (progressive degenerative spine disease) so I researched Google last night about her and guess what? She died of meningitis. I wonder if their was a connection between her treatments for her back pain and the meningitis which finally took her life. I don't even know if she had steroid shots in her back which is usually the treatment used, but surely her family read that news story about meningitis with more than just a passing interest today.

[Verna]

Greetings fellow porch pals, I have not been boycotting you--just taking good care of my husband who was having issues with anemia.

It's wonderful to see my dear friend, George, back with us on the porch. George I bet there were three inches of dust on your rocker. You know how dust collects, and we wouldn't let anyone else sit in your chair.

My good news for this week is that my book of poetry DON'T FRIGHTEN THE PANSIES (by Verna Cole Mitchell) is now available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I'm praying that the inspirational poems will bring encouragement with the knowledge of God's love and care and concern for us. I have sections beside the Inspirational ones for nature, fun, and personal reflections. The poems are mostly from Faithwriter challenges. I'm glad they've been here to challenge me. Some others were written through the years.

This started out as a memory book--a legacy if you will--for my children and grandchildren, so I have some family pictures at the end. This has been an exercise of joy, with my two pregnant granddaughers as graphic artists. The great grandbaby due March 1--we found out just today will
be a girl, Ella Lynn. She has three aunts with Lynn as a middle name.

My husband is improving every day, and that makes me happy.

[ready2go]

My thoughts for today...

Don

The older I become, the more I realize that I am being "left behind" in a world that seems to be going crazy. Today, I can't even keep up with things that once were second nature and easy for me. I try very hard to hang on to my sanity every day, but find I am rapidly losing my grip. More and more I am being shoved into a deep ditch to wither and die...left behind by a world that is racing along at break-neck speed. But, does it know where it is going? I don’t think so.

Everything is advertised as "new and improved", but is it really? Also, I am sick to death of hearing the weird beeping sounds and other strange tones that emerge from almost every kind of electronic gadget imaginable. Just how many remote controls do we need, anyway? And, why does everyone need to update to the latest and greatest telephone programmed with all new bells and whistles every few months?

The truth is that it takes a space the size of the Library of Congress to house the instruction manuals needed to operate all of the electronic stuff. Even worse is that the instructions in the manuals are printed in about five different languages…and all of them are Greek. However, I have enough trouble understanding the instructions even when written in my native tongue. Of course, one is always encouraged to look up instructions that are available at some .com address on a stupid computer.

We are even told what we must eat, what we must not eat, how much to eat, and when. Ads constantly pressure us to ask our doctor if a certain prescription drug is right for us. Those ads imply that doctors are not aware of the product's existence or benefits. Also, if exercise is part of a fitness regimen, then, one must be attired in the latest designer fashions. Like…who cares? My hips ache when I think about walking to the mail box each day…and my grubby jeans are not the problem.

With the excess dollars left over from our Social Security checks, we are told to buy this and buy that, do this and do that, go here and go there, and invest in gold coins. It is little wonder why our country is bankrupt.

Every six months or so, at least twenty pounds of new phone books are dumped on my doorstep from every phone company known to man. I just don't need a zillion phone numbers printed in a zillion books, nor, do I care who printed them. It is heavy usage for me if I make two phone calls a week.

My list of frustrations goes on and on…and with no end in sight.

I am tired and easily confused. I don't want any more forced change. If I have been tossed aside and left behind by the world, then, so be it. I am happy with the status quo, and preferably much less. If that bothers the progressives of this world...well, they will have to find a way deal with it.

Just leave me alone.