The Toe Bones Connected to the

Original Toll house recipe except 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup
coconut oil.  Plus Dick's favorite with pecans & coconut added.
My friend Marcia makes them perfect, her secret.....
take them out of the oven before the center is brown (looks
like they are not done), the best
cookie ever!

Remember the song?  The toe bones connected to the foot bone, the foot bones connected to the ankle bone, etc.  In my case the woodwork's connected to the walls, the walls are connected to......  It's spring and my mind says, freshen up the house.  Something the hub just hates to hear because he knows one thing leads to another.  The first inkling he got that I had painting on my mind was when we went to Olean and I asked to go to Home Depot.......the first thing he asked, "What are you going to do?"  It took 4 days for the woodwork around the windows and floor to be sanded, primed and painted.  That was really all I planned on doing but getting so close to the walls made me decide they also need painted.  First thing tomorrow off to Olean for the wall paint for the living room, dining area and kitchen.  As long as I'm painting the hall might as well get freshened up.  So my song for the week is the woodwork's connected to the living room, the living room is connected to the dining room which is connected to the kitchen which is connected to the hall.  There that didn't take long, everything should be finished by Wednesday.  I do the trim and hub does the roller.  He really hates painting but is a natural with that roller (I hate using the roller).

I started this post last week.  It is now Thursday and tada, I'm finished.....maybe.  The weather is still keeping me inside so I have a few ideas floating around this over active mind.  I listed everything that was connected in the first paragraph but trust me I found a few more.  I have always painted the hall a different color than the rest of the house but this time decided not to.  Here's the kicker.  When I get paint samples I always get four of each, that way I tape them to all four walls to see what they look like.  I didn't put the sample in the hall which I should have.  All the while I was painting the hall I knew it was not showing like the living room. It was Yuck!  Off I go to get a different color, lucky me I had picked up several samples of teals from light to dark.  Why?  Because I had full intentions of painting the bathroom too.  I just hadn't broke the news to the hub.  Sticking the teal sample on the walls of the hall and bingo I had a pick.  I'm really happy, not a color I would have thought for the hall but...I'm in love.  Now I have fake window frames with 15 muntins hanging on the hall wall that I painted a  sunset theme behind them.  They were avocado green which looked fine with tan walls, not so with the new teal shade.  2 windows, 30 muntins and yes I painted them a light butter yellow shade.  Happy again because starting this marathon I had no idea what would be the outcome.  So my advice is just go with it ;)

My favorite paint is Glidden with a satin finish has a one coat coverage if not changing it drastically. Norton's Building Supply sells my choice of paint brushes by Wooster.  They are amazing and show no brush strokes with the type of paint I use.  It makes painting stress free when prepping surfaces and using products that work.

The inside tado list has to be finished before the weather breaks.  Then we will be outside getting spring/summer things done.  The pizza oven needs faced with field stone, back deck and stairs painted and then get the garden ready for planting. The electric fence will need tightened and and loose posts reset.  Plans for a new chicken coop is also on the list.   Of course spring green will be in full swing so 2-3 times a week the lawn will need mowed and weed whacked.  R &R winter mode has come to an end.  As every season we are happy to see it end and a new one begin.  Very soon we will be seeing signs of new beginnings and growth at Cook'n by the Creek which is a pleasing peaceful time.  We will also be starting the pizza oven, inviting family and friends to enjoy pizza and the beauty of Clara.   We have been thinking of it often, as soon as the temperature gets to 50 and sunny ♡

Slacking in the kitchen during my painting marathon called for chocolate chip cookies with pecans and coconut for the guy that is so patient with me. He knows once I get going there will be no "rest for the wicked" as my mom would say.  Wicked I am at times but what the heck!

Pizza, wings, bagels, bread and what ever we can think of
♡♡ tastes delicious the wood fired oven ♡♡

Maple Me Up

What a Sunday, we took the Maple Syrup tour to Hamilton's all you can eat pancake breakfast, a beautiful ride over the creeks, hills and valleys to end up with sugar maple treats at Rathbun & Weber Maple and Honey Products.  Seriously in a matter of a few hours we all turned into a bundle of sweetness!  Amber called this morning to ask if we wanted to go with her, Kent and Jim.  Of course what a way to spend the day, family and maple goodness.

Hamilton's Maple Products is on Collins Hill near Ulysses, during December they sell "you cut" Christmas trees that are trimmed to perfection and all sizes.  They also offer sleigh rides, hot cocoa and treats. Now is sap tapping season when they offer breakfast.  For $7.50 you get all you can eat delicious light fluffy pancakes with a choice of crisp bacon or sausage patties.  Scrambled eggs, juice and coffee extra.  The maple syrup pours freely along with tasty samples of maple covered nuts and walnuts, maple cream, maple mustard, maple barbecue sauce and.......tada big drum roll......maple cotton candy, I mean WOW E WOW this is "sugar Cheryl's" kinda day!

After we had our breakfast fix Jim took us on some beautiful dirt roads (still snow on a few of them) weaving our way back on the Eleven Mile and to the Rathbun & Weber Open House.  It doesn't appear there will be a shortage of deer this year, we saw fields of them grazing on what grass was showing along with one flock of turkey.  The wildlife highlight of the day was 2 mature Bald Eagles, one immature and an immature Golden Eagle.  We were stumped on the Golden Eagle until we googled images and sure enough we all agreed it was.  Also Dick saw a Bald Eagle flying down Clara Valley this morning, such a beautiful sight.  Even the animals and birds are saying....winter is gone let new life begin.

As if we all aren't sweet enough (wink) Rathbuns and Webers had the best samples of all.  How about a dish of creamy smooth vanilla ice cream topped with your choice of maple/apple/walnut topping or good old maple syrup (my pick) and sprinkled with maple covered peanuts, walnuts or pecans (pecans for this sweet tooth). They had maple frosted donuts, maple cheese cake and hot brewed coffee with.......maple creamer.  Seriously this is my kind of food.

Mel Rathbun and I are cousins.  Our grandmothers were sisters and let me tell ya Gramma Carrie and Aunt Minnie were tough gals.  We both realized today that blue eyes and the love of maple proves we are of the same blood line!  I know I have mentioned many times how much I love our area and the many people that have given me wonderful memories but it is a fact that I love.  There is hardly a road to travel that doesn't bring up a thought of someone that touched my past.  Mrs. Margaret Rathbun and her husband Ernie is on the long list of good memories.  Mrs. Rathbun was one of my teachers in grade school, I loved her kind quiet being. She was one of my girlfriend's aunt.  We spent a few weekends on the Rathbun farm in our teen years.  The last time we were staying my friend jumped out of the hay loft and broke her leg, 3 compound fractures.  Today pulling up beside the barn brought thoughts of long ago.  Looking at the barn I was surprised, it didn't look as big as I remember.

After we "mapled up" and bought treats for later we headed down the 11 Mile.  Not far down the road as I was looking for more wildlife I saw the poplar tree hedgerow along the creek.  A big smile, the trees were exactly the same as 1966.  How do I remember that year?  It was the year Jerry McDermott came from Los Angeles, CA,  to live with Dick's family.  We had a good time teaching the "city kid" the "country boys" way of life.  Out coon hunting one night we spotted a coon high up in one of the poplars right at that very spot on 11 Mile.  We spotlight while you (Jerry) climb the tree and shake the coon down.  Keep going we said, just a little farther.  Like very slow motion the top breaks out of the tree taking the coon and Jerry to the ground. It was a draw on who scrambled faster when they landed.  Lesson #1, never climb a spindly tree after dark with a mean old coon in it.

My "gentle man" pick of the day is Reuben Donovan.  He was a quiet spoken, generous and talented man that was kind and giving to his family and anyone in need.  In our first years of marriage money was tight and Reuben had seen me waxing our car one day. Stopping he asked if I would clean and wax his cars.  Of course I would thinking it is something I enjoy and would like the extra money.  He brought his antique cars for me to do.  I charged him $15.00 for washing, waxing and cleaning the inside.  I can still remember looking at him when he said, "No, it is worth more than that and handed me a 50 $ bill.  I then said no that is too much but he said if you don't take it I won't bring the other cars down.  Reuben's way of helping others was the quiet way with no fanfare and look what I did.  I bet there are many Reuben touched with his quiet kindness.  Another good guy from my past.

Samples of Rathbun and Weber Maple Products

Duffy Rathbun (center right) explaining  sap to syrup.

Amber gathering the Maple Goods ♡

Hamilton's all you can eat pancake breakfast with
complimentary cinnamon bread and maple cream!

Dick getting ready to enjoy breakfast.

A little maple syrup in coffee, I think so ♡

Fine Wine

Old people, old folks, seniors, q tips, silver canes, whatever you want to call them = over 60 to me at 65.  In my teens it was anyone over 25.  All it took was a quiet drive to Wellsville the other day by myself  to get this old mind  thinking of a few old people from my teens.  Maybe the ride wasn't quiet, I put in a cd made by our friend John Surra, it's a keeper and one of my favorites to chill with.  Thank you John!  The view was mighty fine too with frost thick on brush, dead grasses and trees at the very top of hills.  With the sun pulsing down the frost looked like diamonds giving off rainbows of color.  What really made me think of a few old people from the past was going by an old run down farm house.  I have no idea what family or families lived there long ago but it was similar to a few from my past.

The first house I thought of was a crooked, tilting, run down maybe 3 room shack.  Sorry to call an old man's home a shack but that is how I remember it.  I'm sure it felt like his castle to him.  It was way up Bells Run just about before the turn to the left going over to Sunnyside.  We would go by there when spotting deer, riding around,.........or ;)  If your old enough you know what the or means.  Ok, so the old man that lived there always had his TV on, every time we went by.  There was never a picture on it!  Remember how the tv would flicker or roll with poor reception from the antenna hooked to the roof?  You have to be really old to remember that.  The old man's tv was always rolling and flickering. We always were in amazement but now that I think about it maybe there was proper sound and he listened to the programs or was blind and didn't know there was no picture.  I shall never know the answer.  Then there was the old man that lived just above our farm on the Horse Run Rd.  Lloyd Babcock, he sat in the front window watching the world go by.  I can never remember not seeing him setting there and still picture him like it was yesterday.  I knew him and  his wife , Emma.  He always waved when I walked or rode my bike by.  A few weeks ago I went by and the house is still there, of course no Lloyd in the window. Long time ago.....good grief it was 54 years ago......I'm really an old person!

Truth is with gray hair, wrinkles and 65 years of living I know I'm old...the funny part for as long as I have thought it reality slapped me reading an article the other day.  The sentence that made me suddenly quiet (yes, I was quiet ;) for just a minute was....The elderly couple 66 and 68 years old.  BAM!  I like the word "old" much better than elderly.  Old can be used like...I'm 16 years old or 30 years old and in my case 65 years old, it sounds so much better than I'm elderly.  What ever it takes to be happy is how I put the twist on.

The next two people I remember as old were women.  Sara Pearsall lived on the corner of Palmer Ave and Honeoye St.  I was impressed and so curious about her.  She would set at her very elegant dining table and just looked like a queen to me. Dick and I would walk by often when we were going "steady"!  Do kids go steady now a days?  The other lady was Hattie Gibson.  She also would be setting by a window when we walked by.  I did talk to her at times, she was very pleasant and kind.  I often wished to see all of the beautiful rooms and what filled them in both homes.  All old people to me at the time and possibly they were younger than I am now.

No cooking for this chick today ♡ We went to Watkins Glen with our friends, shopped a little and then had a delicious meal at the Wild Flower Cafe and Rooster Fish Brewery.  Food ordered was a Blues Burger, Fish tacos with a smokey chipotle slaw, a Po Boy Sandwich and a Pulled Pork Sandwich with smokey chipotle slaw.  Everyone was happy and stuffed at the end of the meal, no room for dessert.  The guys had the specialty beer and the girls had Lakewood Niagara Wine.  When I asked the waitress about the wine she told us the winery was just up the road a couple miles over looking Seneca Lake.  After lunch we stopped at the entrance of the Glen to see the waterfalls and ice formations.  Our next stop was Lakewood Winery, yes the wine was that good.  In fact Ron and Dick bought a case to split, considering they don't drink wine you know it was very tasty.    We did a tasting at the winery and the young man pouring knew his stuff, he was funny and made for a great time.  For a few hours we were able to forget our Spring Fling Day was a little wet and on the chilly side.

It's a Sugar Snow

With all the complaints on the hard winter we are  expecting better weather now that spring has arrived.  It brings back past spring snow storms that are forever etched in my mind.  All three of my children were born on a snow storm day.  One just happened to be in January so that was to be expected.  The other two dates, March 5th and 22nd was not expected.  The snow was just a few inches, just enough to make the roads were nasty.  Quite often we can expect snow for the Buffalo St. Patrick's Day parade.  I also remember quite a few years the first day of trout season had been with snow on the ground, sometimes it was so cold the eyelets would ice over on the poles.  Fishing season usually opens the second Saturday in April which is also the prime leek digging season.  We have dug leeks with snowflakes fluttering down, if ya love'm ya dig'm no matter the weather.  How many baseball games have I sat wrapped up with snow flurries in the air or just so darn cold it made me wonder how the players, coaches and umps could stay on the field.  Lawn mowing starts about mid April, gloves, hoody and a warm scarf sometimes.  The big memory was the last week of April, 1967.  We left for our Senior Class Trip on a Greyhound Bus for Gettysburg and Washington D C with about 5 inches of fresh snow.  So, no matter how much we feel it is unusual weather......it's not.  We are just impatient the closer we get to these beautiful warm days and evenings setting on the porch listening to the peepers and if lucky a gobbler sounding off or owls hooting.    Then spring has arrived!

The Maple Syrup producers have been busy working overtime boiling sap.  Once it starts it is steady and long hours of watching it boil to just the right boil.  That first run is my favorite.  Don't forget you can always visit the area producers this weekend.  I suggest Rathbun and Weber Maple and Honey Products on the Eleven Mile, they put on an awesome visit for visitors.  You can find them on Facebook for more details!

Tapping and producing has turned into a very high tech procedure.  About 55 years ago when my dad tapped on our farm's Sugar Bush it was simply wood fired under the long pans that were in the Sugar Shack.  That was a luxury being out of the cold and inside with the steam and wonderful sweet smell of maple syrup.  Today's kind of snow made for the best of times during boiling.  Fresh clean "sugar snow" which meant mom would boil a small pan of syrup down, take outside and pour thing streams on top of the snow.  It instantly turned to a gooey, sticky, sweet taffy like treat.  Simple pleasures from the past.  Sugar snow is also considered here today and gone tomorrow....we also call them spring snows.  They just don't have the harsh punch as a few weeks ago.

Every once in a while we fix a special treat for breakfast, they are not healthy but sometimes ya just have to.  I remember the first time I had ever had them, Bart brought the recipe home from Home Ec class.  Actually I had never heard of Funnel Cakes until he brought the recipe home when  the class made them. We have made them many times since then.  I like powdered sugar on top, Dick prefers cinnamon sugar and of course twist my arm for a drizzle of Maple Syrup ♡

Eileen Ahl's Funnel Cake Recipe

I am going to mention the Gentle Men of Shinglehouse when I was growing up.  Well I think I grew up ;)  In future blogs one Gentle Man a blog.

Lyle Newton is the pick for tonight.  A good hard working man that always had a smile and good word.  He loved baseball and peaches...yes, peaches! Late in the summer he would drive down state and bring bushels back.  I bet a lot of women canned peaches from Lyle.  I sure looked forward to them every summer.