I remember driving up to my brother’s place in North Carolina for a visit. My husband Bob did most of the driving, and sometimes I had a tendency to get real nervous when traveling new roads I’m not familiar with. So to occupy myself, I had decided to bring along a dress that I was making for my Grand Daughter Danielle. A lot of things I sew I had sticth together before using the sewing machine on it, reinforcing it if you will. I would diligently do stitch after stitch by hand, stopping now and then to check my progress and see what step I should take next. It is both a relaxing and productive way of remaining calm while traveling.

Here is a healthy, tasty recipe for Pork and AppleSkillet, smells great while you are cooking it!  Ingredients:  Makes about 4 servings

¾ cup cold water

¼ cup Sugar free Welch’s Cranberry juice cocktail  concentrate thawed

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1   Tbsp  soy sauce

1    Tbsp    cider vinegar

¼    tsp sea salt

2    Tbsp   Vegetable Oil  (I prefer Olive Oil if you have it)

¾    LB  boneless, lean pork, sliced ¼-inch thick

1    clove of minced garlic

¼    tsp pepper

½    lb green cabbage, sliced ½-inch thick

2    small apples cored and sliced

2    cups hot cooked rice or pasta

In measuring cup, blend water, cranberry juice cocktail concentrate, cornstarch, soy sauce, vinegar and salt; set aside. In large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add pork, garlic and pepper; cook, stirring constantly, until pork is white, about 4 minutes.  With slotted spoon, remove pork from skillet.  Add remaining oil and heat.  Add cabbage and cook, stirring just until limp, about 3 minutes.  Blend in cranberry juice cocktail mixture and apples. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; boil 1 minute.  Return pork to skillet; heat through.  Serve with rice or over a bed of noodles.

Last year at the company picnic my husband Bob won tickets to the Braves Baseball game in Atlanta, Georgia.  We parked the car at the Marta Transit Station and caught the transit train to Little Five Points in Atlanta, then took a bus to the Turner Stadium.  We had nice seats about a quarter of the way up from the baseball field. We had a great view of the players, my favorite being Chipper Jones. There were great pitches and fantastic hits on the baseball, knocking it into the stands (no I didn’t catch the ball) we spent the day yelling and cheering the Braves on, they were playing great. During the break we went and got hotdogs and bottles of water, as we were sitting directly in the sun. All in all, I think the Braves rate really high, when I lived in Arizona, I cheered on the Giants, I believe Arizona has the Diamondbacks now.

Here is one of my Mother in Laws fast recipes for a Hot Tuna Toss:

Ingredients:

½ cup sliced green onion

1        Tabl Sp margarine

1 2/3 cups water

¾ cup long grain rice

½ cup chopped green pepper

¼ cup shredded carrot

1 ½ tsps Instant chicken bouillon granules

½ tsp dried thyme, crushed

2 6½ – ounce cans sodium-reduced tuna(water pack) drained and broken into chunks

1 large tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped

In a medium saucepan cook green onion in margarine till tender. Stir in water, rice, green pepper, carrot, bouillon granules, and thyme.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat cover and let stand for 5 to 8 minutes or till rice has absorbed all the liquid and tuna is heated through. Serve immediately.  Makes 4 servings

My husband Bob and I travel pretty regularly to Florida. His Mom and Sister and Aunt live in Saint Petersburg. We usually stay with Bobs Mom when we go there, and she always welcomes our little Mexican Chihuahua Charlie into her home. We very rarely travel down south with our Charlie. He has a special car seat he sits.  There is a safety harness which attaches to the regular seatbelt to keep him from getting hurt in case we have an accident.  He has a travel watering bowl with a lid, he has both his canned food and favorite munchies available to him. He has his studded collar and leash so we can walk him regularly when we stop for a bite to eat or get some gas.  Charlie has a whole wardrobe of clothes to cover all seasons. His travel kennel suitcase is a much better brand than our regular travel luggage.

When we were moving to Georgia from Arizona, we took our animals with us.  We had two cats, Ivy and Tiger, a ferret named Ladmo. We had travel Kennels, they had pull out handles and wheels we could pull them behind us.  For the cats and ferret, we had to get special harnesses so we could walk them. We also had to get them some animal Dramamine as most cats, unless they are deaf, do not travel well. Ladmo didn’t need any special medicine, as we did most of our driving in the daylight hours. And he is a nocturnal animal. We kept water and food on hand, and walked the animals whenever we stopped. Animals can go into some hotels and motels if you pay a pet deposit, which you usually have returned to you in the mail.

I love animals, I have cared for my dogs, cats, birds just like I had all along for my children and grand children. They need someone to look out for them, somebody that cares, whether or not they are sick or eating well or needs grooming and lots of loving. They bring me pleasure and entertainment and in their own way each has its own way of showing love back to me. I know I do my fair share of loving my pets, yet is still so sad that there are so many pets that are abandoned and abused, neglected every year, just like advocates for the disabled or children, someone needs to speak out for and care about the animals that don’t have the ability to speak out for themselves.

The first thing we do when getting ready for our garden, is pick the spot and till the ground, incorporating a little bit of lime to break down the acidity in the soil. We hoe and mark our rows, placing our seeds and seedlings accordingly.

Watering in the evenings or early morning. We buy whole cloves of garlic and take them apart, leaving the skins on, place them in a shallow dish of water, let them root, transplant them in small containers, let hem grow above the surface and replant them into our regular garden. Four at one end and four at the other, placing the rest of the transplants through out. The scent from the roots confuse the insects and keeps bugs out of the garden. Garlic doesn’t do well sitting in lots of water, they prefer full sun.

This year we have planted sweet corn, yellow onions, crook neck squash. We are planting tomatoes, eggplant, and strawberries using the Topsy Turvy System. That you see so much about on television and in stores. Those will be done on our deck, and this is a new process for us, and our friends have raved about it so much, we just have to give it a try. In May we are planting our Roses.

When I was five years old, living in a small Adobe home in Phoenix, Arizona my Grandma Ferns brother Dick Fossenburg was President of the Go Cart Association that operated by the base of South Mountain.  The racers were older teenage boys, and it was exciting to see the go carts race the track, the crowd that cheered them on, it was really fun to watch. At the end of each race, they would pick a couple of girls to give out the Trophies to the winners and runners-up. I remember asking my uncle if I could give away a trophy that night, at first I had permission, I got in line with the teenage girls, and then I was pulled out of line and told I was too young to be giving out a kiss and a trophy.  Those days are long gone, but those nights at the racetrack still linger on in my memories, glad to have shared that with you.

The best Motorcycle trip I had ever taken was a long one. I flew to Idaho to meet my pen pal, who was a friend of my cousin Eddie. All of us had to take Eddies girlfriends sister to Montana, where she was going to work in a nursing home. We we all going on motorcycles. We went through Idaho, Wyoming and into Montana. We spent a day there resting up. The following day we went to Yellowstone National Park. There were Elk, Bear and Bison that we saw. We toured the park and went to wait for ‘Old Faithful” the geyser to do it’s annual spout. A large inquisitive crowd gathered and waited for it. It was an awesome sight. We got us some lunch and headed out again, this time our destination was Jackson Hole Wyoming. It was a country styled tourist trap with plenty to see, a lot of eateries and restaurants, gift shops and outside shows. It was late at night, but we finally made it back to my cousins farm. It was a great ride, and yes we all wore helmets.