monday's mulling: veterans' day

A story of a veteran, my father-in-law. 

Dad was the 7th out of 11 kids. He grew up in small town Ohio, played sports, excelled in Industrial Arts and working with his hands. He was 17 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He and three buddies were ready to enlist right then and there to "Fight the Japs," but his mom gave him a firm, "NO," and told him that he would  graduate high school before joining the military. After he turned 18 and graduated from high school, he joined the US Navy, eventually serving in the Pacific Theater.

After his military service, Dad came back to the States, married his sweetheart, worked for a lumber yard, a sporting goods business, went to college and got his teaching degree, and taught high school Industrial Arts. After retiring from teaching, he and a couple of his brothers had a home remodeling business. 

For a long time Dad didn't talk about his military service but slowly and surely he opened up. During his time in the Navy, he made a scrapbook with photos and captions and we are fortunate to have it. It gives a glimpse into 2 1/2 years of his young life. 

On November 11, 2017, Dad's hometown, Bloomdale, OH, (population 656) had a celebration to dedicate a memorial honoring its veterans. He was the oldest veteran in attendance and rode in the parade's escort car which was followed by an old fire truck, a police car, the high school marching band, a Marine corps honor guard, a patriotic semi-truck, and a stream of vintage cars, with a lunch afterward in the village community center. 

Veterans come from all walks of life, and they live in small towns and big cities, in red states and blue states.”  ~ John Delaney

Their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored.”  ~ Daniel Webster

the tree of lights

While driving past Carillon Park, another sight indicates the change of seasons from fall to winter, Thanksgiving to Christmas. 

The Deeds Carillon is a Dayton landmark and the largest musical instrument in Ohio.

 Quick history lesson...Edward Andrew Deeds was an American engineer, inventor, and industrialist prominent in the Dayton, Ohio area. He was the president of the National Cash Register Company and together with Charles F. Kettering, founded Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO), an early innovator in automotive technology. His wife, Edith Walton Deeds, was inspired by the church bell towers (carillons) she had visited in Belgium. On her return to Ohio, she wanted to have a bell tower for people to enjoy, bought three acres of land by the Miami River, and funded the building of the carillon tower. She oversaw its construction and was the first to play the carillon when it was completed. The bells are now electronic and strike at the hour. Occasionally musicians (carillonneurs) go into the tower and play music for free concerts.

The largest musical instrument in Ohio is also home to the Tree of Lights, where the bell tower is transformed into a massive illuminated tree during the holiday season. 20,000 lights are strung from the top of the tower creating a giant Christmas tree seen from many vantage points around the Dayton area. The wires are now in place and the light stringers will be busy the next few days anchoring the old fashioned looking but LED bulb lights on the wires that come together at the top of the tree. 

Get ready for a few posts of this tree. I visit it at least once a week during the holidays.

💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜 💜

Also, happy birthday to my daughter-in-law Jennifer. I am so grateful for all the joy and happiness you have brought to our family. And thank you for the beautiful, most joyous gift of grandparenthood. I love you.

the cycle of gold

There's a house in the neighboring suburb of Oakwood where over 120,000 daffodils bloom in the spring. This host of cheery, golden daffodils is such a welcome sight after the winter months of gray.

Currently the yard hosts a sea of golden yellow from the trees shedding their autumn leaves. Once the leaves are done falling, the landscaping crew will remove them, revealing the barren ground to take the yard into its winter mode. In 5-6 months, the cycle of gold will emerge once again. 

 

the friday feed...biscuits!

For the end-of-season farmer's market party, I made a tomato tart that was on puff pastry with a ricotta cheese filling and tomatoes on top. And I didn't take a photo of it or else it would have been on this Friday Feed. There was quite a bit of the filling left over, made with ricotta, mascarpone, Parmesan, basil (frozen in early October), and garlic. 

So what to do with a couple cups of a cheesy, herby, garlicky mixture? I thought about a filling for manicotti but it seemed a bit too thin and would get runny when heated. Lasagna would have worked but I wanted something a little less time consuming. Ricotta pancakes...no. Todd likes his pancakes with syrup. Biscuits...yes!

I found a recipe for biscuits with ricotta cheese and with a couple tweaks made a batch of 11 flaky biscuits. There's something about mixing ingredients with your hands. It doesn't demand much cognitively, it gives the mind time to relax, it's peaceful and meditative. And it's fun getting your fingers in that ooey-gooey mess!

I have a basket full of cookie cutters, many from my mom, and that brought back memories of making and decorating Christmas cookies. Maybe little grandson and I will decorate cookies when he's here for Christmas. But where this is going is that out of all the cookie cutters in my basket, I could not find a round one so bring on the diamond-shaped biscuits!

They turned out golden, buttery, tasty, and flaky. Move over, Pillsbury Doughboy!

 

wednesday's words and wonderings and wanderings

This past week was spent taking advantage of the nice weather and working around the house. Our bushes around the patio grew as high as the gutters. I was tired of looking out my kitchen window and having a view of a wall of leaves and it was time to chop them down by about half. It was a lot of work. I did try using a chainsaw but my arms tired quickly and I didn't have confidence using that noisy, heavy saw. My lopper was sharp and took care of branches one at a time. Todd used the chainsaw to cut the branches that were too thick for the loppers. I lost count of the many, many trips to take the branches to the dump and the city's yard debris center. It didn't take long for the guys at both places to recognize my car and wave me through.

Friday we went downtown to the Montgomery County Board of Elections for early voting. After casting our ballots, we took a walk around downtown. Dayton's bike ride share racks are empty. Too many bikes were stolen or broken and the powers-that-be made the decision to discontinue this program. Sigh.

Saturday was the end-of-season party for all the employees at Treadway Gardens. We followed this vintage Chevy truck for a couple miles as we made our way to the farm. A beautiful sunset graced the sky as we ate the good food that everyone brought and shared some of our favorite moments from the five months that we worked there. My boss, Stephanie, brought her guitar and played some sing-along music. One of the sweetest moments was seeing her grandchildren sit around her and add their charming voices. 

 

your voice, your vote 2024

 

monday's mulling: fountains of change

One month ago the fountains at Lincoln Park Commons spurted water as they sparkled and glimmered in the sunlight. We were just two weeks into fall and the leaves were just starting their fall colors. 

Yesterday, I took a walk shortly before the sun set at 5:30. The fountains were turned off and leaves lined the empty pools. A bucket truck has its spot ready for hanging Christmas lights in the trees, in anticipation of the Mayor's Christmas tree lighting a month from now. The twinkling Christmas lights will take the place of the golden leaves and then the dark and quiet winter peace will settle in.