Dutch Baby Pancake

Finally, June 7th was the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL for Lilly and Warren. To celebrate the beginning of summer, I made a special steak dinner that night.

Saturday morning, to kick off Grandma Camp, I wanted to make a special breakfast.

How about a DUTCH BABY PANCAKE!!

PERFECT.

Basically,  it's the Popover recipe, but made in a cast iron skillet.

It's one of those things that's more technique than recipe.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Put your well-seasoned iron skillet in the hot oven, and preheat it as well. (at least 10 minutes)

Add a tablespoon of oil and butter to the hot skillet -- then pour the popover batter into the screaming hot skillet.

Bake for 25 minutes. DO NOT open the oven door.

When you get it out of the oven -- it should look like a beautiful brown basketball.

Those few simple ingredients -- and it makes this SPECTACULAR Dutch Baby...

Use a knife to slash the top to release the steam...the pancake will collapse into itself.

IT IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!

Sprinkle with powdered sugar, or cinnamon sugar...

Slice into wedges, and serve with butter and syrup. (or, fresh strawberries and whipped cream).

Oh yeah -- Grandma Camp is off to a great start!!

Why Hobbies

So, with summer coming on -- and Grandma Camp -- I've been looking back at my own childhood.  Those summer weeks I spent at Grandma Dodds' house -- learning how to crochet....

I'm thinking Grandma Camp is a good opportunity to introduce Lilly and Warren to some possible hobbies...and I'm going be more deliberate about pushing a "hobby agenda".

So, with that in mind...

READING IS THE BEST HOBBY EVER...For one thing, you can do it all by yourself, anywhere, at any time.  You don't need a team of players or a lot of equipment.  You don't need to practice, or make any noise.  You can do it even if you only have a few minutes to spare...Reading has always been a big part of Grandma Camp.  Both kids are already signed up at our local library for the Summer Reading Program.  And, this year, we're starting the first Lilly Summer Book Club...

SWIMMING is on our agenda for sure. It's a wonderful hobby -- and you can do it well into your old age. I spend a lot of time at the YMCA pool, and I see people at every age of life LOVING their time in the water.

I spend five or six hours a week in this beautiful swimming pool...

MUSIC:  I'm going to be more deliberate about making MUSIC a part of Grandma Camp.   Lilly already loves singing...and I'll try to encourage her to prepare a song for the Princeton Days Talent Show....or maybe the County Fair.  Warren always says he's going to be a piano player when he grows up.  So I'm going to start giving him piano lessons.

My point is -- hobbies are worth fighting for.  And maybe, hobbies could even be the GIFT you give to this next generation....a gift that could last a lifetime...

Hobbies

According to the dictionary:

Hobby: An activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure.

When I was growing up, there was little talk of hobbies. Mom's day was filled with raising six kids, and the things she did, e.v.e.r.y. s.i.n.g.l.e d.a.y were mostly for survival. Laundry, cooking, cleaning, sewing, canning, gardening...

Honestly. Her days were JAM PACKED -- there was no actual "leisure time".

Looking back, maybe that was a problem. Because, when her children started moving out of the house, Mom's world was blown up by the "empty nest" torpedo.

I certainly didn't understand it then -- but as we all went our separate ways -- Mom was no longer taking care of a house full of kids -- and she had time on her hands.

Clearly, Mom didn't know what to do with "leisure time"...

Unfortunately, drinking became Mom's hobby.

Let's just say it was a dark time in my family's history.

When I think back to my childhood -- it seems Dad had time for many hobbies. He played poker every weekend, and he belonged to a hunting club...so there was deer hunting, duck hunting. In the summer, he was an avid fisherman and in the winter, he would sit for hours, picking the black walnuts he collected and cleaned in the fall. Many of Dad's hobbies became daily habits. For example, reading every page of the daily newspaper was always a part of his day.

I don't think my parents were unique. Maybe that's just the way it was during that time. But that was then...and this is now.

How important is it to have hobbies? And how do you pick?

Lilly's Summer Book Club

These women are the main players in our Summer TMBC.

Linda P., Sharalan, me, Linda K. and Sandy

Another OG (Original Gangster) -- Jackie -- now lives in North Carolina.

Many years ago -- when we started our Book Club -- we'd get together at Jackie's house once a month to discuss a book we'd all read.  Some I remember...The Red Tent, The Kite Runner, The Secret Life of Bees, Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons...

OBVIOUSLY, we enjoyed our get-togethers so much, at some point, we decided to make it a WEEKLY event.  We never gave up reading...but, along the way, we did a lot more sewing, some quilting, some day-trippin, and ALWAYS -- B.R.E.A.K.F.A.S.T.

And, who are we kidding?  TMBC is mostly about REGULAR, high-quality girlfriend time!!

Hey -- WE STILL READ BOOKS!!   Just not in the organized all-at-one-time way we did it back in the day.

However -- now that summer is here -- and Lilly is such an AVID reader -- we are kicking off our first Grandma Camp Lilly Bookclub.

AND -- HERE'S OUR FIRST SELECTION...

So far, three of us have already read it...and I'll give it to Lilly when she's officially out of school.

Then, it will be fun to plan our FIRST EVER GRANDMA/LILLY BOOK CLUB PARTY. And I can't wait to see what Lilly thinks of the book...

This is just a for-no-particular-reason-random photo of Jackie, Linda K. and their Mom...

Memorial Day Festivities

On Memorial Day, our little town has a lovely ceremony, and John never misses it. This year, it was a beautiful summer day.  Our Community Center is the former grocery store, and it sits right on the Mississippi River.

The LeClaire American Legion did their 21 gun salute.

This photo shows the river (which is out of its banks AGAIN)...

We had a respectable crowd -- even some patriotic cupcakes.

Karl (married to my cousin Linda) is one of the hard-working members of the American Legion.  They did 16 events in two weeks.  YIKES.  Karl and John are both Navy veterans.  As a matter of fact, both of them are submariners.

Lilly, Warren and MUSIC

I cannot even begin to tell you what it's like to be driving along in my car, on a typical Saturday, with Lilly at the radio controls. At the age of 10 -- she knows EVERYTHING about the current music scene. Most of the time, I have absolutely NO IDEA who is singing what.

Last month, I watched the Grammy's (because Kelly Clarkson was host) -- afterwards, trying to look cool, I asked Lilly, "do you like BTS?"  (the very hot Korean rock group).  She wasn't even impressed...but, instead, said..."No.  They look like seven Justin Biebers standing in a row..."

I laughed, and then Lilly said, "But I do like Black Pink"

Hummm...two days later, I Googled, and discovered that BlackPink is the K-Pop GIRL band...

This girl LIVES for music. Her favorite singer is Billie Eilish. Two weeks ago, we were driving along, and a song came on the radio. I was in the middle of a sentence when Lilly "shushed" me. I listened to the song...then said, "who was that?"

Lilly said, "that was Billie Eilish song, Grandma -- and that's like finding a unicorn. They don't play her songs on the radio very much."

I didn't understand what the song was about....Lilly said..."Billie doesn't discuss the meaning of her songs. Because she wants you to take your own meaning from the words...when she writes a song, she is inspired by symbols or colors...the one song she sings about her friend who committed suicide..."

And, well -- on it went.

Last Saturday, we were in the car (again) -- and I ask Lilly about every song she is singing along to (she seems to know EVERY word of EVERY song). Most of the time, the singer is Ariana Grande -- and Lilly proceeded to tell me about her biggest song, and why she wrote it, and how many hits it has on YouTube...

I mean -- honestly -- IT IS AMAZING.

At one point, a song came on the radio -- and I thought I knew who was singing. I said, "is that Miley Cyrus".  Big mistake..Lilly gave me a pitying look...

then she said..."No, Grandma. Miley Cyrus hasn't had a song on the radio since I was 4 years old...Wrecking Ball...right now, her Dad is more popular than she is.

Me (hopefully) -- Billie Ray Cyrus has a hit song?

Lilly:  Oh, yes -- he teamed up with Lil Nas X (I had to look up the spelling)...to do the remix for Old Town Road...

No matter where Lilly goes, Warren is close behind. And, always the eager student, he listens to music, and has his own favorite artists. Warren told me his favorite singer is Sam Smith...

So, excuse me while I go Google...

Grandma Stahl's Tulip Quilt

Well, now that you've met Edna Dodds -- I'll show you the most beautiful thing she owned.

An extraordinary hand-appliqued Tulip Quilt. In pristine condition. The story that was handed down with this quilt is that Edna's mother made it. Her name was Vivian Stahl, and she lived in Davenport.

We never met our Great-Grandmother Stahl...but, apparently, she was an accomplished quilter.  Although we don't know if she made this quilt by herself, or with her daughter, for her Hope Chest, or maybe with a quilting circle...which was common practice in the 1920's...

What we DO know for sure is that after she gifted this beautiful quilt to her daughter, Edna put it in a cedar chest. That probably happened around 1930...

Edna NEVER put this quilt on a bed. It stayed in that cedar chest until 1971...(40 years!)

When Edna Dodds died, my mother inherited the quilt, and -- guess what? SHE, TOO, PUT IT IN A CEDAR CHEST. And it stayed in Mom's cedar chest for the next 26 years.

After our parents died, this beautiful quilt was sold at their estate sale/auction in 1997. OF COURSE WE SHOULD NEVER HAVE LET IT GET OUT OF THE FAMILY -- but the truth is -- our parents had a lot of stuff -- and an auction just seemed like the best way to handle things. We all went, and we bought back whatever mattered to us.  And, for the most part....we all got the things that were important to us...

OF COURSE I planned to buy the Tulip Quilt.

But we never could have predicted that Grandma's tulip quilt would fetch over $600.

YIKES.

I had to let it go. That was just too much money for me.

So, as sad as it was -- the Tulip Quilt went to a stranger. She was a lovely woman who appreciated this gorgeous quilt. As karma would have it -- her name was also Joyce.

But -- guess what -- SHE, TOO, PUT THE TULIP QUILT IN A CEDAR CHEST...where it stayed for the next 18 years.

So, if you're doing the math -- this incredible Tulip Quilt has been HIDDEN IN A TRUNK for at least 85 years.  HOLY COW...!!

In the year 2015, we learned the new-Joyce-owner was donating the Tulip Quilt to her church to be sold as their Fall Fundraiser.

Hey -- this time around -- WE ARE NOT GOING TO LET IT GET AWAY..!!

I sat next to my niece, Nicole -- and told her I WAS BUYING THE QUILT...

They always get a big crowd at this auction/fundraiser...

My nephew, Toby, his wife Brenda and their son Clayton...holding the quilt...which THEY WON..!!  (only because I love my sister Deena so much, I didn't bid against them...)

Honestly, I have never seen a quilt in better condition.

Every stitch is absolutely perfect.

Each flower basket is a masterpiece of hand-appliqued stitches.

Deena's three children went together to purchase the quilt...and, hey -- how could I bid against them?

I'm just glad it's back in the family. And, gifting the quilt was a good excuse to HAVE ANOTHER PARTY..!!

P.S. Here's the funny thing. When I looked at these pictures, I realized there are NO TULIPS in this quilt...So it should have been called the "Flower Basket Quilt"...but, then, it has always been referred to as The Tulip Quilt...so now I'm wondering if there was another, second quilt? Somewhere out there -- did Grandma Dodds have an actual Tulip Quilt? Hummm...