Author: mjkisner

Ruth Lowry Bixby Biography Part 2

This is Part 2 of Ruth’s biography. Ruth Lowry Bixby was my mother. She
wrote this essay about her life so far in 1927…when she was 15 years old and in
the 10th grade. You can read Part 1 at this link: https://marykisner.com/ruth-lowry-bixby-biography-part-1/

And the story continues…


I am one of the few persons of the younger generation who does not care for
movies. It isn’t the fact that I think movies an evil because I really think
that they are very educational. My parents are not against movies. When I was
very small I saw several very bloody movies which would give anyone the
“creeps”. Now I can’t go to them unless I get the same “creepy” feelings. I
wish I could enjoy them like other people do but I think that it must be one of
my peculiarities.

During the summer of 1919 on a Sunday in June when I was seven years old, Fergus Falls was visited by a very destructive tornado. We had invited some friends for dinner. Late in the afternoon we noticed how very queer and hot it was outside. About five thirty the sky turned inky black and the whole city was swept by a very bad storm. Our home was not destroyed but two windows were broken and part of the chimney and roof was torn off. We considered ourselves very lucky after we had seen the dreadful sights around us. There was so much destruction of homes and their contents that upon looking over Lake Alice which was near our home, it looked as though it were not a lake at all but an area of wood. This was decidedly a pathetic scene. Our friends’ home was destroyed entirely. For about a month after the storm our friends rented the upstairs of our house. About three weeks after the cyclone we moved to our present home [on Whitford Street].

Lake Alice before the tornado on the right; after the tornado on the left above.

In the next year Rev. Lund’s family moved next door. They had seven children. The
two youngest boys were about my age and during the following summer I played
with them. All my girlfriends had gone to the different lakes while I had to
stay at home and play with boys. And then I started taking music lessons.
Another striking event of this summer was my first introduction to a radio.
This seemed very complicated to me and I did not understand any of the
principles.


Of my girlfriends, I have been mostly with Gertrude Lee. I have chummed with Ruth Townsend and Anne Dybdal all through the grades. Many a good time the Lees have given me.

The Lees have a summer cottage at Swan Lake which is only seven miles from town. I have spent many good times out at their cottage. During one summer they had a tent in a grove of trees near by the house. Trudy and I decided to sleep in the tent one night. Mrs. Lee said that she knew that we would be frightened and come back to the cottage before morning. Trudy and I promised that we weren’t afraid of anything. Mrs. Lee got a mattress from an extra bed and spent a long time arranging the bed for us. When evening came Trudy and I went out to the tent with a little lantern and went to bed. Before we had gotten very sound asleep we heard some men talking. They seemed to be on the lake shore. Trudy assured me that she wasn’t afraid. I didn’t say whether I was afraid or not. Trudy got up and peered out of the tent.

“Well, I don’t see anyone, but I suppose we might just as well go in the cottage now as in the morning,” Trudy whispered. Mrs. Lee laughed very hard when she heard us crawl into our bed in the cottage. We have had many other similar interesting experiences too numerous to mention.

I had never been to Minneapolis until I was thirteen years old. The Lees drove there
in their car and took me with them. When we first came to Minneapolis it was
about four-thirty in the afternoon. We stayed at the new Nichalet hotel that
night until the following afternoon. Being in a large hotel was a great
experience for me. Trudy and her eight-year-old sister, Mary, and I rode up and
down the elevators several times. Once when we asked to go down to the main
floor they took us up instead. I will never forget the queer sensation we all
had. My uncle came to the hotel and took me to his home. I had a very good time
with my cousin while I was there. On the next Sunday my Aunt Mary, who lives in
North St. Paul came to Minneapolis and took me to St. Paul. I did something
interesting every day that I was on the trip. I have never been shown more
kindness than by the Lees.

I have had many enjoyable times at Star Lake with the Townsends. When I was with Townsends the most interesting thing we did was to swim. The beach at Star Lake is very sandy. On one occasion at Star Lake it happened that the clock stopped during the night and Mr. Townsend had already gone to town by the time we had got up. The people in the camps around us were not at home. We had such fun eating when we thought it was meal time. We made a sun dial but it was in the afternoon and we did not know how to mark it off into hours so it didn’t do us any good.


Nine of us girls formed a Camp Fire (group) two years ago. Miss Frankaniz was our guardian the first year. We went on a camping trip to Hodgson’s cottage at Ottertail Lake. Miss Marion Allen went with us because Miss Frankaniz went on a trip at that time. I remember what a good time we had. We bought two chickens from the nearby farm. Ethel Bye and Annastasin Hodgson cleaned them and dressed them. No one knew exactly how to go about cleaning them but at last they were dressed. We laughed so hard that the two girls did not mind their dirty job. Last winter Holly
Krienbring was our Camp Fire guardian. Under her guidance we obtained our first
rank. We went camping last year at Mortenson’s cottage at Fish Lake. It rained
three days that we were there. We had a “treasure hunt” on the last day. After
tramping through the woods for about two miles we found the treasure—twelve
suckers.

When I was eleven years old Winifred was married. I played the wedding march. Many of our relatives came to our house. The night of the wedding I had to sleep at Townsend’s because it was too crowded at home. July 26, 1925, I became an “Aunt.” Little Robert Lowry was born with red hair. He was a very healthy baby. Now he is two and a half years old and is just beginning to talk. I am anxiously waiting until he can say “Aunt Ruth.”

Last summer dad’s sister, Mira Lowry, visited us [for] two months. She taught me how to make yarn flowers, chocolate rocks, and seven-minute frosting. This fall Richard went to Moorhead to attend the Moorhead State Teachers’ College. I was left alone with my parents. Only time can write the rest of my autobiography. [Ruth Jane Lowry, 1927]

_____

This is the end of Ruth’s handwritten autobiography. She never wrote more but I’ve managed to pull together the rest of the story from a few photos and other documents. I will continue the story, in my words, in the next post…don’t you want to know when she met Paul and suffered through her first (and only) one-room-school teaching experience? Stay tuned for Part 3…

Ruth Lowry Bixby Biography Part 1

Ruth Lowry Bixby was my mother. She was born in 1912 and died in 1988. I’ve been thinking about her a lot, especially because her birthday is next week. I’ve been re-reading her “autobiography” that she wrote when she was in the 10th grade…1927. Her handwritten essay had been in a file drawer that I cleaned out shortly after she passed away. I had never seen it before and was thrilled that I had found the document. I’d like to share the document for several reasons.

First, it’s a good reminder that learning to read (and write) cursive writing is a valuable skill. I may not hand write much these days, but I can certainly read my mother’s original essay! Luckily, I was able to transcribe the text so my kids and grandkids can learn about their Grandma Ruth!

Second, reading this essay again has reminded me that my mother was not just the person I knew at the end of her life, but she had a whole life with many details that we had never talked about. I’ll share the whole document over the next few posts…I hope you enjoy it! Consider encouraging everyone you know…young or old…to begin writing down their memories so they can be enjoyed by the next generation!

__________

Ruth Jane Lowry Bixby, 1912-1988. A Biography, Part 1

“A Child’s Life in Prose”

There is a tradition that the Lowry family in America descended from a widow with eight sons. She is said to have crossed the Atlantic from Ireland in a boat owned and sailed by her and her sons. My mother’s people, the Sweet’s, were from New York State. They landed in America before the Revolution and lived at first in Pennsylvania and then New York having come originally from Holland. Grandfather [Sweet] has always said that he was full-blooded Yankee.

My Grandmother Sweet was Swedish. She came to America when she was a young woman. She was gifted in the art of making wooden dolls, homely but very substantial. She carved not only dolls but domestic animals such as horses, cows with crooked horns, pigs and sheep. The animals’ bodies were made of solid wood but the legs were usually nails. She covered the animals with fur and fuzzy cloth. All her grandchildren delighted in playing with her many wood toys.

(Photo of Merit Swanson Sweet holding the armload of handmade dolls and animals. Ruth was five years old when Grandma Sweet died. This picture was added by Mary Kisner.)

I have always lived in Fergus Falls. I was born in a pink house on Mount Faith Avenue about two blocks on this side of the Jefferson school house.

I have a sister, Winifred, who is seven years older than I and a brother, Richard, five years older than I am. I was two years old when we moved to a house on Cleveland Avenue. We moved a few days before Christmas. Mother put our big cat in a pillow case with its head exposed. The cat, the pillow case, and I were wheeled in my baby buggy to our new home. The cat did not enjoy the ride and after frantic struggles it escaped from its covering and ran away. We never have seen it since.

It was at this new home I became acquainted with Gracie who was my daily companion for several years. She lived next door. During the winter time she came to our house just after she had eaten her breakfast and stayed until noon. She would come back in the afternoon. We played “Old Maid” and copied “Peter Rabbit” the way the monks of old copied the Bible, letter by letter.

Both the deck of “Old Maid” and the book of “Peter Rabbit” belonged to Richard but mother coaxed him to let us play with them because then we didn’t bother her while she was working. Gracie had a very sweet disposition and it was very seldom that we quarreled.


Before I went to school I had most all the common diseases including pink-eye, measles, whooping cough, scarlatina, mumps, and the “flu”. Only one of these illnesses was very serious, the “flu”. My mother has told me how she watched beside me one night not knowing if I would live until morning.

Later on I was proud and happy to have my tonsils out because all my friends had told me how they had gone to the hospital and what the doctor said and did. After I had come out of ether I changed my opinion of hospitals, nurses, and
operations.

Margaretta Wright was my Sunday School teacher for several years. Under her guidance I was in several plays and on all the Christmas and Easter programs.


I was the leading character in one little play entitled, “Little Jane Patchwork.”
One distressing thing happened. The weather was cold and mother had put on me heavy home-knit black woolen stockings over my white ones I was to wear in the play. In the excitement of getting on the stage I forgot to take off these
stockings and I went through the whole play with them on. Mother was horrified, as most mothers usually are when anything like that happens, but I don’t think anyone else noticed them.

Of all my years in school the fifth grade was one of the most enjoyable. We all had lots of fun in the sixth grade but we did not realize it until we came to the seventh grade where everything was new. After entering high school my most enjoyable studies have been algebra and English.

(To Be Continued…)

Making a Chickpea Snack

While I was rearranging the jars on my shelf in the kitchen, I pulled forward the jar that was filled with dried chickpeas. I had forgotten they were there. It’s always so easy to just open a can all ready to eat! I knew I would be in the kitchen that day so I thought I’d make a batch and try a recipe to make a chickpea snack!

I measured out 2 cups into a sauce pan and covered them with water to soak. An hour or two later…when I remembered they were there, I turned on the burner, brought the chickpeas to a boil and turned down the heat to simmer for a while. I tried covering the pan, but even a low simmer bubbled up and almost overflowed with “bean suds.” You know what I mean!

When they were cooked, I drained them and let them cool in cold water. Of course, the skins started to separate so I gently rubbed them together with my hands to loosen them. So easy…NOT! I probably had at least 2 cans worth of chickpeas so I spent a good half an hour getting the skins off. Quite a mess!

Finally, I had two containers of nice clean chickpeas! I started by using a handful in my salad for lunch!

Then I spread them out on a paper towel covered tray and let them dry.

My first snack recipe used about 1 1/2 cups of chickpeas. I put them in a gallon bag, added olive oil and salt and shook them up until coated.

Then, I spread them out on a baking tray and put them in the oven…425 degrees for about 20 minutes. They weren’t crunchy yet so I gave them another 10-15 minutes. Now I had a snack I could eat!

This is the recipe I found on the internet:

The second recipe was supposed to make a sweet snack:

This was a little more complicated, with a mixture of coconut oil, cinnamon, vanilla and maple syrup. I ended up baking the chickpeas for 10 minutes, then dumping them into a gallon bag, pouring in the oil/cinnamon mixture and shaking it up. I poured the chickpeas back on the baking pan and put it back in the oven. There has to be a better way!

This might have made a sweet snack, but frankly it didn’t taste very good. I think I’d have to tweak the seasonings the next time.

So, that was my adventure into making a chickpea snack from dried chickpeas! Next time I’ll start with a can of chickpeas and save myself half a day! If you have a better way, or a better tasting recipe, I’d love to hear about it!

Garden Update August 13, 2024

August is the month we start to appreciate what a small garden can produce. In January when we order seeds we aren’t thinking about bugs or blight or wandering hungry deer. We’re thinking about next year’s vegetable soup and homemade pizza. Much of our gardening time is spent keeping things growing through dry and wet weather and away from hungry critters roaming by.

In early June we enjoyed fresh lettuce and radishes that were grown in raised planters right by the patio.

I did not get the sugar snap peas in the ground early enough, so while we had some peas, the weather was getting too hot for them to be happy. They did taste good!

The first green and yellow beans were delicious, but there were not enough at one time to can my 4-Bean Salad. Luckily, the farmer’s market had piles of lovely beans ready all at once!

As our small patch of beans are ready, I can easily pick them and get them into the freezer, a few bags at a time!

We had high hopes for the zucchini, but somehow they produced about a dozen little ones and then the plants just gave up. I had enough to try zucchini fries, zucchini bread and zucchini fritters. I now have some good recipes for the future!

Now, the tomatoes are turning red! Every few days more get added to the pile on the dining room table! I’ve been cooking about 15 at a time and freezing the sauce. This week, I’ll thaw everything out and we’ll can our pizza sauce. We’ll be set until next fall!

We add red peppers, onion and garlic when we cook the tomatoes. They get blended in the food processor to make a smooth sauce at the end.

Since we haven’t canned the pizza sauce yet, here’s a picture from a few years ago.

Finally, the last thing we’ll harvest from the garden this year are the carrots. They always seem to have trouble getting started, but a few days ago, I pulled two to see how they were doing…

…and I think we’ll have a good crop this year. No plans to do anything with them, except clean them up and store them in the refrigerator. We love raw and cooked carrots, and a carrot cake might materialize one day!

And that’s why we still garden! Enjoy!

Making Morse Code Bracelets

My latest project with gemstone bracelets involves using Morse Code to design a bracelet for one specific person or group of people. This involves learning about the code itself and translating the symbols to beads to represent dots and dashes. Round beads work for dots, but the dashes would be a specific tube-shaped bead. I thought I could just substitute a larger bead for the dash…it made a nice bracelet, but the code was impossible to read. Then I tried black round beads for dots and white round beads for dashes.

My first attempts involved making a bracelet that said, “GREYHOUNDS.” Using black and white beads this was the result. Even if you know Morse Code this is unreadable!

Then I tried to make bracelets for my grandkids that said, “BEN ROCKS,” and “ANNA ROCKS” using two colors.

Again, looked pretty but unreadable. The last letter in each bracelet was the S (three beads the same representing dots). I could work backwards from that.

My friend Toni suggested I make bracelets that said, “GREYHOUNDS.” That was a long word and if I used the beads I had they would never fit and would still be unreadable! I went to Amazon and looked for Morse Code beads and found this kit:

Hicarer DIY Morse Code Bracelet Making Kit

It even came with these cards:

I guess I’m not the only one trying to adapt Morse Code to beads! With this batch of very tiny beads, I started to figure out which of my beads would go with them. I ended up using very small glass beads to separate the letters and add color to the bracelet, with these beads filling out the necessary length.

Here is the code for GREYHOUNDS:

Here are some bracelets:

These “greyhound” Morse Code bracelets will be fun for my greyhound-lover friends. The only thing I find disappointing is the plastic and glass beads are very lightweight. Of course, without a gemstone in sight, they become just a novelty to me. I’ll make a bunch for the next greyhound event, but my heart just isn’t in them!

Morse Code Bracelets with a Heart

Getting back to my gemstone bracelets, and with Morse Code on my mind, I thought about a friend who was worried about one of her grandsons who had just moved to Colorado. My friend shared some heart-warming experiences that me wonder if I could make a bracelet that would ease her worries while helping her focus on supporting her grandson. His name was ALEX. Perfect length to represent with Morse Code.

I ordered some beads from https://firemountaingems.com. I had learned from my first trial and error bracelets that the code needed to be represented with a dot and a dash in the same color. Various spacers could separate the letters and add color to the bracelet.

My dots turned out to be 4 mm Black Tourmaline. The dashes were 8/4 mm Black Onyx tube beads. These two stones provide psychic protection and support inner strength, will power and self-mastery. Those qualities would be important to the grandson.

Since the grandmother would be the one wearing or holding the bracelet while she thought about her grandson, I wanted the final stone to be something that would help alleviate her worry and stress. White Opal seemed to fit my needs. I ended up making a bracelet for the grandson’s mother also. Then they requested another bracelet for the other grandson who they were also worried about! His name was NICK. Also perfect for Morse Code!

Here is Alex’s bracelet (before I figured out a better way to make the tag):

Here is the bracelet for Nick’s mom (notice the better tag):

You can see that while I’m inventing these bracelets, I’m trying to figure out how to fill out the tags to explain the stones and what they mean. I suspect I’ll end up having to make a printed paper or card to go with each bracelet… especially if I end up doing more custom work. I just can’t write small enough, neatly enough to do very many at once! Here are the back of the tags:

These particular bracelets are for the mother and grandmother of the grandson. They are meant to be worn or held to focus attention on supporting the grandson from afar and alleviating the worry and stress of the mother and grandmother. The grandson may never know that such good vibes are being sent his way…but you never know!

I wondered if the grandsons would like, or use, a bracelet to support their new lives away from home? I made a bracelet for each grandson, using the same Morse Code and substituting Tigers Eye beads to fill the bracelets.

I will offer these Morse Code bracelets for the grandsons…in case they ever express an interest. I’ll leave them with the mother to share as appropriate. I have no expectations that these bracelets will make it to Alex and Nick, but my thoughts go with them as they move out into the world. Who knows, the bracelets may end up under their pillows at grandma’s house…kind of like a Dream Catcher with gemstone beads!

I’m sure my future one-of-a-kind bracelets will change as I learn more about the gemstones and how to label them properly. My various bracelets sold at the arts festival for $10 each. I was happy with that, since I could make whatever appealed to me. However, I suspect these one-of-a-kind Morse Code bracelets will take me longer to make and label. I may have to reconsider the price and charge more. Any thoughts about what I should charge would be appreciated!

Making Zucchini and Potato Fritters

One of my major concerns when we planted zucchini in the garden in the spring was the potential for too many zucchini. Luckily, thanks to dry, hot weather the zucchini plants have produced an underwhelming number of zucchini to deal with! We’ve picked them when they were just 6″ to 8″ long so we’ve been able to keep up.

Here’s another recipe we tried a few days ago: Zucchini and Potato Fritters. It turned out to be delicious! If you can eat eggs, this would make a great “hash brown” addition to breakfast! (Note: if you can’t eat eggs, make “flax eggs” by combining 2 Tablespoons of ground flaxseed with 6 Tablespoons of water, let the mixture sit for 10 minutes.)

Here is the recipe:

I started by shredding the vegetables and putting them in a large bowl. Sometimes, zucchini recipes suggest squeezing out the water from shredded zucchini. Instead, we decided to try dehydrated minced onion…thinking they would help soak up the extra water.

My hand crank shredder did well with all the vegetables.

We added the minced onion, seasoned bread crumbs and eggs to the pile of shredded vegetables. We decided to not add the cheese…I’m not able to eat cheese at this time. Bert compared it to making meatloaf!

Next, I took handfuls of the mixture and tried to make patties. I squished each handful together and carefully laid them on a foil covered tray.

(While I was making patties, I was thinking this mixture might be good as an egg roll stuffing. Hmmm. May have to try that!)

When I had the first 6 patties made, Bert transferred them to the frying pan with a spatula.

Amazingly, as they cooked, they stuck together just fine. We ended up with 15 “hash brown” patties. They were delicious hot out of the pan. Great addition to our supper! Sweet & Sour Sauce worked great but I imagine creamy salad dressing, maple syrup or honey could work too!

I was able to put the patties in quart bags (2 to a bag) and put them in the freezer…ready for a quick 2 minutes in the microwave (1 minute per side)!

Another zucchini recipe to add to my cookbook! Enjoy!

Garden Update July 30, 2024

Hard to believe it’s almost August! The garden has struggled with dry conditions. Bert has watered everything almost daily and yet it’s just not the same as a good soaking rain. Here’s a picture taken from the patio, looking up to the garden on the hill:

Each section of the garden has changed from just a few weeks ago! The raised planters on the patio are finally finished with radishes and lettuce. It’s just too hot and dry to keep them going. We’ve cleaned out all the roots, added more soil and planted spinach in all the sections. My plan is to let it all grow, harvest it all, dehydrate the leaves and turn them into powdered spinach…perfect to add to soup and smoothies. The heat should get them going and the coming fall weather will be the best to finish it off.

With the fenced beds off the patio, the first section had sugar snap peas. Most of them we ate right out of the garden or in salads. When we pulled the plants, we discovered a lone potato plant had come up from last year. We’ll see what we get from that volunteer!

The yellow pear tomato plants are taller than me right now and tomatoes are ripening every day.

Behind the tomatoes are the zucchini plants. We’ve had a few already, with a few more on the way. Luckily, we’re picking them small so we can keep up! Actually, the plants look like they are tired out and ready for fall!

To the right of the zucchini are flowers…zinnias and huge marigolds. They’ve been a nice addition to the garden! The marigolds are in the back and are supposed to be taller than the zinnias. They should flower soon!

Up in the garden on the hill, the lavender is about done. The bees have been loving the patch all summer. By now the flowers are dropping their petals. Not sure if we should just cut them off now or leave them as is for the winter.

To the left of the lavender were the green and yellow beans. We pulled the plants over the weekend. Bert tilled the soil, added fertilizer and planted some more. We’ll see if they have time to make beans before the first frost.

Then, we have the carrots. They are doing well, but need the whole summer to grow. At least the plants look healthy.

The next row has the second planting of beans. I started them about the third week of June. They are now flowering. In a week or two, I’ll have more beans to pick!

The tomatoes are finally starting to turn color. I guess the big green worms that stripped the leaves off the tops finally did their thing and transitioned to moths…or whatever they turn into. The plants seem to have recovered and I can see very soon I’ll have more tomatoes than I can imagine!

And finally, my lovely bed of echinacea is looking kind of bedraggled! The dry weather wasn’t kind to the flowers!

Very soon my kitchen table will look like the produce section of the grocery store! So far…it’s just the beginning! Enjoy!

Finding Planet Fitness at the Nittany Mall

In the last few weeks, a friend has encouraged me to join her a few mornings a week at Planet Fitness. I know I need to adopt some kind of regular exercise but for some reason, I never seem to make time to do it on my own. Plus, exercising with a friend at a gym sounded like a way to give me some structure to the activity.

Of course, I knew where Planet Fitness was located…in the Nittany Mall outside of State College. The Mall has steadily lost various stores over the last several years so I wasn’t sure what stores were left. The anchor stores of Sears, Macy’s, J. C. Penney and BonTon have closed up.

The space left by Sears is now a huge Rural King. It seems to be competition for Tractor Supply just down the road. The store is always busy and is focused on the needs of the surrounding rural community. It anchors one end of the Mall, but is separate from the Mall. There is no access inside the store to get to the inside of the Mall.

The other end of the Mall where Macy’s was is now all boarded up, waiting for approvals to open a Casino. Who knows when that will materialize.

The entrance to the Mall nearest Rural King is still available and leads you to a few office fronts and a restaurant and on into the Mall.

The whole side of the building inside that used to house various clothing stores, is now occupied by Planet Fitness! It’s quite a facility that extends from where Sears used to be, clear up to the hallway taking you to the Public Restrooms.

So, when my friend said, I’ll meet you at Planet Fitness, I was sure I knew just where to go!

However, with all of the glass advertising that Planet Fitness was inside…nowhere could I find a DOOR! In fact, in the first photo above, the one door says, “Not an Entrance.” Great! I sat down and texted my friend. “Where are you? There is no door!” She said, “You have to get back in the car and drive around the end of the Mall (past Rural King) to the back entrance.” That entrance used to take you into the Mall…now it just goes to Planet Fitness! Oh My!

I would love to show you some pictures of the inside of Planet Fitness, but one of the rules is no photos! (Go online to see the inside of some of the facilities.) So, let me tell you…for a person like me that has never been inside ANY gym, this place was overwhelming. So many machines…and so many different kinds of machines. Treadmills looked familiar! Beyond that, people were riding bikes, rowing, stepping, etc. The best part, nobody cared what I was doing. My friend let me follow her around and showed me how to use a few machines.

My first impulse was to be careful. I didn’t want to fall off anything or stretch the wrong way. Most of the machines were pretty self-explanatory…a diagram with the muscle group highlighted, and an illustration of how to do the exercise. Luckily my friend showed me how to adjust the weights and how to sit down on the machine. Let me tell you, I really needed to see someone do it first.

Next came the challenge of signing up! I could use my Silver Sneakers card…but of course it was very out of date. So, I said I would check it out with my insurance company and would come back. Turns out, I could sign up online and was issued an ID number. The next day, I returned with my number in hand and went through all the rules and signed a dozen places. I was told to download the Planet Fitness app and I’d be set to sign in like everybody else…showing a code on my phone. Sure.

I finally got the app downloaded but I could see I needed one more step…the gym needed to sync my information with the app so it would recognize my information. The next time I went to Planet Fitness, a young man took my phone and synced everything! Yea! I could now check in!

The third day, I actually had time to try the machines on my own. I handled the treadmill fine except I discovered I wasn’t coordinated enough to walk and open a bottle of water at the same time. Oops! I can see I have a way to go! One day at a time!

More about the Nittany Mall

I don’t really know exactly how many stores are left in the Mall. Just wandering a way up the Mall I saw many boarded-up store fronts. Looks like American Eagle Outfitters is still there, along with Spencer’s.

The Centre Region Active Adult Center is just across from the windows of Planet Fitness. They were busy with many seniors playing cards and visiting. I stopped in and picked up their schedule. Who knows, maybe I’ll try out some line-dancing when I get a little more coordinated!

Freezing Beans

You might think I’ve been sitting around this week after all the preparations for the Arts Festival last week! Haha! The garden produce waits for no one! When beans need to be picked…it needs to be NOW! With daytime temperatures this week of 95 degrees F. or more, I found myself out in the garden at 6 a.m.! It took a few days, an hour or so each day, to get them picked. Once the beans were in the refrigerator I spent time in front of the TV snapping them and getting them ready to freeze.

By the time I was ready to blanch and freeze them I had run out of room to store them in the refrigerator. That meant it was time!

First, they all needed to be snapped and any blemished beans were discarded. Because it hadn’t rained recently the beans were pretty clean. I guess even the slugs and bugs were not attracted to them…yet! Time to get them into the freezer.

This is my set up in front of my recliner in the living room. I can snap them and discard the ends in the smaller bowl right between my feet!

Next, I get my largest pan out and bring water to a boil, add the beans, bring it back to a boil and let them boil for 5 minutes.

Then I have a big bowl of water and ice ready and scoop all the beans into the cold water.

After a few minutes, the ice has melted and the beans are cool. I scoop them out with my hands into another bowl and fill quart zip bags with the beans. When I was finished with this batch, I had six one-quart bags filled with beans, ready for the freezer! They will be so good this winter.

It probably takes longer to pick the beans, snap them and get the pots ready than it does to actually blanch the beans and get them into the freezer. I think I’ll be doing another round soon as these first plants wind down. Luckily, we started two more rows of beans several weeks after the first planting so we should be able to eat fresh beans the rest of the summer! If you don’t grow them yourself, now is the time to look for them at the Farmer’s Markets. Enjoy!

Follow Up of the Art in the Orchard Festival

The Art in the Orchard Festival last week was a success! I survived the heat (90+degrees), the wind and the porta-potties. I also sold 60 bracelets at $10 each, so my investment in beads over the last 6 months was repaid to my Visa account! Yea!

There were 75 booths arranged around the perimeter of a grassy field. From the parking area for visitors, booths lined the walkway to lead folks down a little hill right to the field. The visitors were mostly families with small children so it was quite a parade of shaded strollers, assorted wagons and backpacks coming past our booth. Luckily, a few of my local friends stopped by to say Hello, gave me hugs and even bought bracelets…just the confidence boost I needed!

Toni’s crafts of various framed pieces (collages…or “assemblage art”) were lovely unique pieces along with many items made with all sorts of sparkly beads drew people into the booth.

A favorite piece that made everyone smile was this mosaic table:

My table was right by the entrance and did not take up too much space. Folks were either interested or they weren’t. I certainly learned a lot about how to “sell” the bracelets. My best customers were young people who already had several bracelets of some kind on their wrists. Even older adult women were interested…often they were already wearing various bracelets. All of the people who stopped by seemed to be drawn to certain colors and would begin shuffling through the bags of bracelets in the baskets.

This was my opportunity to suggest they find out what size would fit so their search was more focused. My set of “tester” bracelets really helped break the ice and t hey didn’t feel I was pushing them to buy. Then I showed them the tags that each had that described the stones and what they mean. I’m glad I had the printout with the whole list of stones I use and their meanings so they could take it home.

My camera must be tilted…it makes the small look bigger than the large!

Over the three days of the festival, we watched a guy make a huge sand tractor with a basket of apples…appropriate for our location…Way Fruit Farm is surrounded by apple trees!

A huge sand pile was dumped in the middle of the field. We weren’t sure what was going to happen with it. Kids played in the sand pile the first day. On Day 2 most of the sand had been shoveled into a wood framework and was being soaked with water. The leftover sand was enjoyed by kids nearby. By the end of the third day, the finished display was impressive. (You can see our purple tent on the right across the field. We had to walk up the hill to see the side he was working on.)

After three days of the festival, we were exhausted and grateful that we didn’t have to clean up after a rainstorm. Packing up was easy for me…all my stuff fits in a small bag. Toni had a much bigger job because she brought the tables, tent and bins of her art. Thank goodness the young man and his friend in the booth beside us was willing to help us load up everything in Toni’s car. Whew!

Of course, being away for three days just as the beans were ready to pick was frustrating. I managed to get out there early yesterday and today to get them picked. No wonder farmers don’t get a summer vacation!

My lasting memory from this festival will be gratitude that there are others interested in my gemstone bracelets. Besides pretty colors, the descriptions that say the stones help you sleep or lower your stress level were interesting to many. It’s kind of like putting a Native American Dream Catcher in a child’s room to help ease nightmares. I need to get better at explaining how to set an intention to experience what you need.

So that’s my experience with my first Arts Festival! If you frequently go to festivals like this, be kind to the vendors…they have invested time and money to make lovely things for you to enjoy!