Even more beauty
Monday, April 18, 2005
Sunday, April 17, 2005
The tree next door
Just a quick note - had to post the pictures of my next door neighbor's tree. It is just gorgeous.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
A Trip To The Queen Bee
The Queen Bee. Just a little small town cafe, with the best coney dog I ever ate. Walk in the door, plunk down your dollar (that's right $1) and watch as 8 steamed buns get stacked up along the preparers left arm. Then 8 dogs would be pulled out of the steamer and poked into the buns. Next came the finely chopped onions, mustard and finally the meat sauce. The preparer would then layer them in a small paper bag, 2 dogs in, a piece of precut waxed paper, then 2 more dogs and another layer of waxed paper until the bag was full. A one block walk home past the fire station with it's 6 cent Coke machine and supper was served. And what a supper it was. The dog's were made from pork and beef, the coney sauce had probably bubbled in the pot all day and was the best I have ever had.
But there were others in town that were great also. Tegeo's Restaurant sold coney's also. Their sauce was spicier. The New York Lunch completed the trifecta. Again it was a great dog and their sauce was good as well. Over the years, the Queen Bee closed, as did Tegeo's, but the New York Lunch still sells lots of dogs everyday. My only problem is that it's a thousand miles away. I'm stuck in the midwest where everybody thinks a "Chicago Dog" is the best thing on earth. They just never had a good old Queen Bee hot dog.
There are a couple of pretenders in Peoria. Louie's Drive in tries and so does Velvet Freeze - and people think they are great, but these people have just been deprived of the real thing. Over the years I've tried a lot of different recipes to create a sauce as good, but I never have succeeded. The only part of the recipe that I have gotten right is that you boil the hamburger to get that really finely ground consistency. Also all you need is chili powder and the secret ingredient nutmeg. Don't think about putting any tomato sauce in it. The trick is getting the proportions correct. I've come close, but not close enough. Feel free to play with the mix, boil the hamburger, stirring all the time to break up the clumps until it is really fine. Pour off most of the water, stir in enough chili powder to turn it BLACK, then a little nutmeg to make your tongue wonder "What the heck was that?" I guarantee it will be good - just not quite as good as the Queen Bee's.
But there were others in town that were great also. Tegeo's Restaurant sold coney's also. Their sauce was spicier. The New York Lunch completed the trifecta. Again it was a great dog and their sauce was good as well. Over the years, the Queen Bee closed, as did Tegeo's, but the New York Lunch still sells lots of dogs everyday. My only problem is that it's a thousand miles away. I'm stuck in the midwest where everybody thinks a "Chicago Dog" is the best thing on earth. They just never had a good old Queen Bee hot dog.
There are a couple of pretenders in Peoria. Louie's Drive in tries and so does Velvet Freeze - and people think they are great, but these people have just been deprived of the real thing. Over the years I've tried a lot of different recipes to create a sauce as good, but I never have succeeded. The only part of the recipe that I have gotten right is that you boil the hamburger to get that really finely ground consistency. Also all you need is chili powder and the secret ingredient nutmeg. Don't think about putting any tomato sauce in it. The trick is getting the proportions correct. I've come close, but not close enough. Feel free to play with the mix, boil the hamburger, stirring all the time to break up the clumps until it is really fine. Pour off most of the water, stir in enough chili powder to turn it BLACK, then a little nutmeg to make your tongue wonder "What the heck was that?" I guarantee it will be good - just not quite as good as the Queen Bee's.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Of Trees and Roots
I am well into the fourth day of a five day trip. I am writing this from a hotel room in Ohio. It has been a terrible and wonderful week. My cousin and friend Robert "Bucky" Hughes died on Tuesday. He was only 58. I guess you could say he died young. He had a heart attack after helping some elderly neighbors clear show from their sidewalk so they could safely go to the store. He complained of feeling poorly after shovelling the snow and said he was going to go rest. These same neighbors found him slouched down on his kitchen floor the next morning.
This was Bucky's 2nd heart attack. So I guess you could say it wasn't a total surprise. But that doesn't make it any easier to get a grip on. He had been retired for about 3 years. Never married, he had spent the last years taking care of his mother, my Aunt Marion. Buck's dad had died of a heart attack when he was 63, some 28 years ago. Aunt Marion (my father's sister) has been getting more and more confused for the last few years. She is 88 and Bucky had been visiting her everyday since his retirement to make sure she took her medicines and ate. Most days he would take her for rides to visit her brothers and sisters.
Brothers and sisters, not unlike many old families I suppose, but I am in awe everytime I see this family assembled. Aunt Marion had 11 natural brothers and sisters, and when a cousin's Mom died the family adopted her. My dad Charlie is the oldest now at 92, Marion is next at 88, Thel comes next with 87 years under her belt. Uncle Clarence is 83, Aunt Grace(the name is perfect for her) is 78, Uncle Scotch is 74, Don is 73 and Aunt Ruthie is the baby of the bunch at age 70. Four have passed, Uncle Bob just this past November. Add in the wives and husbands, 6 are still alive also, and my Brother Jim and I had 22 Aunts and Uncles, 29 first cousins and a Grandfather who lived to age 86.
Grandpa had a farm where we all met, almost every Sunday for the first 12 or 13 years of my life. Grandpa never had a tractor, he always had work horses. I still relish the memory of Grandpa holding the horses' bridles while 6 or 8 of us grandkids sat on their backs. Not many families can field both teams for a softball game and still have players on the bench ready to go in. But on Sundays we could. And when we went visiting on other days, it was always to Uncle Bob's, or Don's, or Ross's., Aunt Grace and Uncle John's, or Clarence and Thelma's, or Aunt Marion's. Later it was Bob and Ruthie's.
I stayed with my Mom and Dad for the funeral. Mom had me go through the family pictures to take what I wanted back to Illinois. What I saw in those pictures were the lives of my Aunts and Uncles from the time they were kids until now some 90 years later. They were always together, swimming, playing games, dating, marrying, raising kids. Always together, then and now.
When I walked into the church for the pre-service visitation I was not at all surprised to find them all there. The Aunts, the Uncles, the cousins. Aunt Marion was sitting in front with her brothers and sisters rotating in and out of the chairs on either side. Aunt Grace holding her hand and helping her recollect friends and family. Uncle Don guiding people to her and making sure everyone was welcomed into the fold. It was a time of sorrow and joy. People telling family stories and laughing. People crying with Marion.
While at Mom and Dad's that moring I took phone calls from my Uncle Bob, making sure I had made it from Illinois and that my folks had a ride to the church. Then a few minutes later Aunt Ruthie called to make sure Mom had remembered her new false tooth. Always checking on and watching over each other, for 90 years this has gone on. I have missed this closeness of family since moving to Illinois 33 odd years ago. I still get a taste of it on trips home, but it is not the same as living it for all those years.
My cousins and I always talk of getting together, but we never seem to get it done unless one of the old timers hosts a family reunion. The times are faster and much different now than when the old generation were raising us cousins, faster, but I don't think better.
My brother searches for Family history, stories, tales, historical movements of the Family. I work on the Family Tree, our predecessors in this world. My hope is that we can somehow continue to keep close to our roots and let our children enjoy this wonderful family.
This was Bucky's 2nd heart attack. So I guess you could say it wasn't a total surprise. But that doesn't make it any easier to get a grip on. He had been retired for about 3 years. Never married, he had spent the last years taking care of his mother, my Aunt Marion. Buck's dad had died of a heart attack when he was 63, some 28 years ago. Aunt Marion (my father's sister) has been getting more and more confused for the last few years. She is 88 and Bucky had been visiting her everyday since his retirement to make sure she took her medicines and ate. Most days he would take her for rides to visit her brothers and sisters.
Brothers and sisters, not unlike many old families I suppose, but I am in awe everytime I see this family assembled. Aunt Marion had 11 natural brothers and sisters, and when a cousin's Mom died the family adopted her. My dad Charlie is the oldest now at 92, Marion is next at 88, Thel comes next with 87 years under her belt. Uncle Clarence is 83, Aunt Grace(the name is perfect for her) is 78, Uncle Scotch is 74, Don is 73 and Aunt Ruthie is the baby of the bunch at age 70. Four have passed, Uncle Bob just this past November. Add in the wives and husbands, 6 are still alive also, and my Brother Jim and I had 22 Aunts and Uncles, 29 first cousins and a Grandfather who lived to age 86.
Grandpa had a farm where we all met, almost every Sunday for the first 12 or 13 years of my life. Grandpa never had a tractor, he always had work horses. I still relish the memory of Grandpa holding the horses' bridles while 6 or 8 of us grandkids sat on their backs. Not many families can field both teams for a softball game and still have players on the bench ready to go in. But on Sundays we could. And when we went visiting on other days, it was always to Uncle Bob's, or Don's, or Ross's., Aunt Grace and Uncle John's, or Clarence and Thelma's, or Aunt Marion's. Later it was Bob and Ruthie's.
I stayed with my Mom and Dad for the funeral. Mom had me go through the family pictures to take what I wanted back to Illinois. What I saw in those pictures were the lives of my Aunts and Uncles from the time they were kids until now some 90 years later. They were always together, swimming, playing games, dating, marrying, raising kids. Always together, then and now.
When I walked into the church for the pre-service visitation I was not at all surprised to find them all there. The Aunts, the Uncles, the cousins. Aunt Marion was sitting in front with her brothers and sisters rotating in and out of the chairs on either side. Aunt Grace holding her hand and helping her recollect friends and family. Uncle Don guiding people to her and making sure everyone was welcomed into the fold. It was a time of sorrow and joy. People telling family stories and laughing. People crying with Marion.
While at Mom and Dad's that moring I took phone calls from my Uncle Bob, making sure I had made it from Illinois and that my folks had a ride to the church. Then a few minutes later Aunt Ruthie called to make sure Mom had remembered her new false tooth. Always checking on and watching over each other, for 90 years this has gone on. I have missed this closeness of family since moving to Illinois 33 odd years ago. I still get a taste of it on trips home, but it is not the same as living it for all those years.
My cousins and I always talk of getting together, but we never seem to get it done unless one of the old timers hosts a family reunion. The times are faster and much different now than when the old generation were raising us cousins, faster, but I don't think better.
My brother searches for Family history, stories, tales, historical movements of the Family. I work on the Family Tree, our predecessors in this world. My hope is that we can somehow continue to keep close to our roots and let our children enjoy this wonderful family.
Monday, February 07, 2005
A little stretch of heaven.
Somewhere near this post should be a picture of the beach at the Palladium Grand Resort about 60 miles south of Cancun on the Riviera Maya. Those are my toes that you see sticking up. We have vacationed there three years in a row now. We are currently starting to plan our next trip, probably to the same hotel later this year.
If you haven't been to the Riviera Maya region you should go. You can get some great deals on trip packages from WWW.applevacations.com. Funjet also has good deals at the hotels in this area. We have always used the all inclusive option which includes the flight down, the hotel, all transfers and all food and drinks at the resort. Since the resort is not located right in Cancun, it is a great place to relax and just enjoy yourself. If you want to hit the nightspots that can be arranged. We have been content to enjoy the hotel facilities and doing a few day tours to some of the wonderful Mayan ruins, like Chichen Itza and Talum. There are free daily snorkeling tours from the hotel or you can purchase more exotic snorkeling, fishing or scuba diving expeditions. The operators will pick you up and drop you off at the hotel. We went horseback riding along the beach on a 1/2 day tour one day. That was a lot of fun. You could even swim on horseback if you wanted.
The beach at the hotel is about 3/4 of a mile long. There are palapas (sun shades) to lay under and also the beach is well populated with palm trees for shade also. You can always have full sun if you want it. And the food was excellent. 7 different restaurants to choose from. If you go hungry it's your own fault. 11 bars, a huge lake size pool plus two smaller pools located closer to the rooms, a snack bar on the beach and if you bring the kids there are all day activities for them.
The place is very large and you will never feel crowded. You can be busy with a bunch of people or you can be as alone and private as you want. We saw and met folks from Nova Scotia, New Foundland, all over Canada, Spain, Germany, Poland, Russia, and England and France while we were there. The buffets offer fare for all of these varied tastes.
Paula wants to retire and get jobs there. She wants to be the lady that tends the flowers all day. I could be the flamino wrangler, someone has to do it.
Well its a great place and we're looking forward to going back.
If you haven't been to the Riviera Maya region you should go. You can get some great deals on trip packages from WWW.applevacations.com. Funjet also has good deals at the hotels in this area. We have always used the all inclusive option which includes the flight down, the hotel, all transfers and all food and drinks at the resort. Since the resort is not located right in Cancun, it is a great place to relax and just enjoy yourself. If you want to hit the nightspots that can be arranged. We have been content to enjoy the hotel facilities and doing a few day tours to some of the wonderful Mayan ruins, like Chichen Itza and Talum. There are free daily snorkeling tours from the hotel or you can purchase more exotic snorkeling, fishing or scuba diving expeditions. The operators will pick you up and drop you off at the hotel. We went horseback riding along the beach on a 1/2 day tour one day. That was a lot of fun. You could even swim on horseback if you wanted.
The beach at the hotel is about 3/4 of a mile long. There are palapas (sun shades) to lay under and also the beach is well populated with palm trees for shade also. You can always have full sun if you want it. And the food was excellent. 7 different restaurants to choose from. If you go hungry it's your own fault. 11 bars, a huge lake size pool plus two smaller pools located closer to the rooms, a snack bar on the beach and if you bring the kids there are all day activities for them.
The place is very large and you will never feel crowded. You can be busy with a bunch of people or you can be as alone and private as you want. We saw and met folks from Nova Scotia, New Foundland, all over Canada, Spain, Germany, Poland, Russia, and England and France while we were there. The buffets offer fare for all of these varied tastes.
Paula wants to retire and get jobs there. She wants to be the lady that tends the flowers all day. I could be the flamino wrangler, someone has to do it.
Well its a great place and we're looking forward to going back.
Sunday, February 06, 2005
Added Links
I think I have figured out how to add links to the blog, with a little help from my daughter.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Picture This!
I just love easy technology. Give this old man time and I'll figure anything out. Guess what? Posting pictures is easy. It took a whole 2 minutes to post the picture of me at Chichen Itza and my wife's blooming amarylis. So now I have an excuse to take lots of interesting pictures.
Not much to report from the heartland. It's February, it was 60 degrees today and sunny - what's wrong with this picture? I bet we pay for it before the month is out. I'll try to come up with an interesting post in the next couple of days. For now - enjoy the picture of the flower and don't be scared by the old guy in Mexico.
Not much to report from the heartland. It's February, it was 60 degrees today and sunny - what's wrong with this picture? I bet we pay for it before the month is out. I'll try to come up with an interesting post in the next couple of days. For now - enjoy the picture of the flower and don't be scared by the old guy in Mexico.
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Thursday, January 27, 2005
Amazing
I didn't tell anyone that I started this Blog on the 7th of January. I thought I might play around with it for awhile before I told anybody I know about it. Hah! My daughter found it and passed the word to my niece who passed the word to her dad (my brother) - so I guess the secret is out. A couple of blogger friends of my daughter left some nice welcoming remarks. Isn't the age of technology amazing?
My daughter is in Virginia, my niece is in Spain and my brother is in upstate New York. So much for keeping secrets. This one travelled 5000 miles in a very short time.
Not much to report from the heartland. The weather here has been just dull and grey. The big snowstorm went north of us and south of us. The sun just seems to have disappeared. Work has been going as good as work can go. I have a promotion waiting as soon as they can find a replacement for my current job. I am a foreman in a steel mill, soon to be a general foreman - which means I change from rotating shifts and having 11 people working for me, to having 4 foremen and about 60 people working for me. It will be straight dayshift which will be a change. I have worked at the plant for 32 years, all but 1 of those years was rotating shifts. Right now I work all three shifts each week, so the straight dayshift job will be a big change.
I got my wife an embroidery sewing machine for Christmas and as I sit writing this, she is upstairs embroidering a couple of cute bunnies and a heart on a sweatshirt for the granddaughter of one of her co-workers. She has been very busy since Christmas learning how to use it and has completed quite a few projects already.
That's all for now, but I'll be back.
My daughter is in Virginia, my niece is in Spain and my brother is in upstate New York. So much for keeping secrets. This one travelled 5000 miles in a very short time.
Not much to report from the heartland. The weather here has been just dull and grey. The big snowstorm went north of us and south of us. The sun just seems to have disappeared. Work has been going as good as work can go. I have a promotion waiting as soon as they can find a replacement for my current job. I am a foreman in a steel mill, soon to be a general foreman - which means I change from rotating shifts and having 11 people working for me, to having 4 foremen and about 60 people working for me. It will be straight dayshift which will be a change. I have worked at the plant for 32 years, all but 1 of those years was rotating shifts. Right now I work all three shifts each week, so the straight dayshift job will be a big change.
I got my wife an embroidery sewing machine for Christmas and as I sit writing this, she is upstairs embroidering a couple of cute bunnies and a heart on a sweatshirt for the granddaughter of one of her co-workers. She has been very busy since Christmas learning how to use it and has completed quite a few projects already.
That's all for now, but I'll be back.
Friday, January 07, 2005
Getting started
My daughter has a blog. My niece has a blog. Now I have a blog. I don't really know what I'll do with it, but I have it. I slipped past 50 a few years ago now, but I used that as a screen name for Instant Messenger and kind of liked the ring of it. It turned into more of a downhill slide than a little slip. I'm pretty well up to date on technology. I have been fascinated with computers since the early eighties. Started out with a Vic20, then a 286, 386, 486, pentium, then switched to AMD processors. Now I have an AMD AthlonXP 3000 processor in my main home computer, an Mobile AthlonXP 3000 plus on my laptop. The only holdout for Intel is my old Celeron 700 laptop that my wife uses with her embroidery sewing machine. They are all networked together and all that seems to work pretty well.
I used to build all my own machines, but now it is cheaper to buy than build. I've never really been into gaming on the computer. But I can spend hours tweaking an Access database to get it to do what I want. The only problem is finding enough time to do anything. That may turn into a problem with this blog, easy to start, but it requires time to update. That's it for now from the heartland in central Illinois.
I used to build all my own machines, but now it is cheaper to buy than build. I've never really been into gaming on the computer. But I can spend hours tweaking an Access database to get it to do what I want. The only problem is finding enough time to do anything. That may turn into a problem with this blog, easy to start, but it requires time to update. That's it for now from the heartland in central Illinois.
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