I wanted to spill the beans on Veteran’s Day but it was requested that our knowledge of an award be keep quite.  Last night my father's family was given the Sullivan Brothers Outstanding Military Family Award.  I felt like a mini family reunion last night.  The award was presented by the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum which is part of the Grout Museum District. 

There was a write up about the family and the award in today's Waterloo Ceder Falls, Courier. It can be found at King-sized military family wins Sullivan award.

Warren and I visited the museum a couple of  years ago.  It is a worthwhile stop if you are in the Waterloo, Iowa area.  I highly recommend it to anyone interested in military history.  

As a child I enjoyed visits the museum as they had a pioneer section.  I loved the Laura Ingles Wilder books and the museum helped make them real.  The pioneer section is still there but it is much smaller that I remember.  I doubt if some of Laura's homes were much bigger than the displays.  

Happy Halloween

This picture was not taken this year; yet it could have been. 

A couple of weeks ago we had a snow fall of an inch..

Since it is Halloween I thought it would be fun to post.  

Fall is in Full Swing

Yesterday I cleaned half of my vegetable garden and harvested the last of the carrots.  Warren and I enjoy the flavor of homegrown carrots.  This year I bought a package that had red, white, light orange, and orange carrots.  We found the white to be rather tasteless but liked the others better.  The red ones were orange when peeled so unless they are young and well scrubbed they were not the fun product I had hoped.  Their flavor was good.  The light orange ones did not have a very strong carrot flavor so I will stick with regular carrots next year.

Oh, yes I had one very big carrot.  It was in a row of normal carrots so I do not know what caused the steroid like growth.

Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate Cookies with White Chocolate Chips or Peanut Butter Chips  

   

       

I made these cookies today.  For the cocoa I used some of the Valrhona 100% cacao.  This cocoa powder is said to be one of the best brands.  This is the first I have used the package we bought in Minneapolis this winter in cookies.  I wanted to know if we could tell the difference and if it was by chance worth the extra money. 

It is a bit different in taste from the other cocoas I have used.  It is certainly good.  I am not sure my taste buds can tell the difference in a blind test.  My palate my not be refined enough to warrant the extra cost of this cocoa but I will buy it again.  It is not a must to have product. But nice to have in the cabinet.

The Farm Wife Cooks

Please join me as I share some of our favorite recipes on a new blog.  The Farm Wife Cooks will feature some of our favorites from my files and my adventures as I try new ones from time to time.  Today I share our very favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie.  It is a bit different as the baking soda is added to hot water.  This is something I had done before when I make Raisin Cookies but until I found this recipe in a family cookbook I had not seen it used in a chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Fresh From the Oven

Join me at http://thefarmwifecooks.blogspot.com

Rebecca

April is a month of birthdays in our family.  I, Samantha, Hannah, and Malissa all will celebrate this month.  Sam is excited about a sleep over with her friends.  Hannah will turn sixteen and soon get her driver's licence.  Malissa and I both have birthday's that end in a five. 

 

This card was sent from Grandma Lucy's niece, Katie Mae.  The stamp has been torn off.  The date is gone along with the stamp.  I suspect the note was really sent by Katie's mother.  Katie was born in 1909 and was the first of eight children born to Lucy's sister Anna Mae.  Katie had a sister born in 1910.  I would guess that this was sent in May of 1910 for Lucy's birthday before the second daughter was born. 

It is Valentine's Day

 

This post card is another from my Granmother Lucy Platt's collection.

It gives a 1912 sent date and a Hudson, Iowa address.

It is signed M & G down in the far left hand corner and there is no message.

It was sent from Englewood Station, Chicigo, Illionis.

It is in lovely condition for a paper item just over 100 years of age.

The flowers and heart are raised and the colors are lovely. 

I sure wish I knew who M & G were.

Lucy was 15 years old when she got this card.

Another Postcard from the Past

This one was post marked Jan 24, 1911.  It is from Ruth B.  Ruth most likely lived in Waterloo from where this card was sent.  Lucy lived in Waterloo on 1129 Randolph Street.  Lucy had sent Ruth a little guest book.  Ruth was thanking her very, very much for the cute little guest book.

About yesterday's post card.  It is sent from San Diego, CA. It is rather hard to read and is from someone that only put their initials on it and I thought they are C.B. Later I found another post card from San Diego from an Archie Beekley.  The name was rather hard to read as the post office stamp is over that spot. At first I thought it was Archie Beekly.  I did some investigation on Ancestry.com. Now I would guess that it is a G.B. and that it is from an Archibald Gordon Beekley born in 1894 in Waterloo, Iowa. He must have been a friend of grandma’s.  He died after a flight training accident at the age of 26.  Archie is listed as born in Waterloo, Iowa so my guess I have located a friend who had moved away. 

 

HAPPY 2013

This is a postcard from my Grandmother Lucy's collection.  It was sent to her in 1911 from San Diego, CA.  It is signed with the initials C.B. - I think.  The writing goes all around the card on the left side.  It tells of visiting different folks so I would guess it was a friend on vacation.  Lucy was born in 1896 so she would have been 14 years of age when she got this card. 

Wishing everyone a happy 2013!!!!