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!!!!

It looks a lot like Christmas

Mom painted the bell ornament.  The blue and pink ones are from my Grandma H's tree.  Each grand kid had one.  Mine was the blue and my sister, Sarah's was the pink.  Or maybe it was the other way around.  Sarah died when she was 4 and after Grandma died I was given both ornaments.      

Slightly different arrangement on the Butler's tray table this year.  Most of my pictures were taken last year but I really have not changed things much.

 

New candy this year but same dish. 

 

I cover the coffee table arrangement so it does not get dusty and have reused it for the third time.

Warren gave me the snowman and snowlady a few years ago.  

Santas - all hand painted by Vaillancourt. 

My two Swedish items.  They were given to me by the relatives when they visited years ago.  I will never burn the candles as they are so close to the wood.  I break the candles from time to time so the box they also gave to me slowly empties.

How it looks today.  I still have a couple of gifts to wrap.  I wrap most of the gifts sitting on the floor while watching TV.  I am hoping the last two orders will be delivered today as the family get together is tomorrow. 

Last a view out of one of the eating area windows.  They are still mostly covered with snow.  I will knock the snow off when I go out to feed the birds.     

Busy or Lazy

It has been ages since I have written anything. No real reason but...............

I have accomplished a few tasks on the "to do list".  Every year or so the front door needs a repainting.  This year both the front and back doors are sporting a different color.  The paint went from a dark red to a orangeish brick color.  I like it even if it was not the exact color I was wanting.  We took out the overgrown evergreen bush by the front door and replaced it with a burning bush.  I love the color in the fall look.  As almost all our bushes seem to grow well we went with a smaller planting. 

We did something we should have done a long time ago and planted an apple tree.

We are looking forward to someday having some Honey Crisp apples to harvest.

 

One of our trees out front got sun scald and fell over this spring.  It was replaced with this lovely red Autumn Blaze Maple.  We planted a tree for each of our grand kids.  Kelsey's and Sage's trees have done well but this is the second we planted for Sam.  Hannah's tree has been replaced 6 times.  Her tree is now doing well.  This last time we planted a slender oak.  It is three years old so we are hopeful it grows and thrives for many years. 

 

I enjoyed watching Hannah run cross country this season.  She usually placed third on her team.  Running to keep in shape is her main goal.  Soccer is the sport she loves the most.

 

One weekend when Kelsey was home from college she harvested the honey from the hive.  This year it looks like she will have around 100 pounds.  Last year was about half that so we think the bee hive is a success.  She did get rid of her chickens before she went off to school.  No one wanted the responsibility and the egg production had dropped off to the point of needing new hens.  I miss the fresh eggs but not cleaning them.