Light At The End Of The Tunnel?

  With another cool spell descending upon the Bayou, it was quite pertinent that I gather a bit of kindling for the old cast iron stove.  There are, in fact, two wood-burning stoves in the Little Bayou House that need to be fed when the weather takes a turn on the cooler side.  These early stages of winter just beg for a bit of warmth and the stoves provide just that.  The cat, old dog and I will huddle near the crackling embers and while away the evening hours.  Ms. Nycto will be on my lap and Mr. PJ will rest near my feet.  All in all, it makes for a perfect evening but only if I gather enough sticks to stoke the fire a bit.

  I took the long way around the property to gather an armload of "fire sticks" as my sweet granddaughter calls them.  The old stoves do not need large logs to put out a nice heat.  An armload or two of small branches will burn for hours.  The path took me around back to the canebrake.  This path heads due north and is, more or less, a tunnel like feature with large trees making a canopy overhead and thick underbrush lining the sides.  Sometimes, it can seem quite dark even during the bright of day.  This afternoon, the "tunnel' was cast in gloom from the overcast skies and a brisk north wind made it feel icy cold.  I was ever so thankful to feel my canvas log tote weighted as it meant my hike was about complete. At this same time, the sun shone through just enough to give me that "light at the end of the tunnel" feeling.   It was time to head back to the Little Bayou House and get warm.  A mug of hot ginger tea and some warm pumpkin bread fresh from the oven awaited my return!  All is well.

The Change

  Well, now!  That is a change!  I was recently bemoaning the fact that we had no winter, so to speak, then last night, Mother Nature decided to intervene on my behalf.  I awoke to nigh on freezing temperatures!  This did, indeed, pleased me...for the most part.  Other than the fact that I had to make multiple trips out to the woodpile to stoke the old stove, I thoroughly enjoyed the coziness of the Little Bayou House.  The old wood-burning stoves both chugged along happily and kept the place toasty warm.

  This morning, sitting in the comfy rocking chair while sipping my mug of hot coffee, it occurred to me that I would probably not enjoy having the "luxury" of central heating.  I NEED that comfort of watching the flames in the fireplace regardless of the extra work of gathering, splitting and hauling the firewood.  There is something mighty soothing about watching the flames flicker and hearing the fire crackle.  

  Of the two wood-burning stoves in the Little Bayou House, the parlor stove is my favorite.  This tiny cast iron stove was made in Florence, Alabama way back in 1871 and is still in perfect shape!  This stove allows me to remove the front grate so I can enjoy viewing the flames.  The other is enclosed. It warms but the visual aesthetics are missing.  My uncle gave us the stove before he moved from the Coast to live near his daughter in Missouri.  My oldest son was helping Uncle Alfred move some stuff around before his move when they came across the old stove.   It had been stored under the house for years and when Mark found it, Uncle  Alfred said  "Ooooh!  Get that thing out from under there and take it home!  That thing is still good!"  Piece by piece the iron stove was hauled to our house.   My uncle then came to tell us how to put it all back together again.  As a gift, this was amazing.  I cherish it even more since it came from my uncle!  Each time I light the fire, thoughts of our visits and, later, our phone calls, come to mind.  

  All of these happy thoughts and sweet memories came flooding in all due to a change in the weather.  Yep.  This kind of change is good!

Interesting Twists

  Call me an old fogey if you wish but, for the life of me, I cannot understand a lot of the language used these days.  When writing, folks use a lot of acronyms in place of words and even those have changed since I was a kid trying to be cool.  About half of a written paragraph is made up of a bunch of random letters smashed together to supposedly make a phrase.  It is stupid, when you think of it.  No one is going to be able to write a decent book at this rate.  It will be filled with things like BTW, LOL, IMO, OMG and THX.  That last one is a bit confusing as it means thanks...understood...I guess...but then TQ means thank you.  How?  Simply how?  How does that Q translate to you?  Yep, I am getting old.  But it is not just acronyms that get my feathers ruffled.  There are a ton of new words or old words that have new meanings that are merely out there to befuddle old folks like me.  Take for instance "Twitter" that used to be something that birds did.  "Tweet", again...birds.  Now, those have totally different meanings and if you use them in the original sense, folks look at you like you are weird.  Perhaps, I am.  Some of the new meanings to old words are not so nice so you have to be careful what you say!

  So, when my cousin wrote that she was out "twigging", it took me aback a bit.  I was not sure just what she was doing or even if I wanted to know.  You can imagine my relief when I found out that she was actually using the word in a way that made sense.  She was twigging, indeed.  Truth be known, she was gathering twigs for her wood-burning stoves.  Makes sense and is something that we share.  I have long used the word for the very same thing.  On my hikes around the hillside, I gather twigs.  It is a two-fold task as it cleans the yard at the same time gives me firewood.  A old cast iron wood-burning stove can burn for about an hour on a handful of hefty twigs.

  This morning, I gathered my usual bundle of twigs and dumped them down in the old tub that sits by the wood-burning stove in the living room.  As I did, I pondered if my grandmother would approve.  This tub was her old soap-making pot and never held a dirty twig in its whole time on this earth until I came in possession of it.  Now instead of making soap out of lye which is made from potash, it holds the twigs that make the potash to make lye for soap-making.  Interesting twist on things when you think of it. So I guess folks who twist words around to suit their needs are not that far removed from my twisting the use of a pot around to suit mine. 

"Cooking On The Bayou" With Mary Ruth!

 Oh, Happy Day!  The grandlittles are back on the Bayou so MawMaw is happy!  There is nothing like two little tots to brighten the day and make all right with the world.  It seems as if the entire place has gained a new lease on life as they bound through the Little Bayou House squealing at the top of their lungs.  It makes me smile. The place is filled with joy, the pitter-pattering of little bare feet and the giggles of happy children.  To me, their visits are too far and few between.  MawMaw misses both when they are not here.  

  This afternoon while the youngest grandlittle, Mark Charles, was taking a little snooze, little Miss Mary Ruth decided that she needed to bake for her MawMaw.  Well, I am always open to having anyone bake for me so off to the playroom we went!  She was careful to seat me at a special table (aka floor) and then gave me a menu.  I was to decide what I would like to eat at her bakery.   MawMaw, obviously not being too familiar with the new style bakeries, ordered a blueberry muffin. "MawMaw, you need to eat supper before you have dessert!", I was reprimanded.  She, then, informed me that I would have a hamburger with a hot dog and one tomato, two pieces of fruit and a cookie. Sounded fantastic to me so she set to work cooking.  "First, I need to make the hamburger/hot dog!"  She picked up a saucepan and wooden spoon, stirred a bit and placed the whole concoction into the oven.  It "baked a bit" then I was served the tastiest meal that I have ever pretended to eat!  

  It was good to see the little play kitchen back in use again.  The mishmash of old, refurbished furniture pieces, cooking utensils and dishes never looked better.  Even the pretend  "hot coals" in the homemade wood burning stove gave off a happy glow.  It just goes to show that a child's imagination can turn anything into something special.  I love my grandlittles!

Put on a Sweater!

  It is cold.  Not that I am complaining because next to a good storm, I like the cold weather.  Still, I am a girl from the Deep South and I feel the cold.  I shiver and shake with the best of them.  My nose turns red, my toes freeze and I pile on layers of clothing.  I have no problem with this at all.  For that matter, even some folks from up in the Far North have told me that they find it cold on the Bayou.  It seems that the humidity plays a part in this and since we are sitting at about an eighty percentile relative humidity, perhaps it does feel colder than the just about freezing temps that were our high for the day.  Tonight, the lows will take a plunge to well below that mark sinking almost to the teens.  Yep, the Bayou is cold.  Wet and cold is the rule for the weekend.

  While I like the cold, I also like a good fire going in the old woodburning stoves.  Both have been chugging along steadily throughout the day and will do the same overnight.  This is our source of heat...our only heat save a couple of electric spaceheaters.  That said, you can imagine what our day saw us doing.  Mark cut several trees that were either riddled with woodborers or were storm damaged.  Once cut, the wood was hauled to the house, a good bit was split and then stacked.  My woodbins are filled for the evening's burning.  Hopefully, the Little Bayou House will stay relatively warm...at least, warm by our standards. Others complain incessantly about being cold when here.  "Put on a sweater!" I direct them.  "I have on a sweater!" is often the reply.  "Put on a coat!" is my next directive.  Or...if you are still complaining, go home. Sorry, there is not a lot I can do about the lack of heat which causes some folks' complaints.  I have no problem with the house temperature sitting at sixty degrees.  I fully appreciate having a home, a woodburning stove and living in the Deep South where cold spells are a novelty and not the norm.  Don't like it?  Put on a sweater!  Or go home.  I am good with it either way.

First Fire of the Season!

  Fall has just hit the Bayou and I have already made the first fire of the season in the old wood stove.  The old, cast-iron parlor stove never looked so inviting as it does right now.  The glowing embers give the entire room a bit of ambiance that it lacked just yesterday.  This stove is one that my dear Uncle Alfred gave to me just before he moved from next door.  He and I were big buddies so when he offered the old stove to me, I was quite honored. "Crawl up under the house and on the west side there is a stove.  You might have to dig around a bit to find all of the pieces but it is there and should be in good shape." he told me. Thankfully, my oldest son was still at home and did not mind going up under the big house.  Granted there was an ideal crawl space under the house that allowed plenty of movement.  My son toted out piece after piece and Uncle Alfred helped me to assemble the stove in his front yard.  We worked until he was satisfied that all the parts had been found. The stove has sat proudly in my dining room since that day and I would not have it any other way.  Every time I use it, I think of this dear old man and my buddy!

  Now, back to that fire and why it has been lit even though our temperatures were in the triple digits this afternoon.  No, I am not daft.  No, I did not have a fit of sudden chills. I just wanted the ambiance that only the old stove could offer.  I promise that it did not heat the Little Bayou House any hotter than it already was!

  The lighting of the old parlor stove is a "parlor trick".  It is merely a string of orange Halloween lights, some bubblewrap and a few twigs from the yard.  I needed the "look" for the upcoming Clue Hunt on the Bayou.  The dining room has been transformed into a study so the fire was a must.  Obviously, there is nothing better than curling up in a comfy chair in front of a fire place while reading a good book.  Fireplace with glowing embers...check.  Comfy chair....check.  Good book....check! The stage is set!

  I am sure that in the coming weeks, the parlor stove will be called into actual use.  Since nothing has been done that cannot be "undone", I am good to go.  In the meantime, I will light my "fire" and dream of cold, winter nights.....and a good book!

Old Time Beef Stew!

The day was perfect for a big pot of beef stew, so out came the dutch oven, stew meat and veggies! It is a bit crazy I suppose that I love to cook soups and stews on my old woodburning stove, but there is just something about it that makes things taste a bit better. Whenever I cook on this stove, the aroma fills the entire house and even wafts out into the yard. I have had people tell me that they know I am cooking on the old stove even before they enter the house. It just makes things good. I believe it has to do with the idea of slow cooking. In this day of "hurry..hurry", a good slow home-cooked meal can be so soothing..comfort food! A microwave is great for warming things but sorry, as for cooking..no way! Also..prepared packaged foods..again..no way! Give me some good meat or seafood and a few fresh vegetables and I am in a dream world! I will admit that all the washing and chopping of the vegetables was done in the kitchen. Just the cooking was done on the old stove. Also, it takes a while as the heat is not consistent, but if you think of the stove as a huge slow-cooker or crockpot then there is not a problem! My husband and brother were out in the yard and came bustling in to check the bubbling pot of scrumptiousness! Men and beef stew seem to go together! The men in this family can demolish an entire dutch oven of stew in one sitting! Throw in some Cajun cornbread and they will love you forever!

Old Time Beef Stew

2 pounds stew meat

3 tablespoons oil

3 cups water (1 cup to be reserved to mix with the cornstarch later)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 large onion (chopped)

2 cloves garlic (crushed)

1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon salt (optional)

1/2 teaspoon allspice

2 cups cubed potatoes

1 cup broccoli tops (chunked)

1 cup broccoli stems (chopped, discarding tough ends)

2 cups carrots (chopped)

2 ribs celery (chopped)

2 cans mushroom slices (4 ounce cans)

In a large dutch oven, brown the stew meat in the oil. Sear it well on both sides. Pour in two cups water and add the onion, garlic, Worcestershire Sauce, black pepper, salt and allspice. Let this simmer for about 1 to 2 hours . Add the broccoli stems, potatoes, carrots and celery. Again let simmer..this time for about 30 minutes. Add the broccoli tops and mushrooms. In a small bowl place the remaining cup of water and add the cornstarch. Stir well. Scoop out about a cup of the liquid in the pot and add to the water/cornstarch mixture. Mix this until thoroughly blended. Pour back into the pot, stir well and cook until thick and bubbly!

This is a quite hardy stew and will feed about six people unless you have big eaters like the men in this family! If so..ladle out yours first!..or you might not get any!!!