One day I pull out my shorts and sleeveless shirts.
The next day I cover them with a light jacket and the weather feels so good outside thatI have looked for work to do in the yard and in our summer house.
The next day I am inside cooling off with our air conditioner.
This cooler weather lets me know that the cooler – cold – coldest weather will be here in a few weeks.
We are winterizing everything outside – swimming pool, mulching flower beds, repairing windows and doors, checking our heating units and, of course, cutting and stacking our supply of firewood.
When the temp falls below 50 degrees, you can see plumes of black smoke coming from at least two of our chimneys. My husband is a still a country boy and he loves an open fire. When he was growing up, a fireplace was their only heat for the winter cold. He has told our children and grandchildren how he and his three brothers would help his dad cut firewood on their land in Ethel when he was very young. There was no gas-powered chain saw and they used an axe and a hand saw. It took them lots longer to cut a cord of wood than it does us today.
Growing up, our heat was generated by a coal burning stove, the one that blew my daddy against the wall when he poured a little too much “starter” on the coals one cold morning.
My mother would make coffee and slow-cooking stew on top of the little black iron heater/stove.
My grandmother and granddaddy had a big wood-burning fire place as this was the only heat for the two-bedroom house. You would be really warm on one side as you sat by the roaring fire but on the other side, you were pretty cold.
They had rockers sitting in a semi-circle around the big stone fireplace and the company would sit and visit with the one side warming.
My grandmother chewed Bull of the Woods chewing tobacco and would rock one surely good rock and spit into the fire while my granddaddy and my little Granny Key dipped Garrett snuff and would also use this as a “spittoon.”
I never saw them miss.
I can remember a big cast iron pot hanging from the top of the fireplace, near the left side. It was always filled with water in order to keep moisture in the air.
Sometimes she would add a few of her herbs to make the air smell fresh. I always loved that smell and still associate it with her house. I too keep the smell of herbs in my house using the candle burners. I remember her every time I get a good whiff.
I made this cake this week. It is one of my own recipes, and my husband really enjoyed it.
Fresh Apple Cake
5 tp 6 peeled apples (I used Granny Smith)
Melt one stick of butter in the bottom of a 12” iron skillet and add the apples.
Add ½ cup of brown sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon and toss together.
Meanwhile mix ½ package of yellow cake mix, 3 eggs, ½ cup milk, 1/3 cup of oil, 1 t. vanilla extract, and pour over apples.
Bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees.
The iron skillet will caramelize the apples and sugar.
