Walking in the Woods

My sister politely reminded me that it has been a long time since I have posted, and she is right! The lack of me posting is not due to me not doing fun stuff. If you removed the two negatives in that sentence it would say that the lack of me posting is due to me doing fun stuff.

 I do have crazy amounts of time right now. It is just that at the end of the day I feel that when I complete a task, I cannot designate the amount of time to writing as good of a blog entry as I would like. It is the storyteller in me. I feel the need to find a story in anything that I write. I guess I have to come to terms with the fact that not every adventure has an over arching story.

I said I was going blog about all the fun stuff I am doing so here it goes.

On March 20th I went to Shawnee Lookout. I have actually never been there. May have been there when I was a kid, but I don't remember.

I had heard that Shawnee Lookout had Indian burial mounds and a fort kind of like Fort Ancient (which I have also never been to). I thought going on a hike would be a nice way to welcome spring. Incase you don't remember, March 20th was a cold day. It was sunny, but it was cold.

As I pulled up I could see a great number of smoke stacks. When I was a kid I always thought that smoke stacks were cloud makers. Now I know better. It was strange seeing industry in the woods. You could hear woodpeckers, the trees rattling, and occasionally the low thrum of the factory. Simply a strange combination.

My imagination when I am walking in the woods tends to run wild. As a child I would fanaticize that Robin Hood was going to swoop down at any moment and take me away. My mind constantly drifts now to the idea that walking in the woods is in essence time travel. You get to see the world as millions of people saw it before. No buildings, no pavement, no cars. Just nature. Grant it on this walk I was constantly reminded of the outside world.

It still is a beautiful place to walk. I walked around the grounds for what seemed like hours. Ran into a few burial mounds. You think they would do more than simply label the
mounds. But all there was were these signs simply stating what they are.

The scenic river views were fantastic. I didn't get a good picture of it. There was a clean drop off and I was afraid that I would drop my phone.

Everywhere I turned my imagination ran wild. Doesn't this look like the home of a gnome?

Either way, I love long walks in the woods. I do not give them to myself as often as I should.

World War II Food

I asked my mother the other day for a recipe for what my sisters and I call World War II food. I wish I could say I was the one who came up with that name. The credit actually goes to my older sister Julie. She says she thought of it because the dish reminded her of what people ate during WWII. Basically throw what you have from your garden and kitchen into a pot.

That's all it is really. Potatoes, sausage, onions, and green beans in a pot with a little vinegar and pepper. But to me it isn't that simple. To me it is listening to Moondance by Van Morrison while doing my homework at the kitchen table. The smell of it cooking permeating through the house. To me it is getting called into dinner after playing in the snow for hours with my sister. It was the time I got to talk to my parents about anything I wanted to, though most of the time I stayed silent. I love hearing other people tell their stories. It reminds me of my parents and how, come Hell or high water all five of us were going to eat dinner together. Even if that meant eating at 4 pm before Julie had Drill Team.

To most this meal may seem simple, but to me it has a lot of heart. My Grandpa Schwendenmann once said that the special ingredient in anything he made was love. To me there is a lot of love that goes into this dish. It  may be simple. But don't judge a book by its cover. Its gotta lotta heart.

                                

WWII Food Recipe:

1 Hillshire Farm Sausage cut up (Any flavor you want)

2 potatoes

1 can of green beans

1 medium onion

Salt, pepper and vinegar to taste (I like about 1/2 cup vinegar. But I LOVE vinegar)

Put sausage in pan over medium heat until brown. Add onions and potatoes and let it sit for a minute.

Add whole can of green beans including all the juice. Add salt, pepper, and vinegar.

Cover and let it simmer for a while. The time frame really depends on how hungry you are. 30 minutes seems like long enough.

Then enjoy. The amount listed can serve about 3 people.