Mountain Musings

Encyclopedia of Me ~ V is for...

Visiting Friends!

Here's a bit of unusual beauty taken at a rest stop leaving the New England area going through Pennsylvania and headed to Ephrata. We were on our way to visit friends and to attend their church services this past Sunday morning.

Actually, this friendship began last year at the History Conference when our family met two of the daughters (Karen and Abigail) in the Einwechter family. Karen and Hannah have been penpals for the past year and have exchanged emails and forged friendships.

Here's a picture taken when we first arrived at the Einwechter home. Jonathan and Tom are getting acquainted with Jonathan and Ben Einwechter while the rest of us were given a tour of the property to see the goats, chickens, and a field of pumpkins.

To the left is a picture of the girls working in the kitchen prior to the delicious Sunday meal that was served to us. We enjoyed the fellowship, food, and getting to know this family.

Above is a picture of one of the dinner tables out in the sunroom. Much talking and much fun!

To the right: we enjoyed talking more with Mr. & Mrs.Einwechter and finding out about their background and family. They are a multi-talented musical family as evidenced by the picture below.

Before we left the guys entertained us with several selections on banjo, guitar, mandolin, and dobro. Jonathan joined them on another guitar as they picked out some bluegrass favorites. This picture was taken from the loft looking down on the gathering below.

What a fun ending to our Thanksgiving trip. Thank you Einwechter Family for hosting us!

~Deb

Together with Family

Last week we traveled to Uncasville, Connecticut, to visit with Tom's family over the Thanksgiving holidays. We always enjoy getting to see each other, and this time it had been three years since our family had made the trip up north. In the picture below, we were shopping late in the day on Black Friday at Mystic Village after a fun afternoon of bowling. The setting was beautiful with the fall leaves, nippy air, twinkly lights, and red ribbons; I could have spent all day there in the neat shops!

Tom's dad is on the far right, and the picture includes Tom's brother (back left), his two sisters, and brother-in-law (back right) along with Sarah, Hannah, and Jonathan. It was especially good to have the four older Girotti siblings and the four younger Girotti siblings together for Thanksgiving. Micah and Elizabeth (and Teak) were able to travel with us, too, but had returned home before the shopping excursion. I'm very thankful for the time together.

One of the highlights for Jonathan was interviewing Grampa about his life's experiences and specifically World War II. It was interesting for the rest of us as we listened to the stories as memories began to surface the more he talked. What a treasure to have this recording to pass on to future generations.

Hannah received some expert crocheting advice from Aunt Ellen while we were there. She's crocheting a baby blanket, which came in handy to have along to work on during the long travel hours. Did you notice the games on the table in the background? It has become our very fun tradition to play Password everytime we get together - Girls Win! [stealth edit by Head Guy - Men won both rounds of bowling! ha-ha, ha-ha!]

Elizabeth and I knitted awhile together (she a sweater and I another dishcloth) on Thanksgiving afternoon while the gang played pool and watched football. Here's a shot of Sarah trying her hand at pool.

Well, that was just a sampling of our holiday. We had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving, and the $700+ brake job that needed to be done while we were there...well, we won't even think about that. We'll just remember the thankfulness we felt making it safely off the Tappan-Zee Bridge and arriving safely there and back home to Virginia again!

Next up: Visiting with new friends on a stopover in Pennsylvania on our way home.

~Deb

Pack-Unpack-Repack

Our Thanksgiving was a very enjoyable one spent with family in Connecticut. It's great to travel but also good to be home! Thank you, Lord, for safety on the busy roads!

Now...we're gearing up for a trek in the opposite direction. Will any of you be there?  If so, we'd love to see you!

~Deb

Happy Thanksgiving!

From our family here at Mountain Musings to your family...have a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving!

We'll be taking a blogging break this week to get ready for the holidays. See you back here on the blog on Monday, the 26th!

Happy Thanksgiving!

~The Girottis

Thanksgiving Menu

This is the first day we've participated in Kelli's week-long "Giving Thanks" celebration on traditions, menus, and decorating ideas for Thanksgiving. The girls and I would like to share three of the recipes we're preparing and bringing to help out with the Thanksgiving meal with our relatives this Thursday.

I will be making Cranberry Relish--a favorite of Tom's that we've had every Thanksgiving for the past twenty years.

Cranberry Relish

• 1 12-oz package fresh cranberries
• 1 green apple
• 2 large oranges
• 1 cup nuts
• 1/2 cup orange marmalade
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

At least five hours before serving or day ahead, coarsely chop cranberries and apple. Place in large bowl. Coarsely grate peel from oranges and reserve. Cut off white membrane from oranges and discard. Chop oranges.

Add orange peel and chopped oranges to cranberry mixture. Stir in nuts, marmalade, raisins, and brown sugar. Cover and refrigerate at least three hours or overnight. (I've posted this recipe in the past and remember a friend commenting that she always subsitutes honey for the brown sugar, which works well.)

Hannah will prepare Squash Casserole with yellow squash from our garden:

• 6 cups yellow squash
• 1/4 cup chopped onions
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 can chicken soup
• 1 8-oz stuffing mix
• 1/2 cup melted butter

Cook squash and onions in boiling water 5 minutes and drain. Combine sour cream and soup. Stir in carrrots and squash (drained). Mix stuffing with butter--1/2 on bottom of 12x7" pan, then mixture, then 1/2 on top. Bake 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes. Can be frozen before cooked.

Sarah makes the Sweet Potato Casserole recipe that's found on AllRecipes.com. It is great!

Sweet Potato Casserole II

• 4 1/2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13" baking dish. In a large bowl, mix together mashed sweet potatoes, 1/2 cup butter, milk, sugar, vanilla extract, and eggs. Spread sweet potato mixture into the prepared baking dish. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and flour, Cut in 1/3 cup butter until mixture is crumbly, then stir in pecans. Sprinkle pecan mixture over the sweet potatoes. Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Yield: 16 servings.

And Elizabeth is making her famous Peach Pie to add to the bounty. Should be a delicious meal! Be sure and visit Kelli's blog There Is No Place Like Home for other participants' ideas for Thanksgiving.

~Deb

Carrot Cake

Recently I have made two carrot cakes. One was a birthday cake someone ordered from me, and I made one for the gathering we had to practice. It was fairly simple to make, so it was a fun project. I used a new recipe for the cake that turned out really well. Since I don't like raisins or nuts cluttering up a perfectly good carrot cake, this was a nice, simple recipe to use. :)

Carrot Cake

• 2 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 4 2/3 cup sifted cake flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 6 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour three 8-in. pans. Combine sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in medium bowl. Mixing at low speed, slowly pour oil into dry ingredients. Add eggs, one at a time. Add carrots and blend just until they are evenly mixed into the batter. Scrape sides and continue to mix on low for 30 seconds. Pour batter in pans and bake for 40-50 minutes. Cake should pull away from sides and tester come out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

~Sarah

Michelle's Goody Giveaway

Have you been over to Michelle's place lately? She's hosting a giveaway! Check out that whimsical party bird wearing striped socks holding a cute snowman, a snowman picture frame, and a fridge magnet--all her own original creations!

All you do to enter is comment on her blog posts from now until November 30th, sign up for her newsletter, or promote the giveaway on your blog.

By the way, Michelle is Karla Dornacher's daughter, and you can see some of Michelle's clock creations on Karla's webstore page.

~Deb

November Color

The bright reds, yellows, and oranges are finally showing up here in Virginia in spite of a dry summer. Because of careful coverage with old sheets, shower liners, dog blankets, etc, during cold, frosty nights, I am still picking our fall raspberries. They have been a treat to enjoy since the rest of the plants have been pulled or put to bed for the winter. It has been a busy gardening season, so now it's time to settle down for some indoor projects!

~Hannah

Encyclopedia of Me ~ U is for ...

Uncasville!

Where? That's the place where I spent most of my growing-up years.  Technically a small village incorporated into the town of Montville in southeastern Connecticut, most of my memories of childhood and teen years revolve around this small New England burg.

After my birth in nearby New London, at an age too young for me to remember, my parents moved us to Uncasville, into a small house on Maple Avenue. It had light green painted cedar shakes for siding, an upstairs, downstairs, and a basement, along with a hill on one side that was great for sledding. The fields and woods behind the house seemed to stretch for miles when we would go exploring as kids, though when I looked there in later years, they had shrunk to a much smaller size. I attended Palmer Memorial Elementary School, St. John's Jr. High School, and St. Bernard's High School there.

There were four of us siblings in the family. Our parents taught us about God, respect for Him, and being decent people. And they had great love for us. These foundations were later used by the Lord to draw me to Him. In the picture on the right, that's my dad and me standing in front of 195 Maple Avenue on a cold February day in 1980--the weekend I proposed to Deb in the living room of that house.

In the mid-90s, Uncasville had the dubious distinction of becoming home to the Mohegan Sun, owned and operated by the Mohegan Tribal Nations, one of the largest gambling casinos in the world. From what my sister tells me, the effects on the area are not altogether positive.

My dad is now retired (he worked many years for General Dynamics Electric Boat division, a major economic influence in the region). He lives in nearby Quaker Hill, not far from where he grew up himself.

Soon we'll be taking a trip up to Uncasville to spend a few days with my dad and siblings and family. We haven't made that trip for a few years, so it will be enjoyable to be around them again.

~ Tom

A Circle of Thankful Hearts

November's here, and Karla Dornacher is having a contest! If you've ever visited Karla's Korner, you know that she always has some wonderfully written posts; her love for family and for her Lord shines through on her blog. The Give Thanks plaque you see pictured below is just one of her special designs, and it's one of several goodies she's giving away this month--isn't that so very neat?!

Karla wants to create a "circle of thankful hearts" all across the country--holding hands in cyberspace so to speak. Click here to read others' thankful thoughts. I'm entering her contest by posting these five things I'm thankful for:

1.  Family--it's so good to be around my family each day and have my children living at home for this short season of their lives. I appreciate them even more when I've been away--like this week when I spent all day Tuesday volunteering at the election precinct. It was wonderful to come home to a loving family. How blessed I am to be a stay-at-home wife and mom every day of the year!

2. Friends--who stand by me and support me no matter what. Friends who will commit to "31 Days of Praying for my Friend." Friends who remain close friends even when separated by distance. I'm so very thankful for loyal friendships.

3. Health--eyes to see the beauty around me this fall season, ears to hear music playing as we go about our daily routines, the sense of smell (and lately it's been the delicious aroma of Sarah's delicious carrot cakes baking!), ability to walk and climb steps without knee pain, ability to speak and communicate my needs and emotions--so many things we often take for granted. And just this week, I'm thankful the Lord brought Sarah safely through her wisdom teeth surgery and has already started the healing process.

4. Our Church--I'm very thankful for the new relationships the Lord has brought about and strengthened within our home church family...hearts are being knit together with every gathering, prayer request, email, and meal together. One particular Sunday stands out in my mind quite vividly. We were meeting at our friends' home, and it was mid-afternoon and time for us to make our way back to our house. I made the comment, "We should be going so you all can have some family time." And the return answer? "This is family time." What a very special way to treat fellow believers, and I am thankful for these heart ties.

5. Home and its comforts--a warm quilted bed, food on the table every day and in abundance, lights when you flick a switch, heat when you push a button, clothes to wear, a packed freezer with bounty from the garden, hot apple cider, wireless internet (well, maybe one day that can be added!)...and the list goes on.

With Thanksgiving only two weeks away, have you made your thankful list yet? You can leave a comment on this post or to enter Karla's contest, write your list here. Thank you, Karla, for the chance to share my own list.

~Deb