Peggy's Jibber-Jabber: Thursday

I regret...

"What, Peg? What do you regret?" you ask.

I regret that I didn't tell you more about Barbara last week. I got sidetracked with my sunburn and never went back.

"What did you want to tell us?"

I wanted to tell you that the last event Barbara was to participate in was the 400-meter run. That's once around the track. She waited and waited for her name to be called. I waited and waited for her run to start (while I talked with Asia) and see Barbara leaving the area. I caught up with her.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Did I miss your run?"

"No. They dropped my name from the race."

"Why?"

"I don't know." She was so upset.

After each race, the participants go to the awards area and collect their ribbon. That's where Barbara was headed. She caught up with her team leader and told her what happened. The team leader spoke with someone else, obviously one of the coordinators of the event because she said, "I'll fix it. She'll get to run."

They were using the track for the relay races and this lady inserted herself, made them clear a lane, and Barbara ran the race — all by herself.

She didn't seem to mind, though. Her timer paced her on the track, encouraged her,

and when she finished she was all smiles! Way to go Miss Barbara! You're the embodiment of a true winner in my book!

Flowers are blooming all over the place! This is Creeping Charlie. Most of the time you just see the pretty scallop-edged leaves but they do get a flower on them.

If you do a Google search for this wildflower, the first seven or eight entries are devoted to getting rid of it before you ever come to one telling you this plant is edible. Creeping Charlie or Ground Ivy is in the mint family and the leaves have a mild mint-like flavor. You can toss young leaves into a salad or cook them like spinach. Add it to stews, soups, or even omelets. Fresh or dried leaves can be made into tea. They even add it to beer in much the same way as hops in order to clear it and improve its flavor.

And this is the flowers of the Choke Cherry — after a rain.

Lots more wildflowers to come, but it makes letter blogging easier for me (and I miss adding pictures less) if I talk about stuff in the order it happens. And we will get to Thursday too, trust me.

At my bird feeder this week I got a male Cardinal, Blue Jay, and female Grosbeak all in the same shot. I don't know where her male is but I saw Mr. Mister snatch a bird from under the feeder the other day.

Smudge was checking out the feathers left behind.

I am so proud of myself! I sat here at my desk one day and looked at a stack of saved cards and letters and thought of two people whom I love very much. Momma and my oldest sister Patti.

Momma had a stack of saved papers and cards on her desk too. I guess I'm like her in that respect.

"Patti looks at them and throws them away." That's what Momma said of Patti's filing system for cards and letters.

"I don't have room for all that stuff!" Is what Patti says. Heck, by my standards, Patti lives a Spartan lifestyle.

But truly, how often am I ever going to look at that stuff? I have letters and cards from years past that I never look at. I took a page from Patti's book and cleaned my desk out. I took six cans of crumpled paper out to the burn barrel and burned them.

But I have a confession to make. I made a digital copy of all the letters you've sent me first. Digital is so much easier to deal with and sort through, not to mention it takes up so much less space. Besides, when I'm gone, no one is going to care about them anyway.

I found a letter Kat had written me. I didn't burn that one even though I did make a digital (and blurry) copy of it. And that night I dreamed of and cried for my lost little girl.

There are so many frogs at my pond! I hear the croak of the bullfrogs more often now.

Whenever we go to the pond Ginger loves to run back and forth along the bank chasing all the frogs into the water. She barks as they make a splash.

I trust Ginger to not go too far and don't pay much attention to her as I go looking for my Star of Bethlehem. I know about where it grows — just on the bank out of reach of Michael's mower. The grass was really tall but I found it! And pulled some of the tall grass away from it.

This wildflower is in the lily family. It gets its name because of its pure white star-shaped flowers, named after the Star of Bethlehem that appeared in the sky after the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Forest Service has no love for this wildflower even though this flower is used in weddings and given as gifts for special romantic occasions.

They put out a paper saying it's a threat to native vegetation and is considered highly toxic to animals.

Do not plant this species and eliminate the plant wherever you see it if possible. That's what they say.

I looked around for Ginger and couldn't see her anywhere.

"GINGER!" I yelled. "GINGER! WHERE ARE YOU!"

She doesn't bark or make a sound but eventually I spot her as her head pops up.

How about this tiny little green inchworm?

I spotted him when I was looking for asparagus — which I found one! I'm not going to pick him though. I'm going to leave him for seed.

Mike and I hauled my garden soil out to the new raised bed we made and filled it. Smudge helped.

Thursday.

Oh my gosh! Thursday was a day when all we did was run, run, run, and sit, sit, sit.

Mike got a notice that he was due for his CDL medical exam. Although it's months until his current one expires, he was worried about it. Thursday we started the day bright and early. We got up, fed the critters, and headed off to grab breakfast at McDonald's before going to the License Branch. We arrived there at 9 and the parking lot was already full. We went in and took a number. Mike was 81 and I was 82. "You might just as well get your Real ID as long as we're here," Mike said.

Real ID is TSA approved ID to allow you to fly. Our current Pennsylvania driver's licenses aren't approved but will still work for another year.

81 and 82. They were currently serving 51. It was more than two hours before our numbers were called. But we sat in the first row and the ladies that worked the much shorter line of Driver's License Pictures Only kept us entertained.

Mike had all the documentation to switch his CDL over to where he doesn't need to have a yearly physical because he doesn't drive commercially anymore. I, on the other hand, was short one piece of documentation. I didn't have anything to show my name change from my maiden name to my first married name.

"You'll have to call the courthouse where you were married and get a copy of your marriage license," I was told.

"And the next time you come back, try the afternoon. We're not as busy then."

When we left there we stopped at Farmer Fred's and bought some plants for my garden. Cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, as well as a Snapdragon and Marigold.

Then it was another stop at McDonald's for lunch.

Then it was a stop at the grocery for milk and bananas.

We weren't home for very long when I see a post on FaceBook. Mike's favorite sandwich, Italian Sausage, was on sale at his favorite ice cream shop, Smile A While.

"We've already eaten two meals out today," Mike pointed out.

"I know but you love Italian sausage and it is on sale!"

"What are you going to get?" he asked.

"I'm going to take a bowl of soup and we can eat in the car."

It's all outdoor seating so it wasn't any problem for me to take my own food. While we waited on Mike's sandwich, I walked around and took pictures of Cheri's newest addition to her landscaping. An old tow truck with an ice cream cone on top and flowers planted in the back.

After we had supper, we had dessert. Hand dipped Chocolate in a bowl for Mike, Cookie Dough in an edible bowl for me.

"Edible bowl?" Mike questioned.

"Yeah. AKA a cone. Saves a piece of trash from the landfill."

I got a kick out of her trashcan. Today I will be happier than a bird with a French fry, it says. That sounds pretty happy to me!

We picked up our ice cream and wandered through her small primitive and antique store on our way back to the Jeep.

We took a different road home. Are you ready for a ride through the country?

We hadn't gone far down the road before the clicking of my camera was dominate sound in the Jeep.

"I see an open door," you say.

I know, right! Do you know me or what! Inside were a few old windows and a piece of farm machinery.

"Look at that!" Mike says sending my focus ahead of us. Yep, that's the Jeep's antenna in the picture as I stuck my camera out the window for this shot.

At the stop sign, I looked behind us. "There's no one coming. I'm going to get out and take pictures."

"Peg!" Mike yells.

"What!" I yell back.

"There's a bell over here."

I turned my camera and got a picture. Just out of the frame of this shot is a cemetery.

Then I went back to photographing the old building.

I could see the concrete steps up to the concrete porch. On a whim, I decided to peek in the window.

"Wait, Peg!" you exclaim. "Is that poison ivy?"

No. This has five leaves. It's just an ivy. But thanks for the warning.

Inside I see a wall of books. It looks like there are little white stickers on the spines.

Was this a library? I wondered. I couldn't see any more bookshelves further in so then I wondered if it was maybe some kind of store that just had a library nook. I'll probably never have the answer.

I went back to the Jeep.

"Those stones say something on them," Mike said. "Why don't you go see what they say?"

I shrugged a why not and headed across the road. One stone under the bell said UNION, the other had a date. 1887.

I took a picture of the caretaker's shack...

...then turned back to the Jeep again. Mike was still sitting at the stop sign waiting for me. He really is a good husband.

We headed back to Wyalusing via Old Stagecoach Road.

"Do you think this was the road the stagecoaches used to use?" I asked.

"I don't know," Mike answered. "Maybe."

"Maybe we'll go around a curve and there'll be an old stagecoach alongside the road," Mike mused.

"Maybe," I answered but then my more pragmatic side spoke up. "Naw. Someone would have stolen it by now."

But around every curve were more interesting views and more barns.

"Mayapples!" I exclaimed. We were almost back to Route 6 when I spotted them. But that wasn't all I spotted either. "They have flowers! Mike stop! I want to take pictures."

So right there in the middle of the road, Mike stops for me.

I knew that Mayapples got flowers, I'd just never seen one before.

Mayapple is also called Mandrake. Plants with a single leaf are sterile and will not produce a flower or fruit. Only plants with two or three leaves will form flowers and fruits. Actually, just one flower per plant and that right at the juncture of the leaves. The fruit is edible but only when fully ripe and have a sweet, mildly acidic taste. Some people use the fruit to make jelly. If it's not ripe, it could make you sick. All other parts of the plant are toxic.

Growing right next to the Mayapples was this one Wild Geranium or Crane's Bill. This wildflower, like so many others, has been used in herbal medicine. It's an astringent, a substance that causes contraction of the tissues and stops bleeding. The Indians brewed a root for toothache and for painful nerves and mashed the roots for treating hemorrhoids, or piles. They used to call them piles.

We get home from that little jaunt through the country and I have time enough to take care of the litter boxes and freshen the water in the cat room before I leave for Bible Study. Thursday was a long run-around day.

The Buttercups are blooming! Who doesn't love the sunny yellow Buttercups!

Buttercups are not considered edible. You'll find a couple of pages that say you can eat them after being dried, but I'd stay away from consuming them if I were you.

The only use for Buttercups is the childhood game of holding the yellow blossom under someone's chin to see if they like butter. The chin will light up with a yellow glow if you do. Actually, it'll light up anyway because of the reflective sheen on the petals. But, like I said, it's just a child's game.

Even though you can't eat them they still had a place in medicine. They were used for everything from treating arrow and gunshot wounds to nosebleeds to syphilis.

The white honeysuckle is blooming. The air is fragrant and sweet with their aroma.

Autumn Olive's aren't blooming yet.

A doe is bringing her twins around for us to see. She shows them the places where it's safe to go. Like many babies, they frolic and play while mama keeps a watchful eye.

As much as I enjoy seeing the babies, it makes me a little sad too.

"Why's that, Peg?" you ask.

Because hay season is coming. Do you know how many fawns are killed by the hay cutter every year?

Nah. Me either. But I know they get them because the babies will stay right where mom left them. Even if the farmer finds them and manages to shoo them out of the field, they'll come right back to the same spot. They have to shoo them and cut that area first before the babies sneak back in.

Besides fawns, the haybine also gets its share of pheasant and quail nests too.

Apple blossoms. They're on the way out. I didn't know they were there until now.

FYI. The apple is my most very favorite fruit. Is that boring? The walnut is my favorite nut. Again, boring? If you think that's boring, then guess which flavor of ice cream is my most very favorite. Yep. Vanilla.

I remember once, a hundred years and three lifetimes ago, my sophisticated college-student sister took me to the mall for a little shopping and we stopped at a Baskin Robbins for ice cream.

"What kind do you want?" she asked me.

"Vanilla."

"All these flavors and you want vanilla?" She was incredulous.

Truth be known, at the time, I didn't have much experience with different flavors of ice cream. In a family of eleven children about the only thing that came in our house was a gallon of Napoleon err... Neapolitan at birthday times. And I knew I liked vanilla. Strawberry could be tolerated, but I didn't want any chocolate!

Did you know that Neapolitan ice cream was named in the late 19th century because of the Neapolitan immigrants who brought their expertise in frozen desserts with them to the United States? Early recipes used a variety of flavors but three was the common denominator of flavors sandwiched together to resemble the Italian flag. More than likely chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry became the standard because they were the most popular flavors in the U.S. at the time of introduction.

This letter blog could easily be called Thursday Saturday because Saturday once again found us driving around the back roads of Wyalusing.

Mike's cold continues to hang on. He's sick and tired of being sick and tired. He's been sick for 12 days now. I have it too but don't seem to suffer as much as he is. Hmmm. Anyway, we've run through our supply of Vicks DayQuil. Saturday we went to town to buy a new one.

"You go," I told Mike. "I want to stay and work on my letter blog. Besides, if I go I'll want to stop at a couple of yard sales and we'll buy stuff we don't even need."

I guess Mike was okay with that because he wanted me to go with him.

The first sale we stopped at was actually an estate sale. Three generations lived in this house then the lady's husband dies, she moves to Ohio to be with her son, and family heirlooms are sold off.

I found a couple of packs of recordable DVDs and a pack of new jewel cases for $3 but that was all I bought.

I carried my treasures upstairs. I opened and peeked in rooms that had signs on the doors saying DO NOT ENTER. I didn't enter, I only looked in. I'm a rebel like that sometimes. Most of the rooms were empty. One had bedroom furniture in with SOLD signs on them. Another was a bathroom that looked like it hadn't been updated since the 60s. A couple were empty closets. One bedroom had stuff for sale in it. Old family photos on the walls with price stickers on them. It's sad, really.

On the picture of the man it says Augustus Lewis (Grandfather Lewis) Husband of Sara Stone Lewis. Lewis is a name in my family too. Could we be related? I wondered. But to the best of my knowledge, there wasn't an Augustus in my family tree.

The lady's wedding gown hung on a door, yellowed and wrinkled with neglect and time. I looked it over. In my mind's eye, I see Miss Helen's wedding photo sitting on her piano. I dusted it many times and marveled at her beauty, standing proud and tall beside a handsome husband. I wondered what this lady looked like in her wedding dress. Her wedding camisole hung with the dress, beautifully embroidered with flowers around the neckline. I hung the dress up backwards because I thought the train on her dress was interesting. What a beautiful bride she must've been. Now her dress hangs here and no one wants it.

This lady had furs too! Hanging over a door was a... a... I don't know! What is he? What a long tail! I thought. As I looked it over, I discovered he had feet on his tail! Wait! What!

I laid him out on the bed and see it's actually two of the same critter with one biting the butt of the other — and I laughed.

I hung him back where I found him and turned to the bed. She had two fur collars too, and are those her wedding shoes?

"Peg! Are you still up there?" the disembodied voice of a husband called.

There was no one upstairs with me so I called back. "Yeah."

"I'm not coming up," Mike says.

"Okay, I'm coming down."

We checked out and headed back to the Jeep where Ginger was waiting for us. She likes to ride, Itsy doesn't, and we didn't expect to be in any one place for long.

"Where's that other sale?" Mike asked.

"I don't know. The ad only says Poplar Street."

We made up a house number and put it in the GPS.

"I don't want to go if it's not right here in town or close by," I told Mike. I wanted to get back to visiting with you — AKA writing! Once the GPS had our destination plotted out, I previewed it. "It's back up on Old Stagecoach Road!"

"Well, let's go anyway."

So we went, passing farms and fields and old buildings that we'd just seen two days before.

We pulled up in front of the house with stuff out for sale but no other shoppers in sight.

"Look Mike, a motorized bike."

"Yep," was all he said.

I saw an older gentleman sitting in a lawn chair and I called to him as I got out of the Jeep. "You live out in the middle of nowhere!"

"That's the way we like it," he called back.

After passing a line of boy stuff, mowers, rakes, pieces parts of cars, a pressure washer, I came to a table with peanut butter jars loaded with all kinds of odds and ends. I picked up a jar of wire connectors. "What are you gonna do when you need some of this stuff and you sell it all?" I asked in a joking manner.

"Don't worry, he's got plenty more where that came from!" A lady said. I hadn't even seen her come from the house.

The prices at this sale were much more reasonable and I picked up some glass stuff to make another garden totem.

Mike was talking with the man, another old truck driver and I spied a small plastic bag. Wheat Pennies. 1920 to 1954 said the writing on the bag. They were priced at a dollar. I picked it up and interrupted Mike's conversation, "Hey Mike! Wheat backs," and I shook the bag, jangling the pennies.

"Just a quarter," the man said.

The lady was standing beside me. "Oh, I thought you said a dollar. My mistake."

So we bought the bag of 22 wheat pennies. Andrew will get them someday and maybe they'll be worth more than three cents each.

We took another new road home and I got more road pictures for you!

The hillsides are covered in these pretty wildflowers. This is Dame's Rocket.

"It looks like Wild Phlox to me," you say.

I know, right! That's what I thought at first too. Phlox has five petals, these only have four.

They're Dame's Rocket and they smell so nice!

Did you know it's illegal to pick wildflowers from the sides of the road in Pennsylvania? They can mow them down but we can't pick them. Go figure.

These wildflowers go by a host of other names. Sweet Rocket, Damask Violet, Rouge's Gilliflower, Queen's Gilliflower, Vesper Flower, Mother-of-the-evening, Summer Lilac, and so many more!

"Are they good for anything?" you ask.

Well, according to Mother Earth News it's been used to induce sweating, promote urination, and loosen a cough but there's no scientific evidence to confirm this.

Europeans have eaten young Dame's Rocket in salads for their bitter, piquant tang because Dame's Rocket is closely related to arugula.

As for me, I think I'll leave it for the butterflies and hummingbirds.

Dame's Rocket really is deliciously fragrant. If you have a chance to stop and smell them, you should take it.

We found ourselves on a road we've been on before but not very often.

"I wonder if the old gas pump is still there."

"We'll see in just a minute," Mike said.

We rounded a bend in the road and there it was.

Across the road was what looks like it could've been a resort at one time. And that, my dears, looks like poison ivy growing up the concrete blocks. Leaves of three, let them be!