Old Order Mennonite Memoirs

The first drops of rain on Monday forenoon, Dec. 31, splashed into my face when I was biking home with a box full of groceries. I was thankful to be home before the showers poured down but not surprised that it rained. It only seemed right for the last day of 2018 to have rain.

Since then the new year has been trying to buck the trend and bring us sunshine, but it seems hard to accomplish. Mud still prevails as do the mild temperatures. But "I care not today what the morrow may bring, if shadow or sunshine or rain, The Lord, I know, ruleth o'er everything and all of my worry is vain." as in the song on my sink windowsill.

These days without gardens, I'm committed to comforters and their construction. From start to finish, it is a five-step procedure. Out of donated fabric scraps we cut eight different size square patches, always as big as possible but no bigger than 12 inches and no smaller than 4 inches. Before I proceed to Step 2, which is to piece patches for a top, I sort them by color and size. With the pieced tops, (Christian Aid Ministries accepts any size) I'm ready for Step 3. Here again I use donated fabric to piece a bottom to fit and sew it on to one side. Now they are ready for Step 4.

Although I enjoy all the steps, Step 4 is really enjoyable because friends come to help me knot front to back (or top to bottom) with batting in between.

Last week on Friday, Dec. 28, I was thankful for the six friends who came to help me tie dozens of knots with donated yarn. Now I have a stack of comforters waiting for Step 5. The remaining three edges are still open and need some sewing machine time to close them neatly.

As I sew, I have plenty of time to wonder about the destination of the finished homemade blankets but first they must wait in garbage bags for many months till hopefully they make some delighted recipient cozy and warm.

Other things on my list last week was.... well, nothing new. Cows to milk and butternuts to can and share. For my covered dish I baked some seasoned butternuts and potatoes with butter again. And here's the butternut pudding recipe:

Heat 1-1/2 cups butternut puree and 1-1/2 cups milk. To the hot milk and squash, add this mixture: 1 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 3 eggs, beaten, 1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Cook until thick. Cool and fold in some whipped topping, if desired.

Except for phone call connections, my week had a grandchildren famine. But today in Piney Creek church, I was happy to hold Baby Bella after services. She and her parents also stopped in on the sunny, windy day for time at our dinner table. A chuck roast was ready in the crock pot and timed bake took care of the potatoes in the oven. With the ruckus of catching Rammy, our horse, who tried to run away when we came home and with our son being in a hurry to leave for afternoon hockey games, I forgot to cook a vegetable but I did have a salad: a thin layer in the bottom of a glass pie plate consisted of sour cream and whipped cream cheese spread mixed with taco seasoning. Layers on top of it were as follows: cold, browned hamburger, shredded lettuce, cheese and crushed nacho chips. There were some gingerbread men left over from Christmas that went well with the left over butternut pudding.

Many of the youth were missing on Saturday night at the singing along Hershberger Road because of traveling hither and yon. A number of girls also went to a Mennonite Disaster Service base at El Campo, Texas, to help with reconstruction after hurricane damage.