Which family member is this?

Making Sopressata

Having Joe in the family has been a delight in many ways, not the least of which are the new Italian traditions, food, and family that he has introduced us to. On a cold weekend in January, he and Karen came home and they and Fred and Paula participated in an old family tradition--the making of sopressata. We spent Saturday at the home of his 92 year old Aunt Sylvia with various aunts, uncles, and cousins, many of whom we had met at the wedding.

100 pounds of pork is cut from the bone, ground, seasoned, a little cooked and tasted, seasoned again, put into sausage links which has been tied off, tied off again, and then hung to age in Aunt Sylvia's cold room.



One must work one's way up the chain of command--Aunt Sylvia is the matriarch and overseer of the links!! Karen was allowed to be the counter this year and Fred had the honor of tying off some of the links and hanging them to age. Joe made the pork into the right size balls while Paula merely watched!! And ate. And ate. For ten hours we ate.



Here are some pictures of the fun. These are wonderful people and we dearly love them.

The Valentine Tree Tradition - New in 2008!

Valentine Tree - nighttime - YaYa's favorite.
Other artistic entries from grandchildren.

Valentine Tree - daytime

Fun with treats! Madeline Sarah Grimm - intent on putting decorations onto a heart cupcake!

Sleepwalking Princess Andrew!

Just up from a nap and looking a little sleepy, Andrew in his low cut red satin frock....Aunt Toni's old
show choir dress from the 80s. Ha! (ignore the camera date.....I am challenged in that arena.

6 years old!

Our first grandchild, Nathan, turned six on Feb. 4th.

He is crazy about Mario. So, he picked a Mario cake. This is the big moment when the candles are lit. He was excited. For those of you interested in my cakes....there are two below ..one in his "exposed" state and the finished guy. Next time we may do a stand up one. I am expanding.....inspired by all the cake crazies on YouTube and Ace of Cakes. Wow, I dream of creations in my fancy "cake kitchen" then I wake up to the mess in my own kitchen.

Cake assistant in Lititz, where are you?

Words from Helen

Hi All:
Here's an unedited letter from Helen. I'm typing it because my scanner at work is not working.

" Helen's adventures continued 1/16/0/8
I know Xmas is well over, but I'm just a
little late. Can you bare with me please?
I have to say my Xmas was a little hectic. My
fault. Trying to do too much I think.
then my son in law decided he was going to
act up and that rather played havoc fow awhile.
But we are all glad and thankful, he's on the recovery road.
Example, I did not even talk to the Boger girls at Xmas.
Sheila Sue & I went shopping for about 6-7 hrs day after
neither rain sleet or snow & it did, can't st0p us.
Anyway now we are well into "08"
still hectic. Could you tell me why? No don't.
I'm doing the usual things here. We had a real nice Xmas party
and a bang up New Year's party with
our pots & pans & hats on we went out on my
porch & made noise & called back & forth to a
friend & her family across the way. It must be 2nd
childhood. (smiley face)
I had my sister to my place for the weekend.
We played Parcheese? I'm still the Queen. Been
playing for 80 years. Anyone want to challenge?
The only polans I have right now are a few days
trip to Lake George in April, and then maybe
Waterloo is next Lord willing. I'm off to water aerobics
now so my love to each & eveyone who reads this & also
for those who can't...hugs & kisses to all

Helen"

cuties

Loved this picture...actually NOT posed...they were just having fun playing together on the floor and...

(sweaters courtesy of Mom/YaYa/Sally)

We are enjoying a lovely Colorado winter! The sunshine has warmed our days and even allowed for some hiking, bike rides and lots of walks. Mark and I are heading to the mountains this weekend for some snowshoeing - sponsored by a dear friend in our current time of limited resources. But, even with these outings we find most of our winter days spent in the warmth of home and each other.

Chloe Reading

Kelly sent this to us. Chloe sure loves her books.

Note the beads. She loves them too. Wears them everyday.

better late then never! :)

Alright, I hope I don't mess this up too bad. First, Toni- great idea & I am looking forward to keeping in touch w/ everyone! :)
2nd- catching up on our pictures...


Don't let the snow fool you, it does not snow that much in MD. We went to visit Nate's dad & family in MN for Christmas. So that is where we got the pictures of our 2 pink snow bunnies. Abby LOVED it, Natalie took some time to warm up to it. It snowed a bit every day so we always had a nice white coat of snow to play in. They spoiled us & we had a great visit.

When we got home from MN we had Christmas, again. The girls' big gift this year was the car, and thankfully we have had some nice weather so far so they have used it a bit. Natalie is still a bit little to drive, but she enjoys playing w/ the radio.


And, we too have been bitten by the Guitar Hero bug. Our neighbors across the street brought it over one night & we all had a good time playing. No, we did not get booed off the stage, but probably should have.

Hope all are well!

Christmas

Christmas morning.
Fred talks to his Mom in York.
New Years Eve
Rick and his "good friend" Deb on a carriage ride at Salem Cross Inn, a very New England type place where they and friends went for a meal cooked at an open hearth.

The Tardy 'Burgh Bowmans

Sheila, you have become my inspiration. Between you and Toni I think I might be able to do this. We'll see.
However, I am a little tardy, so you will have to put up with some old pix.
This is of Fred and Rick at the Pens/Bruins hockey game the Sunday before Christmas. Unfortunately, Rick has become a traitor in hockey and baseball, so he was not happy when the Pens won.

The "Frolic'ings" of a 90 Year Old!!!!

For someone who doesn't like winter it looks like she is having fun. Does this count as a 2nd or 3rd or 4th childhood?
I'm not sure what is going on here but it looks like a lot of noise is being made. I guess that's safer than last year when they set off fireworks on the porch. I'm surprised that she hasn't been evicted for being a rabble rouser!!

3 years old!

Owen turned 3 yesterday!


We enjoyed a lovely day together as a family ( including Mark since he is out of work right now). We started the day with oatmeal and blueberries - birthday boy's choice. We trickled gifts along throughout the day. We had free ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery (courtesy of their birthday club) after lunch. Birthday dinner was finger foods and we spent the rest of the evening talking to grandparents via skype and enjoying birthday surprises.

This morning felt like the day after Christmas...it was so quiet as the boys played with all the new birthday treasures.

Guitar Heroes

Here in Lancaster, we've been bitten by the Guitar Hero bug. For those who don't know, it is a video game where you get to play the guitar along with both old and new rock songs. If you're good, you "unlock" more songs. If you're not so good, you get booed off the stage and live a lifetime of disappointment. David and I have spent WAY too much time on this thing and are getting better. Here we are at our finest...

Unfortunately, Mom and Dad have not had as much success. They've been booed on both of their VERY brief attempts. Guess they won't be going on tour with the Rolling Stones anytime soon.

David and I are still waiting by the phone for our big break... perhaps this week we'll get a call and be off to see the world by tour bus. Until then, guess we'll keep on rockin'.

First Fondant rose

I had an order this weekend for two cakes for Westminster. The ladies are celebrating the second year of their prayer shawl ministry. One party will be for 12 ladies and the other for 5. The second cake is for five ladies. It measures 4" height x 4" width and 5 " in breadth. It is a yellow butter recipe torte with chocolate frosting inside. Iced with white frosting on the outside then a layer of fondant, then decorated with regular icing writing and a few stars. But, the most fun was constructing my first fondant roses. The cake above has a crazy yarn "ball" with crazy knitting needles and a little knitted sample draped over the side. Not anything very great. Ball was a disappointment. Didn't have the right tip so I did the old improvise thing.

New knitter

Julie is posting this. This is a scarf to go with the sweater. And after only one lesson too. It will get bigger. (no laughing) Thanks for the pattern offer, but she hasn't graduated to reading patterns yet.

Chris at Sports Night

Chris is shaking the hand of the great Orioles pitcher, Tippy Martinez at Sports Night in York, PA. He & Les attended (Sue won tickets for the event). Of course got his autograph too. Tippy is now the pitching coach for the York ball team Revolution. We have a season ticket package & are anxiously awaiting opening day. Looks good eh?

Vintage Barbies

Some of you may recognize these girls. Madeline and Andrew like to set up the Barbies for pictures. Check out the hair. Some are missing hands. They are 20 - 30 years old. All this time they have been hanging out in an old red "train" case I got for my high school
graduation. Mmmmmm. Time to clean out.

Another stress reliever....

Another stress reliever is cakes for me. They put a little change in my pocket too.
She was a birthday cake for a 6 year old who wanted an all white dress and a doll with green eyes.
So there you go. Just learning about fondants.

a sad day in the west

We mourn today for the end of our Christmas bag of dark chocolate Wilbur buds.

We all relate to Audrey's feelings about this matter...


It is a sad day in the west.