For the last few years I have been growing poblano peppers in my garden. They are a darker green and when fully ripe are a nice deep red. When a poblano is dried, it is called an ancho. They are a mild to medium pepper in terms of heat.
I usually pick them when they are green, but I don’t worry if they turn before I use them.
When we get to this time of year, I always think of back to school. I thought I would share a few pictures from Georgie’s collection from 1934 in West Point, Iowa.
This is the Orchestra at St. Mary’s. The people were not named on this picture.
I have been trying for some time to find a biscuit recipe that comes out flaky and light. I am getting there, but I will always compare my biscuits to the ones we had in a little café when visiting Memphis .
Nice and Flaky!
This recipe is the result of many attempts to come up with a really good biscuit. Thank goodness Walt is a willing test subject for my cooking experiments!
The same sort of features that make a flaky pie crust, like I covered in this post, apply to flaky biscuits.
Noel Edward Manley was my (Michelle’s) great-uncle. He was born August 18, 1924 in Rapid City, South Dakota to Joe and Bessie Manley. He was part Oglala Lakota and supported organizations that gave back to the Native American Community.
Joanne, Noel, and Noel’s son, Richard. Sadly, they are all gone now.
As you saw in my post last Monday, we like to take Jaxon hiking in the woods with us. Since he is a short hair, we thought is was important to get him a coat to help keep him dry and warm. We found a very nice coat that fit him well. Unfortunately it didn’t stand up to the wear and tear of a dog running through the woods.
This coat was purchased for Jaxon, but it quickly became damaged as we hiked about. The hook and loop closures frayed and had to be repaired numerous times.
In a few posts, I have been discussing some of the challenges of identifying people when you are doing genealogical research. I covered immigration and census records in this post. I talked about some of the difficulties encountered in translation and working with older documents in this post.
Today, I am going to look at some naming conventions that can make it difficult to determine exactly who you are looking at.
Our dog Jaxon loves to hike with us. I needed a leash that would work while hiking, sometimes with a large pack on my back. Since I use two trekking poles when I am on the trail, my hands needed to free.
Isadore Link was born in New Vienna, Iowa, on April 4, 1860, and lived most of his life on a farm northwest of West Point. He was the son of William J Link and Mary Ann Sauter.
Isadore married Teresa Kempker on April 17, 1882. Teresa was born on October 10, 1859, the daughter of John and Catherine Kempker.
A picture of Isadore as a young man (not sure of the date) and Teresa from the 1890s.
They had a large family and most of the family stayed in southeastern Iowa, living in and near West Point and Burlington.
Picture of the Isadore Link family on their farm, taken in 1903. Standing in the back are William and John. Across the front is Isadore, Leo, Ada, Charles, Kathryn, Albert, Teresa holding Robert, and Louise.
Isadore died on February 24, 1944. Teresa died on March 21, 1913, when Robert was just 10 years old.
I remember a quilting class where the instructor had a porcupine quill in her tools. It seemed like an odd item to find in a sewing kit, but when she showed us how she used it, I promptly got one for myself.
Holding down the seam allowance.
When you are making a quilt, you sew across multiple seams, and it can be difficult to get everything to lie flat while you are doing this. A stiletto helps keep things lined up and neat.
The long narrow tip allows you to guide the fabric through the machine without getting you fingers close to the needle. I personally have never (knock on wood) stitched through a finger, but I know a number of people who have.
You can use a stiletto to punch a hole in fabric or leather, either for stitching of adding grommets. It can be used to help turn the edge of applique under before stitching it down.
A fancy brass stiletto
I had seen a brass stiletto with a needle tip. It had a cap to protect the tip from getting damaged and reduce the risk of it poking anyone or anything when not in use. I showed it to Walt, and he decided he would try to make one. He made several, some which were used a gifts and some that were sold.
He will show you more about how he made them in one of his shop project posts.
I use mine every time I am at the sewing machine.
The porcupine quill I started with and the brass stiletto Walt made for me.