FALL APPLES

I. Love. Fall.

It's that simple.  Fall brings the beauty of colors (most years), the crisp cooler air, and apples!

When our church did cookbooks, there was a recipe published that belonged to a sweet sweet wonderful cook in our church.  This lady was a very petite woman who mothered numerous children and had acquired even more numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.  I remember that she was one of the kindest people I had ever met and loved so heartily everyone she met.  I never doubted one minute her love even for me.  A great portion of her wonderful personality, good qualities, and ability to cook well was inherited by her daughters.  Many from her family are some of my closest and dearest friends in the world.

My very favorite apple cake recipe of all time is the recipe of hers.  It's called Apple Dapple Cake.  I made my first one for this fall the other day.  I find that using Rome Beauty apples - preferably from the orchard and not the grocery store -- makes a huge difference but if you don't have them, make the cake anyways.   Granny Smiths from the grocery store are also pretty good.  Just look at that yummy goodness:

So, in honor of Mrs. Annie.....

Apple Dapple Cake

1 1/2 c. salad oil
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
3 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 c. apples, peeled and chopped
1 c. coconut
1 c. chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Prepare tube pan with either Pam spray or Crisco.  (I use Pam and it works.)  Mix oil and sugar; add eggs, flour, soda, salt and vanilla.  Beat until well blended.  Stir in apples, coconut and nuts.  Place in greased tube pan.  Bake for 1 1/2 hours.  (Have topping ready when cake comes out of oven.  My oven doesn't take the whole 1.5 hours so keep a watch after an hour of baking in case yours doesn't either.)

Topping:

1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. margarine
1/2 c. milk

Mix above ingredients in small saucepan.  Heat and stir until blended; boil 2 minutes.  Pour over hot cake and allow it to soak in.  Let cake cool completely before removing from pan.  (I use a knife to pull cake away from pan so topping can go down the sides.  Yum...)

COCONUT

The Husband and I have had "food functions" for the last couple of weekends....one a picnic at church, the other a family reunion.  For both of these events, I prepared the same kind of dessert -- a coconut cake.

I will freely admit that I did the same kind because it can be made several days ahead and refrigerated.  In fact, it's preferred for a moist cake.  After both events, I brought home an empty cake carrier except for a few cake crumbs and loose coconut.

Since many have asked for the recipe, I have directed them to this blog for it.  Enjoy!

SOUR CREAM COCONUT CAKE

1 box Duncan Hines butter recipe golden cake mix

1 tsp. coconut flavoring

Icing:

8 oz. sour cream

8 oz. Cool Whip

1 3/4 c. sugar

18 oz. frozen coconut (reserve 6 oz for top and sides--okay so I have been putting 12 oz on top and sides lately.  If you do that, you will need 24 oz. frozen coconut.  It's a personal choice.)

Mix and bake cake mix as directed on box, adding coconut flavoring to batter.  Bake in 3 (8") pans or 2 (9") pans.  When cool, split layers in half, making 2 thin layers of each.  Beat sour cream and sugar until sugar is dissolved.  Add Cool Whip and 12 ounces of coconut.  Beat well.  Stack your cake with cut side up, putting much icing between layers.  Put remaining icing on top and sides.  Sprinkle 6 ounces (or 12) of coconut on outside of cake.

Note:  Best if prepared several days ahead and stored in refrigerator.  Leave at room temperature three hours before serving.

COINCIDENCE?

Last Sunday was youth Sunday at our church.  It's every 5th Sunday of the month which comes around four or so times a year.  Usually the four adult classes join together for a joint lesson, sometimes taught by a youth and sometimes by an adult volunteer.  Last Sunday, I was the adult volunteer.  For the week I studied the topic that stayed on my heart and wouldn't go away....the subject was joy.

J-O-Y.  I enjoyed my study and learned a lot about joy.  Maybe I will do a post on it sometime but that's not where this post is going on this day.

Today I got an email from The Girl.  She had been cleaning out some of her computer files and found a devotion she had done at work back in 2009.  Yep.  Six years ago.

Lately we have been finding the Lord sending messages or as a wise woman from church calls it, "the witness of the Spirit".  Some might call it coincidence.  No, no, not me.  I know when the Lord's trying to get me on the right page.  When I read this devotion from 2009, I knew that the Lord was reinforcing in me these things.  The scriptures mentioned have been read in our services the past couple of Sundays.  Coincidence?  Nah.  Never.  GOD KNOWS WHAT WE NEED.

So here's the devotion by The Girl.  She was happy for me to share.

From May 2009 as written by The Girl:

As most of you know, I went to the beach last week and – compared to what it was like here – had good weather.  Still, it wasn’t picture perfect beach weather.  The wind blew sand on our towels and in our ears, there were clouds more often than not, and there was an afternoon of thunder and heavy rain.  But – on Friday, our last day there – the weather was textbook-perfect… robin’s egg blue sky, not a cloud to be found, a light breeze.  It seemed that I took notice of each small, perfect detail.  I found myself wondering if I would have appreciated the beauty of the day quite so much had it not been preceded by several not-so-perfect ones.  Isn’t that a lot like life?  Aren’t the mountaintop experiences that much sweeter after you’ve had to climb out of a rocky, tough valley?  

I Peter 6:7 tells us: 
6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 
 7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 
 8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

I love the comparison in verse 7 of the trials of our faith and the trying of gold by fire.  As gold is heated, impurities float to the top and can be skimmed off.  Steel is tempered and strengthened by heating.  Likewise, our trials, struggles, and persecutions – our cloudy, stormy days, if you will – strengthen our faith and our relationship with God, making us more useful to Him.  In my opinion, darker times or trials also help us to appreciate all of the many blessings that we have all the more.

So what does that mean for us?  James 1:2-4 tells us to

2 count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 
 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 
 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

It’s so hard sometimes to remember to be joyful, thankful, and happy when things aren’t going our way, when times are tough, when we don’t know what’s going to happen next… but we, as God’s children, are promised blessings beyond measure if we only persevere, keep the faith, and “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before… press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. “
And won’t the prize be that much sweeter – like a cheeseburger after weeks and weeks of salad! – when we hear God say “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

1)
THANK YOU FOR THE VALLEY I WALKED THROUGH TODAY.
THE DARKER THE VALLEY THE MORE I LEARN TO PRAY.
I FOUND YOU WHERE THE LILIES ARE BLOOMING BY THE WAY.
AND I THANK YOU FOR THE VALLEY I WALKED THROUGH TODAY.

CHORUS)
THANK YOU FOR EVERY HILL I'VE CLIMBED
FOR EVERY TIME THE SUN DIDN'T SHINE.
THANK YOU FOR EVERY LONELY NIGHT
I PRAYED UNTILL I KNEW THAT EVERY THING WAS ALRIGHT.
AND I THANK YOU FOR THE VALLEY I WALKED THROUGH TODAY

2)
LIFE CAN'T BE ALL SUNSHINE OR THE FLOWERS WOULD DIE.
THE RIVERS WOULD BE DESERTS, ALL BARREN AND DRY.
LIFE CAN'T BE ALL BLESSING FOR THERE'D BE NO NEED TO PRAY.
SO I THANK YOU FOR THE VALLEY I WALKED THROUGH TODAY.

And all God's people said, "Amen!"

DON'T STOP.....

Well, oddly, I feel compelled to share just this one special thing...maybe it's for one special blog reader or maybe it's just for me.  Here it is....

Don't stop BELIEVING!  Keep the faith and hold on tight to God's grip!  He WILL provide.....

WAITING

Currently, it's midmorning and I sit actually working at my paying job.  The difference in most of my paying job workdays is that usually I am at my office desk.  This morning, though, I am sitting in The Son-in-Law's and The Girl's kitchen with my computer on a tv tray.  And yes, if you comprehend what you read, you will understand that I am actually typing this personal blog post in the midst of my paying job workday.  Ah, well, we'll classify this as my morning break time.  I did actually go in to my office today fairly earlier than usual.  That counts.

I am waiting for the air conditioner repairman.  It was my understanding that he would arrive at 10:00 a.m. but alas, it's 10:35 a.m. right now and--you guessed it!  I'm waiting.   Hence my thoughts for this post.

How much of our lives are spent in "waiting" mode?  I would think quite a bit.  We wait for repair people.  We wait in retail check out lines.  We wait for meals to cook.  We wait for traffic and traffic lights. The list is so endless.  Often I grow weary of waiting and my impatience kicks in.  Not yet here in The Girl's kitchen, but often.

As I try to relate my life these days with Bible scripture answers, I am reminded of what the Bible says about waiting.  Now understand, it says a lot about waiting, but specifically I'll mention a couple of passages.


Psalms 27:14 - Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Isaiah 40:31 - But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.


Well now, aren't those two scriptures good?  They kind of put a new slant on waiting.  It's interesting to me how the both of them talk about waiting  and being strengthened because of the act of waiting.  The difference, of course, is what one might be waiting on.  In my case, I need to practice the patience of waiting for everyday things; however, in my spiritual life, I need to practice the waiting on the Lord so my spiritual life is made stronger.  Boy, do I ever need a stronger spiritual life!

When we were recently on vacation in Alaska, we were blessed to see many many bald eagles.  The wing span they have is massive.  To see them fly gives one the sense of their strength.

Spiritually, I want to be like that these scriptures say.  I want my strength renewed.  I want to mount up to every minute with wings as eagles.  Spiritually, I want to run and not be weary and to walk and not faint.  What a wonderful spiritual feeling that is!

So, guess I'll keep waiting for the repairman.  But more importantly, I think I'll follow the Bible's advice and wait on the Lord as well!  HE is sooo good!

Okay...back to my paying job!

DOUBLE DELIGHT

For the past couple of weeks, I have been delighted just about every day with the sight of these beauties....sometimes even more than once a day.  While seeing a "smile" on them is impossible, one can know without a doubt the fun they are having as they play together with seemingly not a care in the world.   I was even allowed a snap of my camera in a moment of their stillness:

There's something about the beauty of these little ones with their white dots and skinny legs.  Just another piece of evidence that God's got everything in His control!  Yep....without a doubt!

ONE FOR ME

More than once already this week, this Bible verse has made it's way to my sight and/or my hearing.  I decided to share.

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."   --Philippians 4:6,7

MIRACLES!

A “miracle” is defined by the dictionary as a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency or a highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences.

I’ve been thinking of miracles lately.  In one of my favorite Sunday School lessons for my 2’s and 3’s, the story goes of a little boy who had a lunch of five barley loaves and two small fishes.   When Jesus used that little bit of food, it was multiplied to feed five thousand men plus women and children with basketfulls left over!  While that is something that is hard for the human mind to comprehend, I believe it happened just as the Bible said.  When I teach that lesson to the little ones and try to explain the miracle that happened, I say a miracle is something that happens that is unbelievable.

In our society, we classify many things as miracles.  Television advertisers would have us think many of their household products are miracles.  There are many beauty products that boast of making us as women look younger and more beautiful.  Last fall, The Husband and I visited Lake Placid and the hockey rink where the boast is “Home of the Miracle on Ice”.  Some of my favorite Hallmark Christmas movies are based on a character named Mrs. Mircle but in the movies, the name is always misspelled somehow and she is called Mrs. Miracle.  In the stories, she is a movie angel with heavenly connections—hence the Mrs. Miracle.

I can think of a times in my life when I have felt experiences were truly miracles.  These are times that give me encouragement to remember.  I wonder, though, how many miracles happen to me directly on even a daily basis that I totally ignore.

My challenge to you, my faithful blog readers, is to remember the past miracles and take note of happenings now and in the future that could be classified as miracles.  You may say that you have never experienced a miracle.  I will argue that you have and didn’t recognize it.  So pay attention and notice.

One of my favorite songs for children is about miracles.  It has parts that go like this:

“What drives the stars without making a sound?  
Why don’t they crash when they’re spinning around?
What holds me up when the world’s upside down?
I know it’s a miracle.”

It goes on like this:

“There are thousands of people in cities I see
The world must be crowded as crowded can be.
But God knows MY name and He cares about me!
I know, I know, I know it’s a miracle!’

One thing about miracles is that they usually make one feel happy.  Let’s look for miracles.  I expect to find them and hope that you do too!

THE 49TH STATE

The Husband and I have just returned from a summer vacation!  Together!  About a dozen or so years ago, we visited Alaska--The Husband, The Girl, and The Me.   (See "An Alaskan Adventure", 8/20/13 on this blog.)  The Husband and I had always hoped to visit this fair 49th state one more time.  The visit is now a memory, an iphoto series of events of a thousand pictures, and a good dose of major jet lag.

Being that my blog readers are ever so faithful, I knew you would enjoy seeing and hearing about our trip.  Since I gave The Husband a crash course of the operation of my newer small easy nice camera, he really got into the photography as well.

I will apologize if this VERY long blog post makes you bored.  I have so much to share!

When our seven hour flight to Anchorage was about an hour away from it's destination, The Husband pulled out his assigned camera and took some amazing photos from the air.   Wow!

After landing and retrieving our baggage, we found a close Tastee Freez restaurant and had a hot dog.  Being as the time difference between here and there is four--yes, count 'em--four hours difference, we were pretty exhausted.  The motel bed felt pretty good that night.

The first full day of the trip, we headed south to Homer.  Homer is a small fishing town on the tip of the southwestern part of the state.  After leaving Homer, our trip took us to an overnight in Palmer, then on to Valdez, on the opposite side of Prince William Sound.  From Valdez (yes, that's where the oil spill was), it was back through Palmer to Wasilla, a morning trip to Talkeeta, and then to Anchorage for a day of sightseeing the day of the night we were to fly home.

The rain came at some point each day we were there except the last.  The weather was coolish--50's to 60's.  We grew accustomed to it.  I liked it.  I would have liked it better dry.

Alaska has some beautiful natural sights with mountains, glaciers, and beautiful landscapes.

This was a city park in downtown Wasilla...how about a large beautiful lake with mountains in a city park?

We saw many different animals....about eight or nine moose.....

caribou.....

rabbits...

Dall sheep.....

and sea birds.

We visited a Musk Ox Farm (they are interesting...google them if you are interested)....

One of my hopes for this trip was to get a picture of a bald eagle.  My heart still flutters when I look at these pictures.....

We saw beautiful boat harbors with mountains that touched the water...

and we ate Alaska food...sometimes.

I ordered duck....just because I'd never ordered duck in any restaurant and why not?  It was brought to me medium RARE.  I had to send it back because I never eat ANYTHING medium rare, even if the chef says it's supposed to be that way.  He stuck to his idea because when it was returned to me, it hadn't been cooked much.  Needless to say, that was NOT my favorite meal of the trip even though it was a very nice place.

An Alaskan food....reindeer hot dog.....cooked on the cart on an 5th Avenue in Anchorage...sounds pretty high-class, huh?  5th Avenue....

And yes, a couple of our "restaurants" had nice views...

One of the most beautiful mountain range sites I saw were these on the Aleutian Range.  We could never get a photo to do them justice.  I was amazed at their beauty.

Waterfalls....

The only fee trip we took was a day trip on the Lu-Lu Belle, the limo of boats.  There were us and about 35 or so more passengers.  The trip was to Columbia Glacier in Prince William Sound.  It was a fantastic day in spite of the rain.  The captain was informative, funny, and patient.  The crew of two college girls were great as well making for a nice trip.  I recommend them highly.

On the trip, we saw sea otters that looked liked stuffed animals in the water...

We spent time watching fishermen pull in their heavy nets full of fish.

Yes, that's me taking pictures on the boat.

There was a lot of time spent whale watching and trying for the perfect whale picture.

There were smelly sea lions....

and puffins.

We spent over an hour within l/4 mile of Columbia Glacier.  It is hard to describe the magnitude of such ice.   Pictures just don't show the "big-ness".   The silence and then the sound of "calving" of the ice was something to always remember.

Here's the splash of a large piece of ice.  When a large piece would hit the water, the water would begin to make "waves" and the boat would feel the effect.

There were Dall porpoises.

Since we were in Valdez, there were oil tankers.

In Alaska, wildflowers grow everywhere.  The most seen one was lupine and a kind of flower resembling Queen Anne's Lace.

Frequent stops were made to port-a-johns and outhouses.

You can thank me for taking a picture of the cleanest one.  Use your imagination for the worst and then imagine a lot worse than that.

We saw where the wildfires had come...

Alaskans used anything and everything for flower containers.  The phrase "you might be a redneck if" comes to mind.

This decor had a matching one on the other side of this driveway....an exact matching set.

They used unique ways of irrigation...

and made homemade ice cream in an unusual way.

There was downtown Talkeetna.

The technique of taking a selfie was practiced.  The not-so-silly expressions were hard to master.

An Alaskan prestige car..or truck...tag.

And of course, any photo album of mine must contain flower pictures.  With the mega daylight hours during an Alaskan summer, their flowers in the summer time are just as big as their snow is in the winter time.  It would get "dark" about 11:00 - midnight and was never REALLY dark.  The light would be back by 4 a.m.  Luckily Alaska motels have thick liners behind their curtains.

These petunias were salad plate size.

This picture was taken...

at 6:50 p.m. Alaska time which equals 10:50 p.m Eastern time.  Time difference was an adjustment for us Eastern folks.  It still is.

The view from one of our motel rooms showed beautiful sunset color on the mountains...

and the taking off of a float plane, a normal mode of transportation of Alaskans.

And yes, we actually posed for a few shots.  Not many...

The final day in Anchorage showed Alaska city sights and reflections.

Our flight home was delayed because of bad weather in the East.  The Husband captured this photo of the moon and also the cloud that caused our plane to take a detour home.

I apologize for the great length of this post.  I know that sometimes one gets tired of looking at other people's pictures; however, I couldn't seem to find a stopping place.  I actually have several hundred more, you know?  

No, we saw no live bears on this trip but thanks for "bearing" with me as I shared.