from shirley's cottage

July Fourth, and so on

The Fourth of July falling on a Wednesday, made the holiday begin and last for two week-ends for a lot of people. .
Good for business, and better yet, for getting together. In my family, it was a great time, with almost the whole family here for several days. Besides myself, we have Deb, Kelly, Tracy, Ted, Jade, Paige, Sam, Teddy and Doug.
When the family arrives, most of the animals arrive, too. For animal lovers, their pets are family, too. We had Sundance, Brando, Dru, Asa, Buckley, and Nookers, the cat. Missing this time were Shorty, Willie, and Nikko.
Something is wrong with the picture when there are more pets than grandchildren visiting Grandma. I will say there were no animal emergencies- except most of them were spooked by the fireworks. Several hid under the bed. Asa, the best behaved of them all, went missing for several hours. The search went on until she finally came back, wet, from an obvious swim, and glad the noise was over.
Enough of the animals. The focus of my Fourth was having the family together. With them scattered and busy, it is even hard to get together at Christmas. Even at Christmas, it is such a whirlwind, and only for a day, it is hard to spend time with them all.
This Fourth was pleasantly different. With several days to visit and relax, there was not the rush to "hurry up and boat, and ski, and picnic, and shop, etc.
I’m at the place now where I just want to sit and watch, remember and observe. In fact, one evening I was sitting on the couch at Deb’s, watching the three sisters and their daughters preparing dinner. They were laughing and bantering back and forth.
"Look at Mom," one of them said. "She’s just sitting over there on the couch like Dad used to do, just looking at us, not saying a word." She was right. I was vicariously enjoying myself, I was loving it
The stories went on. The dinner was delicious. The best part was no one had to rush home. There were a few more days to enjoy.
Their brother didn’t cook, but he entertained us with music while the bonfire he made, burned into the night.
It wasn’t over yet. The neighbor across the bay did his annual fireworks on the week-end. It was their best yet. The lights from the many boats on the lake was almost as beautiful as the fireworks.
The kids will be leaving, one by one, except we who are here, always waiting for the family to be together again.
I would just urge us all to make memories and savor the good times.
One of the memories we were talking about this week was food. Paige loves her Grandma Ruth’s pecan tarts that she only makes at Christmas.
It sounded like a good recipe. So I called her other grandmother, and she was gracious enough to give it to me so I could share it with you.

Grandma Ruth’s Pecan Tarts
you will need:
for the crust:
3 oz cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter
1 cup flour
Blend all ingredients and chill
press balls into small muffins tins
(use moistened fingers)
for the filling:
3/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
pinch of salt
1 T melted butter
1 t vanilla
2/3 cup chopped pecans
mix all together, pecans last
full cups with filling
bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes
watch for doneness
remove from oven-don’t wait. Enjoy