Ho Ho Ho ! and Merry Christams

Ho Ho Ho! It is Christmas day -- Merry Christmas to everyone.
We received about another 4 inches of snow during the night. Jim is out "snow-blowing" and I shoveled a little bit...walkways here and there. Blazed a trail down to our river/creek -- it is a very small river, so we call it a creek most of the time. Everything is so beautiful, but it is warming up so the snow is getting really wet and heavy... gets stuck in the snowblower and Jim has a heck of a time.
Hope everyone is having a great Christmas.

The tree photo is looking out towards our river from my sewing studio deck. And of course our cabin.

Hope you are having a great Christmas.

Luv, Bunny

Fruit Salad

Here is Sally St. Clair's Fruit Salad from Bunny

I don't have amounts...this is just in my head.
Chopped unpeeled apples
Sliced Bananas
Chopped Walnuts
Raisins

Miricle Whip (yup... not cool whip)

Mix altogether

I added a can of mandarin oranges for our Thanksgiving salad; and you can add grapes or ??

Thanks for the Blueberry recipe from Aunt Marian. I have frozen huckleberrys... should be really good with them as well.

I would love to have the time to play with geneology. I have also talked to Aunt Marian and she has given me lots of information. But I just have not had time to work with it. I have a friend that does a lot with her family geneology and really enjoys her research. Would be great if you could keep us posted on what you find Shirley. I even have or had a geneology program for my computer, but have never even loaded it onto the computer.

Not enough hours in the day, days in the week, weeks in the month, etc. !!

Have a Merry Christmas and wonderful 2007 everyone.

Greetings From Shirley St.Clair

Hi from Shirley (daughter of Oba & Dorothy): Want to get this to all you St. Clair cousins galore before the end of the year so I can at least feel a wee bit timely!

In July, I visited Aunt Marian in Reedsport to talk St. Clair Genealogy. She made and served a fantastically delicious Blueberry Torte and shared her recipe which I have written down for any of you who might want to try it. You can see her holding the finished product next to the recipe below.

In August, hot on the trail of St. Clair Genealogy, I went to the Scottish Festival in Winston. Being so near Tenmile, I stopped by to see Uncle Harold and Laveta. As you can see from these pictures, our rough & tough eldest St. Clair guy was looking fit and feeling good. He most definitely looks 20 years younger than his 81 years!

Since September I have been taking weekly genealogy classes to learn methods. One of the many things I have learned is how challenging and time-consuming it is to track down information even with the many sources available on the internet. I am so in awe of how Aunt Marian traced the St. Clairs back to Alexander in 1698. She did all this by regular mail, following leads and dead-ends, and once completed she gave us each our personalized heritage histories. She did all this (a really monumental task) without the benefit of a computer or the internet. Thank you, Aunt Marian, for your foresight and diligence and for caring.

My goal is to track our heritage back to Scotland; to see if I can figure out what part of Scotland bonny Alexander hailed from and actually go there eventually.

Shirley

PS: Dear Bunny - Will you please share your Mom's (my Aunt Sally's) recipe for fruit salad that you fixed for Thanksgiving.

PS: Dear Nancy - I was so pleased to see the pictures you posted of your Mom (my other Aunt Marian - Bud's Marian). Please tell her "Hi" for me.



Aunt Marian's Blueberry Torte

Crust: 1 stick oleo
1 cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Mix well with pastry blender & press into 9 x 13 pan. (Aunt Marian used a pie pan. Worked great!)
Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees.
Cool completely.


Filling:
1 pkg cream cheese (8 oz, room temperature)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Whip until creamy, fold into:
2 cups Cool Whip

Spread onto crust. Top with:
2 cans blueberry pie filling

Chill and serve with Cool Whip on top.
* * * * *

When Aunt Marian made this for me, she cooked up frozen blueberries instead of using canned filling and used real whipped cream instead of Cool Whip. It was absolutely, positively wonderful!
...... Shirley

Greetings From Marian Sanders

Marian sent me the following note to post for you all. Carol

I loved hearing about all the Thanksgiving doings (on the blog). We had quite a crowd here. I made the turkey, dressing, and a large shrimp salad. The rest brought all sorts of side dishes. Enough for several days eating. Jason made 10 - 12 pies from scratch plus many other things. Great eating and gathering. Seventeen in all came.
Love,
Marian

Season's Greetings From Clair

Hey St Clair clan,
Since this is my first blog entry ever – I will give a short history of C & B (Clair and Beverly). Clair born 1951, Beverly 1940, Married in 1976, daughter and son, 6 grandchildren, 2 sisters-in-laws and brother-in-laws, lots of eclectic friends.

Beverly worked in education of all types from juvenile corrections to Jr. Hi to adult nutrition – retired OSU extension. I worked conservation education – outdoor school for kids and presently Soil and Water Conservation District for adults. Put in 12 years of full-time farming (Blueberries, Raspberries, Marions and Boysens) during that time and another 14 yrs of part-time farming .

Beverly likes to garden and visit a number of older folks that need visitors. She writes a bit and paints a lot since retirement. She travels to Tennessee to see our daughter and grandkids twice a year. I like work because the jobs are so diverse. Chocolate is an essential food group for me and tea for Beverly. I have a 3rd part-time job as naturalist on a small cruise ship (60 guests) in Alaska, Baja and on the Columbia River(Lindblad Expeditions). The company offers staff space available on trips all over the world and we take as much advantage of it as possible. I am headed for Ecuador and Galapagos Islands next Wednesday and return Christmas eve. We have been to Antarctica, Europe, Central America. Beverly isn’t going on this trip and is holding out for Europe and Scandinavia. Would travel more but the only thing holding us back in having to work for a living and available cash. Sound familiar?

Come visit - we would love to hear what makes life exciting for you. We can fill in the details on our short history !

Life is fine – Everyday is a Great Day - just that some are Greater than others!

Love to all, Clair and Beverly

You can click on either image to enlarge.

Christmas Jigsaw Puzzle

Click below: Santa's Jigsaw - animated flash ecard by Jaquie Lawson www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=ER13610552

Enjoy!
Karla St.Clair
(Rod's wife)

Thanksgiving

We had anther couple for a great TG dinner, in our cozy little cabin... had the camera ready on the cupboard next to the table. Forgot to take any photos. Geeezzzzz ##@@!##$!!###

I actually cooked two turkeys.... I only have a microwave/convection oven in the cabin so cooked a small one in it and another one in the BBQ. At 28 cents a pound... I could not pass up buying two turkeys. Like to freeze the leftovers for enchiladas, etc. Have a great enchilada recipe from sister-in- law, Candy. I sent half of everything home with our friends and still have lots of food left. Of course I spent 2+ days cooking so don't plan on cooking for awhile....like maybe a month! Jim says I went overboard... I don't usually entertain in our small cabin so I decided to go for it. Even had shrimp and crab coctails along with a fancy tossed salad -- then the main course with all the traditional foods and a fruit salad like my Mom used to make. Had made a Huckleberry pie and the friends brought a pumpkin pie. Took us several hours before we were ready to tackle the pies.... but we managed to put a big dent in them.

The Microwave/Convection oven is great for large roasts, turkeys, etc. You can cook them on half and half... half convection and half microwave and it takes about half the time to cook them. The oven does it all automatically if you punch the right buttons. Turns out really great.

We played UNO Attack the rest of the evening after dinner. Great fun!

Sounds like you each had a great day and great foodCarol & Nanc.

I can't believe that 2006 is almost over. Where did the year go??

We are expecting some really cold weather in the next week or so. Down around the zero degrees mark at night and highs in the teens. Don't have much snow yet to keep things (plants) covered and partially protected from the cold. So I hope they make it. But, it really does not matter as the deer eat everything anyway.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving...

Love, Bunny

AK Thanksgiving

We had a very small gathering; My brother-Myron, son-Cooper, Mom-Marion, hubby-Rob. We ate early, at 2 PM rather than at the dinner hour. Then we just had leftovers for dinner too. We had the bird of course, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, 6-cup Fruit Salad, cranberry sauce and rolls. Mom made the rolls and brought them and of course I'd made a couple of pumpkin pies the previous day. Mom was going to make a strawberry-cream cheese pie, but the strawberries she'd purchased were freezer burnt.

I'd planned on making a chocolate cream pie from a new recipe, but decided not to because of Mom's planned pie. The pumpkin were plenty... only Myron and I could eat a piece right after dinner. It was a pretty quiet Thanksgiving, no kids to perk it up, but it was good food and conversation with family together. We visited Rob's folks in the evening with his brother and wife. The snow has stopped and it is clear and cold... only 15 degrees here this AM so will have to force myself to go for our daily walk. Enjoy your weekend all of you. I am so thankful to have such a great extended family.
Nanc

Max & Carol's Thanksgiving 2006

Here is a picture of our 16-pound bird... and the motley crew who consumed it.

Dinner consisted of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, 2-berry salad, and rolls. I forgot to put the cranberries on the table. Drats. That happens sometimes when you're rushing around to get everything on the table at once. Oh well, they'll still be good tomorrow.




In the picture from left to right:
Amy & Troy Greenhalgh (our friends), Max Jr., Max Sr., Jeremy, Jeff, Calvin I, of course, was being the photographer.

I sold Amy & Troy a house last year, when they moved from Reno, and we've been friends ever since.

Max Jr., Jeremy & Jeff are all Max's sons. Calvin is Max Jr's grandson. Calvin's mother, Sarah, was working today and couldn't come. They all live in Selah, Washington (a suburb of Yakima).

Max Sr. also has two daughters. Lisa and her family live in Spokane and Lana and her family live in southern California.

Click on images to enlarge

News from the North

Hello everyone,
Here's a great picture of Mom.

I worked on the ferries this summer for my new job for the AK Marine Hwy. System. Found it isn’t exactly my cup of tea. I prefer to have my feet on land the majority of the time as does my tummy when it gets rough on the water.

Actually, it is the big swells that do me in, which happen with regularity every time we are in open waters. Usually if I am busy it doesn’t bother me, but I had a couple of bad experiences that made me wonder what in the world I was doing out there. I do have to admit that I loved the ever changing view , when I had time to look at it. Got to see whales bubble feeding for the first time. I enjoyed talking with the passengers and getting to know the crew too, so it wasn’t all bad. My favorite job was Officer’s Messman. For that you take the officer’s orders and serve them. Many interesting and varied subjects popped up during conversations at mealtime. They were a nice bunch of people to work with.

The money was great, starting at nearly $20 pr hr. and ending at over that. I miss being home with my plants and my dog though and being able to get out and walk on solid ground. Those steel decks don’t agree with my feet . They could probably handle 8 hr. days, but not the 12 I do out there. I am looking for a land job again while I am laid off due to several boats being down for maintenance.

Rob and his friend Jack Sisson got in a 10 day hunting trip over on Zarembo Is., a 15 minute boat ride from Wrangell. They enjoyed each other’s company and finally got two deer the last two days.
*
Mom and I have been doing a daily walk on the days I don’t run. She has only bailed out on me one day so far. This day was a rough walk as there wasn’t much of a track broken through the snow and Mom only had her walking shoes with Yak Tracks on them. I have had them on my shoes ever since the snow started, Nov. 7th.
*
We haven’t had clear sidewalks since, except in front of the hospital, schools and a few businesses. It has been a very unusual Nov. for us, as the majority of snow usually hits in Jan. and Feb.
Now it has switched to clear skies and cooler temps in the 20s and dipping down into the teens for the next several days. There was a brisk north wind today, and Mom was a real trouper, even though she hates the wind. We’ve agreed that we always feel better getting out in the fresh air even when it is nasty out.

The rest of my days have been spent being lazy, working crosswords and my new interest, the Sodoku puzzles. I thought they were silly at first, but am hooked now. I found a difficult one that took me several tries, but I finally conquered it today.

Now I’ve got to get started with my scrapbooking. I’ve been away from it for so long that I feel I’ve lost my touch. Maybe the photos of Mom will be the inspiration I need to spark my creativity again. I am also getting the urge to bake gooey, delicious treats. I’ve been wanting to tone it down to healthier fare as most of us these days don’t need the extra calories. But then many say that Christmas is the one time of the year that they splurge on those comfort foods. So what do all of you think... should I stick with traditional sweets or try to remake the recipes to be healthier?

Nanc of the North

Grandma Pansy's Deep Dish Apple Pie

Shirley St.Clair sent me an e-mail earlier in the week that she plans to post Aunt Marians blueberry pie recipe (when she finds it). But, that got me to looking for one of my favorite recipes:

Grandma Pansy's Deep Dish Apple Pie

TOPPING: Mix to crumble
1 cube butter
1 cub flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
add 1 egg

* * * * *

Peel, core and slice apples as for pie.
Put in oblong pan (8 x 11)
Shake 1/2 cup sugar (with some cinamon) over the apples.
Spread topping over the apple mixture
Bake at 350 degrees until apples are done and topping is brown... about 25 minutes.

YUM-O

Have a great Thanksgiving all!
Carol

Winter Arrives in Wrangell, Alaska

Nancy sends the following message and pictures from Alaska: "Mom and I took a walk on the new extension to the nature trail today"




Carol says: Looks like Fall is over and winter setting in.

Max & Carol's Blog

Here is a link to Max & Carol's blog, with pictures of a Fall excusion we took not long ago. But, now winter is setting in and we put away the tank tops and pulled out the winter coats.
www.TreeDoctor.blogspot.com

-Carol Williams

9/11 Memorial Ride

Hi Everyone,
We are so pleased.... Jim and I planned and arranged a 9/11 Memorial Ride on Monday --9/11.
We had it in the paper and on the local radio. ...invited motorcyclists and classic car owners and anyone else who wanted to participate to attach their flags and memorial signs. But had no idea how many, if any would show up.
The radio called me earlier in the day to see how many and I told them could be 5, could be 40 -- I really had no idea. Had only had about 3 phone calls about it.
Well we arrived at the place we were starting about 15 minutes early and there were already about 10 bikes and 6 or 7 classic cars. And.... they just kept rolling in. We were totally blown away. We had about 50 bikes and 25 to 30 classic cars. We rode thru Colville and over to Kettle Falls...next town over, about 8 miles away; and then back to and through Colville again. It was so awesome. We were not supposed to have a police escort, because we did not plan it in time to get permission from the Mayor for that, but one of the guys called them and they sent a police car to escort us since there were so many. We got to ride through the lights and stop signs, etc.
He escorted us clear to Kettle Falls and had called ahead to have a KF officer escort us thru KF. It was just way cool.
We were in the lead... that is Jim with the big flag and me with the red leather jacket and two smaller flags on the back of my bike. It was so cool to look in our mirrors and see nothing but motorcycles behind us. And the sound was of course great!

If the photo is blurry, right click on it and click on "show original image". You can also go to the local newspaper site and see it and what they wrote... http://www.statesmanexaminer.com/ Or try this if that site moves the articles... http://www.statesmanexaminer.com/images/stories/September11Ride.jpg They had our advertisment for the run on the front page last week and this week... we are on the front page again. Can you tell ... we are very pleased about how well it all turned out. Everyone involved wants us to do it again... they kept saying this is the "first annual run". At this point we are planning on doing just that. We feel that people are forgetting that awful day and want to remind them of all who were lost.

Anyway..... just wanted to share with you guys.

Bunny & Jim

Max's Mexican Birthday Week

Thursday was Max's 76th birthday. In our family we celebrate "birthday weeks" and we had an interesting week, including a full blown homemade Mexican fiesta on Tuesday AND dinner at one of our favorite local Mexican restaurants on Thursday. For pictures and commentary of both events, visit our Max & Carol's Life blog. There is "smut" talk, so don't miss it!

-Carol