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Sunday, September 30, 2018

Ground Cherries




 Ground Cherries

I'll bet you've had this experience... you mention something familiar from your childhood and you're met with a stare.  You realize that what was so familiar to you is completely foreign to someone else.  Ground cherries?  I have a hard time explaining them.  "Like a tiny Japanese lantern with a little golden-green berry inside," I say.  Or, "it looks like a tomatillo... and you make pie with it."  Still I'm met with an uncomprehending gaze.

This past week I made a trip back to Indiana to visit my 95-year-old mother.  She used to make the best ground cherry pies, and it had been ages since we'd made one.  But the garden where they used to bear their luscious fruit year after year had been abandoned.  It occurred to me that Simon's garden may still have some ground cherries.  Simon and Edna were our Amish neighbors to the south on 700 East.  So I called Dan (Simon and Edna's son) who gave me Martha's (Dan's wife) number... Martha couldn't have produced a more generous response: "Sure you can have some!  Just go on down to the basement where I have a whole bunch drying on newspaper.  Take what you need.  And tell your mother hello and enjoy the pie!"  I explained that I would love to pick my own if there were still any in the garden, and that I would really love to visit with Simon if he was at home.

Nancy, my mother and I went out to Simon's on Monday afternoon.  Simon was surprised and glad to see us and walked out to the garden with us.  We carried a chair out for mother to sit in and she delighted in being near a garden again, harvesting ground cherries, and chatting with a dear neighbor.  Simon thought we should take some flowers with us too.

It was a perfect snapshot of why I love to return home... to the farm.  Good neighbors.  Gardens.  Connecting.  Thank you, Simon, Dan and Martha!


The revered Ground Cherry Pie recipe

written in my Mother's beautiful handwriting


Saturday, September 15, 2018

Touby Cousins 2018: Yellow Springs, Ohio

September 10-13, 2018
We all stayed at the beautiful Arthur Morgan House B&B which was like living in the pages of Architectural Digest magazine!  It was so comfortable for our group of twelve ... wonderfully furnished and appointed ... every space perfectly balanced in design, scale, color and texture.  Every detail of guest comfort was considered, from luxurious robes in our rooms to interesting books in the living room.  Original art graced guest rooms and common spaces.  Christina's breakfast each morning consisted of fruits, a special egg concoction, and pancakes - never the same way twice - and several pots of coffee.  On our last morning she surprised us with a miniature carrot cake muffin topped artfully with a swirl of cream cheese frosting.  We were well-fed!

Arthur Morgan House B&B
The dining room
Suite 2

We explored regional Native American history at SunWatch Indian Village, then on to Carillon Brewing Company where Mark and Pauline joined us for lunch and some historic brews.
The beer wagon
Longfellow poem at the base of the carillon



Marcia and Gene
Kent and Caroline
Dinner at the Sunrise Cafe
Bill and Jane
Charlotte and Terry
Nancy and Mark
So glad we went to the Funk Music Hall of Fame in Dayton!  We finished up with a little air guitar!!





We did a fair amount of eating, and Yellow Springs had a great selection of unique restaurants.  We sat outdoors on a perfect evening at Winds Cafe.  Then the next night went to Calypso Grill and Smokehouse which specialized in Latin and Caribbean fare.



Marcia and Gene
Bill and Jane
Mark and Nancy

Caroline and Kent
Gene and Marcia
Pauline and Mark
Bill and Jane
Charlotte and Terry
Nancy and Mark



And we won't tell Mother this story... :)