I then scrubbed the beets, and similarly cut them up. I put them in the pan with the parsnips before the cutting up just to enjoy their beauty together.
After cutting them up I separated them, as my insurance man is not a beet lover. I put the onions and parsnips together, and the beets separately....drizzled olive oil over them and generously seasoned with salt and pepper.
I cooked them at 500 degrees for about 40 minutes for the parsnips and close to an hour for the beets. The directions said to use a low sided pan, preferably stainless steel, but since I didn't have that I used a small roaster and an old corning ware dish.
We ate the parsnips and onions that night, and they were delicious. The parsnips had a wonderful texture and flavor, and we love roasted onions. A real benefit is that the parsnip skins were soft and we lost none of their nutrition.
The beets are stowed in the refrigerator for me to enjoy over the week-end. Their skins are crispy and I may decide to rub them off...we'll see. It was an enjoyable time in the kitchen.
Welcome lights....an East Coast delight.
After Julie moved to Pennsylvania, we visited her there fairly often, having never been to the East Coast before. There were many differences as the East and West Coasts have their own cultures. Loving history and old houses, I was enchanted with the large old colonial homes, many wooden painted white and many brick or stone. Every evening as dusk came on, little welcome lights would light up the windows of these beautiful homes. We often took walks or car rides just to look at the lovely graceful windows, curtains and welcoming lights. What a beautiful custom. Today's lights are electrical, battery powered or even solar powered. They are a tribute to days long gone (but not forgotten) when candles were placed in the windows to welcome home family members, or to welcome guests to the home and hearth. Welcome lights are not usually seen on the West Coast, and on returning home I found some electrical ones for my downstairs windows. I placed these at 4 small windows on the ground floor, and found 4 more battery lights for my upstairs windows where no outlets were available. The photo above shows the smaller battery powered light and the photo below the stronger electrical one. I have chosen to use the lights seasonally, and place them in the windows in October when the nights are growing longer and the days shorter. There is something so comforting to come home to the lights when it's dark and stormy out, or to be indoors looking out at the weather but see the little sturdy lights spreading their beams. They are even nice on cold grey days in winter...and I have them on all day as homemade soup is simmering on the stove. What a nice tradition that we have brought home with us from our visits to Julie.
This is my father-in-law, Larry C. Asmussen. He is in his army uniform here in 1942. Due to eyesight problems he never got an opportunity to serve overseas. He did however serve his country well here at home.
This is my father, Frank A. Vernon. He served in the Pacific during WW II, in the Army Air Corp. He flew with the 494th Bomb Group, in 'Kelly's Cobras.'
This is a photo of Frank's plane the 'Wolf', where he served as a waiste gunner.
And this is the veteran closest to my heart, John C. Asmussen. John served with the Oregon National Guard starting in 1971, during the Viet Nam War.
We live at the edge of the Oregon High Desert, and fall has been spectacular here this year. This is one of my flowering crab apple trees after all the leaves have blown off. The fruit is not edible but provides gorgeous color, and they stay on as if glued all winter long. They bloom beautifully in spring, then provide soft green shade and beauty in summer, and finally this pretty color in fall and winter. What great trees! We even tie plastic eggs on at Easter for an Easter tree some years.
Last weekend we cleaned out a flowerbed, and planted it with these red and yellow tulip bulbs. We scooped 5 inches of dirt out of the flowerbed and laid out all the bulbs, then we added a couple of inches back and put down the smaller anemone bulbs to bloom around the tulips. We finally covered everything back up, and watered it well. I hope the flowerbed looks like this photo on the bag come next spring.
Our final project was to rake up the leaves...there aren't too many as most of our shrubs and trees are evergreen here in the Pacific Northwest. What we do rake up goes into our compost and is bagged to go into the compost this winter. They compost up so well. Below is my companion in yard work !
This is what a corner of our backyard looks like, all bare for winter. At least there are still green areas with our grass and evergreens...and it will look much better with a robe of beautiful white soon. I will take some more photos then.
This is Amelia 'Milly' Sue Jones, born April 8, 2007
We are reveling in lacy socks, curls and everything pink after the birth of 4 consecutive grandsons. Sugar and spice... we are blessed!
