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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1959-02-26, Page 2Grandma And The January Thaw The worst month in a Mohawk Valley boy's year was January. 'Perhaps T should say is January, because the deep-rooted meteor- ological miseries of that despica- ble period can't have changed, even infive decades. As a juvenile and amateur ob- server of the weather, I decided that January provided a most unsatisfactory start for a new year, Obviously the commence - meet of a fresh calendar was an important event, and I suggest- ed to Grandma that it would be better if it took place on May 1. She agreed, but reminded me that inasmuch as we had to live with January for many days, the sensible attitude was to make the best of it, After all, the coed, sleet, snow, wind, ice, and thaw were the inescapable costs of the coming spring. The thaw—ah, that was the winter of my discontent! Arriv- ing soon after the Christmas vacation, it desolated our coast- ing and skating, ruined our ski slopes, demolished our snow houses, turned the streets into •canals, and generally immobili- zed the younger` generation. Boys and girls could handle weather that packed the town in the deepest of freezers, for there were recreations that re- quired cold. But in the melting time, life became seriously cir- cumscribed, at least for me. Grandma was adamant on one point I could not play outdoors in the slush and soak of a Jan- uary thaw. "No use pestering me," she'd say on an afternoon or a Satur- day when the liquidation of win- ter's assets was well under way. "You're not. going out in that mess." And I didn't. The thaw arrived slyly, sneak- ing upon us in the night. When I went to bed the evening be- ere, all would be well. The snow castle I had built near the kitchen steps looked as solid as its Camelot counter -part in my King Arthur book; the tiny back -yard skating rink I sprin- kled daily for nocturnal freez- ing seemed good for the rest of the winter; and Story Street jri11, which ended at our corner, promised many more sled rides. Grandma had an uncanny weather sense; she seemed to be human barometer. Opening the front door atter supper, she'd inspect the sky, . sniff, and shake her head, "January thaw," she'd an- nounce. "I wouldn't be surpris- ed if it came tonight." And it usually did, with an escort of rain. The period of warmer temper- atures lasted only a few days, but the destruction of things a boy held dear was appalling, even in that short interval- Christ- mas snowmen lost flesh at an alarming rate; their coal eyes abed black tears clown their shrinking tummies. The snow fort which Freddie Winters, Jack Niles, and I had held against a fierce attack by the boys in the next street yielded meekly to 50 degrees Fahren- heit. Tunnels we had dug in the snowbanks along the sidewalks became uninhabitable, and we were warned against using them, writes John L. Cooley in The Christian Science Monitor. We knew, of course, that more cold and snow were as certain as the approaching school examin- ations, and that helped some- what, But boys live for the mo- ment, and the havoc wrought by the January thaw dishearten- ed us, Frankly, however, I did not regret too deeply my con- e ISSUE 8 - 1959 finement to quarters, for the discomforts inoident to intimate contact with slush and wet snow were real indeed, Nevertheless, it was hard to sit in my window ehair and watch the fringe of icicles on the eaves of the house .next door drip slowly back to their natural element, I had. watched those graceful pendants mature, and regretted their dis- elution. Although Grandma's restric- tions on my activity were rather severe, I was not deprived of all association with the thaw and its . works. Close relations were possible at least four time a day. Even my grandparent could not set aside, the decision of the sovereign State of New York that a boy must be edu- cated, regardless of the weather; so, unless 'conditions were utter- . ly impossible, I slogged to my classroom and back, one round trip in the morning,another in the afternoon, The return journeys at the end of the school day were pro- longed by engineering projects such as the clamming, with soggy snow, of a gutter at a crossing so that the water would back up into an imaginary Lake George and then overflow like the spill- way at the town reservoir. An- other interesting job was the construction of sluices through aging drifts to facilitate the escape of the eager, icy flood. that awaited release from the ruts of the road. The manufacture of snow•, balls on one's own premises, was also an important chore; a fel- low must take advantage of the soft snow while he had it, •.and it was possible 'to devote ten or fifteen mintues to this work be- fore his grandmotherrealized that he was home. Her dislike of wet feet and wet clothing— his, in each case—seeme incom- prehensible to him, But it did no good to plead; Mother' Na- ture had been adjudged an unfit companion during the January thaw. The thaw had a by - product. which, I must admit, was pleas- ant. Imprisoned in the living room on soggy afternoons, I would yield eagerly to Grand- ma's suggestion that I maneuver my lead soldiers or read about the battles fought by my story- book heroes.' "They're much better than snow fights," • she'd say. "And it's nicer in here where it's warm and dry. , Now why don't you show me how Pickett charged at Gettysburg?" Grand- ma had seen my .reenactment of Confederate valor times without number, but she always was willing to be favored by another demonstration. She would vary the diversion by reminding me that I : could play I was outdoors—and very far from our Academy Street, too. The locale of this game was the Arctic where, I had heard; there were no January thaws. The big lozenges that dominated the pattern of our rug made realistic—and oh so safe and dry!—ice floes; a boy could skip from cake to cake while his grandmother encouraged or ap- plauded, as circumstances re- quired. Then, presto!—our thaw was over as quickly as it had come. The morning after its departure the kitchen window was so heavily painted :with frost that •I could not look out as I ate my oatmeal. The remnants of the snowman and fort, when I in- spected 'them, seemed to 'have taken courage from the change, and I knew' I could make re- pairs. Best of all was Grand- ma's reminder of things to come: "Well, the paper says we're in for another long cold snap. We'd better get your skates sharp- ened!" IN THE NEWSBOYS' TRADITION if you can't walk through the cl•ifts, walk over 'em. that's the philosophy of Date Huns- c -r, 11. who delivers the Elkhart paper despite'any weather. 'TABLE TALKS oiamAraven. SALMON. CROQUETTES when it will bake easily on test- ' ing with a fbrk and is an opaque white shade to the centre of the portions, Makes 3 or 4 servings, ► ` 0* A seafood curry is a • conveni- ent main dish to 'serve during the Lenten season. It's quick and easy, to make, it's an excellent means of using up .leftover, cook- ed .fish lir ''shellfish, and if de- sired, it can be prepared in ad-' vance, refrigerated, and Hien heated before the meal. Basically a seafood curry con- sists Of one or•more varieties of cooked or canned seafoods fn a curry -seasoned sauce, accompa- nied 'by , fluffy cooked rice and side dishes of "condiments. It can be' as bland or as hair-raisingly hotas the taste demands, and the condiments which accompany .it can be many or few,. FISH CURRY 1 pound cooked fillets (2 cups flaked, cooked fish) % cup chopped onion 1 tart apple, .peeled & chopped 2 tablespoons'. butter, melted 2 teaspoons curry powder % teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon flour 1 cup milk. 1 tablespoon letnon juice 3 cups hot, cooked rice Flake fish. Cook onion and ap- ple in butter for about 5 minutes or until soft. Blend salt and curry powder with flour and aprinkl'e over the .mixture. Stir in milk gradually.: COok until thickened, stirring constantly. Add lemon juice and fish. Heat mixture until piping hot. Serve on hot; 'cooked rice, A few raisins mixed with the rice are an at- tractive and delicious garnish. Makes 4 . servings. SALMON LUNCHEON CROQUETTES 1 can (1 ounces) salmon 1:cup'seasoned, cooked, mashed potatoes 1 egg,. beaten 1 tablespoon chopped pimiento 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon grated -onion V4 teaspoon salt teaspoon pepper ' Dash cayenne ` Dry bread' crumbs (about 1 tablespoon) 1 egg, lightly beaten % cup dry bread: crumbs Drain. and flake salmon, mash- ing bone with a' fork. Mix first 9 ;ingredients listed, then add enough dry bread crumbs so :that mixture can .be handled (1 =to 2' tablespoons required). Shape ,as desired; dip in lightly beaten egg, .then in ".dry bread' ' crumbs.' 'Chill: fol• at least 1''hour._Fry in' deep -hot. fat„ (375°F.) for .about, 5 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper, Serve ' plain ar with a• sauce. Makes 4, servings. Good .fish deserves a cook's best care. Here are two tips worth remembering. To preserve a" fish product's fine appearance, handle it as little and as gently as. possible during and after' cooking, To preserve its fine 'fla- vour, take care ,not, to overcook it, ' Fish has no tough connective tissue and so doesn't require a lengthy cooking period to make it tender and to develop its fla- vour. 'It can be baked, broiled, steamed, poached or 'fried with excellent results. Recommended cooking times are useful as a guide to tell when fish is cooked. Usually'. they are based on the measured thickness of a product rather than on its weight. • * d, 0 How can you fell when .fish is cooked? The indications are as clear as; traffic lights. A piece• of raw .fish • whetherpink, white or cream coloured has .a watery look, During the cooqjcjcrng' process. the juices become rRilky.' in col- our( giving the flesh a whitish tint, This colour change is :un- mistakable. When the flesh has taken On an apaque white tint to the centre of She'' cut, . it i5 com- pletely cooked. At .this tine the flesh will separate into flakes when prodded with a.fork and if there are any. bones 'present It will separate from them easily. Fish cooked beyond this point tends to, lose juices; dry out, and become increasingly tough and flavourless. @ y °' QUICK SALMON PIE 1 can. (15% ounces), salmon 1 can (10 ounces). peas; drained 4 tablespoons butter 4 tablespoons flour 3 teaspoon salt. Dash' pepper 11 cups liquid (liquid from the canned "salmon plus milk to make up volume) % cup grated Cheddar cheese 3s recipe baking powder biscuits (1 cup flour) Draim ,and flake salmon, re- serving salmon liquid to combine with milk. Melt 'butter; blend in flour and seasonings. Add liquid gradually, and cook over low heat until thick and smooth, stir- ring constantly. Add :cheese and stir until melted, `Add 'peas . and • • salmon. Pour into a greased-1112,- quart reased•1'/z-quart casserole, Arrange ,small biscuits on top of salmon mix- ture.- Bake in. a =hot oven pre- heated to 4507„ for '10 'to. 15 minutes, or ;until the biscuits are golden brown.;, Makes 6 servings, SALTWATER ROLLS' •1 pound fresh sole fillets Salt Pepper Dill pickle chunks or glrer-' kins 34 cup chopped ,onion 2 tablespoons butter 1 can (1% ounces) tomato sauce- '/4 teaspoon salt .Sprinkle each fillet .with salt and pepper.- Place a thick strip of dill pickle or a gherkin on each fillet at the broad end, Roll up fillets like a jelly roll. Place roll -ups close together in a small greased baking dish. Cook onion in butter for about 6 minutes or until tender but not browned. Stir in tomato sauce and salt. Bring to simmering temperature then pour over sh. Bake in a hot Oven preheated to 450°F., for 15 tO 20 minutes or until fish will flake easily on testing with a fork and is an opaque white shade throughout. Makes 3 or 4 servings. 0 0 0 CRISPY BAKED FILLETS 1 pound frozen fish fillets 1/2 cup evaporated milk. i teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons lemort juice s/4 cup .crushed cornflakes Butter Cut frozen • fillet block into 8 Or 4 portions of equal size, Com- bine evaporated' milk, salt, and lemon juice in, a shallow 'dish. Dip .fillet.; portions In milk, then coat with ,arushed cornflakes. Place in a shallow, greased bak- ing dish. Dot with butter. Bake in a hot ,oven preheated to 450° F., .allowing about 20 minutes Cooking tient per inch thickness of fillet block, The fish is cooked • The male Kodiak bear weighs around 1,500 lbs., while the Po- larbear's weight runs around .1,100 lbs. - Santa's Sack Full Of Gold! Klondy Nelson wilt never for- get her first Christmas with the tough goidminers of Ophir Creek, Alaska, though she was. a child at the time. Her father, Warren Nelson, had left their $ o ut h Dakota home for the Klonclyke goldrush in '98, Four years later, she and her mother went north to join him. • The last lap of the journey was by stage coach from Nome to Council, along the coast over the frozen Bering Sea, A mile offshore there was a splintering crash and the coach stopped,. Brower, the driver, began yell- ing and his blacksnake whip cracked like gunfire. Looking out, one of the passengers order- ed ; everyone to pile out of the Mach, The two leading horses of the six -horse team had gone through the ice! K1 o n d y and her mother scrambled on to a hummock and stared at the black, jagged hole in the ice where the two horses were rearing and floundering in the running sea, Brower did the only.thirig he could — chopped the animal loose to save the rest, then took a gun and shot them out of their misery, Later he said to Klondy, "Guess you think I was pretty hard about them horses- I can't let myself git to like 'em. If I ever git to like 'em, then it's harder when I got to do what I just don'e." They were 10 days reaching Council. The rest of the journey was by 'dog -sled. They were ac- companied by Big Hans, a • man from Ophir 'Creek, who kept taking swigs from one of a'aum- ber •of jugs he was, carrying. On the way the whole team bolted ;off the trail and over a sharp cornice after a flock of ptarmigan. They capsized the sled, pitching Klondy .into a snow -bank at the bottom of • a gully, where she was almost buried alive. As Hans floundered down after her, and began kicking around in the loose drifts, , Klondy's mother screamed at him: "There she is! ;Right behind you." "I know where she is," he snarled, •"I'm looking for my Jug" ' With Corey Ford, Klondy Nel- son gives a vivid account of life in the Klondyke fn "Klondy: A Daughter of . the Gold Rush". They describe a Christmas party in the miners' bunkhouse at Ophir Creek. The Christmas tree was; lighted with miners' thick candles wired to the branches. They shone on strings of red cranberries,` gilded corks, and a star at; the top cut from a baking -powder tin, But there weren't any presents, though'Klondy had prayed night ly to. Santa Clausfor a doll's house. fier lip quivered and, noticing • it, one of the miners chuekled: "Don't worry, Klondy, Santa will be showing up 'any minute. now. Won't he, Hans?" "By Jiminy, he better!" Big. Hans muttered, "That's what .i paid him for."' • The -yd hired a Lapp herder to dress up es . Santa and drivehis reindeer team rigbt up on to the roof, banking extra snow against the bunkhouse so that the sleigh could climb the slope. There was no chimney for Santa to come down,',only a stovepipe, so they'd loosened •two boards in the roof tomake. a trapdoor. -Then sleighbells sounded in the distance. Closer they came, then right on to the roof: Amid the prancing ' of reindeer hoofs, Santa's -voice could be heard bel - :lowing; "Whoa, you yavils! Stand Still!" There was a loud thumping' and scraping and' snow sifted on to the floor, Then' a pair of Lapp reindeer boots with turned -up toes came through the • ceiling, followed by stocky :legs in red woollen underwear, They dan& led and kicked as Santa yelled! "`Quick! Coeatsomebody! Alr not get trough dis yavilish hole,` Several men stood on the bunkhouse table, pulled, tugged, and eventually lowered Santa td the floor. lie wore a white drill parka, a .stocking oap, and a beard as white as cotton, which now appeared to be growing from the side of his face! Fling. ing ,a burlap sack in front of Klondy, he turned and strode towards the door. "Hey," Hans yelled, "ain't you goin' back up the chimney?" "Not by clan sight," Santa re- torted., Klondy heard the thump of a ladder against the bunkhouse, then the fading thikle of sleigh- bells as Santa headed back over the hill. • A miner opened the sack and dumped the presents in her lap— gold `nuggets, nugget -chair's, five - and ten -dollar gold pieces, white ermine skins, lovely Arctic fox furs. But no doll's house. All the way hone she never said a word—until Mother asked her what was the matter; then she told her. 1Ip jumped. her father.. lie went over to the table and mut' and hammered at some- thing, A little later he called "Merry Christmas, Kiondyi" He'd Cut the bottom• nut of a maple syrup tin which had been designed and shaped like a house. He'd poked holes in the painted window and set the tin over a lighted candle. The light .shone through the little holes and real smoke curled up fronts the chimney—the opening tor pouring out the syrup. Klondy sat in front of it, star- ing, staring. "I think it ,was the nicest. Christmas present I ever had," she says, "I 'thought • I'd tell you I've been here just ontwenty-five years," said the. timid employee 'to his boss, hopefully. "So," boomed .the employer, "It's you who's worn the holes in the carpet." • STOCK — Batty Lou , Cowger wears abbreviuted western .get- up to advertise she San Antonia tenth anniversary stock show and. rodeo, ARCHAEOLOGICAL UMBRELLA — A steel canopy protects the ruins of an ..Indian earthen tower dating from the year 1350. 11 is located at th e Casa Grande )Jationa6 Mon u m e fit • near Coolidge, Ariz. The tower was part of a defensive wall around what was then a village. The canopy, 69 feet high, Is built to withstand 100-m.p.h. winds.