Thursday, June 28, 2007

Gram's Montgomery Pie & RR Tramps


This was Gram's favorite pie, along with her apple pie.

I have this easy recipe written in her hand dated Feb. 6th, 1980.

Montgomery Pies
for 2 pies

First part:
1 egg
1/2 cup syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 pint hot water
1 TBS. flour
lemon extract

Second part:
1 Lemon cake mix
mix according to directions on box

Pour liquid mixture into 2 unbaked pie shells
Then add cake batter

Bake 350 degree oven till done.

She has another version I will post later when I find it that
is not using a boxed cake mix.

Gram's home on Cabbage Creek has a railroad track running in her back yard. When I was small we used to wait for the small train to come by because there was a man who was always in the caboose who threw us candy! One time we flagged the train to slow down and Pap walked up to the man and gave him a gift from all of us kids. Pap worked for the railroad and found out his name. He was a kind man. Once a week we watched for him then one day he retired. He would wave to us with his red hanky, a smile on his face always and the most gentle eyes. We really missed him. Now that train had at times Tramps as they were called backed then, homeless men who rode on it. Gram's home was known to be kind to these men. The Tramps told her it was marked somehow. The Tramps who rode by saw the mark, would hop off the train and they knew they would be welcomed to a warm meal with hot coffee, a chair to set in and warm soap and water to wash up with. These men all had a trade or knack to fix things. There were men who repaired shoes, fixed umbrella's, repaired bicycles, all kinds of skills. One played a harmonica, another a banjo, another a mandolin and yet another played spoons. They only ever told her their first names and they called her Miss Anna. She said these Tramps of the Railroad all were gentlemen, never a harsh word. Some would set and talk a spell yet others would hardly speak a word. They mostly came during the warm months with only one or two in the winter. Gram was a nurse and she also would sometimes supply iodine, Cloverine sauves and clean linen bandages. She would sometimes give them thread and a needle to repair their clothes or she would sew for them. They would leave as quietly as they came, always they told her "God
Bless you, Miss Anna."

Monday, June 4, 2007

Welcome to my New Blog Start ...

Welcome to my new blog addition! I have decided to keep my postings on home and hearth at "Cottage at Cabbage Creek" separate from my "a rustling of leaves ..." thoughts and musings on the Christian Life. Please peruse them both. I think you will find them both thought provoking and enjoyable! I chose the name "Cottage at Cabbage Creek" because of the many years while growing up that I spent playing in Cabbage Creek which flowed thru the property of my Grandma Anna and Pap Fred's home. Pleasant, enjoyable years with many warm memories. The home is now owned by a young couple newly married with a babe on the way! Children will again be running the stairs of this home and that brings a joy to my heart! I drive past this home when I go to my Mom's. The young woman has brought life back into the home. There are lights around the door with a grape vine twine. Candle lights in the windows, a garden has taken up residence in a corner that invites you in for a closer look. She decorates with the seasons ... something my Gram always did and we continued to do for her till she had to sell her home and move in with Mom. And, she has put up a porch swing!!! Joy of joys! I remember the swing my grandparents used to have hanging there, along with a metal glider. Only thing missing is the green striped canvas awning Pap used to always put up in the spring and take down in the fall. Mom had planted a three color Butterfly bush in the corner near the drive way and it is still blooming away. So stayed tuned for my memories of life at a dear home along Cabbage Creek.