Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Story of Kyle

Josh and Amy in about 2000.
This is one of my favorite pictures of all time.


I've seen this email before but with Easter upon us 
it's a good time to see it again and to ponder 
the consequences of our choices. . 

God puts us all together in this life to impact one another in 
someway. 
As Jesus said, "Love one another as I have loved you". 


The Story of Kyle
One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, “Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.”

I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on. As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up, and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes.

My heart went out to him. So I jogged over to him, and as he crawled around looking for his glasses, I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said, “Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives.” He looked at me and said, “Hey thanks!” There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.

I helped him pick up his books and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before, but we talked all the way home, and I carried his books.

He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play football on Saturday with me and my friends. He said yes.

We hung out all weekend, and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him. And my friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, “Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!” He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors, we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn’t me having to get up there and speak.

On graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than me and all the girls loved him! Boy, sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech, so I smacked him on the back and said, “Hey, big guy, you’ll be great!” He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. “Thanks,” he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began. “Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach — but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story.” I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his mom wouldn’t have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. “Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.”

I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize its depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture, you can change a person’s life.


Love,

Grammy T.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Granny Thompson's Yummy White Bread


Granny Thompson's Yummy White Bread

My husbands mother made a very yummy white bread that 
made delicious sandwiches. 

I gained about five pounds after eating those sandwiches 
for a week in high school :)

Here is a picture and the recipe. 


Ingredients;
2 pkg. yeast
4 T melted cooled shortening
4 C flour (approximately)
2 1/2 c Warm Water
1/2 c Sugar
1 T Salt

Mix water, sugar and yeast in a hole made by
the flour and salt called a well. 

Let rise and bubble 
add cooled, melted shorting and lemon juice into the hole and 
mix all together. 

Add 3 more cups of flour a cup at a time until you have 
a very soft dough. 

Dump on a floured board and knead. 

Put in an oiled bowl and flip to cover with oil and let raise. 
She used shortening so you can do that if you want to, 
I did.

Put into loaves and let rise again. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or so until golden brown.

Addition to this recipe - May 15. 2013
Instead of the shortening I added 4 Tbs. of potato flakes
and I loved the results. 

Try the potato flakes, you will love it!!

Now let your kids and their friends tear the top off, rip into chunks
 and slather with butter. 

That's what she did.:)

What great memories of 
Gram, Granny, Grandma
Matilda Mae Bishop Thompson.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Sourdough Starter with potato flakes and memories of Little Grandma Thompson


When I was much younger I was quilting one day with my husbands Grandma Thompson. Little Grandma we called her because she was all of 4' 10" tall. She was darling. She told me she had used a potato water start as yeast for bread making and that it stayed on the back of her wood burning stove. 

She was born in 1891 and of course lived the old fashioned way.

Potato Flake Sour Dough Starter Recipe:  

Starter (first time):
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup sugar
1 package (2-1/4 teaspoons) dry yeast
3 level Tablespoons instant potato flakes
Starter Feeder (subsequent times):
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons potato flakes

You can use it in pancakes too. (yummmmm) This is a potato bread recipe that I have used
for years and I love it and I may add a myriad of things to it but this is the recipe. 
Ingredients:
4 cups flour 
(I like Gold Medal Unbleached)
 4 cups water
2 Tbls. yeast 
(if using frozen yeast use cold water or you will kill your yeast)
1/4 cup sugar
4 Tbls. potato flakes
2 Tbls. salt

Mix;
This is the sponge.   Let rest for awhile and then add:
4 more cups flour a cup at a time. Sometimes it takes more and it may take less so keep it a little sticky (not goopy).  

Put some oil in a large bowl and put the dough in it. Flip it over to coat with the oil.
Put in a warm oven, not hot. Just prewarmed a bit because the dough will love being out of a draft in a warm spot. 

Let rise for about 45 minutes or until your finger mark stays down when you poke it.

Toss onto a dusted counter with a little flour and form into loaves.
Put in bread pans coated with Pam.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes for nice crusty bread. 
Take out of pan and put on a big wooden bread board. 
Slather the top with butter and let cool. 

Take to your friends warm in a brown lunch bag so it won't get squishy or if it is all cooled you can put it in plastic bags. 

You can use part whole wheat flour, oats, corn meal, sunflower seeds, millet, flax seed and whatever you want in the recipe.  It's fun to experiment. but remember the sticky or soft part when mixing not stiff. :)