What Fall/Autumn???&nbsp;&nbsp; It is 90 degrees outside today!&nbsp; What&#39;s wrong with this picture?

St. Stephens Catholic church between 50th and 51st St, between Marion and Hope. One Friday every month, fresh fried perch with french fries and cole slaw served family style; "all you cen eat!"

Actually speaking of perch, our family fished for perch off the railway trestle over Green Bay in the summer when we would go visiting grandparents in Marinette. Talk about "good old days"!

We would catch about 4-5 dozen fish, dad would skin and gut them, grandma tossed them in flour and fried them in a cast iron pan with plenty of real butter-and we would finish them off in one dinner! (Funny thing about having type 2 diabetes is I am not limited to fats in my diet, so I have gone back to cooking with real butter and am appreciating the full flavor.) (There is something about the genes of my ancestors from Norway that prevents high LDL.)

Here in North Carolina there are three restaurants that serve fried perch, moderately priced. Tried one of them and there is no comparison to my childhood dinners; very disappointing.

09/22/19 11:16 AM

#2702

Melody, those were the days - every church, Legion post, and whoever had a Friday night fish fry.

My father always took his two weeks vacation in July or August and we'd go "up North" (Wautoma) to a cottage for fishing. We'd stock up and fill the freezer for the rest of the year. That was when the lakes actually had quantities of fish that were safe to eat. Later, as an adult and retiree, the fish we caught were covered with black spots that looked like mold. Officially, there were supposed to be ok to eat, but it sure didn't look like it.

Oh well, shrimp and grits may not be all that bad, at least there are places around here that offer cheddar cheese flabored grits.

09/22/19 12:47 PM

#2703

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

We're feeling sorry for all of you living in those incessantly sunny spots that don't provide a respectable Friday night fish fry. Up here (in the dark grey area of Terry's map labeled "F this" ), there's no shortage of great Friday dinners featuring perch, walleye, or Lake Huron whitefish. I guess that's our reward for braving out the interminable winters.

Terry, I loved your memories of the space program - you were really in the thick of it! Your description of the garlic aroma fits our garden to a "T". Years ago my brother's wife sent us some from her garden, and I planted it. The stuff is more prolific than dandelions, and I'm still pulling it out of every flower garden on our property. We could have made pesto for the entire Midwest! Even more delicious than the cloves are the early spring "scapes", when they're still curly.

Dearest Garry, we hope your new hip is settling in nicely, so you can get back out and distinguish yourself on the greens in some ridiculous-looking golf pants. We're still managing with our original models, with the help of ice packs and the hot tub after my gardening or Karsten's tennis, but it's only a question of time.

Fall is in the air, and when the colors begin to turn, the leaf-peepers won't be far behind. We'll be at our local lighthouse museum in two weeks to welcome them, including a cruise ship coming all the way from Germany. We've encountered German tourists in some of the most remote spots, and it seems they've now discovered the Great Lakes. And great we are: " no salt, no sharks, no worries".

09/22/19 01:49 PM

#2704

Garry Sellers

Well thank you for your kind wishes Nancy. Two weeks and the refurbished body parts are doing fine. A little behind scheduble due to sciatica and other body parts demanding equal opportunities.

We are now at the point where I most miss Wisconsin. The Fall colors and all the smells accomanying them. Maybe not in the Milwaukee area yet but certainly in my sister's turf around Eagle River. I don't think I've mised a year in the 50 since leaving Wisconsin that I don't get terribly nostalgic and melancholy in late September, early October. Our street (33rd/Silver Spring) was once part of Thurston Forest, packed with majestic old oaks and towerring elms which produced more than its share of colors. I can still smell the leaves burning along side the road (to this day they have never installed curbs or sidewalks in the two blocks that were part of Granville). And the mounds of leaves we'd build up only to dive into and have to rake the all up again ... my Dad just standing there smiling and shaking his head.

09/23/19 08:46 AM

#2705

What Fall/Autumn??? It is 90 degrees outside today! What's wrong with this picture?

09/23/19 06:20 PM

#2706

Sharon Augustin (Neitzel)

Garry,

Your post brought a flood of memories for me - I lived on the corner of 36th & Thurston. Loved walking down into the "forest". St. Albert church had a Friday Fish Fry once a month - mmmmmmmm!

Here in Oak Creek the leaves are just barely starting to change but it won't be long & they'll be in all their Fall glory. We need that as whar follows Fall is horrendous! The season that shall remain nameless.

So far my knees & hips are mine but there is so much titanium in my back, I can set off alarms!

Barb

09/24/19 08:42 PM

#2707

Hi,

I just wanted to thank everyone on the Reunion committee for organizing the party. It was great fun.

Sharon

09/25/19 02:27 PM

#2708

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Totally agree with Sharon!

Barb

09/26/19 02:21 PM

#2709

I am so sorry to have missed the 75th party. Had my plane booked already, but then husband Jon had a health setback requiring my presence. I'd been really looking forward to it. However I think reaching 76 is even more significant than reaching 75, as will be every year going forward (God willing) so I hope there will be future parties. I add my thanks to the committee for keeping the get-togethers going. Speaking of the Fall colors and forests, we lived on 51st and Congress, and there was a little forest of mostly tall old oaks around Lincoln Creek, with all those colors and smells Garry was describing. It was our favorite place to play and explore as kids. That was when Lincoln Creek was still wild, with "bridges" of overturned tree trunks across the creek, and "caves" in the side of the creek where the roots had been. Such a great place to be a kid!

09/26/19 03:52 PM

#2710

Jeanne Zinser (Gottschalk)

Terri, you and I could have our own mini 76th Birthday Party!

09/27/19 11:24 AM

#2711

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Would love that, Jeanne. Or you can come and visit us when the Crew plays the Dodgers in LA!

09/27/19 04:53 PM

#2712

Jeanne Zinser (Gottschalk)

Terri, Jeanne, you're both welcome to come here for shrimp and grits too.

09/27/19 09:19 PM

#2713

Jim, you're WAY too generous! How about steak & fries? Lotsa wine, too!!

09/28/19 11:42 AM

#2714

Or...come to North Carolina for pulled pork sandwhiches with garlic mashed potatoes.

09/28/19 01:05 PM

#2715

Jeanne, I don't need the fries, but we have a place out here called "Steak and Shake." Haven't tried it yet, but it sounds good to me.

Melody, what kind of wine goes with garlic mashed potatoes?

09/29/19 10:47 AM

#2716

Generally, you pair your wine with the meat being served, which for pulled pork sandwhiches would be a nice red wine, maybe rose. The garlic mashed potatoes, if served alone, would best be paired with a white, maybe Zinfandel. I have both, so your choice.

10/02/19 07:02 PM

#2717

In June, for Father's Day, my kids gave me a ride on a WWII B-17 bomber. It crashed this morning and there were casualties. Gives you a kind of creepy feeling.

10/05/19 12:12 PM

#2718

Jim,

Glad you were on it in June!!

Barb

10/05/19 01:56 PM

#2719

Thanks Barb, like I said, eerie feeling. I recognize the pilots, we chatted a bit before the flight.

My uncle flew one in WWII, and I'm a history buff, so it was quite a thrill. The flight was only about 20 minutes and 1500 ft. altitude. Almost imcomprehensible to imagine those guys flying in one for 8 or 9 hours, 25,000 ft up, -30 degrees, and all you've got is a leather jacket and oxygen mask. Oh, and you were being shot at.

10/06/19 09:44 PM

#2720

Ummm. . . .

I just read that Harbor Freight is recalling 1.1 million pocket knives because they pose a "laceration hazard."

10/07/19 01:40 PM

#2721

Lauren Dieterich

Jim, I had a genuine sheepskin WW2 flight jacket, not original; but, idential to the real deal. I paid a $150 for it, 20 years ago. To replace it today would cost close to $800. I never zipped it all the way up until it got down into the 30's. I gave it to my son-in-law when I moved to Arizona permanently. He is no longer my son-in-law; but, still has the jacket. It's just as well, since I can't give it to my son. Damn, it's been 6 months; but, I still can't think about my son's death.

10/07/19 09:17 PM

#2722

Lauren,

Yeah, they had those fleece lined jackets and also similar hats and pants. Big problem was, like I said, at 25,000 feet the temp is around -30. Not only that, they were flying around two hundred mph - with the windows open!

When I was a volunteer on the USS Midway Museum in San Diego, they wanted to give me a leather flight jacket for the hours I put in - I told them to keep it. Said I couldn't imagine someone (me) from Wisconsin ever being cold enough to wear something like that in Southern Cal.

10/08/19 07:22 PM

#2723

Oh Oh . . . Looks like Garry has a football team to watch.

Of course, he may not be able to watch. They're shutting the power off out there.

10/10/19 12:15 AM

#2724