My goodness, this month is flying by and leaving us all in its wake! The month is nearly half gone and I feel as if I am moving around in slow motion. Of course, once I got home last week, after being gone for six days, I had a lot to catch up on, and since then, have been one of four ladies who were hostesses for our monthly breakfast after Mass at our little country church. It was a success if you measure success by the amount of food consumed! We had two gluten free casseroles, and another casserole with the bread and eggs, the Brunch Bread that I make for all occasions that need something of that type, a type of Monkey Bread, fresh apple cake and fruit. Of all this food, there were four pieces of the Brunch Bread, half of the apple cake and half of the Monkey Bread and some of the fruit left. The rest was cleaned out totally. Really nice to know they enjoyed the food as much as they did and not too much to take home.
My brother and his wife came in late Wednesday from their home in north Texas and we’ve had a good time visiting and catching up on our lives, and today the three of us went into San Antonio to visit my brother-in-law who is in a Rehab Facility near Ft. Sam Houston, receiving occupational therapy and physical therapy three or more hours each day. My sister stays at the center with him as he needs quite a bit of help, but is getting better and hopes to be home or at least at our local hospital within the next couple of weeks. Today, (Wednesday), makes two months that he has been either in the hospital, a rehab hospital or this facility and he is truly ready to be anywhere but there. It was a great visit as their two daughters were there also as was one of his nieces and her husband.
And, since we got home before 5:00 p.m., I was able to attend the meeting that was scheduled for this evening. The rest of the week will be busy as the meetings that fall on first Monday and first Tuesday will be this week instead of last week. Then, guess what, the next week, it will be time to start worrying about or getting ready for Thanksgiving! Truly no rest for the wicked nor for the good either.
Friday, November 11, 2017 is Veteran’s Day. This is the day we honor the veterans of all the wars. It is a day not only honoring those who lost their lives, but also honoring the living veterans.
When I went online to find out information about Veteran’s Day, there were over 52,000,000 sites to choose from. I chose the first two. The first is from the United States Department of Veteran Affairs (History of Veterans Day – Public and Intergovernmental Affairs), and the second is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Veteran’s Day had its beginnings at the end of World War I. This was known as the war to end all wars. It officially ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 when the German officials signed the Armistice, which was a temporary suspension of hostilities by the agreement of Germany and the Allies. In actual fact, the war officially ended on June 28, 1919 with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. It has been known as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world.
According to Wikipedia the commemoration of Armistice Day was recognized in the United States by a proclamation from President Woodrow Wilson in 1919, with the words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”
An Act approved May 13, 1938, made November 11th of each year a legal holiday. This was a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be celebrated and known as “Armistice Day”. It was primarily set aside to honor veterans of World War I, however, in 1954, after World War II, and after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting in its place the word “Veterans”. Then President Eisenhower signed this on June 1, 1954.
Veteran’s Day almost fell prey to a change of date, being moved to the fourth Monday of October by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1968. This is the law that moved Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day and Columbus Day. Due to protests by veterans groups, it was moved back to November 11th in 1978. It is a federal and state holiday in most states.
On November 9th, flags will be placed on all the veterans’ graves in the Devine cemeteries. On Saturday, there will be a memorial service honoring veterans at the memorial in Natalia and the Auxiliary to VFW Post 3966 will be giving away flags. Don’t forget to fly your flag proudly on November 11th!
So, with the thought in mind that pretty soon you’ll have to be thinking about Thanksgiving dishes, here are a couple to get you started!
Easy Broccoli Rice Casserole
1¾ cups uncooked rice
¾ cup chopped onion
¾ cup chopped bell pepper
½ cup chopped celery
4 tbs. butter or margarine
2 pkgs. (10-oz. ea.) frozen chopped broccoli
1 jar Cheese Whiz (8-oz)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can mushroom stems and pieces (optional)
Preheat oven to 350º. Place rice in a saucepan and cover with water, bring to a boil and parboil about 5 minutes, drain well and set aside. Sauté the onion, bell pepper and celery in a skillet with the margarine or butter until the onion is transparent, stir in the broccoli. Stir the Cheese Whiz and mushroom soup together and add to the broccoli mixture. Pour into 9×13-in. pan and bake for 35 to 45 minutes.
Squash Casserole
4 yellow squash
3 or 4 zucchini squash
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup picante sauce (mild, medium or hot)
24 saltine crackers, crushed
Shredded cheese
Cook squash and onion in a small amount of water for about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain. Stir in picante sauce. Pour into lightly greased 2-quart casserole dish; sprinkle crackers and then cheese on top. Bake at 350ºF. for about 20 minutes. This can also be made using about 2½ pounds of zucchini only and increasing the picante sauce to 1½ cups. Follow remaining directions.