Remembering John W. Davis and Anticipating Garden Bounties
By Rosalyn Queen
August has brought in a burst of news and I will touch on a few in this column.
The committee who planned the 100th anniversary of the John W Davis acceptance to be the Democratic candidate for President of the United States certainly did a great job and one that we should all be proud of. I first heard about it from Laura Goff Davis and then she enlisted Mike Queen. With a great committee, the ball rolled forward.
The appearance of Cyrus Vance Jr. and his wife certainly added a special touch and their involvement in several community events gave our community the opportunity to learn more about John Davis and his involvement with Cyrus Vance Sr. I will mention some, and know I may leave out a few who made this celebration the success that it was. The Clarksburg Lions Club had the Vances for lunch and received his remarks with much interest.
Delores Yoke and her group entertained them at Oral Lake where the family visited for special events. Then Rachel Romano and her committee treated them to pepperoni rolls and the company of legal minds in our community. The weekend ended with a special event at the beautiful Waldomore to a standing room only crowd. It seemed like old times had returned. Stephen Broughton presented a great rendering of the original acceptance speech of Davis and once again the remarks of Vance were
warmly received.
Clarksburg and its committee did us proud.
August also brings in the harvest of our gardens. Those zucchini seem to multiply over night and there are only so many times that we can eat tilapia and fried zucchini. When you have a few extra zucchini, grate them and freeze them by the quantity that your favorite zucchini bread recipe calls for. Come the holidays you can whip up fresh zucchini bread. Of course if you like you can make the bread and freeze it for the future.
Swiss chard is coming on in full force. Once again there is only so much minestra that we can eat. So when Rose Scolopio came to visit me with a great mess of chard and other goodies from her and Mark’s garden, I boiled it and froze it for a great minestra this winter. I probably knew this and forgot it but there are Sweet Hungarian wax peppers. You can get them by the basket at the Clarksburg Farmers Market.
For me, there is nothing better than fresh fried peppers in oil with onions and of course this type of pepper is the best to can. If you want you can add a little zest by adding a few hot peppers. Remember to continue enjoying your tomato salads with all of that fresh basil while it still is in abundance. I want to mention that you can bring it inside and have it fresh all winter. Place it on the window sill and give it a shake every morning for that wonderful smell.
My petunias were so beautiful but they are getting ready to be replaced. I intend to replace them with mums. The petunias added such a sweet fragrance to my deck.I do not know about you but fresh flowers gives my day an extra boost.
I think this column is a hit and miss but I wanted to share these tidbits with you. School will soon be starting. Be sure to look out for the kids. There are still weekends left to have mini vacations and be sure to attend the festivals being held in our area.
Stay in touch at 304 838 4682 and until next week “Now You Have Heard It Through The Grapevine