My father, Owen Stimer, grew up in a rural farm community in the early twentieth century. Dad's beloved mother was of the Wesleyan Methodist faith. She was in church every time the doors opened, so to speak. In Dad's early years, he was, too. Dad came to resent sitting on the hard wooden pews during the long boring church services. He decided church was not for him. His father's attitude probably confirmed his decision, but went too far.

That is a strange title. I will explain. Skin cancer is the basis for this story. Last August, I noticed a small lump on my face. I didn’t think much about it. After all, I have had my share of lumps over my 93 years. I would just keep an eye on it. It didn’t go away. It didn’t get any bigger, either, as the season changed to cooler weather. That was unusual. By Christmas, it was crusty but no bigger. My yearly appointment with the dermatologist would be coming up in March. I would have it checked then.

Asparagus is one of those veggies that can stand alone with just a little butter, salt and pepper, but it doesn't have to stand alone. There are some great asparagus casseroles. This is one of them.

Picture this: You take a package of bacon from the fridge, open it and work to separate the slices (That is not easy to do since the bacon is cold..) Then you carefully lay each slice in the skillet and set the heat to medium. Do the slices remain flat? Of course not. You fuss over them until you have cooked them to the desired crispness.

I found this recipe years ago in a cookbook my husband bought from a traveling salesman, when he worked at a lumber yard. Back in the day, men came through selling just about everything from encyclopedias to cookbooks. A huge dictionary came with it. That is long gone, but I still have the cookbook. I think it was published in 1946. This is an easy way to make rice cakes.

We think of orange sauce as going with duck. Chicken is great in an orange sauce, too. This recipe doesn't take a lot of fancy ingredients. You should have everything on hand.

I like pork sausage as you can tell by the number of recipes I have that include it. Just making patties and frying them can make a rock-like nugget if you get them too brown.
This recipe is nice and tender. The extra time it takes to mix it up is worth it. I like to get my hands in there to do that. I understand that not everyone is inclined. Mix them any way you want. They will be delicious.

Kangaroos are not native to Union county, Tennessee. It is usually too big of a hop from Australia to this neck of the woods. I have never seen a live one. The zoos of my childhood didn't stray much from the lion, tiger and monkey varieties. No Kangaroos.

FOXES

Down by the pasture
In an old hollow tree
Lives a red tail fox
And her little ones three.

Up on the ridge
By the old pig pen
Is a proud red rooster
And his ten laying hens

Bars are the easiest cookies to make. This one looks fancy but is easy to make. I like peanut butter and hope you do, too.