Indiana Roadsides

by
Jean Hughes
January 1, 1996

Ring the bells and cook the cabbage for luck, but who needs any more luck than to live one's life in the hills. This is a wonderful time to be alive. I can love it, change it, work in it, play in it, enjoy it and share it. I sing the praises of the good old here and now. Every day has beautiful moments, every night the beauty of stars, moon or complete darkness. And every 24 hours has its songs. Our Lord must love music, for He has filled His earth with beautiful singing.

* * * Yesterday, a little chickadee at my window feeder whistled his lilting song. He interrupted himself in the middle of his serenade and, with a little gurgle, snatched a sunflower seed. Then, he flew into a tree, put the seed between his toes and went right on with his song. For him I think it was spring!

This is an easy and delicious recipe to use for company breakfasts, and it is prepared the night before.

Italian Custard Toast

Mix together: 4 beaten eggs, 1 cup milk, 1/2 t. cinnamon, 
1/4 t. vanilla and 3 T. sugar.
Pour 1/2 of the egg mixture into a generously buttered 
8 by 8 inch baking dish.
Add: 6 slices Italian bread cut 1 inch thick.
Pour remaining liquid over the bread.
Cover, and set in the refrigerator overnight.
To bake: Uncover baking dish and place in a cold oven. 
Turn oven to 350o. Bake 35 minutes.
Serve with sorghum, honey or jam.

Four new creatures waddled into my life this week. White Pekin ducks now live in a large pen in the barn. Between the dogs, who are natural herders and are eyeing them constantly, the screech owl who watches from its furnace-pipe home, and me trying to perfect my quack, life in the barn is filled with a new verve. This morning I found a duck egg! Tonight I'll be enjoying duck-egg custard.

* * * Today, a cold, wild wind has blown blue sky and sunshine back into the hills. This week has seen a touch of every kind of January weather.

One morning, the snow clouds reached all the way to earth. I walked in a light breeze through snow crystals that tapped on the brittle leaves on the forest floor and dusted the limbs of every tree with white. In the evening, there came a brisk wind and the snow ceased. During the night, quietly this time, the snow fell again.

The next day, driving snow raced across the sun whenever that winter-white orb found a slight opening in the clouds. Following came a day of wet snowflakes that piled on every branch and dried wildflower. My road, my whole world was snow covered. The earth was so quiet I could hear the silence.

<* * * Tonight, at twilight, I stand beside my little creek and listen to the rhythms of the swaying trees and the music of the swirling water as it flashes around snow-capped rocks. The earth sings a thousand songs in a thousand languages. I sit with my dogs lying around me for a few minutes. When I get up, the dogs dash around, happy to get going again.

One of the reasons I love my Border Collies is because they are not chasers. When I stop, they stop. Some of them do pester a little to travel on, but they are usually calm in the woods and do not keep the birds away.

I want to discover every avenue of God's lovely earth. And so we walk and also sit quietly in the wild places, my dogs and I, every day, and I never come home without a new secret that nature has revealed.

When I step into the fields and woods, or walk on my road, it is as though I am plugged into the earth. Its beauty and feeling flows through me. It is a joy that I share with all nature lovers throughout time. Pictures on cave walls demonstrate it, and it is found in ageless poetry and in such simple sayings as, "Go to the woods and hills! No tears dim the sweet look that nature wears."

Jean's book of ramblings and recipes "A Country Mile of Winter" and her book of poetry "The Earth's My Home" are available for $4.95 each plus $1.30 for postage and handling. Ten of Jean's favorite recipes will be included free with each book ordered. Order from...

Country Mile Publications
616 E. Monroe St.
Delphi, Indiana 46923

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