Plymouth Area News for the week of March 21st 2016 by Joyce Steiner

 
Last week Plymouth Women’s Circle met at 7 pm at the PCCC.  Hostesses for the evening were Mel and Charlotte Dorethy and Jessica Phelps.  The speaker was Barb Durotz who spoke on her recent trip to Italy with her sister.  Since a lot of us are Methodists, it was interesting to see a tour of Italy from more a Catholic point of view. 
Am seeing farmers moving equipment and applying ammonia to the fields.  Please be careful when approaching machinery as it is often very wide and sometimes the operator does not know you are near them.  Using common sense can prevent accidents.
Had a lady come from Bloomington to pick up a Victorian love seat that we advertised on face book.  She called me for weeks making plans to come down and then changing her mind.  Finally she got here last week.  As you know I do 3rd Sunday Market in Bloomington so I know every possible way to get from Plymouth to Bloomington.  One time when she called she asked if Plymouth was near Schaumburg.  I explained where Plymouth was located and suggested she take a quick look at a map.  When she got here, she explained she had come through a lot of small towns so I assumed she had come through Canton, Cuba, Macomb etc but she told me  that she remembered one of the towns was called Little America.  Explained that she should not have come through there and tried to show her how to use a map.  She was aghast and said she never used maps but always depended on her GPS.  I was aghast that she had no idea how to read a map and would blindly follow GPS directions especially when they are so often wrong in this area.  Don’t know if she ever got home or if she went thorough Schaumburg on her way home!  Made me think of people blindly following a leader with no idea of reality-scary.
Last Monday we all watched the finale of the Bachelor.  The bachelor did not pick the woman I thought he would pick.  It is an interesting show to watch.
Visited with Dot Burdett and Ila Robb at Heartland last week.  Ila was involved in a car wreck and is there for rehabilitation.
We had our first major spring storm last week.  Would be OK with me if it was also our last spring storm.  There was damage from tornadoes near Good Hope in McDonough County.  Have been some really scary photos on face book showing the storm clouds.
Saturday Kyle Kelso had an auction near Bushnell.  It was a good auction and I bought a van load for the store including another great looking cast iron bed and a wicker tea cart.
Just as Kayla McCurdy and I were finishing unloading the van, got a call that I had an Amish driver standing on my back porch needing a room.  I rushed home to show them the house and let them in.  Seems I never know when I am going to have B&B guests.
After church today, went to Quincy for lunch and to get almond milk for my guest.  Found there are several varieties of almond milk so hope it is good.
At 3 pm today, the movie “War Room” was shown at Living Faith United Methodist Church.  Was an interesting movie. Thanks to Pastor Dave and Tammy for doing most of the work and food preparation for the movie afternoon.  It was appreciated.
Find  when we serve meals, that pie normally goes faster than other desserts except lemon lush. I decided I needed to learn to make a good apple pie as not everyone likes my favorite-gooseberry.  Have experimented with apple pies for several weeks.  Have found that even the coons and possums will not eat a bad apple pie!
Experimentation has lead to this recipe.
  Apple Crumb Pie.  Core and finely slice 3-4 large apples, I do not peal them.  Sprinkle 1 T real lemon juice over the apples if you do not buy tart apples.  In another bowl mix 2/3 t cinnamon, 1/2 t nutmeg, 2 T flour and 2/3 cup sugar.  Mix the apples and the dry ingredients.  Place the apple mixture in a “deep dish” pie shell.  Mix 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup butter with a pastry blender and sprinkle the topping over the pie.  Bake at 400 for 40-50 minutes.  You may need to tent the pie with foil during the last portion of the baking time if it is getting too brown.  This is a yummy pie.
Have a great week.  Pray for those who are ill and for the employees of our state universities who jobs are in limbo due to the lack of a state budget.  Scatter Kindness.
Posted in Plymouth News