Sunday, Feb 23

Up around 8 a.m., and skipped my exercises after breakfast, as usual on Sunday. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 10 a.m., and she sliced and diced veggies for smothered steak. I dredged the steak in flour and seasoned it with pepper, paprika, no salt seasoning, oregano, and garlic powder, then browned it in olive oil. I added the veggies and a can of low sodium beef broth and let the meat simmer for a couple of hours.

While the steak cooked, we watched a 2013 movie borrowed from the library..."Bless Me, Ultima," takes place in 1944 New Mexico, and centers on a young boy and his medicine woman grandmother. Religion, superstition, and witchcraft coexist among the Hispanic farmers, and good and evil play out dramatically. Good movie.

At noon, we had the smothered steak with sides of leftover cheesy rice, and green beans. It was a good meal. Afterward, Mother went to her jigsaw puzzle, while Hubbie and I attended a program at the museum.

This program was originally scheduled for three weeks ago, but it was canceled due to a snowstorm. Two local men were the featured speakers. One spoke about his experiences in the cotton field when he was young, and how his family supplemented their income by picking cotton for a few weeks each year.

He told how his family traveled from our hill country area to the "bottoms," or the delta, where cotton was grown. They lived in what was known as a "shotgun" house...two rooms, bedroom and kitchen, built back-to-back. Days started early, before dawn, when they had a hearty breakfast, and then carried cold boiled eggs and cold biscuits to the fields for lunch. Pay for cotton was $3 a hundred pounds. It was backbreaking, hot work, of course.

This man said he was grateful when cotton picking machines took over the task, and he went on to other occupations, including spending many years as a historical cartoonist for our local newspaper (his work still appears there), and for the state's tourism council.

The other speaker is the owner of a local business that makes wooden handles for various items (shovels, axes, hoes, rakes, etc.). His business has fluctuated with the times, and with the availability of  wood...a particular variety of hickory.

In the beginning of his business, which his father began, wooden bats were in high demand, since baseball was at that time America's favorite sport. When bats were no longer a viable market, the business turned to making handles.

In early days, the business used hickory from our state, but with clear cutting or agriculture, the supply has dwindled, and now the wood has to be brought in from other states.

Today, the speaker noted, a trend toward using hickory for hardwood floors and furniture, both here and abroad, is creating competition for the supply.

Back home shortly after 3 p.m., we enjoyed cups of coffee, and then watched two episodes of "When Call the Heart." It was around 5 p.m. when the shows ended, so Mother was ready to go home, and Hubbie accompanied her.

Then we watched episodes of "Bones." Around 7  p.m., we were ready for supper, so we had helpings of Dragon Soup, with crackers and peanut butter, and fruit for dessert.

I'm not particulary looking forward to getting up at 6 a.m. to go to water aerobics, since predictions are for sharply cooler weather. Hopefully, the pool will be warm.