Canal and River

A few weeks ago we took an interesting walk along the Wabash and Erie Canal. This canal went across Indiana and Ohio in the 19th Century. It was built near the Wabash River. Mules would walk along the towpath next to the river. pulling a barge. Once railroads were built, the canal was neglected and finally closed to traffic. But there are parts of it that have been restored so we can see what it used to be like. Delphi, Indiana has restored several miles of the canal and has very nice paths along it. Above is a picture of grandpa near the canal in Delphi.


Delphi was a place that the famous Indiana poet, James Whitcomb Riley liked to visit. He wrote a poem called "On the Banks of Deer Crick", which is the way people in Delphi used to pronounce the word "Creek". Here is a picture of Deer Creek Fall which we visited on the same walk. You can find the poem if you search the Internet.













The next week, we went to southern Indiana, to Clifty Falls State Park. There was hardly any water in Clifty Falls, but we did enjoy looking at the Ohio River. Here is a picture of the Ohio River with a very large barge. We could see it from the patio of our hotel room. It has an engine to push it instead of mules to pull it.

Things Change

When Joel was little he went to the Village Nursery School in the United Methodist Church. Now the church has moved out of the Village and the old building has been torn down. A big building with apartments and shops and a parking garage are being built on the site of the old church. This morning there were several construction machines at work so I took these pictures.

Blimp Sighting

Yesterday when I came out of work, the Outback Blimp was hovering over the parking lot! I was very excited to see it. A long time ago the Goodyear Blimp flew over our house, but I haven't been close to one since. Above is a picture I found of the blimp.
Today I took my camera with me and took the picture below of the blimp with the courthouse in the background.

Apple Strudel

It's apple time in Indiana. Last week we went to the farmer's market and bought 10 pounds of Jonathan and Cortland apples. I baked apple strudel from my mother's recipe. I made one and one-half times the recipe below. It made 5 rolls of strudel. We ate 3 of them and froze 2. I think I didn't stuff the rolls as full as I should, because there was lots of filling left. I cooked it in a pot for a while with a little water and it was great. The filling can be modified to leave out the coconut or the nuts if you like.

Crust:
2 eggs
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/4 cup warm water

2 1/4 cups flour (sifted or pre-sifted)
1 1/2 tsp salt (I used less)
1 T sugar

Mix together the eggs, oil and water. Stir in the salt and sugar and then add the flour. Mix with a wooden spoon and then your hands until the dough is sticky and stretchy but not too hard. Refrigerate for at least the time it takes to make the filling, or overnight if you have time.

Filling:
6 or 7 big apples, peeled and grated coarsely. (I used my apple machine to peel and slice and then chopped with a cleaver. I liked the texture better than when I have used the grating blade on the food processor).
lemon or orange rind (from about 1 piece of fruit-I used bottled lemon rind)
1/2 C white raisins, chopped
cinnamon & sugar to taste
1/4 C cherries, cut up (marschino or dried cherries are fine)
1/4 C coconut
orange marmalade or strawberry jelly
2 T tapioca (or about 4 T flour)
2 T cornflakes, crumbled
2 heaping T brown sugar
1/4 C nuts

Taste and adjust the sugars.

On floured waxed paper roll out about 1/3 of the above dough. Make a thin rectangle perhaps 12 by 7 inches. Brush with oil (carefully) and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Heap the filling along one of the long edges. Roll up an oblong, tucking in the short ends first. Place on an oiled cookie sheet. Prick with a fork and mark with a knife where you want to cut the pieces. You can fit all 3 rolls on a single cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. Let cool for a few minutes and then remove from cookie sheet (to waxed paper or a board) before any leaked-out filling has a time to harden. When cool, cut on the cutting lines.

I'm not sure strudel is actually better than apple pie, but it is fun to make.