Family reunion was wonderful
By LOU GREENHAW
Contributing writer
My sisters and I planned a family reunion for my dad's side of the family for the Labor Day weekend in Oklahoma. We had a wonderful time. About 55 different people showed up throughout the reunion, and many brought old pictures.
It was great fun looking at old black and white photos and trying to decide who everyone was. There was a picture of me when I was about 8 eating in my grandma's backyard. In fact a lot of the pictures involved eating! In the pictures from the last family reunion, I was pregnant with Carson who will be 20 in October.
We had a great place to stay. We rented the Davis, Okla., Baptist church cabin at Fall's Creek Conference Center. It is in the Arbuckle Mountains in south central Oklahoma. Even though it poured rain, the scenery was beautiful, and we had a photographer come to do a group photo with the tree covered mountains in the background.
My 96-year-old great aunt attended and is sharp as a tack. She loves to play any kind of card or domino game and very much likes to win. Several of my dad's cousins were there from Texas and California. The one from California drove his Jaguar to the reunion. He had paid $2.80 per gallon for premium gas in California. He thought the Oklahoma prices were great.
My younger sister made a family photo book for everyone. Each family sent in photos with addresses, birth and death dates, and Alice made a page for everyone. The book had 39 pages, and she made about 30 copies on her own printer. It took hours and hours to print. The binder had an 8 by 10 picture of my grandma and grandpa on it. It was really nice.
My older sister, Sharon, made all the arrangements at the site and had everything organized. I was in charge of mailings and the food. The three of us cooked, but I did the grocery list and shopping. I took Hillsboro sausage for sandwiches one night, and it was a hit. People were nosing in the refrigerator for leftover sandwiches for breakfast.
We served seven meals. The largest number at any one meal was 48. Other than having trouble getting the commercial ovens to preheat hot and fast enough, it all went smoothly. We made five freezers of homemade ice cream one night, but otherwise people brought the desserts. Plus we had locally grown watermelon.
Southern Oklahoma must be perfect for watermelons because I bought five melons from a local farm stand, and they were the best I've ever eaten. Plus they were huge. Then one cousin brought a big round Black Diamond melon that dwarfed the 40 pounders that I had bought. The local cantaloupes were so sweet, but I've had just as good from the local ones in the grocery stores here this year.
Now that fall is approaching, I guess we should switch from thinking melon to thinking apples and pears. I'm thinking football with the Tabor opening game in Texas this Saturday so it must be fall. We're riding the fan bus down and back, and I will be back in time to teach my Sunday School class with little or no sleep. I wonder if they will notice a difference.
Back to apples, here is a recipe for a dessert. It is an easy way to eat caramel apples. They can be cut into bars like a cookie, but they are gooey. I prefer to cut them into slightly larger squares, put on a plate with a dollop of whipped topping, and call it dessert. They are probably too messy to take on the bus to the ball game. However, I did order 300 Tabor royal blue towels to sell so we can show our colors at the Tabor games. I suppose I could use them to wipe my hands before the game starts. Go Tabor!!
CARAMEL APPLE BARS
Crust:
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Filling:
4 1/2 cups coarsely chopped peeled cooking apples
3 tablespoons flour
14 ounce caramels
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
Cream butter, shortening and brown sugar until fluffy. Add flour, oats, salt and soda. Mix well. Stir in pecans. Set aside 2 cups of the mixture. Press remaining in the bottom of an ungreased 9 by 13 inch pan.
For filling, toss apple with flour and spoon over crust. In a saucepan, melt the caramels and butter over low heat. Drizzle over apples.
Top with reserved oat mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes on until lightly browned. Cool before cutting.
