Wednesday, February 17, 2010

St George Utah & Zion National Park

Monique, James, Emmaline, Elliot & I just paid a visit to St George and nearby Zion National Park in southern Utah. You'll definitely want to check it out when you visit! Here's some shots from Zion National Park...








And some photos from St George...



Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Blog Details

Now for a little blog housekeeping... Our blog is hosted on blogger.com and we can have up to 100 authors. We currently have nine: Dad, Mom, Bill, John, me, Monique, Allison, Nathan and Cy. Allan's been invited to be an author. Just let me know if you or someone else wants to be an author.

When a blog is posted, a copy of the posting can be emailed to up to 10 people. This is a lame limitation - we want to spam as many people as possible. Right now the list of 10 includes all the authors plus Allan. This means that you must forward any posting to your significant other, child, buddy, etc.

Monday, February 15, 2010


When I was a child I spent a lot of time in the car. Grammie was big on running errands and just generally getting out of the house. Her best friend was her sister and Fred and I would get to get out of the car when we visited Auntie Kay on Windsor Street in Haverhill.

Auntie Kay was classy! She was older than Grammie, very smart and she was someone Grammie really respected. I learned all that later, but what I remember about when I was young was that I liked to visit her because we were allowed to go in to her kitchen and get a cookie. My mother was a good baker, but Auntie Kay could bake also and I loved her cookies that had almond flavoring. I don’t ever remember my mother making those cookies.

Sometime after Auntie Kay passed away I tried to find that almond cookie recipe. Polly gave me one of her mother’s cookbooks and I even got to go through her recipes. No luck.

Last December, a woman at the library was saying she was going home to start making all her Christmas cookies and that was impressive because she is probably well into her 80’s. Just to make conversation I asked her what her favorite ones were and she told me about her Almond Lace Cookies and they sounded similar to the ones I enjoyed well over fifty years ago. The woman wrote out the recipe for me and even brought in a sample, and although they don’t look like Auntie Kay’s cookies they sure taste like them to me.


Almond Lace Cookies

Important!—must be baked on silicone mats, non-stick aluminum foil or parchment paper.

1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tabl flour
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp baking powder
1 whole egg, slightly beaten
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
½ tsp each pure vanilla and pure almond extract
1 cup sliced or chopped almonds

Combine the oats, sugar, flour, salt and baking powder. In a separate bowl whisk the melted butter with the egg and extract. Add the dry ingredients and nuts. Stir until evenly mixed.
Line the cookie sheet and drop level teaspoons of dough 3” apart. They spread out as they bake.
Bake at 325 for 9-11 minutes until golden brown. Watch them closely. Let cool before peeling off foil.

If you prefer pecans you can make Pecan Lace Cookies—use chopped pecans and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

The woman that gave me the recipe said, “These are addictive so I often double the batch at one time! Doubling the batch can make 80-90 cookies”.

Enjoy!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Oldest to Youngest


Here are a few pictures from our trip to Arizona and New York City last week. We had a wonderful visit with Geanna, Dan and Robin in Phoenix (they are by the huge saguaro). Then we headed south to Tucson where we found Dad and Libby in great form as Dad approaches his 90th birthday. (Dad and Elizabeth make it look like being in their nineties is easy.) Merrilee, Gail and Ed hosted us to an early birthday party. Then we were off to NYC to visited Nathan and Diana and the newest member of the clan. Little Lachlan is darling with his sweet disposition and lots of light brown hair. So...the oldest to the youngest from one end of the country to the other.








Left picture: Ed, Elizabeth, Ellsworth, Gail in Tohona Chul Park, Tucson, AZ.

Below is early birthday party with Merrilee's delicious cake. On left is Gail with Elizabeth, Dad and Merrilee at Gail and Ed's home.









































































Thursday, December 24, 2009

Nathan Lachlan Tidd

December 22. Nathan Lachlan turns zero.




Nathan meets Nathan. Immediate confusion ensues.


Nathan Lachlan thinks about a solution, then says "Hey, why doesn't everyone just call me Lachlan?"



Everyone thinks its a great idea, and agree to try it out.

Lachlan burps, then falls asleep.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Number Nineteen

Hi, All,

Nathan Lachlan Tidd was born kicking and screaming at 9:45am this morning. He weighed in at just over six pounds, with quite a bit of blonde hair.

Mom and baby are doing fine.

Pictures to follow.

All the best,
Nathan

Monday, November 30, 2009

Deer Camp 2009

The newest and youngest Tidd hunter powered onto the scene this year by bagging a camp-record 11 point, 180 lb buck.

Even as hunting pros at neighboring camps yearned to see their first deer of the season, 16 year old James Tidd spotted deer on three different occasions and then laid waste to the unfortunate monster buck that strayed within range of his single shot 30-30.

It wasn't long before veteran companion hunters Bill, John & Jeff were seen emulating James' hunting style of bulling through the bushes at high speed, and were even discussing the possibility of a new line of hunter clothing called "Jamesy".

Upon emerging from the woods, local Millinocket residents wanted to shake James' hand, take pictures, and generally celebrate this rare north woods victory.

Of course, all of these events only served to honor the memory of the "father of hunting", Herb Kimball, who went to that hunting-camp-in-the-sky exactly 20 years ago.

The jubilation was only slightly marred by the pathetic sight of James' father begging for donations to help cover the cost of James' hunting license, airfare, gear, and now deer processing and head mounting.