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Camp Dorothy on the Wild Side

Camp Dorothy on the Wild Side

by | Jun 16, 2014 | Family, Out and About

Dorothy

Camp Dorothy’s namesake, the camp’s activity director, and the man of steel are home safe and sound after a camp weekend that was on the wild side. Just how wild was it? So wild that someone didn’t notice the absence of Wheel of Fortune. So wild that in 48 short hours, the camp’s namesake managed to:

  • Eat wilted lettuce and fresh strawberries.
  • Beat the camp director and the man of steel playing SkipBo.
  • Tour the newly remodeled church she attended during the years she lived in Le Mars.
  • Enjoy supper with her sister, brother-in-law, and niece.
  • Sleep through two separate storm warnings.
  • Count windmills from Le Mars to Spit Rock State Park until the flooded fields caught her attention instead.
  • Observe firsthand the damage at Luverne, Minnesota caused when the dam at Blue Mound State Park burst after a night of heavy rain.
  • Spend three hours receiving hugs from nieces and nephews, eating delicious picnic food, and having her photo taken in a pink top hat and purple feather boa. (The activity director apologizes for forgetting to grab her own camera to record the moment and for not asking the photo booth operator to email the image in time for this post!)
  • Watch a 1950 home movie of a trip to the Black Hills by the camp’s namesake (at about the age of the above photo), her parents, and her younger sister that contained an abundance of footage of people emerging from outhouses.
  • Confess she took the footage of her father snoring in the back seat of their car during the trip.
  • See the love in her nephews’ and nieces’ eyes when they hugged her good-bye.
  • Work on crossword puzzles during the 5 hour trip home.
  • Say she’d had a wonderful day.
  • Head straight to bed upon return to the activity director and man of steel’s home.

Camp Dorothy on the wild side wraps up later this morning, when the activity director takes the camp namesake to Hickory Park for lunch (yum!), a doctor’s appointment (yuck!), and then home to her very own bed. (Ahh!)

Grandma Fern’s Wilted Lettuce: Back By Popular Demand

Grandma Fern’s Wilted Lettuce: Back By Popular Demand

by | Jun 26, 2013 | Recipes

garden lettuce

This year’s rain and cool conditions were perfect weather for a bumper crop of garden lettuce. At least that’s what my friend said when she called and asked if I’d like to harvest her’s while she was out of town for a few days.

My answer was a greedy-as-hobbits-offered-mushrooms, “Yes!” I skedaddled to her house on Monday and picked a huge bowlful, smacking my lips the entire time in anticipation of the best taste treat of early summer: wilted lettuce.

The recipe comes from Grandma Fern, my father’s mother. Since Dad was an only child, G’ma Fern passed the recipe on to my mom, who passed it on to me and my sibs. There’s something about fresh lettuce and early onions mingling with the vinegary, salty tang of the dressing that makes my heart go pitter pat. Maybe that’s why I repost the recipe every June.

Grandma Fern’s Wilted Lettuce

10-12 cups garden lettuce (you can mix in fresh spinach, too)
4-6 slices of chopped bacon
1 bunch chopped green onions
1/3 cup vinegar
1/3 cup water
1 T sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Wash lettuce thoroughly and drain it in colander. Put lettuce in a large salad bowl. Add chopped green onions and toss. Fry bacon in skillet until crisp. Drain bacon on a paper towel. Pour off the bacon grease and then return 2 tablespoons of melted grease to the skillet. Mix water, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper together and pour into skillet with the grease. Heat mixture until boiling and pour hot mixture over salad greens until the lettuce wilts. For a more wilted salad, drain the liquid off and reheat it. Pour it over the greens again. Toss the greens until coated with liquid. Garnish salad with bacon. Serve immediately.