Excerpt from Brad Smith's Shoot the Dog ~

    "The movie takes place in the 1840s." the man named Robb said.  "I'm the director.  What do you call those horses?"
    "I call them Bob and Nelly," Virgil said.
    The one calling himself Levi uttered a soft puff of exasperation. "What kind of horses are they?"
    "Percherons."
    "And they are considered ...um...workhorses?" Robb asked.
    "Today they are," Virgil said.  "I wouldn't have called them that a week ago."
    Levi glanced at Robb.  "We need to talk to the owner.  This guy isn't getting it."
    Robb smiled at Virgil, then spoke slowly, as if explaining something to a child.  "We might want to hire these horses for the film.  You see, the movie takes place in the frontier days, when horses like these were commonly used for --" He stumbled then, searching for uses for bygone horses from bygone days.
    "For what?"  Virgil asked.
    "Well, for work."
    "You mean like pulling a plow, or yanking stumps, or hauling logs from the bush?"  Virgil asked. "Or taking the family into town in a buckboard, or pulling a cutter in the winter, or bringing hay into the barn?  You mean stuff like that?"

~ Shoot the Dog, Brad Smith.  Scribner, A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 2013

Meet the author in The Neat L'l Bookshop on SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 ~ 1:00 - 2:30 p.m.  Everyone Welcome ~ Coffee pot's always on...

"Deep in the Core of Apple Country"  APPLE CRISP using Ida Red or Northern Spys (and a utensil resembling a miniature waggon wheel to section the apples into eighths.)

6 - 8 large tart apples, peeled & cored
1 t. cinnamon
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
1 c. flour
1 egg, beaten
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
chopped walnuts
1/2 c. melted butter

9x9x3" greased pan.  350 degrees for 40 min.
Mix the cinnamon & brown sugar; sprinkle apples with half.
Combine white sugar, flour, egg, salt & baking powder; spread over apples.
Sprinkle walnuts over this, then the remaining cinnamon mix.  Over the top, pour melted butter.

*This is the most tasty doggone apple recipe I ever came across." ~ Jack Michell, descendant of generations of apple growers.  (The Georgian Bay Fruit Growers)

~ Macdonald was late for Dinner ~ A Slice of Culinary Life in Early Canada Patricia Beeson, Broadview Press, 1993