"The sunlight does not leave its marks on the grass.
So we, too, pass silently."

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

To Autumn ~ William Blake

O AUTUMN, laden with fruit, and stained

With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit

Beneath my shady roof; there thou may'st rest,

And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe;

And all the daughters of the year shall dance!

Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.

..."The spirits of the air live on the smells

Of fruit; and joy, with pinions light, roves round

The gardens, or sits singing in the trees."

Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat;

Then rose, girded himself, and o'er the bleak

Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.

~ English poet ((1757 - 1827)

Appreciation to friends Sharon & Jamie Jackson

"Honk If You Love Peace and Quiet"

"How long have you been out there""  Linda asked.
Christine and I were sitting at the dinner table in Linda's elegant city home, the food eaten, the forks and knives together on the plates, a finger of wine left in our glasses...
"We were sure you wouldn't last, you know," said Linda.  "We thought you'd be back in the city within the year."
"Maybe we'll spend our old age here,"  I said, "once the work gets too heavy.  You know, reverse the trend."
"No regrets?  You don't miss being able to drop into a jazz bar on the spur of the moment?"

~ Michael Kluckner, Wise Acres/ Free-Range Reflections on the Rural Route.  Raincoast Books, 2000.

www.bradsmithbooks.com

Author, Brad Smith, coming to The Neat L'l Bookshop on SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1:00 - 2:30 p.m.

Brad Smith's Virgil Cain series led critics to compare his novels to those of Elmore Leonard's.
Don't miss the third book, Shoot the Dog.

*The author signing the second in the Virgil Cain series, Crow's Landing, at Flyers Cafe in Dunnville.

Grand River Cayuga

"YESTERDAY IS HISTORY.  TOMORROW IS MYSTERY.  TODAY IS A GIFT."

~ Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 - 1962)  U.S. First Lady, humanitarian and diplomat, niece of Theodore Roosevelt, wife of Franklin Roosevelt.  Involved in a wide range of liberal causes, including civil and women's rights, she became a delegate to the United Nations after her husband's death in 1945, and, as chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights, played a major role in drafting the Declaration of Human Rights (1948)*

*Oxford Canadian Dictionary