history repeats itself

A is for Ancestors, in particular the Adams' ancestors in the photo below. This is [husband] baby Dave in the middle with his father Donald and his mother Vieno in front of their little house in the mining town of Mullan, Idaho circa 1950.

Take a good look at Vieno and then at the young man in the photo below. I literally stumbled upon this over the weekend and bought it because something in their faces was so dear and appealing. The young couple's photo was taken in Phelps, Minnesota, which is in the northwestern part of the state near Fergus Falls, by a photographer, possibly Finnish, named Sneva. Turns out that area was originally settled by a great deal of immigrants from Finland and Sweden. Dave's mother is full Finn and at closer inspection I thought I saw a slight resemblance to the her and the young man. Possibly related?

Probably not. . .but who knows?

This is the beginning of Year Three, Round Five of ABC Wednesday hosted by Mrs Nesbitt. Stop by to earn an easy A!

Y

mysterious silver threads and a Finnish recipe

The color du jour for Favourite Things Thursday is silver--which had me wondering: when does gray become silver exactly? There's the silver in everyday utensils, paint brush ferules and palette knives, the bright sun on water, duct tape and so on.





two holiday fruitcakes or

soft sculpture or

the lackluster paint on the doors of my uncle's gray Chevy

Do these gray clouds over the Japanese Embassy have a silver lining? What about the gleaming silver guard hairs on this rabbit hiding in the rain? Rhetorical questions all.
Here's silver for sure--David's hair and beard. He's been sporting gray hair since he was in his 20's and now it has a luminous silver-white hue, inherited from his Irish grandma, Lucille Feagan. This photo was taken on New Year's Day and because we were sad our nest was empty again--and before I was to fall on the ice later in the day--Dave made Ropsua for breakfast. It is a baked pancake his mother always made on holiday and birthday breakfasts. The recipe below is a variation of her recipe and another I found on line. Its really easy and delicious but you have to eat it the minute it comes out of the oven...enjoy with butter and syrup.

Ropsua (pannu kaku)
Makes 1 large pancake

3 eggs, well beaten

3 c. milk (or new milk) Dave's mom uses part evaporated milk+water

1- 1/4 c. flour

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

couple Tbsp. sugar

Melt about 2-4T butter in 9 x 13 pan and put in hot oven (425 degrees) until butter melts and sizzles. Pour in mixture above not stirring, return to oven for about 30 minutes until set. It will puff up, then fall when taken out. adapted from Mojakka

Thanks to clever Blue and her fun meme, Favourite Things Thursday for giving me an opportunity to share this bit of our family tradition. By the way, only one of our two daughters likes Ropsua. Surprising?