ETCETERA: Courier goes to Japan and a dance recital

June 30, 2009 11:54 am

— Thanks to Hugh and Rita McCoy of Ottumwa who remembered their Courier for their trip to Japan.
The couple was on a cruise which had four stops each in Japan and Alaska. The McCoys flew from San Francisco, Calif., to Osaka, Japan. On May 2, they got on the cruise ship Volendam. After traveling 5,698 nautical miles, the ship and its passengers docked May 20 in Vancouver, Canada. That sounds like an amazing vacation.
Rita said while the couple was using the ship’s spa, the spa manager noticed their Ottumwa address. Lo and behold, she was Mindy McCombs, a 2002 graduate of Ottumwa High School! She is the daughter of former area residents, the Fred McCombs.
It still surprises many of us of how small the world can be at times.

q q q

Former Ottumwa High School track athlete Brittany Berges took a Courier to East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tenn., where she competed in the NAIA Indoor Track National Championships earlier this spring. She was a member of the Oklahoma Christian University Eagles track team

q q q

Milly Morris-Amos is one proud grandma! She had hoped that her one and only grandchild, Hannah Marie Malloy, would be awake and helping to hold the Courier, but little Hannah slept through the photo session.
Hannah’s uncle and aunt, Reece Amos and Cindy Brown, attended Hannah’s mother’s — Miss Connie’s Studio of Dance recital in Milwaukee, Wis. The backdrop of the recital was “Dancing in the Streets.” Connie Malloy did her last solo dance which included the splits at the end “and the audience awed at the sight of it — four months after having a baby,” Milly said.
Hannah, and her parents, Connie and John Malloy, got to meet many Ottumwans recently at a baby shower at Hotel Ottumwa — a busy place with wedding receptions going on, too.

q q q

A local group from First Lutheran Church took a Courier along on their recent mission trip to help the flood victims of 2008. This photo was taken in Cedar Rapids June 15.

q q q

Deloris Schark, Dixie Schark, Tisha Johnson and Rylie Johnson all flew to Hemit, Calif., to visit Deloris's brother and his wife, Ronald and Jean Hudson. She hadn’t seen them in four years. They drove to San Diego, went to the ocean, visited the naval base there, had lunch by the ocean and “had a wonderful time.” They saw other sites, as well. “It was quite something,” Deloris said: Great-grandma, grandma, granddaughter and great-granddaughter. It was the first time that the great-granddaughter had flown. The chilly morning by the Pacific turned into a warm afternoon.

q q q

Just received a handy gift for toting along electronics: The Power Station Traveler Multi-Gadget Charger.
From cell phones to iPods to handheld GPS systems, gadgets reign supreme in many households. But, most need to be charged to remain functional. For people with so many gadgets to charge but so little time, multi-device chargers such as The Power Station Traveler can charge up to three small portable devices simultaneously and allows you to tote an array of fully functional electronics with ease.
For information on the product — which sells for under $35 — visit http://cableorganizer.com/power-station/power-station-traveller.html; (phone toll-free, 1-866-222-0030.)

q q q

As to that mulberry question I posed: Marilyn Smith of Douds called me right after reading my column.
She said that her mom mixed mulberries with rhubarb for a tasty pie. Or, you can just mix them with lemon juice.
The berries can be “used a lot of ways,” she said, such as in homemade jelly.
One time, she said, they laid down sheets underneath and shook the tree so the mulberries fell on the sheets for easier scooping. Sounds like a good idea.
She, like me, just likes to eat them off the tree. Of course, you end up with mulberry-stained hands!
Thanks, Marilyn. I appreciate your call.
Then, Christine White of Moulton called. She has a mulberry-rhubarb pie recipe in her book, “Good Food From the White House.” Just a plain mulberry pie (like a blackberry pie) is good too, she remembers.
Right now, though, it’s too hot to turn on the oven to bake a pie!
Can you believe that the Fourth of July is this week?
Wow! Summer is scooting along fast.
***
Judy Krieger can be reached at (641) 683-5365 or by e-mail at — j.krieger@ottumwacourier.com

Photos