It has been so much fun going through the scrapbooks of about fifty years ago. (Fifty years????) I remember going to Del Rio to visit Beth and Bill, and then getting to drive to their enormous ranch in Comstock.
If my memory is still connected to my brain, I believe that there were 20,000 acres on one side of the road, and 20,000 acres on the other side of the road. There was an oil well on part of the land, and Beth and her two brothers received royalty checks each month.
I just remember seeing land.....lots of land. We (they) decided that we should take a horseback ride to one of the water wells which was named Beth’s well. Well, why not, because I had gotten lots of experience riding Dixie, my five gaited horse. ( I think I felt like Dale Evans) And, we were told that a couple of the ranch hands would lead us to Beth’s Bell, because it was six miles from the house.
But I knew I was tough so we embarked on a six mile horseback ride to Beth’s Well. And we were so thirsty. That trip was one that I will never forget — mentally as well as physically.
So it was about a whole day trip, and I was so glad to see the house. Trying to act like a seasoned rider (remember Dixie in 1958?) I was not seasoned at all, and couldn’t wait to get back into that big old stuffed chair.
As always, when we left the ranch, Juan would always make homemade tortillas for guests....and they were absolutely awesome! I would usually eat several on the way back to Del Rio.
And I knew that Beth had made her famous Carrot Cake for us, and that cake was to die for. Beth was a lot like Mother, she could take the strangest ingredients and come out with a delicious meal. The Carrot Cake is only one example.
Beth’s Carrot Cake
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup Wesson oil
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup drained crushed pineapple
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
Mix flour, salt, and soda together
In another bowl, cream oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla together
Add pineapple and carrots
Add flour mixture to this. Mix well.
Spray pans with
Bake in two greased and floured nine inch pans at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes
Frosting:
One eight ounce package Philadelphia cream cheese
1 stick margarine
1 box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Frost when cake is cool.
Thought for the week: On Special Days “The stone at Christ’s tomb was a pebble to The Rock of Ages.” From The Complete Book of Zingers by Croft M. Pentz.
Carol Johnston Lindley is Miss Hattie. You can write to her at 395 Peps Point Road, Hattiesburg,MS 39401 or you can email her at hattie1014@bellsouth.net
