" seems like no one wants to do fun things anymore".. Steve S Lol, those are fighting words, my man. DS#1 is about Dorf's age and he is doing pretty much what Dorf is doing. He joined a running club and has a great time. Some of the members are a lot older in years than he is but a lot younger physically. This weekend he and his running club acted as spotters for an Alcatraz run. He got up at 4:30 am PS to make it to SF and back to the valley for Father's Day Celebration.He had a great day. DH and I have been active all our lives in one sport or another. In our advanced years we have changed our sports but not our fun or competitive spirit. We just do it slower these days. We bought automatic gear shift bicycles,(can't see the gear shift any longer) we put on cat eyes to measure our, speed,distance,average speed, high speed, low speed and time. We do an average speed of 7.5, distance about 4 miles, time about 30:33 minutes and we have fun. On alternate days we walk about 30 minutes. I have a wrist watch with a huge number's dial, so I can see it w/o my glasses. We have fun.

Cliff, my favorite bean dip is homemade from a can of northern beans, salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil and garlic cloves. Everything in this recipe is subject to your own taste, so you can use however much garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper that you like. It's really good because you can't go wrong when you serve as your own taste-tester. I use a food processor to mince the garlic. Then I drain the beans and add them to the processor. Give it a few whirls until they are mushy and paste-like. It will be really sticky and thick. Slowly add the olive oil while running the processor. Stop when it reaches the consistency that you prefer. Keep in mind it will thicken when chilled, so if you are serving it chilled you may want to add a little more oil to keep it all smooth and creamy. Next, salt/pepper to taste and then give it one last whirl in the processor to incorporate the salt/pepper throughout. It's especially good on the really bland stuff like celery sticks. Very filling, obviously lots of fiber. You can dress it up a bit with diced tomatoes and scallions. You can incorporate pimentos into the processing to give it a little splash of color. You can add a bit of jalapeno while processing to give it some fire. So many options. So simple to make. Keep in mind any spice you add will intensify over time if you don't use the bean dip right away. Denise, that gives a whole new meaning to baked beans. LOL. May have to try that one. My last attempt at ham and 7 bean soup was a pot full of yummy, although ugly and split, bean soup.

Doesn't surprise me, ceresone. Most people have never heard those terms, as they're used mostly by the real old-timers back in the hollows. They're more common, too, in the backwoods of the Appalachians than in the Ozarks. By I have heard the terms used in your mountains. Sometimes when I use those terms I get a look, and a comment to the effect that "my mom used to call them that. Haven't heard the expression in years." But the Ozarks and the Appalachians have a lot in common, in terms of how people lived and worked in the old days, and what they grew. Plus, much of the English settlement of Missouri came right out of Kentucky and, to a lesser degree, Tennessee. In fact, that's why the Appalachian Heirloom Seed Conservancy includes Missouri in it's region, even though it's not an Appalachian state. Often we find heirlooms with a Middle Ground connection there, for instance, which can no longer be found in the Appalachians per se. Our most recent tomato accession, for example, came from a Missouri member who collected it from a now deceased Amish lady who had grown it for more than 50 years, ever since migrating from Tennessee where her people had grown it "for generations." Yet, to date, I cannot find anyone in western Tennesse who's familiar with this tomato. By the same token, I find that the original Whippoorwill cowpea is still grown as a family heirloom primarily in western Kentucky and eastern Missouri.

I think I've found a little more information on this bean, I found an Italian land race named Billo. The information on this one... Origin: Cuneo province Italian Region: Piemont Consumption form: Dry Seed Growth Habit: Climbing Seed Colour: Light brown (Violet) Type of seed coat pattern: Striped Seed Shape: Oval 100 seed weight (g): 77 Note: The cultivation of this ecotypes started in the 1950's when seeds from Lamon (see Veneto regions) were introduced in the Cuneo province. Emilia's Italian (we use it as a snap bean) Billo is from the Veneto region in Italy and the Province of Udine (where Emilia's Italian came from) is in the white bit to the right. The cultivation of Billo started in the 1950's whereas the bean I named Emilia's Italian came over to Canada in 1911. Billo is the closest match I could find to my Emelia's so if not the same bean I do think they are related.I think I have finally quenched my curiosity on this one :). Annette