{"id":386,"date":"2008-06-09T11:01:52","date_gmt":"2008-06-09T15:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/v3\/?p=386"},"modified":"2008-06-10T11:20:02","modified_gmt":"2008-06-10T15:20:02","slug":"life%e2%80%99s-coloring-book-a-column-by-suzi-walls-for-the-daily-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/?p=386","title":{"rendered":"Life\u2019s Coloring Book: A column by Suzi Walls for The Daily Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Do you like apple pie? Let me tell you where the best Granny Smith apple pies can be found: Mary\u2019s Country Kitchen in Warriors Mark. You\u2019d better call ahead though; they go fast. Before you begin thinking that my column has become an advertising venue, let me tell you that Mary\u2019s apple pie is the basis for this week\u2019s mystery story.
\nWe were invited to bring Walzie\u2019s Aunt Lovie and his cousins, Joyce and Marg, to a Memorial Day picnic at his brother\u2019s house near Lewisburg. I heard Walzie on the phone discussing the menu with his brother when I heard my name. Ah yes, I got volunteered to make the dessert. I\u2019m no Rachael Ray and not a big fan of baking, but heck, anybody can toss a brownie mix in the oven. Walzie turned up his nose.
\n\u201cCome on, Susan,\u201d he coaxed. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you make a couple of apple pies to take with us?\u201d
\nHey, Cupcake, why don\u2019t I just call Mary\u2019s and buy a couple of those fabulous Granny Smith apple pies and pretend I baked them?\u201d I was so proud of myself for thinking of that. And so I did just that: one with crumb topping, one two crust pie. (The crumb pie is my favorite; I wear it well on my hips!)
\nMemorial Day morning came \u2013 it was a beautiful sunny day. Aunt Lovie and her family piled into our VV (That\u2019s short for vacation van. We can\u2019t afford my dream RV that would break the bank to gas it up, so I\u2019ve settled for the smaller version that still nearly breaks the bank to gas up.) Walzie carried the crumb pie and I had the other one in my hands. He put his gently in the cargo section of the van.
\n\u201cWait a minute, \u201cI shouted to him. \u201cI need to open the porch windows for the dogs in case it gets too hot today. I\u2019ll be right there.\u201d
\nAnd soon we were headed off across route 192 past Penn\u2019s Cave. That\u2019s a really nice drive across that route through the R.B. Winter State Park toward Lewisburg. Aunt Lovie doesn\u2019t get to travel much, so this was a real treat for her. We arrived about noontime. Walzie went to the back of the van to get the dessert.
\n\u201cHey, Susan, there\u2019s only one pie here,\u201d Walzie said. \u201cWhat did you do with the other pie?\u201d
\nI handed it to you,\u201d I spat. \u201cYou\u2019re the one that lost the pie; maybe it slid under the seat. Check there.\u201d
\nNo pie.
\n\u201cI\u2019ll bet you set it on the roof and forgot to put it in the van. It\u2019s probably lying in your driveway,\u201d Aunt Lovie offered.
\n\u201cWay to go, Walzie,\u201d I pointed my finger at him. \u201cA perfectly good Granny Smith pie. The birds are probably pecking at it right now.\u201d
\n\u201cI did not lose that pie,\u201d poor Walzie defended himself. \u201cYou didn\u2019t even give it to me.\u201d
\n\u201cDid too!\u201d I argued. I was so sure of myself.
\n\u201cDid not!\u201d
\n\u201cDid too! You probably ate the dadgum thing!\u201d
\nAunt Lovie finally got between us and assured me that one pie was sufficient and just calm the heck down. It\u2019s only a pie for Pete\u2019s sake. So I fretted all through the picnic. One would have thought it was my hard work and baking talents at stake. What the heck did happen to that pie? I just knew Walzie did something with it.
\nAll the way home, everyone was guessing what happened to the pie. Was it mashed on the driveway with ten dozen little pecker marks in it? Maybe it\u2019s sitting on the front steps? And then it hit me \u2026 remember opening the windows for the dogs? Suddenly, I knew where the pie was.
\nNow the key word there is WAS.
\nAs we pulled into the driveway, our two dogs barked, jumped, and scratched at the glass door. (They do that all the time – like they\u2019ve not seen us for a month.) And guess what caused their sticky little paw prints on the door; and the windows; and the porch carpet; and was all matted in their hair as if they\u2019d rolled in it; and was dragged through the house into the kitchen and the family room; even was in sticky paw prints on the television screen? Oh yeah, the best Granny Smith apple pie in the valley.
\nEverybody laughed \u2013 except me! Who the heck was going to clean that mess? Not Walzie, I can assure you. I guess the little crow-eating redhead got her just reward. That\u2019s what I get for laying the blame on poor ol\u2019 innocent Walzie.
\nSo I think I had better run down to Mary\u2019s and get another dessert for tomorrow. Yep, those dogs are licking their chops. Settle down, boys, dessert is for dad and me!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you like apple pie? Let me tell you where the best Granny Smith apple pies can be found: Mary\u2019s Country Kitchen in Warriors Mark. You\u2019d better call ahead though; they go fast. Before you begin thinking that my column has become an advertising venue, let me tell you that Mary\u2019s apple pie is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-special-interest-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area","category-excerpts-from-the-tyrone-daily-herald"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}