Hi everyone,

It's a long weekend here in Victoria this weekend, as we're celebrating Labour Day. I've been stuck inside with a cold though, so really haven't been able to take advantage of it. The weather hasn't been terrific though...pretty overcast...and so here I sit with my huge box of tissues, sneezing and sniffling!

I mentioned that I had received my Blue Ridge Chronicle last week. This time the episode "Grandma Comes Home" is highlighted, with a photo of Ellen Corby as Grandma on the front cover. There is another double page spread which tells us of some of the history of The Waltons series. It mentions that "The Waltons" was considered to be a "throwaway"...a show that is put up against a successful program and really isn't expected to shine. It would run from September to January and nobody would watch it. These are often called "fillers" over here, and seem to be the shows I have an affinity for. LOL Well The Waltons definitely proved them all wrong, and here we are, nearly 30 years later, still attesting to its popularity! What a special show it was, and still is.

I'm happy to say that you all came up with lots of information about Apple Cobblers for Kaz in Australia, and the letters are below. Thanks for that.

Talk to you all again next week,

Goodnight everyone,

Karen.

A cobbler is a South Eastern United States desert. We can make any fruit into a cobbler. It is made in a large deep dish. My grandmother had a huge metal wash pan, like I imagine grandma Walton would use. A cobbler has pie crust on the bottom and sides then the dough (unbaked crust) is cut into strips and placed in layers with the fruit and it is topped off with strips woven like a basket weave on the top or just a crust with vents cut into it.

The filling can be any fruit mixed with a lot of sugar. Spices as desired in the fruit with butter and sugar sprinkled on top. Apple cobblers may have cinnamon and nutmeg (but generally on the old farms just sugar and the fruit). The recipes do not really exist they are just something we learn watching Grandma. I grew up in South Carolina in the Appalachian Foothills. Peach Cobbler is great, also blackberry, and even Sweet Potato.

Cathy

Hi, all! A cobbler is just a deep-dish fruit pie with a thick top crust. It can be made out of any fruit - peaches, boysenberry, apples, just about any kind of fruit you would use in a pie! It's quite delicious with ice cream - yum!

Geri Ann

Hello Karen and All, I am so sorry that I didn't get anything in for Lewis Arquette. My whole family excluding me had the flu. It has been a tough 2 weeks.

My favorite Lewis Arquette moment was when Erin told him he would have to come begging on his knees if he wanted her back, and he did. He was a really good sport to play that part and he did it very well.

Shirley, Happy Belated birthday. I have visited your sight and bookmarked it because it was so great.

I saw the survivor show with the Jim-Bob mention in it too. I thought it was very cute.

Lastly, I called my mom and got her Apple Cobbler recipe. During the depression it was called the poor man's pie. It is very tasty. Here you go:

Apple Cobbler

Filling:

5 cups of apple (peeled chopped and cored)

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup of water

1 table spoon butter

Batter:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons softer butter

1 egg (slightly beaten)

In medium bowl, combine all filling ingredients except butter. Turn into a 9 x 9 inch dish. Dot filling with butter.

Combine all batter ingredients in separate bowl and beat with spoon until smooth. Drop batter in 7 or 8 dollops on apple filling, spacing apart. Batter will spread in baking.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until apples are soft and crust is golden brown in a 375 degree oven.

You can substitute any fruit with this recipe as well, but the cooking time would be less because it takes longer for the apples to soften. I love this recipe with pineapples, very tasty.

That is all from here. I hope you all enjoy the cobbler recipe, it is good.

Good Night all, ----Jennifer

Dear Karen,

Even as I plan the wedding for my Corrin Marie and her Australian Craig, I look forward to your digest.

Just sent my sister a copy of The Triangle (?) from Amazon.com. I have no idea what it is about, since I don't have cable and can't watch the Waltons. But Amazon does have a few of the tapes of shows you mention...

Two new things: first, cobbler is simply a Southern deep dish fruit pie. Cobbler may seem old fashioned, but I know lots of places and homes here in the South which still bake and serve it. Almost any Southern buffet restaurant will have its version on the serving table. Any fresh fruit, or frozen such as black berries, peaches, cherries, etc., would work and be delicious. I will look up a recipe and send it to you.

Second, I would like to send you a copy of an article that was published here in Acworth,GA, in Southeastern Antiquing Magazine about the collections of Jon Walmsley and his wife, if you don't already have a copy. I will mail you a copy if you can send me your address.

Yes, March is here and only 10 months until this wedding. It appears that we will have the groom's parents from Australia an extra 10 days before the wedding, so we are really excited to think about this chance to get to know our future-son-in-law's mum and dad. God bless...Leathea

KAREN'S COMMENT: Thank you so much to all of you who replied about Apple Cobbler, and also to Dave's letter below, who answered from an Australian point of view. I had originally thought that Apple Cobbler was the same as Apple Crumble that we have down here, but some of the recipes confused me. Jennifer's recipe sort of sounded like there would be a pie crust sort of topping, rather than a crunchy, cereal based topping that I thought Cobbler would have. I did a search on the internet for cobbler recipes and found heaps of them...some with a pie crust and some with a granola type crust, which is similar to what I had thought. But I am impressed. The different kinds of fruit used in cobbler over there is fantastic. I never really imagined that so many different varieties or combinations of fruit would have been used. In fact, I've just had a quick look at the crumble toppings in a recipe book that I have and it's got ingredients like coconut, rolled oats and things like that which would bake into a crispy sort of crust. Anyway for all you cooks who'd like to try some other fruit cobbler recipes, if you go to www.yahoo.com and search for "Apple Cobbler" you'll get heaps of sites with a huge variety of recipes. And give Jennifer's Mum's recipe a go as well. It sounds yummy.

G'day Karen,

I have been meaning to write for the longest time. I look forward to getting the newsletter and enjoy reading everyone's comments. I am an Aussie living in North Carolina, USA and in fact live about a 6 hour drive from Schuyler, Virginia. My wife (Lynn,) and I had the chance to visit there last year and have a look around the museum (met Earl Hamner's aunt,) and surrounding area. Drove down to what was formerly Rockfish (now just a small bunch of houses near the river,) which was a beautiful area. The only part of the trip I was disappointed with was the Hamner home. It sits there in Schuyler on a street corner but is not in very good shape and was different to what I expected. Maybe because I had seen the Walton house for so many years on the TV show? I was told that one of the Hamner sons lives there now (one of Earl's brothers.)

Oh before I forget, Kaz asked in the latest newsletter about apple cobbler and what it was? As an Aussie living in the USA I can inform Kaz and everyone else Down Under that anything with "cobbler" in it is very, very similar to what we would call "crumble" in Australia. Therefore apple cobbler = apple crumble, peach cobbler = peach crumble etc. Thanks for a great newsletter and please keep up the good work.

Dave

KAREN'S COMMENT: It was great that you and Lynn could get down to Schuyler and visit the museum. I've seen the Hamner house in some of the specials about The Waltons and although it's not the same a the Walton home we see on the set, it does seem to have a similar feel about it.

Hi Everyone,

I just read that Ralph Waite will be joining the cast on the soap opera All My Children.

I hope TNN keeps the Waltons on their schedule.

Goodnight everyone,

Silvia

KAREN'S COMMENT: As you can see, a lot of people have picked up on the fact that Ralph Waite is joining this show. Great to hear.

Hi Karen,

Was wondering if American fans have seen Ralph Waite on the soap opera, "All my Children" yet? He appeared last week and apparently is becoming a regular cast member. My husband was flipping channels and called out to me, "Hey, John Walton is on All My Children!" Look for him. He still has his wonderful voice but has really aged in recent years. Haven't we all though?!

Tammy

KAREN'S COMMENT: Yes the hair is far greyer than it was, and there are more wrinkles, but then I suppose I've got many more than I did 30 years ago too. LOL I don't know if we get All My Children, and I also don't know how many years we would be behind you. Hmm, I'll have to investigate that.

Karen, I hadn't seen nor heard of the program you mentioned "The Life and Times of the Waltons". Did MaryLou get a response about "What Love Sees"? I taped it and am willing to share.

Good-night All-(So many of us now use that lovely ending on many occasions in addition to this

newsletter.) RUTH

KAREN'S COMMENT: Ruth, The Life and Times of the Waltons was a show that was on TNN, perhaps the year before last, I think around the time the Waltons CD was released. It has been shown on TNN a couple of times since, one being during Thanksgiving last year when Richard Thomas introduced it. It includes different Waltons actors reminiscing about the show.

Hi Karen and Everyone,

Haven't written for awhile but do look forward to each digest every week. I was checking out Kelly Ripa on "All My Children" today and was shocked to see "John Walton". I don't watch soap operas so I have no idea what the story line is but his name on the show is "Bart". I don't know if he is a good guy or bad or how long he has been on. I'm sure others may know. It was nice to see him because I thought he only did stage now.

Keep up the good work with the digest, Karen.

Joyce

KAREN'S COMMENT: Maybe some one will fill us in on the storyline Joyce.