Happy Birthday Big Brother!

Today is my brother Wayne's birthday! I won't tell you how many "years young" he is, suffice it to say he's older than I (by "about" 10 years.. haha). I made him a batch of Nut Brittle this afternoon. Like me, he loves nuts so I thought he'd enjoy that. I thought I'd give you a little update on Wayne since many of you were so kind this past spring/summer to keep him in your thoughts and prayers. For those of you who don't know, he had a serious foot injury in May, when he crushed all the bones in his left foot. He was doing a move for the family business, picking up a Mobile Office Unit from LNG Port in Saint John. While he was lowering the trailer onto the hitch, something slipped and the weight of it all came down on his left foot. Luckily there was a "flat shoe" on the bottom of the hitch post or it would have gone right through his foot like a cookie cutter! Needless to say he was pinned there with his foot driven right into the ground (steel toed safety boots didn't help much), and if someone on the site had not been within shouting distance he would have bled to death right on the spot. To make a long story short: surgery, 10 pins in foot, wires replacing many ligaments and partial amputation of big toe; months of pain, extreme swelling, infection, meds reaction, many trips back to see surgeon in Saint John.... Happily, we're now "coming out the other side" of this whole thing. Pins are all out, cast is gone, walker is gone and he is "sort of" walking - with cane, crutches or sometimes nothing at all for support. However he cannot yet put full weight onto that foot - he is walking very cautiously. At his last visit with the Doc, he was told the bones are slowly healing but they are very thin. I guess with no walking or weight bearing for months, they have lost mass? So it will take a while to build that back up again. Methinks it will be a quiet winter for Mr. Wayne, with little to no snowmobiling, I'm thinkin'. And I suspect Mr. Arthritis will be moving in... He still has no feeling at all on the top of his foot (but does have feeling on the sole). His toes are rigid and he finds it hard to put on a boot. But he has made significant progress, for sure! We are so very grateful for his recovery and I do thank all of you who said prayers for him back in May and June - we sure appreciated it. It was nice to celebrate another birthday today. Happy Birthday Bro! Love ya!

Thought you might like my easy peasy recipe for Peanut Brittle (done in the microwave):

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 cup salted peanuts (I often used salted mixed nuts)
1 tsp. butter or margarine
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda

In a 2 qt. glass measure, combine sugar and corn syrup, stir. Cook at high 4 minutes. Stir, add nuts, stir well. Cook at high an additional 3.5 minutes. add butter and vanilla, stir well. Cook at high 1.5 minutes. Add baking soda, stir gently until light and foamy. Immediately pour mixture onto buttered cookie sheet. Spread out as thinly as you can. Let cool, then break into pieces. Yield- about 1.5 pounds. Caution - mixture gets extremely HOT, be very careful not to burn yourself, and do not make this when young children are around... and DON'T lick the spoon!!! :)
Thanks to Joyce H. for this recipe (from our Guild Cookbook)

Don't forget to check out my Giveaway here. It is open till next Thursday Nov. 25

Peace
Linda

He ain't heavy, he's my brother...my BIG brother...