Linda about 2. We quit the photography business when Linda was fairly small so she isn't in as many photographs as her sisters. Sorry Linda.
Gratitude #83 - Sweet Biddies!
11 years ago
Friday, February 15, 2008
sweet one
Linda about 2. We quit the photography business when Linda was fairly small so she isn't in as many photographs as her sisters. Sorry Linda.
going
Our decision to make that trip was made from scratch in about ½ hour.
It had been a rough emotional week, for a lot of dumb reasons. One day I really felt low so I stopped at the clinic to talk to our doctor’s nurse. I have been told that at some point I would welcome some emotional help in pill form.
It seemed that the time had come, so I stopped and got a prescription. It is weird stuff and makes me sleepy mostly. I have been taking it at breakfast, but I’ll take it tonight at bed time, as the pharmacists suggested.
Soon after I got the call from daughter 3 that she really should stay home last weekend, my emotions dropped even lower. She had called her sister and sister had told her exactly how I would react.
If she came she would have had to leave her two boys (11 and 15) home alone, since her husband was out of town on business for the weekend. My heart wanted her to come so badly, but it was really a no brainer. “Stay with the boys, that is all that makes sense right now.”
A few minutes later Daughter 1 called: “Well, get up here.” That was about 9 Friday morning. Miriam pitched a fit with all sorts of reasons why it was a dumb, stupid, evil idea. We sat down to eat and after we had eaten about half of our breakfast I turned to Miriam and said: “we are going.”
This time she didn’t argue with me at all.
I had some church business to take care of, some holiday decorations to move, arrangements for the church discussion group I lead, we even decided to cancel a potluck we had planned for after church, and by 1 we were on the road.
The trip did all my daughters had hoped. I am back home basking in their love, feeling a lot stronger emotionally, and still sleepy.
Thank you Arline for insisting.
It had been a rough emotional week, for a lot of dumb reasons. One day I really felt low so I stopped at the clinic to talk to our doctor’s nurse. I have been told that at some point I would welcome some emotional help in pill form.
It seemed that the time had come, so I stopped and got a prescription. It is weird stuff and makes me sleepy mostly. I have been taking it at breakfast, but I’ll take it tonight at bed time, as the pharmacists suggested.
Soon after I got the call from daughter 3 that she really should stay home last weekend, my emotions dropped even lower. She had called her sister and sister had told her exactly how I would react.
If she came she would have had to leave her two boys (11 and 15) home alone, since her husband was out of town on business for the weekend. My heart wanted her to come so badly, but it was really a no brainer. “Stay with the boys, that is all that makes sense right now.”
A few minutes later Daughter 1 called: “Well, get up here.” That was about 9 Friday morning. Miriam pitched a fit with all sorts of reasons why it was a dumb, stupid, evil idea. We sat down to eat and after we had eaten about half of our breakfast I turned to Miriam and said: “we are going.”
This time she didn’t argue with me at all.
I had some church business to take care of, some holiday decorations to move, arrangements for the church discussion group I lead, we even decided to cancel a potluck we had planned for after church, and by 1 we were on the road.
The trip did all my daughters had hoped. I am back home basking in their love, feeling a lot stronger emotionally, and still sleepy.
Thank you Arline for insisting.
sisters
Our middle girls are 10 1/2 months apart, so have always seemed to be twins. This is them with their little sister Linda. Those were good days.
home again
We are back home again.
We had a wonderful week with kids and grandkids and sons in law and dogs and cats mixed with lots of love and good food. It was about as good as it gets.
When we got home the house was cool but after running the wood burning stove for a few hours it is quite comfortable, again.
Daughter one, where we stayed most of this trip has two sons and one daughter still at home. The oldest boy is still a child in many awful ways, the girl is a teen and the younger boy is a tease. They picked at each other without undue malice as they interacted.
Daughter never lost her cool. She was happy and shamelessly positive all day long. There were admonitions from time to time, but when it was time for them to go out the door for school and jobs, she stood at the door, made sure each one had a lunch and gave them all a hug as they began their day away.
Even though the kids were often acting just like kids, I was amazed, and pleased.
The second daughter runs a very disciplined household. The kids are adept at a lot of tasks and work like little beavers. This family home schools, so they are together all day every day. They worked together with an occasional spat, but actually they do wonderfully well, I think.
The oldest son is graduating from high school this year, along with 4 or 5 other home schooled kids in the area. The father, my son in law, is a certified teacher, so that may explain a few things.
Both families get on with just one worker spouse. One daughter stays home full time, scratch cooks, grows a garden and takes good care of all of them. The second daughter is the wage earner in her family. She is an RN and works 12 hour night shifts. There are several days each week when the kids don’t see a lot of mom.
But when I used the kids bathroom, I saw a post it note stuck on the wall above the vanity sink. I loved it’s message:
“I love you my children” (heart) mom.
What else might one say?
We had a wonderful week with kids and grandkids and sons in law and dogs and cats mixed with lots of love and good food. It was about as good as it gets.
When we got home the house was cool but after running the wood burning stove for a few hours it is quite comfortable, again.
Daughter one, where we stayed most of this trip has two sons and one daughter still at home. The oldest boy is still a child in many awful ways, the girl is a teen and the younger boy is a tease. They picked at each other without undue malice as they interacted.
Daughter never lost her cool. She was happy and shamelessly positive all day long. There were admonitions from time to time, but when it was time for them to go out the door for school and jobs, she stood at the door, made sure each one had a lunch and gave them all a hug as they began their day away.
Even though the kids were often acting just like kids, I was amazed, and pleased.
The second daughter runs a very disciplined household. The kids are adept at a lot of tasks and work like little beavers. This family home schools, so they are together all day every day. They worked together with an occasional spat, but actually they do wonderfully well, I think.
The oldest son is graduating from high school this year, along with 4 or 5 other home schooled kids in the area. The father, my son in law, is a certified teacher, so that may explain a few things.
Both families get on with just one worker spouse. One daughter stays home full time, scratch cooks, grows a garden and takes good care of all of them. The second daughter is the wage earner in her family. She is an RN and works 12 hour night shifts. There are several days each week when the kids don’t see a lot of mom.
But when I used the kids bathroom, I saw a post it note stuck on the wall above the vanity sink. I loved it’s message:
“I love you my children” (heart) mom.
What else might one say?
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
pineapple upside down cake
A while back some one asked about my pineapple upside down cake.
Remember I am a man cook, which is to say an impostor, so I’ll tell you how I do it and you better think carefully before you follow!
If we are camping I use my dutch oven, a 10 inch model. If we are home I use a cast bunt pan. The dutch oven can be used over a fire, with charcoal or once in a while I find an available RV oven and stick it in there.
I don’t do things in the right order, but this is how I do it.
Melt about an inch of butter (more might be better).
Pour it in the bottom of the pan and add a fist full of brown sugar. I add plenty.
Then a lot of good walnut pieces. Pieces work better than halves when cutting time comes.
I open a can of Pineapple pieces and drain the liquid off (save it). When the pieces are drained arrange them on the top of the nuts/sugar mix. If I am using the dutch oven I might use most of the can, in the bunt only about half.
That sits while I mix up a lemon cake mix. We usually use one of the cheaper brands and I use the pineapple liquid in the mix.
Pour the cake batter on top of all the rest of the stuff, and shuffle it around to get it as even.
Bake in a 350 oven for longer than you might think. Maybe 45 minutes. There is a LOT of wet stuff in there to bake! When a toothpick comes out clean it is ready to take out of the oven.
As soon as possible, put a plate over the top and turn the whole thing over so the cake will separate onto the plate.
It will separate, the butter and sugar will have camelized, it will all be delicious and upside down!
By the way it is all low calorie, since you cut the butter, the calories leak out. Same goes for the sugar and nuts, which by the way really are good for you.
Remember I am a man cook, which is to say an impostor, so I’ll tell you how I do it and you better think carefully before you follow!
If we are camping I use my dutch oven, a 10 inch model. If we are home I use a cast bunt pan. The dutch oven can be used over a fire, with charcoal or once in a while I find an available RV oven and stick it in there.
I don’t do things in the right order, but this is how I do it.
Melt about an inch of butter (more might be better).
Pour it in the bottom of the pan and add a fist full of brown sugar. I add plenty.
Then a lot of good walnut pieces. Pieces work better than halves when cutting time comes.
I open a can of Pineapple pieces and drain the liquid off (save it). When the pieces are drained arrange them on the top of the nuts/sugar mix. If I am using the dutch oven I might use most of the can, in the bunt only about half.
That sits while I mix up a lemon cake mix. We usually use one of the cheaper brands and I use the pineapple liquid in the mix.
Pour the cake batter on top of all the rest of the stuff, and shuffle it around to get it as even.
Bake in a 350 oven for longer than you might think. Maybe 45 minutes. There is a LOT of wet stuff in there to bake! When a toothpick comes out clean it is ready to take out of the oven.
As soon as possible, put a plate over the top and turn the whole thing over so the cake will separate onto the plate.
It will separate, the butter and sugar will have camelized, it will all be delicious and upside down!
By the way it is all low calorie, since you cut the butter, the calories leak out. Same goes for the sugar and nuts, which by the way really are good for you.
me as a cook
I have been told that the best chefs in the world are men, but that is not in my family. My step dad could do pretty well at one time, but when Mom died he was quite unable to take care of himself.
The great cooks in my family were mostly on my mothers side. Grandma Wilson, Mom, Miriam, and now my daughters who are very good in the kitchen. I am a late bloomer who will stay in the small flower category, maybe baby’s breath as compared to roses.
But necessity (and taste for good food) push me into the kitchen. It is a sneaky way to get to eat the things you like, and avoid the other stuff. Miriam has slowly lost her ability to make it all work together.
With help from my able daughters and a distinct lack of good sense, I launch forward.
The old timers did not have nearly as big a variety of foods as we have, and I lean on that thought as I make the same 3 or 4 things for breakfast each day.
The great cooks in my family were mostly on my mothers side. Grandma Wilson, Mom, Miriam, and now my daughters who are very good in the kitchen. I am a late bloomer who will stay in the small flower category, maybe baby’s breath as compared to roses.
But necessity (and taste for good food) push me into the kitchen. It is a sneaky way to get to eat the things you like, and avoid the other stuff. Miriam has slowly lost her ability to make it all work together.
With help from my able daughters and a distinct lack of good sense, I launch forward.
The old timers did not have nearly as big a variety of foods as we have, and I lean on that thought as I make the same 3 or 4 things for breakfast each day.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
sisters
While this could have been taken in the dust bowl days of the depression, these are my daughters. They were sweet and their dad adored them then and now.
If the picture was in color the red hair would be stunning.
illusions
Yesterday morning on my way back to bed after a visit to the boys room, I kicked the leg of a chair.
Thought that little toe would come off, or that there would be a puddle of blood in my bed. Shucks, it didn’t even show a mark, but it sure did hurt for a while.
So in the afternoon I went for a walk. There is a paved lane right across from my daughters house that goes half a mile into a field. My foot was feeling better and the walk was good.
On the way back I noticed a red glow over the top of the neighbor house. The closer I got the larger the glow (it was also getting darker). Then I could flames through the front window. Big ugly flames.
I called my son in law: “Your neighbor’s house is on fire.”
Well I walked further, and the flames in the front window were not visible. As I got even closer, the neighbor came home, walked into the house and turned on the lights. Then he walked out and got his mail. He was obviously not concerned.
Well it turned out there was a fire half or three quarters of a mile in back of the house and when I was in the just right spot I could see through the house and see the fire. The glow was from the fire way back there.
So happily the neighbor’s house did not catch on fire, and I was reminded once again that things are not always what they seem.
Thought that little toe would come off, or that there would be a puddle of blood in my bed. Shucks, it didn’t even show a mark, but it sure did hurt for a while.
So in the afternoon I went for a walk. There is a paved lane right across from my daughters house that goes half a mile into a field. My foot was feeling better and the walk was good.
On the way back I noticed a red glow over the top of the neighbor house. The closer I got the larger the glow (it was also getting darker). Then I could flames through the front window. Big ugly flames.
I called my son in law: “Your neighbor’s house is on fire.”
Well I walked further, and the flames in the front window were not visible. As I got even closer, the neighbor came home, walked into the house and turned on the lights. Then he walked out and got his mail. He was obviously not concerned.
Well it turned out there was a fire half or three quarters of a mile in back of the house and when I was in the just right spot I could see through the house and see the fire. The glow was from the fire way back there.
So happily the neighbor’s house did not catch on fire, and I was reminded once again that things are not always what they seem.
splashing in the puddles
This was taken in one of my favorite Walla Walla parks. Deanna enjoying the time.
visiting
We are in Walla Walla, Washington right now.
Walla Walla is where my mothers father was born in 1886. His family arrived about 20 years earlier from Iowa by means of a wagon and a two year trip.
Because of that pull, I guess, Miriam and I have lived here a good hunk of our lives, and Arline continues to live here. She says she has come to think of it as home.
It is a peasant place, with spring a few weeks earlier and fall a bit later than where we live in Idaho, but the two days with the most extreme temps that I have endured were here in this town. And we have lived in Texas. One winter it was 35 below zero and a few summers later it hit 117 one still summer day.
Grandpa said it was the town that they liked so well they named it twice. His family were civil engineers and surveyors. He claimed that his family laid out the straight streets. There obviously had been a lot of others working who did hold to the same credo.
But it is not a cheap place to live, even though there are endless acres all directions. Everything has to be brought in a little further and with limited land building is spendy and so on.
But we came to visit family. To recharge family batteries, and to enjoy a bit of warmer weather. It is good to be with grand kids.
Miriam of course, is anxious to go home already. This morning she asked when we were going. I told her I didn’t know, and she quizzed me further. She is not a happy person away from her home, when she thinks about it. The key is to keep her from thinking.
Already I feel invigorated. I’ll prune my daughter’s grapes this week and so a little something to make myself useful.
And I will talk with my grandkids, I love them.
Walla Walla is where my mothers father was born in 1886. His family arrived about 20 years earlier from Iowa by means of a wagon and a two year trip.
Because of that pull, I guess, Miriam and I have lived here a good hunk of our lives, and Arline continues to live here. She says she has come to think of it as home.
It is a peasant place, with spring a few weeks earlier and fall a bit later than where we live in Idaho, but the two days with the most extreme temps that I have endured were here in this town. And we have lived in Texas. One winter it was 35 below zero and a few summers later it hit 117 one still summer day.
Grandpa said it was the town that they liked so well they named it twice. His family were civil engineers and surveyors. He claimed that his family laid out the straight streets. There obviously had been a lot of others working who did hold to the same credo.
But it is not a cheap place to live, even though there are endless acres all directions. Everything has to be brought in a little further and with limited land building is spendy and so on.
But we came to visit family. To recharge family batteries, and to enjoy a bit of warmer weather. It is good to be with grand kids.
Miriam of course, is anxious to go home already. This morning she asked when we were going. I told her I didn’t know, and she quizzed me further. She is not a happy person away from her home, when she thinks about it. The key is to keep her from thinking.
Already I feel invigorated. I’ll prune my daughter’s grapes this week and so a little something to make myself useful.
And I will talk with my grandkids, I love them.
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