Ramping Up

 

 

               We’re ramping up for the end of the year holidays, Christmas and New Year’s Eve.  Thanksgiving is in the rear view mirror and I’m still full!  Ha ha!  Maybe it’s just that all the delicious food is sitting around my waist making my pants too tight?  Oh well! Maybe all the running around preparing for Christmas will remove some of that although part of preparations include lots of treats baking so…..oh well!  We did have a very nice time Thanksgiving Day, as we usually do.  It was weird being without brother Dan; this is the first Thanksgiving without him that we’ve been able to get together with anyone not living here, although he passed away June of 2020 during the shutdown.  We talked about him and told stories also about our loved ones no longer with us, and I think that’s part of any holiday family dinner.  It helps keep their memory alive and gives the next generation an idea of what kind of people they come from.  I think it’s comforting.

               We decorated outside the weekend after turkey day and that always is a cheery thing to do although a cold thing to do.  It was windy that day, too, so the wind chill was probably making it feel like it was in the 20’s. Of course, there had to be a quick run to the corner store for another string of lights and lots of hot coffee and turkey soup afterward to warm up. It was a fun thing to do with my daughter and her boyfriend helping.  A few days later we had a dusting of snow and that was nice, it made the deck tree and lights look pretty and Christmassy, and since it didn’t stick to the roads we didn’t mind it at all.  I wonder if we’ll have any snow for Christmas Day.  I really do like it when there’s a little snow on Christmas morning, but not so much that we need to shovel and our family can’t safely travel to get here.  I guess we shall see!

               I made a new wreath during a caregiver’s support group crafting zoom, and it was fun to do.  I hung it on the door to what will eventually be an office/guest room but is currently a holding room for things we don’t know what to do with.  I didn’t want to hang the wreath on the door because I’m afraid it wouldn’t survive the opening and closing of the front door. I plan to start decorating the inside of the house next week.

               I’ve been trying to get my gift shopping done early, partly because the news about supply chains is a little concerning, but mostly because I do have the time and would rather be able to take my time wrapping and avoid a last minute rush while I’m also trying to bake and prepare for Christmas dinner with my family.  I’m finding that the one thing stores don’t seem to be stocking this year is the candied fruits and fruit peel for fruitcake!  I happened to be in Walmart before Thanksgiving and saw the red and green cherries so I picked up a couple packs so I’d have them, but I wanted more because I also us them in a cookie recipe.  I have one more store to check and then I guess I have to either order from Amazon or just use what I have this year and make another kind of cookie.  It seems curious to me the things that are in short supply periodically since the pandemic began almost 2 years ago. It’s so hard to believe that’s how long we’ve been masking, and arguing about all things covid related, and staying away from others as much as we can while still living our lives. It’s a little bit wearying, but humans are resilient and I guess we’ll just keep on moving forward to the best of our abilities.  What else can we do, really?

I love my door cane, simple yet pretty. It was a gift from a coworker many years ago.

This is the wreath I made with the caregivers crafters. I like it, although it looks a little top heavy.

The light dusting of snow which made the deck tree look like Christmas morning.  My daughter and I made the foil chains as one big long chain when she was much younger.  I recall making them as a kid with my brother Dan.

Autumnal Words and Pictures

 

These mushrooms were growing in all areas of the yard, this particular clump was by the driveway.  I guess all the warm, wet weather we had this fall made them grow.  They're an interesting shape and color, I think.

I made these wind chimes at a Zoom caregivers craft meeting.  It was fun, but the invisible thread we used proved challenging for me.  When I removed it from the bag of supplies dropped off at my house by the moderator I figured I was going to be in trouble.  First, I couldn't find the end on the spool so ended up using a box cutter to slice some to get it started.  Then I had a tough time tying the knots to connect the shells to the ring at the top. I ended up finishing it the next morning after Hillary left because I was the only one not done at the end of the meeting, and despite assurances that nobody minded waiting for me to finish, I declined and said I'd finish in the morning because my eyes were tired which was the truth.  So anyhow I worked on it in the morning and as I'm trying to tie knots in invisible thread my brother, who is a man of many talents and writing science fiction adventure is his current project, was texting me about time travel and how it relates to the characters and the universe he's built for the story collection he's doing.  I think that pretty much sums up our lives--I try to tie knots in invisible thread so things don't fall apart, and he creates new worlds.  Somehow it all works.   

I made this cake because I had invited the above brother's family over for a Saturday afternoon of comfort food.  I made my mother's recipe macaroni and cheese (with just a couple of my own tweaks), her coleslaw, and bought some hearty rye bread because that is how she always served it and my sister in law loves that meal.  As it turned out, her mother passed away from end stage Alzheimer's and other health problems the night before so it was extra nice to be able to comfort her with our company and food.  I sent everyone home with leftovers.  I will include the recipe for the mac and cheese and coleslaw at the end of this post.

I stopped at the library one day on the way home from grocery shopping and took the picture of this tree.  Just because I thought it was pretty set against the blue sky.

It’s been a pretty busy season so far, what with things breaking down (still!) and running back and forth to feed Hillary at lunch time and just life in general.  I’m still trying to get a handle on all the clutter in the closets and laundry room and other places where it’s tucked away.  I’ve taken numerous trips to the clothing donation bins and soon I’ll be stopping at Goodwill with some household items we no longer use but are in great shape; hopefully someone else can get good use of them!  The patient hoist is dying on us and it was a couple weeks of playing phone and email tag with the repair company to get on the service visit schedule.  They are the only company in our area and the surrounding areas that does this, so they are very busy always, and I did look to see if I could call someone else but no luck so we are praying this hoist doesn’t give out all together before they can come---5 more days!  At any rate, we are gearing up for Halloween weekend which honestly I don’t expect to be much of a thing as our town has a big trick or treating event at the school to keep the kids safe and off the many roads in town without sidewalks.  Still, I bought candy just in case. Maybe this year we’ll have a few more kids, we’ll see.

Mom's Macaroni and Cheese

3 T butter + 1 T oil

3 T flour

2 C milk

3/4 - 1 C starchy water from the macaroni

16 oz block extra sharp yellow cheddar, shredded

1 16 oz pkg elbow macaroni

saltine crackers, approximately 1/2 stack

Cook macaroni according to pkg directions, retaining 1 C of the cooking liquid before draining. Set aside.  Melt butter & oil over low heat, stir in flour and cook together until very light brown. Whisk in milk a little at a time until smooth, cook until slightly thickened and small bubbles appear around the edges; stir in cheddar. Salt and pepper to taste.  Let  cook a few minutes to thicken slightly and add the starchy water, stirring to combine. Remove from heat and stir together with the drained macaroni in a large buttered casserole dish. Crush the crackers and spread over the top.  Bake in a 350* oven 30 minutes or until crackers look toasted and the cheese bubbles around the edges. Serve and enjoy!

Mom's Simple Cabbage Salad

1 small head cabbage

1/2 - 1 cup mayonnaise (depends on how moist you want it) 

1/4 cup sugar (more or less according to your taste)

Shred the cabbage and place in a bowl large enough to allow for mixing.  Sprinkle in the sugar and stir in the mayonnaise. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Pizza is Fun!

 

I really like pizza, as I think most people do (I have a brother who won’t touch it, so I can’t say everyone likes it!).   It’s a staple at kids parties, creates long cafeteria lunch lines on pizza day at schools across the land, is a primary source of nutrition for teenagers and college students, and who can say getting with friends as an adult and ordering in or making your own pizza isn’t fun and easy?  There are even pizzas for special dietary needs, whether it is gluten free, vegan, or keto friendly they are readily available in restaurants and supermarkets as well as recipes on the internet if your area doesn’t have special ones easily attainable.  Some regions feature deep dish, some thick crust, some thin crust, and some ultra-thin crispy crust.  I prefer thin crust, as growing up in New Jersey in close proximity to New York City, our region is arguably where the best pizza can be found; it is what I grew up on and is my favorite to this day.

               When I was a kid our family had game night every Saturday and it always included pizza. I can vividly recall watching my mother munching away on a slice of cheesy, saucy goodness and laughing over something someone said or did. It was an important job for one or another of my brothers to go with my father to Dominick’s Pizzeria to pick up our order.  One time my brother Dan dropped the box as they exited the pizza place and so they had to wait while another one was made.  If I went on a sleepover at my friend Joan’s house, we’d have pizza for dinner and then munch on the cold leftover slices in the morning before her mother woke up and made us pancakes for breakfast.   When I moved out on my own, I survived mostly on pizza as it was cheap, delicious, and readily available in the strip mall where I worked at a donut shop.  Sometimes the boss would treat us all to pizza on a busy day, and sometimes we’d all go out for an evening on the weekend and start at Dino’s with what we referred to as a “garbage pie” because it had every topping available on it.  It was so much fun!  When my girls were young we had pizza and TV every Friday night, and they could earn a monthly pizza voucher from a national chain by reading books. When I worked as a lunch lady in an elementary school pizza day was the most popular day for the kids to buy hot lunch and we made trays and trays of square pizza slices.  Later when I worked at the high school cafeteria and pizza was offered every day it remained a popular item likely to sell out by the end of the day.  Now when we get together with friends and family we’re just as likely to order some pizzas as we are to cook for each other.  There’s just something uplifting about that tasty crust slathered with piping hot rich tomato sauce and ooey gooey strings of melted cheese hanging off the edges of each wedge shaped slice.  I’d have to say that it’s the one food I have many happy memories about.

               There are many foods that people associate with good times, but I think pizza is number one.  In fact, I think I might have to have some today, and I bet you want some now, too.  Hurray for pizza!!!

My hubby and me with our long time friends who we've shared many pizzas with over the years.

A tranquil scene from our local park where I went walking one recent morning. It has nothing to do with pizza, but the geese might enjoy some pieces of the crust to fuel their trip south.

Farewell Summer 2021

 

               It was such a hot, humid, uncomfortable summer and I am happy to see it go! I really just didn’t enjoy most of it this year, I was too busy being cranky because it was not weather I’m comfortable in. It seems pretty silly now, but that’s probably because beautiful cooler fall weather is here.  September was another fairly busy month, we had Hillary’s birthday, (she had 3 small parties!), and in those waning days of the heat our air conditioning broke and couldn’t be repaired so we had to replace it.  This has been our year for expensive things needing repair or replacing!

               Part of the air conditioning unit is in the attic right outside the door to Hillary’s room in the dining room.  It’s a tight space, and not a big surprise that one of the workmen doing the installation slipped and sent part of the dining room ceiling crashing to the floor.  Thankfully nobody was injured and he didn’t fall through, and I had already gotten Hillary up and into the living room to wait until time to leave for her day program.  It did, however, leave a gaping hole with gross looking insulation hanging down which my brother referred to as an “attic cat”.  Ha ha! My brother can really be a smart aleck!  So for a week we had workmen in the house.  They were pleasant, and did a great job, but there’s always a mess to clean after any home improvement.  I think I’ll be finding dust for months to come in spite of wielding broom, vacuum, and mop when everything was done.  The chattiest guy was the contractor the HVAC company hired to repair the hole in the ceiling.  He looked like Shaggy from the Scooby Doo cartoons, and had lots to say about any subject that popped into his head.  I learned that his girlfriend is selling her house and moving to North Carolina, but I’m not clear on whether or not he’s moving there with her, or just helping her sell her house here and find a new one there.  He drives his 91 year old mother to lunch every day, and helped an 82 year old friend pack up and move to a senior living community.  His friend seems to be  feeling sad and isolated so he’s (Shaggy) thinking of starting a game night with friends at the 82 year old’s new apartment to keep him socially active and sharp of mind.  Shaggy’s a nice person, and he did a great job doing the repair, but I was exhausted after he left from all the conversation.  Of course, I’d rather have someone like that working in my house than a cranky, swearing under his breath, in a big hurry to leave person.  I didn’t take his picture, of course, but there is a before and after of the hole below.

               It was also Daughter’s Day, which is probably a holiday made up on social media, but it was an opportunity to share a picture of and say something nice about my girls so I figured, what the heck?  That picture is also below.  I didn’t include any pictures of the birthday parties, and by some standards they weren’t really parties, but in our little corner of the world if you send in cupcakes on someone’s birthday that’s a party.  If you buy a little cake and write “Happy Birthday” on it, add candles, have some gifts for the honoree, that’s a party too even if there’s only 3 of you besides the birthday girl.  Also, if you invite 3 more people on a different day, put out snacks, order pizzas and have an ice cream cake and sing “Happy Birthday”, that’s a party too.  So those were Hillary’s 3 parties to celebrate her.  We all deserve to be celebrated by family and friends, don’t you think?

               So I say farewell to Summer and hello to Autumn!  I love the chilly dry air and brilliant sunshine, and the cool rainy days as well.  I can’t wait for all the colors to come to the trees and see that first heavy frost coating the grass.  It’s so refreshing!

                                                             Attic Cat

                                                        Much better!

                            Fierce, brave, and each special in her own way.

Thunder Storm

 

The poem above is a fanciful way of thinking about a thunder storm.  With our recent events of torrential rain and massive, deadly flooding, I wouldn’t want anyone to think I was making light of that.  It was written during a regular old thunderstorm such as we get during the summer when the hot days are humid as well and result in storms cropping up, not during the remnants of a hurricane.  So imagine a run of the mill thunder storm on a hot hazy summer afternoon, and kids forced inside the house by the weather, and that is the context.

Growing up, it was not unusual for me and my younger brother, sometimes my older brothers as well, to be running around outside in the summer in our bathing suits in the rain, splashing in puddles and having a fun time.  I suspect it may have been my mother’s idea to get herself a few moments of peace from her 4 rambunctious kids on a rainy summer day.  We had so much fun doing that! I don’t know if any of my friends did that, but I suspect not since I’d never seen any other kids outside when we were out there playing in the rain.  (I see those memes often about learning to dance in the rain—I think that’s the way I was raised, I don’t need to learn it now.)  At the first rumble of thunder, however, we ran inside to dry off and have a snack.  I don’t know who told us this, or if one of us thought it up ourselves, but we said the thunder was the angels bowling.  I always envisioned the scene with golden haired angels with flowing white gowns and gossamer wings in a white fluffy cloud filled bowling alley having a great time rolling the balls down the alley toward the pins and strike after strike being scored.  I still like to picture that in my mind, after all, why wouldn’t there be a bowling alley in heaven?  The angels have to do something to pass the time, and a bowling party may as well be one of the things they enjoy.  We used to say the rain was their tears (I added the thought of joyful crying instead of sad crying) and in the winter we said the angels had dandruff when the snow was flying.  It’s pretty silly, but we never lacked for imagination in our house.  My brothers and I invented many games together when we were stuck inside on inclement days, everything from lining up the kitchen chairs and pretending we were on a train to one of us being the animal keeper while the remaining 3 were the animals being fed dry cereal from bowls on the floor (I’m chuckling while remembering this), to going into the basement and playing hide and seek.  The one thing we always managed to do was have fun together.

          We’ve had our share of thunderstorms lately, and I get a little pensive and nostalgic when I have a few minutes to enjoy the event.  I hope you get a chance to take a trip down memory lane when something comes along to jog your memory, whether it’s a thunder storm or a bright sunny day that reminds you of a happy time.