Cooking with Dee

I had another mother once

For a couple hours after school

Born the same day/time as her daughter

Daughter took me as a fool

I said go inside, ask Mom

She’ll tell you that it’s true

It only made us closer

The Colonel’s daughter and me

We baked a lot of cookies

Together, as we

Time has placed us apart

With marriage and kids

I ran into her Mom on a knitting site

She put us back together, it fits

We’re still 1,000 miles apart

But I remember us as kids

Cheers! Dee

To me it says what do we remember, what do we know and what can we learn.

Welcome, Hungary. I am looking into your historic culinary pursuits and will let you know if I can pass the test. That’s the learning part. Very interesting.

I try to learn something new every day. You know that. Today a bow and arrow has tossed me to goulash and many spicy dishes. Dee

Growing up, I was taught to win, everything. I started sports in school that I was never good at and we lost. I had to ask the Assistant Principal to say about our track event on our morning homeroom broadcasts that we came in second. There were only two teams. We lost. I was the slowest runner in the second spot passing the baton. I was good at that, but we lost.

Loving Olga Korbut I was never a great gymnast but was made Captain the first week on the high school team and we had just moved into town. We made it to State finals that year, and lost. Do we see a theme here?

I told a potential Olympic athlete to stay at the State event after her performance. She’d said she was done and was going home. I said as Captain that if she left her colleagues I’d go to the judges and rescind her gold medal as I would kick her off the team. Coach agreed beforehand. Next thing I knew from outside the locker room is that she was cheering with fellow students.

Athlete, no. Leader, yes. I was very shy and didn’t believe in myself back then. College, then work and volunteerism changed that. My husband and I met 17 years ago as friends and married two years later.

Today we have a philosophy of team work. We engender talent. He lost dogs during his life, a cousin, now recently an uncle. He lost jobs to femme fatales who knew how smart he is and that they could lose their jobs so they ganged up on him.

Losing is education. Shrug it off. Learn from it. I believe that is the only way one can learn. If a path of gold is created for a child she/he cannot learn the vicissitudes of life. Oh, that’s the word of the day. Oh, my! Dee

One Thanksgiving my husband wanted to go lie on the floor in his grandmother’s (Nanny’s)  formal living room because his back was bothering him from a childhood tree swing incident. I looked for him and laid on the sofa. It was twilight and there was even a lighted Christmas tree.

There are five “grands” and I’m honorary. They started showing up and lying around and we told stories for an hour or two. Silly stories of their childhoods. Lights were off, it was calm and peaceful.

His cousins told him a girl was coming by to ask him to marry her. He was probably around eight years old. One cousin rang the doorbell and hid while the other sent him down the laundry chute!

Stories. That’s what lives are made of. Nanny asked me why I asked her son Steve about a possum a week before he died, a few weeks ago. He took my husband’s phone and said Happy April Fools’ Day! I replied that he could not do anything to me because I was 1,500 miles away. “Yes I can, there’s a possum in your house!”

I don’t know that those ephemeral moments and stories will continue, but that twilight time is one to remember. Sad for Nanny, losing her Steve. I think she may let go, now that she knows she doesn’t have to care for him. That will be a great loss and a sad day in many lives. Steve was kind and funny and came up with an issue every holiday with which he needed immediate assistance, from railroad tracks to video to computers. Nanny is kind and loving with every family member. She’s Nanny to me. Dee

No, it’s not me. My husband grew up on a dairy farm and his parents now have a ranch. The first night I met his parents we arrived at the farm, talked a bit and went to sleep in separate rooms because we weren’t married yet. I got up and went to our Jack & Jill bathroom in the middle of the night, to nine pair of bull eyes 15 feet away, looking for food.

Yes, I shut off the light and ran to ask my future husband what that was. Oh, they must have the bulls out in this pasture. It was normal. We’d arrived around midnight so I didn’t see the farm. He sighed and fell back to sleep immediately. I went back to bed but not to sleep. What kind of place am I in? My father has a doctorate and has been a college president and head of several national organizations.

The sun came up and I saw it through the hay barn. I was smitten. As you must know from his mathematical and physics knowledge, his parents are smart. Smart in different directions, but very smart. They taught their two sons well.

We eloped two months after the interrogations, yes there was another interview from his grandmother but that only lasted 45 minutes and she asked me to call her Nanny which I do to this day, years later. I’m not driving my old dog 1,500 miles or putting her on a plane at her age, which disturbs M because our Zoe zooms through any crumb that lands in her kitchen during our holiday cooking spree thus making cleaning easier.

I got to feed a baby calf water, milk formula in a five gallon bucket, his mama had twins and said no to him, which is usual with cattle to cull unless they have a “nanny.”  He called to me from across the road and ate like crazy. They leave the home they built 40 years ago, this month. It is a sad time for a family who has lost so much. My brother-in-law gets the hay barn and I hope he saves us a few boards once he’s finished his project(s).

Living in Texas I knew we needed to know the country though had to live in the city. The farm will be gone, there’s a new home 90 miles away with more acres and cattle. I love my family, of course, but also enjoy an excellent Texas BBQ. Cheers to family, and to Taylor, TX. The folks that drive down our folks’ road all wave hello. Could you imagine that in New York City? Dee

I’m sure I did it more than twice in my life, but these stand out. Remember, I was a very shy child.

Yes, I did try to take shop in grade school instead of home economics and the principal turned me down so I was team lead of our home Ec team and we decided whatever they gave us, it would be chocolate.

I refused to lose in ping pong in my home, during high school, to a boy. He berated me and said I should have let him win because he’s in charge! You’re in my home at our table and I’ll play. That’s the way it is. He never talked to me again. Fine with me.

Also in high school I met a boy, I was 16 and Dad stared him down and my parents chose the movie. Four years later my father was asked for his blessing and they came to my college for him to ask. I accepted but something was wrong. Three weeks later I took buses and trains to break it off. He said “put the ring on the table.” I did. “Call your parents.” I did, Dad said could do as I wish. I couldn’t deal with the control mechanisms.

One weekend when we were both home from school, we went to Mass. He said we had to sit on the right so God would know he was conservative. I replied that God, behind the altar, would see that he was sitting on the left. That was the beginning of the end. He’s now married to one of my younger sister’s friends and is probably cheating on her, too.

College was great. One guy brought in a pillow and blanket and slept outside my door the first day of Freshman orientation. I only knew because I had to step over him to go to the ladies’ restroom. He found me over 20 years later online and I thought my husband was making a joke. We’re still friends and I introduced him to my husband years ago. The turning down was an elevator conversation in his building. My roommate’s 14 year old niece was visiting and smitten with him. I came in as what he called a “storm trooper” and sent her back to the girls’ dorm.

I think we spent six hours in said elevator, he brought in comfy chairs and stopped the elevator. We talked about men and women and I think we both learned a lot. That we are still friends over 30 years later says something for our friendship, though I beat him up on this case. He made me drive him home, a few hours away, to meet his future wife. They have two wonderful kids.

You don’t want to hear about bosses, not yet. Or devious people at work. I went to work to go to work. I didn’t wear Crocs back then. They were not yet invented. There are also “the dog wars” but we’ll get to that another time.

One guy, we spent many hours on a plane then had three long-distance dates, one overseas. I was set up apart. He was very bright, and much older but we enjoyed talking. He asked me to marry him out of the blue. I told him I didn’t know if he loved me because he had never said so. “Of course I do. Now you know you need to quit your consulting job, get a real job and stay where I live and I’m going to be overseas six months a year, and you have to support yourself.” I said bye, now. Three dates.

A couple of years later I met my husband of over 15 years, who I dated since two weeks after 9/11. This is not a refusal, but an acceptance. One must make wise decisions, and I think our little family is just fine. Cheers, Dee

Let sleeping dogs lie. This weekend I created a new category for the Olympics. Let sleeping dogs lie. Zoe and her young guest Miss L slept through most of their weekend here. Eating, walking, playing keep-away did not stop them from sleeping, usually near each other and in the same position.

I moved in Junior year of college with five gals and was named the cook (a wise choice for them as they’d never had anything from outside a box) and they did everything else from dishes, shopping (until I had to supervise), table setting and clearing, to trash. I asked one thing, that I be seated on a corner as I’m a leftie and don’t want to elbow anyone. They were all lefties! It’s no wonder women take on certain traits when they live with other women, they cycle together. Strange, anyway…..

Sunday, the Zoe and Miss L were told that the Olympic judges tied and they both won Gold in the Sleeping category. Mr. D at the hardware store up the street made his recommendations for their medals. A red, white and blue lanyard with a blank key with the same colors. I tied the lanyard to the size of their necks.

Zoe is lonely today, as my husband is gone as well. She still has the disciplinarian and food wench! Yes, that would be me. I’m not a politician nor will I ever be. I do know right from wrong and was a policy wonk. Nerd, whatever you wish to call it.

I do know that when my husband is away, I’ve a friend in old dog Zoe. We depend upon each other. I lifted her to our bed and she can’t hear, see or feel me walk by unless I touch her head. I’m wondering if she needs a young pup for company or if that would be just an annoyance for both of us. We gals have to stick together, leftie or not! Dee

Yes, I am when my husband leaves for work all week, every week. Last week he was sick with a cold and said he was staying away. Instead he flew in for 30 hours and drove me away. His snoring was so deep and loud from the severe head cold I went to the living room until six, when I took out then fed the girls (dogs). Then I fed him, and brought him apples and grapes.

Yes, that’s plural dogmas. I went out with a fire alarm with one dog, came back with two for a few days. Yes, Miss L is owned by a respected doctor, a neighbor who asked us to take her in again. I don’t mind. They keep each other company.

Miss L and Zoe enjoyed their time together. Miss L left yesterday morning. My husband left this morning. Zoe is more lonely than I am right now. I’m looking at breeders as an exercise as I’ve chosen four breeds after Zoe is gone, soon, but am asking myself if she needs a friend in her waning years.

She misses Miss L. The Divine Miss L left undercoat on Zoe’s bed, where she now sleeps, rather than on ours. I’m thinking she needs a buddy. We’ll talk. I may have an interim solution. Cheers to friends, Dee

Yes, I’m getting there, thanks for asking. I went to a wedding about 20 years ago and a great band played songs from the 20’s through the 70’s.

I was asked to dance a lot with nice gents, beats sitting in the back at the kids table keeping an eye on the drunk uncle!

I knew the lyrics to most every song and was asked at the end of the lovely evening how I knew all this being only in my 30’s. Dad had three fake books, one of which I have and restored it. He promised them all to me.

Fake books were illegal at the time but that’s what musicians used. He used to play the piano and we’d all sing after dinner parties. We had one song that had been dear to his parents, from the 20’s, A Shanty in Old Shanty Town. He’s gone now so I don’t remember his contra-part. I sang the melody and no-one knew the words, but us.

Guests were amazed that I recognized and knew songs from forty years before I was born. Piano, guitar, violin, and American Musical Theater. Finally as a Junior in college they let me take it. They thought it was an easy class. It was not.

We had to listen and learn. We were normally tested on the introduction, that was very different than the work, as in Someone To Watch Over Me. For me it was more music than libretto, but I learned both.

For me to dance and sing the introductions to some of my favorite works and have people amazed that I could do so was actually a testament to Dad. If walking me around the living room as a baby didn’t work, and Jackie Gleason’s Music, Martinis and Memories record did not put me back to sleep, they’d take me around the block in the car and I was a goner. That’s it, I’ve an extra dog and we all need to sleep.

It’s only a shanty in old shanty town, the roof is so slanty it touches the ground. Just a tumble down shack by the old railroad tracks…….. Cheers, Dee

The fire alarms went off yesterday evening. I walked down fifteen flights of stairs with the dog to stand on the street for 90 minutes. Actually I was ailing and she was slipping so a kind young man carried her half the way down the metal stairs. Thank you!

My legs were like rubber bands and I had to lean on a planter as I could not stand. I had to wait another hour for an elevator, but the fire department let us in so we could sit and wait for the elevators to be turned back on.

It was a dog party out there! I brought back another one, just for the weekend. She’s been with us before and they are both sleeping soundly in our bedroom. Actually mine just came out to her other bed in the living room. They’re like really friendly sisters. Go figure, my old Aussie mutt and a young American Silken Windhound (Whippet and Borzoi). They’re very sweet together and believe they enjoy having company.

The third sleeper is not with us but across the land with a bad head cold. He may make it to work today, may not and perhaps will stay the weekend. With the time difference I can’t call for a few hours. He is a sleeper, and a snorer, my husband.

In a couple of hours I’ll take out the girls (dogs) and feed them. Let’s hope I can take the elevator this time! Yesterday before the fire alarms I took Zoe out and she ran after her new boy toy, a Bernese Mountain Dog, the Swiss cart-pullers. I have to teach her something about restraint when it comes to men! But they only flirt, OK.

My parents never overtly taught me but one could tell when Dad moved down his bifocals to stare at a potential boyfriend with his intense baby blues, he scared every boy with whom I ever went to a movie. Except my husband of over 15 years, of course. We were older, then. He opened my car door, took my hand and never let go. Yes. We saw a movie and went out for Mexican food.

I usually have two sleepers, one who constantly snores, and one I have to check on regularly because of a “neural episode” I wrongly called a seizure last week. In REM sleep she chases squirrels, it’s funny to see. Cheers! Dee