Holiday dinner

Memorial Day Weekend was gorgeous! The weather was cool, sunny, breezy and perfect.
Saturday morning found my son and I browsing Armstrong's Nursery for plants and planters...we had a great time.
Sunday morning service was awesome with a tribute to our military service. We have a minister who is a chaplan in Irag and he sent us a video that was very inspiring. The Sunday Morning speaker expounded on the sacrifice of our service people through all the wars with the final thought being about the sacrifice Jesus made for our spiritual freedom.
Monday was very relaxing culminating is a spectacular barbecue at Ryan and Sara's house. We enjoyed grilled salmon, kosher hot dogs (what is Memorial Day without hotdogs????), asparagus and eggplant. Store bought potato salad and juicy grapes rounded out the meal. It was topped off by brownie bites with whipped cream...delish! And all of this sitting outside on the patio next to Ryan and Sara's new grill in the late afternoon breeze...Heavenly.

The Unknown Soldier

There's a graveyard near the White House
Where the Unknown Soldier lies
and the flowers there are sprinkled
with the tears from mother's eyes

I stood there not so long ago
with roses for the brave
and suddenly I heard a voice
speak from out the grave.

"I am the Unknown Soldier"
the spirit voice began,
"And I think I have the right
to ask some questions, man to man"

"Were my buddies taken care of?
Was their victory so sweet?
Is that big reward you offered
selling pencils on the street?

Did they really win the freedom
they battled to achieve?
Do you still respect the Croix de Guerre
above the empty sleeve?

Does a gold star in the window
now mean anything at all?
I wonder how my old girl feels
when she hears the bugle call,

And that baby who sang,
'Hello, Central, give me no man's land'
Can they replace her daddy
with a military band?

I wonder if the profiteers
have satisfied their greed.
I wonder if a soldier's mother
ever is in need.

I wonder if the kings who planned it all
are really satisfied.
They played their game of checkers
and eleven million died.

I am the Unknown Soldier
and maybe I died in vain.
But if I were alive and my country called
I'd do it all over again."

by Billy Rose

I Can Hear It!

After a few months of very peaceful quiet in my house I am back to normal. When my computer had to be reformatted Mike had a little difficulty getting the sound to work. He's been busy, etc, but finally last night he was able to get it working and the friendly sounds of my computer are back again. Yahoo!

The Fascinating Theremin

I was reading one of my favorite blogs and came across a reference to an amazing instrument called a Theremin. I had never heard of it so, being the curious person I am, I followed the link to a You Tube file and was totally amazed. It's an instrument you play without touching it.

The controlling section usually consists of two metal antennas which sense the position of the player's hands and control oscillator(s) for frequency with one hand, and amplitude (volume) with the other. The electric signals from the theremin are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker.

Invented in 1928 by Leon Theremin, it was also used by the Russians in the war for espionage. I don't know how they did that, but would be curious to find out. What an amazing invention. I can barely play an instrument while touching it, I can't imagine the skill of these people that learned to "play" the theremin where the sound is effected by the movement of your hand in thin air.

Just Pottering Around

Those of you who know me know that I am not a gardener, not even close. Yardwork has always been last on my list of chores to do, in fact, when I was a teenager at home I would clean the entire house(4 bedrooms), do the laundry, prepare the meals and provide refreshment to the other siblings and parents instead of joining in on the Saturday yardwork fest. I do not like dirt or creatures.

However, in my old age I am attempting to maintain a few "potted" plants. Having managed to keep a cyclamen alive for an entire year (a feat for me)I began to feel lucky. When my lovely Haley gave me two miniature flower pot kits (soil and seeds included) for my birthday I decided to try again. We planted the seeds of the sunflowers two weeks ago and six sprouts have erupted and gained the height of three inches at which time I am supposed to repot the silly thing.

Saturday morning found Ryan and I at the gardening center at Walmart...on a mission for a bigger pot for my plant and some potting soil. Ryan needed a shovel for his own yard work. We looked at each other in awe. The fact that we, on purpose, were standing in the garden center was unbelievable for us. However, we forged on and managed to acquire the necessities.

At home last night I looked at my little sprouts and realized I couldn't put it off any longer so I did my best to repot the plants. Only time will tell if they survive or die a horrible death. I'll keep you potted....I mean posted!

Mother's Day

The day dawned bright and beautiful...full of hope and excitement. I called my mother first thing to wish her a happy day and began to get ready for mine. "Dress nice," my son had said to me, "We're taking you to Catal for lunch. I have reservations for a room almost completely windows that looks out over Downtown Disney." (See photo above, that third floor room at the top!) Oh my....So, I got ready and got to church.

We had a lovely service, full of wonderful Mother's Day wishes and flowers. Each mother was asked to "weigh in" her purse as soon as we walked in. The prizes were given, eventually, to the lightest and the heaviest, with a few runner's up for the heaviest. What a cute idea! Our Pastor's wife seems to be a very resourceful woman. The platform of the church was decorated with a row of pink umbrellas, opened and resting on either side of two huge rose bouquets. The theme for mother's day seemed to be "let your love be an umbrella for your family to shelter under through life's storms". Our Pastor's wife was the speaker for the service and she did an awesome job of reminding mothers of their place in God's great plan. One thing she said that stuck with me was to watch what we say carefully because words are powerful...are your children running to you or away from you? Your words can make the difference.

After service my son drove me to the restaurant where we had a wonderful lunch. Endive salad with pecans and champagne vinagrette and beef & mushroom cannellonis for me. It was amazing. When I finally returned home I was full and my feet were killing me from walking all over in my "church" shoes. There I soon received a phone call from my dearest sister so that we could wish each other a happy day and compare notes of our mother's day events. We had a great conversation until she realized she must get ready for the evening service. A fine topper to an already wonderful day.

Meatloaf Surprise

Last night I cooked dinner for my son, his wife, her mother and her sister. Of course,I hadn't planned on the "outlaws" but when they became a part of the gathering it wasn't a problem. I know them well enough, and like them well enough that it didn't bother me to have them join us at the last minute. And besides, my daughter-in-law had requested meatloaf...not rocket science.

However, as these things usually go, I was unable to feel completely sure of myself. When I went to pick up the ground beef I found a terrific "reduced for quick sale" bargain of 2.82 pounds of lean ground beef for $.99 a pound, or $2.79! What a deal! I needed more than the 1 lb. I usually buy for the three of us so I went for it with glee...until I began to figure out my recipe times 2.82...it's not like I would be able to taste the meat before it was cooked to know if the seasoning was right (yuk)so I just eyeballed it and did my best. The other thing that threw me off was that the butter I intended to use for the mashed potatoes came out of my son's refrigerator and lo and behold....unsalted butter! Now potatoes require quite a bit of salt anyway so this was not a happy coincidence. But I eyeballed it again and at least in this instance was able to taste before serving the mashed potatoes and I think it turned out all right. The salad couldn't be messed up...spinach leaves, diced tomatoes and feta cheese...no problem.

It must have been good (or else everyone was famished) because the food disappeared with no complaints and a few sighs of contentment. Mother Outlaw is very fat and salt conscious so I wondered (not fretted, I mean, she crashed my party, right?) if the food would suit her. But I watched her clean up a good sized portion of everything so I think it went over well. It was the first time I had ever cooked for her in all the years I have known her although I've eaten at her table several times. She can cook circles around me when it comes to Mexican food, but for good old American down home cooking I know I've got her beat (I've tasted hers!).

We had a great time and my son thanked me over and over again (for more than just the food) and I went home happy.