On the cooking vein, I think about GaGa--dad's mom. She was a fabulous cook! We mostly partook of her cooking on the big holidays--before mom and dad separated--we would drive to Lockheart--about 45 miles--for the holiday meal. And it would be a feast. Funny that one of my favorite food memories is of her green beans! She cooked them down, and down, and down in ham juices! And they were great. Then I learned, as an adult, that you should not do that because you cooked all the healthy part away. Well, I don't know but they were really good! And she made pickled peaches that were wonderful. And lemon chess pie! Because GaGa (and Big Josh?) rejected mom and make her feel unwelcome we girls were never close to dad's family. Only as an adult have I developed a new respect for GaGa. She was incredibly talented. Beside being a great cook, she did beautiful embroidery, made quilts, painted china, tatted lace edging on her linens. She had a garden where she grew her vegetables, she had hens for eggs and meat, she had a glorious iris bed in front of the house with an incredible bed of mint! She was competent, productive and accomplished. She played the organ for church services, keep boarders in an upstairs apartment, was the high school principal and math teacher! On the other hand, she was not warm and loving toward us--nor with mom. So no bond was developed. Hummm, having problems between mother and daughter-in-law seems to be a recurring theme. Hopefully, that is over come in the current generation!
My memory of Big Josh is that he was a sweetie-pie.
I expect tht I have opened the door for serious disagreement! Welcome! Coming up next, memories from Jefferson!
You didn't mention the parakeets. And those green beans came from a can, you know, which heightens the mystery of the long cook-down. I did love those beans and for a long time tried to replicate them, finally giving up and moving on to fresh and green. But drab green and bacon-y has its charms, too. What I did not like about those gatherings was not being able to play cards, although dominoes and other games were just fine. And the tension! oh my, the tension. Not just between Mother and Gaga but between Us and Them. Do you two remember how much we resented Nancy's insider status? What was the board game that we played by flicking discs into corner pockets. That was good.
ReplyDeleteI thought she grew the green beans. Maybe she canned them? She did lots of canning, too. But we neither one have mentioned the STUFFED ANGEL FOOD CAKE! Mother made that one lots but it started with GaGa.
ReplyDeletePS Congrats on mastering the comment posting.
I wonder how many family members are tuned into Margaret and Ben's respective blogs? Ben's Scattered Works is such an interesting report of the many architectural developments around town. Marg's interest in the political aspects of Arizona can be seen on herhttp://formalramblings.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteThey are creating new memories and I enjoy keeping up with both of them!
OOPS! Gay pointed out that I had posted Marg's blog incorrectly. Try this: http:/formalramblings.blogspot.com That might be a bit more effective...or not!
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