Family

The Guitar Man

“I think it’s so cool that you 

can pick up the guitar and

create something that didn’t

exist 5 minutes ago. 

You can write something 

that no one’s ever heard before. 

You have music at your fingertips.”

~ Michelle Branch

The Beauty in Glass

“That we find a crystal

or a poppy beautiful

means that we are less alone,

that we are more deeply inserted

into existence than

the course of a single life

would lead us to believe.”
~ John Berger

Eating My Way Through the Alphabet; Letter B

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? The Joy of Eating: Bleu Plate Special! As the day winds down, the kids are fed, and the sunset turns to burnt-sugar orange, take some time out for yourself. Make a delightful cheese plate filled with inviting textures balanced by a range of flavors from aged and smoky to salty and sweet. Pair with a glass of sweet wine (or fruity spritzer) for an amazing taste sensation. Sink back into a comfy chaise lounge and let soft music fill the room. Remind yourself this is a classic French dessert, and prepare to be pampered. 
BLEU PLATE SPECIAL
Ingredients:

Wedge of Bleu Cheese (or any aged cheese variety)

Bunch of Green Grapes (or any seasonal fruit)

Smoked Almonds

Water Crackers (or crusty breads)
Instructions:

Choose a platter where all ingredients can be arranged in a simple way, leaving space between choices. Identify cheeses if offering more than one kind. Rule of thumb: Place one cheese knife or spreader for each type of cheese. Keep it simple. 

March to the Beat of a Different Drummer

“Whether things turn out for the better

depends on what we do. 

We ought not spend our time

masterminding the future,

but recognize our marching orders:

to do the best we can

for history and the planet.”

~ Huston Smith

Pennies From Heaven

Re-posted from March 9, 2015
He smelled like Old Spice After Shave as long as I knew him. There was a time he wore Vitalis in his wavy brown hair. All the guys did. Elvis probably started it with his slick-black hair and sex appeal. I used to go to my father’s bedroom closet after he hung up his suit from a nine-hour day of demanding retail sales, supporting a family of six. I’d slip my childish hands into every pocket searching for a LifeSaver or two. If a half-opened roll of Reed’s Root Beer candies were discovered, I’d race back to my father’s chair and beg for “just one”. Being his only daughter, and the apple of his eye, he’d smile and say, “Sure, Snookie. Anything for my little girl.” Sometimes there would be a compact case of Sen-Sens in his coat pocket. I hated the taste of anise. Around that time everyone grew up watching Hollywood’s Rich and Famous glamorizing the lifestyle of a cigarette smoker. Sales were finalized when a cigarette was lit at the retail counter. Afterwards this tiny matchbox of black licorice and anise squares were the perfect breath mint popular in the 1960s. On occasion in my daily quest, I would come across my father’s easy-squeeze leather coin pouch. He said it kept loose change under control and saved the lining in his dress pants.  
Today I hold that weather-worn pouch and squeeze it open remembering my father. Inside are two pennies. One is a muted coppery Lincoln Wheat Penny dated 1930; the other is a bright shiny Union Shield version dated 2014. Pennies from Heaven, I call them, spanning the lifetime of my beloved father. Happy Birthday, Dad. Thinking of you today celebrating your first birthday in Heaven. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart.” ~ Ecclesiastes 3:11.

Play At Your Own Risk

“Nana, look at me!”, squealed Kamdyn, the active blonde-haired preschooler. She and her nine-year old brother, Landen, had forfeited an afternoon of sitting at home playing Xbox action games and perusing the internet for baby videos on YouTube. They tumbled instead into the back seat of the late model car to spend six hours with Grandpa and Nana.  Currently they were among hoards of kids heartily involved in physical activity at the newly-opened “Rec Plex”, an indoor recreation center. Kamdyn was hanging upside down on the parallel bars swinging hands-free as her ponytail nearly brushed the cushioned floor mat. Her eyes danced with laughter as she viewed the world topsy-turvy.  

Meanwhile, Landen was buckled into harness gear ready to challenge a sequence of towering rock walls before him.  Upon closer scrutiny, obstacles were placed from floor to ceiling designed to test balance and agility. Some steps whirled creating a false sense of security while others slanted causing the climber to anchor sure footing before ascending further. Climbers Beware. One false move could trigger a misstep resulting in a safety harness free-fall back to the base. Now it was Landen’s turn.  He drew a deep breath and focused his attention on the summit above him. Within seconds he began the vertical ascent. In synchronized motion, he calculated each step along the way, testing the objects for stationary weight resistance. The upward slope was jumbled with hand grips as well as distance markers. Halfway to the top he paused, looked in our direction for moral support, and then climbed higher.  Once he reached the peak, he grabbed the ringer to sound the brass bell before scaling back down the rock wall. A quick victory cheer and he was on to the next challenge.  Meanwhile, Kamdyn cart-wheeled acrobatically down the sloping trampoline ramp leading to the gigantic pool of foam blocks.  “Nana, I did it!”, she shouted afterwards in a thrilling voice. It just goes to show you, the youth of today are willing to leave technology behind in lieu of normal physical activity.  In their innocence, they strive for encouragement as well as an outlet to gain our attention and approval. 


How Late is Too Late?

When I was a teenager, I remember thinking that I was not going to be as strict with my own children as my parents were with me. Being the second of five children, but the older daughter, my parents felt that I needed more protection from Life’s diversions than my brothers did. For example, I was not allowed to date until I was sixteen years old. At that time I could only go out on a date on Saturday night as long as I was home by ten o’clock. It didn’t seem to matter whom I was with or where I went; the rules never changed. These draconian restraints made me angry because my brothers, on the other hand, were allowed to stay out late all week long. Sometimes they would smell of stale cigarette smoke and stagger slightly from consuming too many beers and other alcoholic beverages; yet, they were repeatedly entrusted with the keys to the family car. 


Many years later, after I married and had my first child, it seemed every stage of my baby’s development gave me reason to worry or be concerned. When she began to walk, she was forever bumping into furniture, especially table corners and chair arms. Learning to “child-proof” a home became a challenge for me. When I decided it was time to take away her bottle, at the age of eighteen months, she gave up her two-hour afternoon nap. That made me exhausted by the end of the day, so I retaliated by moving up her bedtime by one hour. Although it was a compromise, it seemed to work out quite well for both of us.  I have no desire to relive the potty-training stage. According to the child development books, the magic age is when the toddler is between twenty-four and twenty-eight months. Anything sooner seems to frustrate parents and merely becomes “parental potty training”.  I agree wholeheartedly with this declaration. After several unsuccessful attempts, my daughter woke up one morning and put the disposable diapers away for good. She decided she was ready to outgrow them at exactly twenty-eight months.   When I was in the process of house-training a three month old poodle puppy, curiosity prompted me to know the answer to the following question:  If a puppy can go all night without having an “accident”, why is it he cannot do the same during the day?

Turning back to the subject of curfews, my daughter is now thirteen years old and is allowed to group-date with her girlfriends. Together they go to basketball games, pizza parlors, movie theaters, and dances. When she is ready to begin serious dating, I hope we’ll come to a mutual understanding where trust and responsibility will prevail. If this concept is unacceptable, then she’ll just have to be home by ten o’clock on a Saturday night. 

Pennies From Heaven 

He smelled like Old Spice After Shave as long as I knew him.  There was a time he wore Vitalis in his wavy brown hair.  All the guys did. Elvis probably started it with his slick-black hair and sex appeal.  I used to go to my father’s bedroom closet after he hung up his suit from a nine-hour day of demanding retail sales, supporting a family of six.  I’d slip my childish hands into every pocket searching for a LifeSaver or two.   If a half-opened roll of Reed’s Root Beer candies were discovered, I’d race back to my father’s chair and beg for “just one”.  Being his only daughter, and the apple of his eye, he’d smile and say, “Sure, Snookie.  Anything for my little girl.”  Sometimes there would be a compact case of Sen-Sens in his coat pocket.  I hated the taste of anise.  Around that time everyone grew up watching Hollywood’s Rich and Famous glamorizing the lifestyle of a cigarette smoker.  Sales were finalized when a cigarette was lit at the retail counter.  Afterwards this tiny matchbox of black licorice  and anise squares were the perfect breath mint popular in the 1960s.  On occasion in my daily quest, I would come across my father’s easy-squeeze leather coin pouch. He said it kept loose change under control and saved the lining in his dress pants.  


Today I hold that weather-worn pouch and squeeze it open remembering my father.  Inside are two pennies. One is a muted coppery Lincoln Wheat Penny dated 1930; the other is a bright shiny Union Shield version dated 2014.  Pennies from Heaven, I call them, spanning the lifetime of my beloved father.  Happy Birthday, Dad. Thinking of you today celebrating your first birthday in Heaven. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart.” ~ Ecclesiastes 3:11.