2023 - Week 16 : April 16 to April 22

 April 16 - Lavender

April 17 

April 18 - gobble, gobble

April 22

N, O, P ...

I'm totally a slacker.  I couldn't come up with anything for N so ...

N is for Nothing

O is for Ocean City (Maryland that is).

Ocean City was just about the only other place we went on vacation and that was quite sporadic.  My father's company owned a townhouse in OC and usually once a year, in the off season, we would get to use it.  (Well, maybe two or three times we vacationed there.)

P is for Playground.

The playground at the elementary school was amazing -- all sorts of play equipment that we loved but would now never be considered.  My favorite piece of "equipment" was the fire pole.  It was this huge cement ramp that led to a pole which everyone would slide down.  I'll draw a picture one day.

There were see-saws and swings and poles to hang from.  Maybe monkey bars? Also there were these huge pipe things, on their sides that you could sit in and have personal conversations.  The playground was not enclosed (that I can remember) and it backed up to a small tree area.  There was a black top nearby where everyone played four square, dodge ball, kick ball, and other such games.  Good times.

We didn't have one of these (but there was a similar one in Eagle Harbor) -- but it would have been great fun.

M is for ...

M is for Monkees 

I used to love watching their wacky show on Saturday mornings and, of course, the catchy tunes, at least one of which was included in a Shrek movie so the Monkees live on.

(I am a day behind -- hoping I can come up with an N word / concept by the end of the day.)

2023 - Week 15 : April 9 to April 15

April 9

April 11

April 13 (my desktop at work)

 

April 14

April 15

L is for ...

Lanyards? Luck? Lucifer -- oh, that was another cat name at my house growing up.  I forgot about him until now.  

Lake Superior? Let's go with that.

 

I always thought the map of lake looked like a creepy sort of creature .. 

K is for Knitting

K is for knitting.

My mother and my grandmother (my father's mother) were both prolific knitters.  My mother never went anywhere without her knitting.  

Here is a photo of a sweater that my mother knit:

and is a sweater knit by my grandmother for my daughter:

I haven't really followed in their footsteps.  I can sort of knit -- to get by, but nothing like them.  Here's a blanket I made for my oldest grandson.

J is for Jump Rope

 J is for Jump Rope, or should that be jumping rope.

Well either way, I used to love jumping rope, whether it was by myself or in a group or competing with friends to see who could do more or longer.  I keep thinking I should try it again as a great form of exercise, but I haven't done it yet.  I think the noise that I'll make with the jumping scares me off.

Anyway, I never did double Dutch but I always thought it was really cool.  We did just one rope -- I couldn't find any images of that.

And, there were always songs that went along with the jumping ..

Cinderella
Dressed in yellow
Went to kiss a prince,
By mistake,
Kissed a snake,
How many doctors
Did it take,
Was it,
One!
Two!
Three!
Four!
Five ...

However, I remember it like this:

Cinderella
Dressed in yellow
Went upstairs to meet a fellow,
On the way her girdle busted,
How many people were disgusted,
One!
Two!
Three!
Four!
Five ...

and Teddy Bear

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around, 
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch the ground, 
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, show your shoe,
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, that will do!
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, go upstairs,
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, say your prayers, 
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn out the lights, 
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, say goodnight!

I is for ... Ice Cream

I is for ice cream.

I mean, who doesn't like ice cream.  My ice cream memories revolve around three things.

1 -- the Good Humor truck.

What's not to love.  They would come to the neighborhood and ring the bell and we would all come running!

2 -- Eagle Harbor - with the 25¢ cones

image from here

We used to go to the store when I was young and get penny candy, 25cent cones, and goodies like that.  Then when my kids went, they still had the ice cream but it was normal priced by then. The store has been closed since 2004 -- a sad thing because it was such a great place and historic, too.  (It had been there since Lincoln was president.)

3 - High's - in the summer after craft time at the elementary school.

I don't have any pictures of the High's store.  But after we were done with our crafts in the summer, we would walk from the school to the strip mall where we could get ice cream.  I always got chocolate and usually wore some of it home.  My oldest sister probably got in trouble for that.  Ah, well.

I still love ice cream and especially when we're in the U.P.  There I always get Mackinac Island Fudge -- because where else can you get that?

Palmiers - Update

So, although I made the dough for the palmiers on April 1 or 2, I didn't actually make the cookies until yesterday.  Keeping the dough in the freezer for a week certainly  made a difference on them staying together -- they recipe said two hours but that definitely wasn't long enough.

I still don't quite have the cooking time down (or perhaps I just don't cut the cookies evenly enough) - but they were pretty yummy. If there is a next time, I will use the correct amount of sugar (I only used half the amount you were supposed to -- not intentionally but they could have been a little sweeter).

2023 - Week 14 : April 2 to April 8

April 2 - Palmiers

 April 3

April 4

April 5

April 6

April 7

April 8

G and H are for ...

G is for Grandparents

I'm behind -- doing anything computer related on the weekends is always an effort for me.  Not just because of our lousy internet service.

Anyway, I was very privileged to have both sets of my grandparents alive until I was an adult.  

Dessie & Howard (my mother's parents)

Granny & Grandpa (Muriel & Melvin) (obviously my father's parents)

I'm not sure who we actually spent the most time with -- my father's parents were always with us in Michigan and then came to visit at least once a year.  Then when they were in their 80s (I think) the moved to Washington DC to be closer to both of their sons.

My mother's parents were older (by 5+ years) and lived in Ohio.  They would usually come to visit once a year, usually for a longer period of time - and then we definitely saw them in the summer as well.

anyway ...

H is for Howard.

We always called my mother's parents by their first names.  It was weird but that's how it was.  My grandfather was quite deaf and the only way he could hear you was if you called him by his first name.  So my mother and her siblings started doing that .. and I guess it stuck.  And I guess if you're calling your father by his first name, it would be weird to not to call your mother by hers.  Though I think I remember hearing my mother call Dessie, mother or mom on occasion.

March Cocktail (on April 1)

March's cocktail was a cucumber, jalapeno margarita.  I'm not sure this is the correct recipe, but it looks close enough.

Ingredients:

• Jalapenos
• Cucumber juice
• Lime
• Tequila
• Triple Sec
• Simple syrup

picture from the website

It was very good.  My YD and I had half the tequila suggested and I think that made it better.  I would definitely make this again -- but it is hard to make in large quantities.  So just for a few friends.

He didn't partake but I couldn't resist the pictures.

F is for ...

F is for ...

I'm drawing a blank on this.  There's the Fab Four which I covered in my B post.  I have three siblings, so that makes four children and there's family.  I had four cousins who lived close by .. and then I had friends.

So I guess F is for friends.

I'm not one who has a lot of friends -- and although I made friends easily when I was a kid, I didn't like having more than one or two at a time.  I'm still that way -- though I have a much harder time making friends now than I used to.

My first best friend was Susi.  She lived up the hill from our house and I think my mother may have watched her some when her parents were at work.  Both of her parents worked in D.C. for the government.  Susi and I rode to school together every day in high school (though I was horrid to her - I was jealous of her because she was cute and athletic and smart and nice, the whole package).  She now lives in Sacramento -- we really should get together but ...

My next best friend was Mary - well, Mary Dell, but she dropped the Dell at some point.  We were besties up until after we both had children.  At least she was my bestie.  I think she always had more friends and wasn't as dependent upon me.

Then in high school, my best friend was Leisa, but after high school she want to college and I didn't.  It makes me a little sad.  

Anyway, that's it for me and friends.  There was a smattering of other friends in between the ones mentioned but they were the closest. 

E is for Eagle Harbor

E is for ...

I had thought about Babar the Elephant. the books I adored as a child. but apparently that's not PC.  so I'll skip those for now.

So then back to Eagle Harbor.

I've probably mentioned before that my parents first started vacationing in Eagle Harbor in 1961 and they continued to go every year from 1963 to 2009 -- my father picked back up in 2011 and went until 2017.

Except for the first year, they stayed at the Lake Breeze Resort. I think up until 2009, they stayed in one of their cottages.  When we were kids there were seventeen cottages/cabins (or around that number).  There were only two that were big enough for our family, #17 and #10.  We mostly stayed in cabin 10.  It was on the road to the lighthouse - obviously really close to the lighthouse. 

Sometime in the 70's the owners of the Lake Breeze Resort sold all the cabins but one.  Unfortunately my parents didn't buy one.  But when my father retired, they rented the remaining cottage for the entire summer - from May through October.

I stopped going when I graduated from high school and only went back twice -- once when my second son was about 4 months old, and then once with all our kids in 1996 (I think).  It was really far away and kind of expensive for our family.

In 2004, I decided that I wanted to spend time with my parents and started going again.  I went for the next several years.  I drove my parents there when they were too old to do it themselves.  My kids helped drive them.  And then I began flying out there.  It was wonderful.

I went last summer with my kids and, except for an ugly incident with a neighbor, it was a great time.  

Should you ever want to escape from real life, it's a great place to do that.

D is for Dark Shadows

 D is for Dark Shadows

As you may or may not know, Dark Shadows was a gothic soap opera on TV from 1966 to 1971.  You know, vampires and witches and all that.  

Every day when I was in 4th grade (maybe, I'm not sure about the year), and probably after that, I used to run home from school to watch it.  

Big Finish, the company that produces Doctor Who audio dramas, also has a bunch of Dark Shadows releases.  I bought one box set and enjoyed it.  If you were a fan, I recommend you check out Big Finish.

C is for Cats

C is for cats.

I admit it -- I am a cat person.  

Growing up we almost always had cats.  The first cat I remember was Green. Apparently my oldest sister was tasked with naming the cat and she (my sister) was pretty young at the time.  Funny thing, I adored this cat but my parents had her put to sleep and I don't think I recognized she was gone for about six months.  Oops.

Other cat names, at our house: 

• Ukelele
• Meshach, Shadrach & Abednego (they were three little black kittens if I remember correctly)
• Toby
• Lucy (she had several litters of kittens -- all with extra toes on their front paws)
• Caesar
• Cozy

We didn't have any pets when our kids were little.  I figured that if I couldn't afford to take my kids to the dentist, I couldn't afford to have pets.  About 20 years ago, we got two cats -- they were both just under a year -- my husband was supposed to bring home kittens.  Then about a year or so after that, we got the devil cat, when he was just one day old.  They are all gone now and I don't think I will be getting any more.  

B is for Beatles

B is for Beatles.

I thought about other B words...

Bread - my mother always made bread and even the lunch I took to school (PB&J just about every day) had her homemade bread.  I didn't appreciate it at the time. 

Barbies -- I used to play barbie dolls with my sister and best friend all the time, probably up until I decided I was too grown up for that.  Maybe in 4th or 5th grade. 

but I had to go with the Beatles.  

I used to listen to their albums non-stop (okay probably not non-stop but an awful lot).  Whenever I hear a song now, I can usually remember which song should come next.  I also remember sitting under a table in my room with a blanket over it and just playing their albums over and over and over.  

Back then, since there wasn't any pandora or playlists, you had to make do with whichever records you had.  I probably ruined all the records by playing them on my cheap turntables.

I think my cousins got us into them.  One of my cousins even saw them in concert at Shea Stadium -- probably 1964.  Though being one of the youngest cousins, I don't remember, just that I was told that she was there (and she has confirmed).  By the time I was old enough to go to concerts they had broken up.  I did see Paul McCartney in concert in 1976 though (and several times since then).

Each of my sisters and I picked a favorite Beatle.  My oldest sister picked John, the next sister picked Paul, and because I didn't think I was allowed to like a Beatle best that either of them had already picked, I went with George -- which was actually a good choice. I feel like that sounds like I was settling, but he was my favorite.

Also, back in the day, it was hard to find any mention of the Beatles.  The teen magazines were already done with them (and on to the next new thing).  Books on the Beatles were impossible to find.  I was always looking and not finding .. now that I'm older and there are a plethora of books, magazines, pictures, etc. and I could buy whatever I want, I don't want.

Cookies #10 - Palmiers

 So the most recent cookie in the Cookie Bake Off with Nevada is Palmiers.

 

 

This is the picture from the book.

Ingredients:

• 3 c flour
• 1 1/2 T sugar
• 1 1/2 t salt
• 2 t lemon juice
• 1 c ice water
• 3 sticks butter
• 1 c sugar

This is what the dough looked like before rolling it out.

Here are my first palmiers - a little well done and I didn't add the extra sugar.  I'm going to make the rest of them next weekend.  I think I'm going to try to hold them together with a toothpick so they look the way they're supposed to.  I'll post more pictures after that -- if they look the way they are supposed to, that is.

 

This is how Nevada's looked prior to baking ..

 

and after. 

 

Not sure why the cookies are spreading out, both hers and mine.  I'll see if staying in the freezer for a week will make a difference (as well as the toothpick idea).