9/7/09

Wish I didn't have to work and could be with Kelli & family in Chicago. Just knowing they're there has reminded me of so many things--I could take pages to write about them. 

A good friend of mine, while working in Harvey, was Arlene Sendera who worked for Mr. Gilley, an attorney whose office was about 1 1/2 blocks from where I worked and she lived in Posen. I remember the names of Johnny (Sarna) and Wally (Przybyla), the two guys who owned the cafe across the street from where I worked; Names of several of our neighbors: Joe & Mary Batera, Steve & Chris Christian, Hilda Tucci & Chuck and    Kamykowski. I worked for Clarence Hoffman in an insurance office 3 of the salesmen's names were Don Jensen, Bob and Ray Neff

So many firsts for me back there--some I won't mention, for which you'll thank me.

First time I ever ate pizza was at the Blue Ribbon in Harvey; can still smell it and if I were there, would have to have a beer with it, even tho I haven't had a beer in well over 20 years. Tried one when we were at the Ranch a couple of years ago, took 2 swallows and threw it away, but would have to have one w/that pizza. Really, tho, the best pizza was at Tinley Park, the crust was paper thin and crispy--oh that was good.

First time I ever saw a lightning bug was in Harvey. Also the first time I ever heard of chiggers. They never bothered me, but they drove Audrey absolutely nuts some times.

I loved the little dress shop down the street from where I worked; I still remember the little yellow shirtwaist dress w/white trim I bought there. Thought I looked super in it and I probably did.;-)

That was also the first place I ever took a commuter train. At least once a month Arlene and I would take it to the Randolph Street Station, have dinner at the Copper Kettle, shop a little at Marshall Fields and go to a movie. On the way home we always stopped at the flower shop in the station and bought flowers to take to our mothers. One Friday evening we took our mothers to the State (I think was the name) Theater where we saw Oklahoma on a BIG screen.

First time I ever flew was out of O'Hare to SeaTac the summer after we moved there. Actually, I believe the first time I ever took a train was to move back there in the summer of 1955.

First and only time I ever shoplifted anything--and it was purely by accident--and I don't think even those who know me best, have any idea what it was. That was later, tho, when I had gone back to visit Mother and Daddy (Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Kelly) after they had moved to Crete.

How about White Castle hamburgers? They only cost a nickel or dime, were about 2" square and I loved them. Mother thought they were disgusting, but I thought they were wonderful--don't know how I'd feel about them today. I guess those little hamburgers are what they now call "hamburger sliders."

First place I ever ate frog legs--they were mighty good. That actually was in a restaurant in a suburb of Chicago in Indiana. Come to think of it, I don't believe I've ever had frog legs since, but a friend just told me there's a place in Waitsburg that serves them, so maybe next time we go visit Timm and Teri. I'll have to try it.

Couple of funny things I remember happening, but a couple years later. One time, when pregnant w/Vic, Red and I were waiting in line to see a movie when the elastic band in my half-slip broke and it fell down around my ankles. Embarrassing at the time, but still funny.

Another time was when I was pregnant with Timm before we moved back west. My neighbor Ellen and I had gone grocery shopping. She always bought coffee beans and ground them in the store grinder (that's before whole beans became so "in," she bought the whole beans because it was cheaper). She bought 2 pounds and forgot to turn the grinder off between so when she poured the beans in, they went flying all over the place. I laughed so hard I pee'd my pants and it went clear from one side of the aisle to the other. We hot-footed it around the corner and left others to wonder what happened. 

Another kinda funny thing happened when I was still single and working, as well as living, in Harvey, I was going across to Johnny and Wally's cafe on my coffee break and while waiting for the light to change, a bird pooped on my head. I didn't think  was funny until quite a long time after.

I've had an earache today and it reminded of a time when the kids and I were back there when Meg was a toddler. She had an earache and Mother could not get it stopped and get Meg to quit crying. She told me how she was going to cure it, but I wouldn't let her. She waited until I'd gone to bed, had Meg "tinkle" into something other than the toilet, got a little of it on a cotton ball, put it in Meg's ear and she quieted right down and went right to sleep. That was an old German cure that Mother had learned from my Aunt Catherine, Beryl's wife. No, I haven't tried it for my ear--I put ear drops in instead, but maybe I'll try it before I go to bed if it doesn't go away soon.

Loved driving out into the country in the fall--not only was it pretty, but you could actually smell autumn. On a very rare occasion I've smelled it here, but only about 3 times in the past 50 years.

I don't, however, miss the smell of the stockyards in So. Chicago nor the pig farms out in the country. I miss the forest preserves and the oak trees. We only have "scrub oak" here and their leaves just turn brown instead of gold, orange and red. Don't miss the humidity in the summertime and the bitter cold in the winter. I always liked to shop at Krogers, but didn't like the A and P even tho there was one right across the street from where I worked.

Enough about there and then.

The weather here was crazy yesterday--we got about 1/2" of rain and they had over an inch in Olympia. But the craziest part was not only did we have thunder and lightning go through a couple of times during the day, but a small tornado touched down in Buckley (where it took out a barn and shop) and in Enumclaw (where it took off a roof and took out a row of trees). It was first spotted in Bonney Lake, but as far as I know there was no damage done there.

'S all for now.

9/2/09

Recently our boxer, Luci, got Stan's starting-to-look-decrepit "Goofy" baseball cap that we got in Disneyland some time ago. All she did was chew the adjustable band in two so he can't wear it.

That got me to thinking about hats--I used to wear one frequently. In fact, I sometimes miss the fun of wearing a dress, gloves, heels (well not them so much) and going Downtown. In fact, I think lunch tasted better! The only time I wear a hat now (and not a particularly dressy one) is if I'm going to be out in the sun a long time--such as Relay or watching Michael play baseball. And, of course, the only gloves I ever wear are to keep my hands warm in the winter time. I know, I know, things were better in the "good ol' days," and some things really were.

It was nice when everyone knew (and looked out for) neighbors; houses and cars could be (and most often were) left unlocked; kids could ride their bikes or go play at a friend's house for hours at a time--the term "play date" still sounds foreign to me; teachers and policemen were to be respected, etc., etc., etc.,

However, I know it's also nice to be able to do such things as sit at the computer and send messages to my family and friends all over--sometimes even to Siobhan in Belgium; I started my 2nd PowerPoint presentation tonight--and didn't even need to call a school kid to help me with it ;-); it's nice to pull something out of the freezer for dinner and maybe pop something in the microwave as well; ice cream is available any time--not just on those special occasions; my car has both heat and air conditioning; the house has heat, but the portable a/c leaves much to be desired as 4 of our grandchildren can attest to. Yes, it's too bad we can't pick and choose what of the past we'd like to keep and what of the new we'd like to embrace, aaah, what a wonderful fantasy.

Anyway, a little more--but not too much--about hats. I don't believe I ever saw my dad (Grandpa Kelly) or Pop (Grandpa French) go outside without a hat on. As Daddy got older, it wasn't always a fedora, but most often he would wear a baseball cap, except in the winter when he needed more warmth.

My cousin (in actuality my mother's cousin) Chris Stobie had a hat when he was a young adult that made many people shiver just to look at it. I've wondered many times what made him finally get rid of it--maybe he didn't, he may have just retired it. Anyway, it started out as a red had as many men wore when working in the woods. By the time I saw it, red was a questionable color for it. His friend Eddy tried to blow it up w/cherry bombs, but that just put a few "character" holes in it. I believe it was Eddy who also threw it in the river, but being the good fly fisherman that Chris was, he just retrieved it. He must have hidden it under his pillow, or some other safe place, when he slept as I'm sure someone would have been happy to discard it for him.

I needed to make cookies for the reception following a neighbor's funeral the other day, as well as some to take to church. The picture in an earlier post of me with the mixer and batter all over would have been an apt picture to use w/this post.

My first cookies--Lemon Coolers--turned out very well, but I got into trouble with my oatmeal/raisin and I've made them several times before. Anyway, I looked at 2 different recipes and put more egg in than the recipe called for. Then I was doing 2 sheets at a time, so, of course, my hands were covered w/dough after loading the first sheet, so I called Stan to come lift the top sheet off and set it on the other counter. Next time I thought I could do it myself, so was trying to balance the cookie sheet on my forearms; tilted it and since i had parchment paper on it, the whole sheet of raw cookies ended on the floor. I might have been tempted to go by the 5-second rule (I know it's a myth, Kyle), but since we have a couple dogs and a cat, I was afraid there would be too much pet hair in them for anyone to eat. Next, I realized, while again my hands were all covered w/sticky cookie dough, that I needed the timer reset, so I called for Stan's help again. in the process of trying to set the timer, he shut the oven off. Now I didn't realize it at the time, because it only needed to be reset for 2 minutes, by which time I'd cleaned my yucky fingers off. So, I put the final 2 sheets of cookies in and when I was going to rotate the sheets halfway through the baking process, I discovered the mistake--I had one GIANT cookie that virtually covered the entire sheet. The edges were nice and golden brown while the middle was half-baked cookie dough. Thankgoodness I had enough for what had been promised.

I see it's about bedtime, so that's it for this time. Love to all