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