VW Bugs and Starlight

My parents had an orange VW bug when I was a kid in the 1970s.

I remember sitting (back when seat belts were not compulsory) in the compartment behind the back seat when I was really little--but it didn't take long to grow out of that. I remember laying on my back there, looking up and watching the stars as Dad drove us through the countryside (nice and dark back there in the North Country Woods and farm fields. I could see a ton of stars with no light pollution) ... My mom was a waitress in those days and she worked weekends at a little bar that served food Friday and Saturday nights. So Dad would take us kids to Gramma & Grappa's house for a visit many of those nights.

Pictures at an Auction

More pictures from Grappa and Gramma's auction last week :


I remember my brother and I driving this little car around the barn floor when we were little. It ran by peddle power, but it was easier to operate it Flintstone-style with feet on the ground. I remember being sad and disappointed the day I grew too big to sit and drive in it. Seth--a year younger--could still get into it with ease then.

This little blue sportster was bought by someone who is going to clean it up. Look for it at the Iola car show in future ...


My brother wanted to buy this anvil, but it actually went for a pretty good price ... My Dad knew the story of how Grappa acquired it. He was somewhere hunting or fishing. Someone at the hunting grounds had this anvil in the back of their car (back in the days before 4-wheel drive) to improve traction on snowy roads. The guy told Eddie he didn't want this old anvil anymore, didn't need it. Did Grappa want it? Well, Grappa wasn't going to let something like that pass him by. He took it ...


These snow shoes were a regular fixture on the walls at Grappa's house. He must have used them at some point in his long life ... It always made me want to try snow-shoeing--but they had to be these kind of traditional rawhide snow shoes, not the sleek modern ones. I did get a different pair about 15 years ago. They hang on my wall at home now. We even had enough snow last winter to actually USE them!



Grappa also had some great old radios. I remember the one that sat next to his chair at the kitchen table--the kind with tubes that had to heat up before it would work. The kind that people gathered around in the old days ... I remember it being a huge thing like the floor model, but then I was a little kid then. It was probably the one above and to the left -- I remember that dial would light up, and Grappa would tune in the polka shows. Some of those old songs were still sung in Bohemian! And Gramma taught me how to polka dance in their tiny kitchen. She says she wants to start dancing again ... That would be a good thing!


Can you believe these Girlie Glasses went for nearly $100? Look for them on eBay ...

What Treasures Does a 6yo Keep in His Desk?

His favorite things, of course! [Posted with his permission. The little ham loves to be on my blog!]

King Gidorrah
Pokemon game
Star Wars book
Jar of Dice
Little Duckie puzzle
Blue Brontosaurus (company for KG)
Lego Catalog

This comes under the things I don't want to forget. It may be something only a mother can appreciate--I know these won't be the contents of his desk when he's a teenager, or an adult.

Laundry Day : Making Memories

Carol Suto's quilt "Monday Morning 1955" was featured in the 2005 I Remember Mama Exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Houston TX.

When I do my laundry, my 6-year old likes to roll in the light-medium-dark piles sorted on the floor. At first, I thought this was kind of strange--until he said he likes the smell of me.

That gave me pause, and I realized, this is one of HIS memories in the making : The smell of his Sweet Mumma. How do you put that into a bottle? I can't even tell you what that smell is--I'm too close to it. But he knows ...

Years from now, after I'm gone, he'll remember that scent, and think of me.

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Another time, Oliver wanted me to stand in a certain place in the sun; I wanted to stay in the shade. I finally relented and went where he wanted me to go. He stood back and brought a pretend camera to his eyes and "clicked" the shutter to take a photo of me with his mind's eye. Another Memory.

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One of our jobs as parents is to help make memories for our kids. But it's not the huge expensive trips or toys that they'll remember most after we're gone. It's the little things : a taste, a smell, an image, a story, a laugh, a word of encouragement ...

What memories are you making?
What memories do you have of your parents?

Recipes - More than Food!

I was looking through my recipe box this weekend. I don't cook very often anymore--my husband is the chef at our house, and I try to stay out of his way in the kitchen.

It seemed with many of the tired, warn, food-stained cards, I would get "warm fuzzies" as I remembered the time, the place, laughter, friendships, and even a few regrets over these recipes. And I realized that Food is much more than sustenance to me.

One in particular was written in the script of a dear friend, now gone : Sandy's Lentil-Bulger Salad.

I've never been able to do right by bulger (and everyone says it's so easy!), so I don't get dish very often these days. It was a rare treat to see her hand-writing alive and well in among my recipes. Even after 6 years, I still miss her and think of her often. Sigh!


Summit Ave. Coop, early 1990s (pre-restoration)

A few years ago, I was craving a certain Chocolate Zuchinni Cake that Kelly McVittie used to make at Summit Ave Coop, where we lived with 17 other people in Madison, WI. I hadn't taken the recipe with me, because I knew it would always be there at the Coop. You see, I had started a blank book entitled "Favorite Recipes of Summit Coop." It was the ugliest blank book with a teddy bear on the the cover : Hello Kitty Cute. (There was a reason for that : If it was cute and ugly, it would be less likely to be stolen, right?) New Coop Cooks needed some help and guidance in preparing a meal for 18 people. The purpose of the cookbook was to help with proper proportions for this size crowd, and recipes that seemed to please the house members and stayed within the $26 per meal budget guidelines. I knew Kelly's recipe would still be in that homegrown cookbook. So I called the house and asked for the recipe ... To my horror, the poor soul who answered the phone said that the House Cookbook had disappeared, probably the result of a hate crime against one of the remaining members : A former house member was trying to get back at another house mate for whatever reason ... It was gone. Those recipes were GONE!

Even though I haven't lived at Summit Coop since 1998, I felt violated, too. I started that cookbook. It belonged to me as much as to every other member of the House. It was full of Summit lore and culture built up over the years. Recipes that I knew and loved gone down the memory hole as people moved on and moved out of Summit. Fortunately, I still have many of those recipes from people I met at the Coop ...

Mr. Wang's Stir Fry #1 and #2
Mr. Qu's Kung Pao Chicken
Danielle's Korma
Anything by LeeAnne or Linda Kinney
Sinden's Souffle
Susan's Curried Carrots with Raisin & Lentils
Susan's Greek Garlic Soup
Susan's Rhubarb Crisp
Ling's Spicy Eggplant
Wei Ching's Winter Ginger Chicken Soup
Duane's Burrito Pie
Miriam's Great Aunt Catherine's Pumpkin Pecan Pie

Not all my recipes have ties to Summit. There was life and food before Summit (BS) : The comfort foods of eggs and milk ...

Gramma Matucheski's Egg Nog (There was never a written recipe for this. And my mom who is Director of Public Health in her county would have a heart attack if she knew I still ate raw eggs in this recipe ... She's investigated enough food poisonings cases to require me to cook the eggs.)

Heidi's Gramma's Bread Pudding brings back memories of Monday nights at Heidi and Beth's apartment where we'd watch Northern Exposure every week.

Another curious thing about my recipes is that they usually have a name attached to them. I used to file them according to the person who gave me the recipe. For example, "Susan's Rhubarb Crisp" would file under S. This system made perfect sense to me because they were all much more than recipes to me : They were memories! But this system never worked for my husband, so now, we file them under the food name, not by the maker. For example, "Susan's Rhubarb Crisp" is now filed under "R" for "Rhubarb Crisp." Although, we tend to use it more for Apple Crisp, so it could as also be found under "A" for Apple Crisp. (The organization of information is an art, not a science.)

Makes me wonder if some of the recipes I made at the Coop were remembered so fondly by other members? Refried Beans for tacos/burritoes, black bean soup, crab puffs ...