Spirit of Bees

I realize I’ve not talked much about my big grand daughters,14, and 16. I hesitate to invade their privacy too much by talking about their lives. But I can tell you that they also hold very special places in my heart. I think it speaks a lot of our relationship when, at this age, they actually look forward to coming to visit with us. We’re known as the slightly strange grandparents.

As they have gotten older we have done many an art project at Gramma’s studio. We’re currently working on the world’s most ridiculous doll house for the new baby cousin. Among other strange features, it has a disco room with a purple vinyl floor. It’s completely absurd, and I let them design it and do whatever they want to it. I just provide the means and help them make it happen. It is always fun to watch them use their imaginations outrageously. And doing projects like these provides good talking time.

Here are my truly grand girls, the older grand daughters.

Today, a pic of Gramma (me) and the Papaya, also showing Gramma’s new haircut which Gramma is very happy about.

Today brought a puzzling turn of events. My brother, who has had no contact with the family since the death of my other brother back in 1997, reappeared. At least, he phoned my father or, more accurately, left a message for him.

Last I heard from him he was screaming at me long distance, and I had had enough so I hung up. Subsequently, I tried to call him back. I figured I’d give him another chance since I believed he was probably acting from a place of grief. But, after several futile calls over the next month or so, I decided that his anger was his problem, and I was no longer required to assume the role of peacemaker or repairer of fractured relationships, or whatever. I figured he was the one who owed the apology anyway, so I gave up trying to patch things up and left it up to him.

Eventually, we found that he had moved to some tiny town and had no listed phone number. Mail to him from other members of the family was returned unopened.

Every once in a while, I searched the social security death index to check just in case he had died. He never appeared there. But, over the years, I chose to deal with it as if it were another death, mourned that loss, and moved on.

Now and then I did a Google search which usually brought nothing at all or something so old as to be useless, or so minimal that it wasn’t worth following up on. About a month ago, I did find some info which indicated that he was probably still alive, but was still not a particularly responsible person; and then, a week or so later, another item showed up which indicated that he was still beating the skeleton of the dead horse he was beating 20 years ago. Same ol’, same ol’, I figured.

Fast forward to this afternoon when I received a call from my Dad telling me that the most unexpected, unlikely thing had happened. My brother had phoned sending out feelers about reestablishing a relationship. My Dad seems somewhat hopeful.

If he should call me, I don’t really know what I will do. It feels a little like bringing someone back from the dead. I feel wary.

Years ago I found a recipe for cranberry apple stuffing in some magazine. Since then it’s been modified and changed to fit our taste. It’s become my family’s favorite stuffing, so we can’t have any holiday meal without it. You can stuff it in a turkey, but we prefer it on the side since we don’t really like soggy stuffing.

This is a half recipe, which will probably serve eight normal people. If you are a stuffing junkie, or are feeding a crowd, double it.

Cranberry Apple Stuffing

Preparation Time about 45 minutes. Cooking time, about an hour.

Pre heat oven to 350°. Prepare an 8″ X 12″ pan grease or spray with oil.

Ingredients:

Half of a 14 oz. package of cubed, seasoned bread crumbs, preferably one with a lot of sage. Brownberry or Pepperidge farm is good.

One 8 oz. package of corn bread stuffing, one with a larger crumb size is nicer, but any will do. Or use a similar quantity of your own leftover cornbread.

1 large apple, unpeeled, but cored and chopped, preferably granny smith but any will do.

3 or 4 large-ish stalks of celery, with some of the leaves if possible, chopped.

1/2 package of cranberries, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion chopped
1/2 to 1 cup of finely chopped parsley leaves

1/2 stick of butter
1/2 teas pepper
1/4 teas. salt
1/2 T marjoram
1/2 T thyme
1 T. rubbed sage

2 eggs
1 cup of chicken broth – canned is fine

Instructions:

Melt the the half stick of butter in a sauté pan big enough to contain the the celery and the onions. Sauté celery and onions until softened.

Mix all dry ingredients including herbs, apples and cranberries in a large mixing bowl. When the celery and onions are done dump them into the bowl, stir together. Add all the eggs and stir together. Add the cup of broth and stir together. It should be pretty damp and slightly sticky, but not soggy. When everything is well mixed, Put it into an 8″ X 12″ pan ( or something comparable) sprayed with oil. Pat the stuffing down, so it is somewhat compact, but don’t mash it too tightly.

Bake in a 350° oven for half an hour covered with aluminum foil. Remove the foil and bake for half an hour more. Be careful not to burn the bottom. Every oven is different. This can be made ahead refrigerated, and then reheated in the microwave or in the oven. If you are reheating in the oven, cut the original cooking time by 15 minutes or so, and then finish in the oven later.

This week is all out of whack, or is it wack?

I’ve had my granddaughter here Monday and Tuesday because her other care giver, my ex, has a somewhat serious medical issue. So, naturally, I agreed to switch days. But it’s turning out that I am also going to end up doing day care on Thursday as well. Sometimes I wonder if there isn’t a bit of cockeyed thinking going on here. Like the kind where when you work for yourself, everyone else thinks you are really not employed.

So, today I went over to the studio to catch up. First, I made 6 pair of earrings, three tie tacks, repaired a pin, and finished some other jewelry I had started on Sunday.

Then I switched gears and completed a commission to patina 36 pieces metal book parts, also making some modifications to four pieces in the process.

Then I moved on to staining and finishing the frame for a poster I bought to send to a friend. And framed the poster.

After that I had to prepare about thirty price tags for items in the antique mall.

In there somewhere we packed packages for eBay.

Finally, we went out to deliver the book parts, go to the post office and then go over to the antique mall.

Nah, that’s not work.

OK, I could say no to the day care, but it is true that I am a little more flexible than most people when it comes to work schedules. And I do feel bad for everyone involved. But I really do hope the Montessori day care thing comes through soon. Much as I love my grand daughter, I think it will be best for everyone to have a professional day care solution in place here.

To round out my busy day today, I planned to go to the gym and exercise. Good for relieving stress, I’ve found. But, driving down the street I passed a salon where I wanted to make an appointment to get my haircut. I lost my hairdresser last August, and I was at the point where I felt like I was suffocating in too much hair. On a whim, I stopped and ran in and it happened that they could take me right then. So, I instantly opted out of the exercise and into the haircut.

It was the right thing to do. A nice shampoo and a great haircut can really go a long way toward attitude adjustment. I feel a lot better, now. Positively light headed. Gramma’s looking good for you, Maia. See you tomorrow!

I called an old friend today to wish her a happy birthday. As it happens, she was taking care of her new eight week old grand daughter today as I am also taking care of my 6 month old grand daughter today.

We do love being grandparents, and we are happy to help out. But, we also know our limits, and she totally understands what I mean when I tell her I’m having flashbacks. So we shared some of our grandparenting experiences, and laughed about how our lives have come full circle, really.

We have known each other for about 35 years, when my youngest child was maybe 6 months old, way back when we were young, thin, (well, she’s still thin,) and hip, into alternative lifestyles, and feminism and peace and love. We had some wild times back in the old days. We spent a few minutes being amazed at our old selves, and she commented on how odd it seems for us to be in this place now. I laughed and said, “Yeah, now we’re just Bubbies united.”

We’ve definitely come a long way, Bubbie. Here’s to at least another 20 years.

Been a little lazy recently.

Saturday morning we had birthday lox and bagels brunch for my daughter. It is such a busy season for everyone and it’s just not always possible to do everything, so the rest of the family couldn’t come because of other commitments. I sympathize with those who have birthdays during the holiday season because they do occasionally get the short end of things. On the other hand, there’s more time to focus on the birthday person when fewer people are around, which we did, and it was pleasant and relaxing. So I guess it all balances out.

Though we planned on working Saturday, we just couldn’t muster up enough energy. Instead, we went to the antique mall and visited for a bit, then on to some thrift stores to look for some frames for some prints we bought the night before at a friend’s gallery opening. No frames, but, as always, we found some other stuff. A Ralph Lauren red velveteen jumpsuit, and a cute sweatshirt for the grand baby. And a cozy down throw to use while we vege out watching TV, which we have been doing quite a bit recently. We just got the new season of “The Sopranos” from NetFlix and we can’t just watch one episode at a time, we have to turn it into a marathon —another reason for my failure to update.

The other night we went to one of our favorite Chinese restaurants, Mei Shung, where I scored a double. Fortune cookie, that is. Sort of like a double yolk egg, I guess. Two cookies ended up in one package.
I actually hate chocolate fortune cookies so it wasn’t really a bonus for me, but maybe a double carries with it extra luck. Although the fortunes are pretty uninspiring. One read, “Your graceful qualities make difficult things seem easy.” And the other, “No one conquers who doesn’t fight.” Graceful is not a word one would ordinarily use in conjunction with me. But I have been known to hold my own in a fight. Not something I particularly enjoy though.

I suppose I could have made up some better fortunes and gone on to make an inspirational point here. But, nope. It’s just another ordinary real life moment captured and preserved for you right here on the internet.

I’ll throw these in with the rest of the fortunes I’ve been collecting over the years—in a giant gold painted plaster model of a wisdom tooth which I found at a garage sale.

Long day. I arrived home at 9:45 pm and had to make a cake for tomorrow. So I made this standard which everyone in our family loves, even though it is just an alteration of a standard cake mix. Try it!

Mint Chocolate Cake

1 package devil’s food cake mix. (No pudding in the mix.)
1 (4 oz) package chocolate pudding mix. (Not instant.)
1/2 C. vegetable oil
1 cup water
1 cup sour half and half
4 eggs (egg substitute may be used for half the eggs)
5 oz mint chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a bundt pan very thoroughly.

Mix together cake mix, pudding, oil, water, sour cream and eggs. Beat until mixture is smooth. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour into greased and floured pan and bake 55 – 60 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick. Some judgment is required, since the toothpick will often look gooey because of the melted chocolate.

Remove cake from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. Turn out onto a serving plate. When cake is cool dust with powdered sugar. This cake is so rich that icing is overkill.

St Nicholas Day is my daughter’s birthday. Last year, at her birthday celebration, we were all very excited when she told us she was pregnant. Now, I can hardly believe that the Papaya, the miracle baby, will already be six months old tomorrow. And I surely can’t believe that my daughter turned 39 today. Happy Birthday!

edited to add: Well, technically her birthday is the 6th, but blogger stalled, so…

A man and his cat.

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