Things Happen

This is not the kind of picture of one's cute granddaughter one expects to post. However - it happened. She was at a birthday party at Jump House. She and a friend had been leaping from a high platform when they decided to go off backwards. He fell on her and ~ here is her elbow.

She and her mom were transported by ambulance to a children's hospital in San Diego where the following morning early, they reset the bone. Here's what is amazing. Although it was surgery and she was under anesthetic, there was no incision. The bone was reset by laser, getting it exactly where it needed to be. Then pins (long skewers) were placed into the bones to hold them together. To remove them four weeks from now, the parents will distract her and the doctor will simply pull them out. Wow - no cutting, no scarring, and young bones growing together.

So here is our one-handed weaver!! 

Although still in pain occasionally she is adapting to being one handed and figuring out what she can do for herself and patiently waiting for Mama Susan to finish this blog and come back to help with what needs two hands. 

Dire Predictions

Dean and I have driven down from Tahoe to SoCal to visit family around a meeting he has. We stayed overnight at our favorite B&B in Bishop. At a rest stop before Bishop and again at breakfast this morning at the B&B, people from Southern California told us about road construction on 395.

It was horrible. There was only one lane and you had to wait for the other lane to go by before you could go and on and on. The only way around it would be to go west toward Los Angeles and neither of them thought that was a good decision for us ~ but still . . .

After we had lunch today, I called Rob and told him about the construction. We could only say that we would arrive whenever. And then we came to the construction. We settled in for the long horrible wait ~ and watched the cars in the other lane go by ~ and then it was our turn.

What? That's it?

Dean and I had to laugh. We had sat longer than that going to a meeting in Truckee a couple of weeks ago. None of the these people live in Tahoe. We deal with one lane road construction all summer. Remember our four seasons are Almost winter, Winter, Just past winter, and Road Construction.

We arrived at the time our GPS said we would. If only all dire predictions would turn out so well.

Trying to Stay Sane

I have often commented here that once in a while, while reading a quite good mystery story, I come across a statement that is more universal than specific and touches much more in life than the solving of a crime or the furthering of a plot.

Given the state of the world right now ~ and maybe because I have recently been at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, home of both our Declaration and Constitution ~ and maybe because I believe in Love and Hope and Peace, I found this reflection by amateur detective Mordicai Tremaine to be particularly gratifying.

from Murder Has A Motive by Francis Duncan

“You couldn’t see only beauty in the world. You had to see the disfiguring stains, the sordid and sprawling things, too. Because that was life. Life was ugly and untidy besides being beautiful and marvelous and full of wonder. You had to see the dirt as well as the stars. To see the dirt and not become a cynic, to hold fast to one’s ideals, to preserve one’s belief in the underlying decencies of humanity — that was the real purpose of living. “ 

It Was A Big Bang

Last night Dean is downstairs watching football. Oso and I are in the living room. I am watching a show that includes flashbacks and the way they do it is to have the picture undulate in a colorful spiral. That has just come on when there is a HUGE CRASH - and something tells me, it is not in the show I am watching. 

Dean hollers up “What was that??” I’m up and looking and say “I don’t know but get up here!!” We are not finding anything and then I look out to the front deck ~ and one whole pile of wood has toppled over into the middle of the deck. Wow!!!

It took Dean a while to really look at it. He was so proud of how well he had piled the wood and getting it done so early. Sigh. 

I am so glad it happened at night and not while we were out there eating lunch. The logs would have avoided where we would have been sitting but it would have taken some time getting back into the house. Phew.

News on the Street

We arrived home from Delaware tired and happy. After a little something for supper, we went to bed about our usual time, 10:30. I slept until almost two before waking although sometime during the night I had heard a siren, not an unusual occurrence in Philadelphia. 

The next morning we are sitting in front of the tv with our coffees and tea and the local news comes on and there has been a shooting, three people injured and sent to the hospital, cops on the scene, and here is the street. Wait. What? That wall looks familiar. “Mama”, says Meredith, “that’s right outside your window.” We look and can’t see the wall for their tree but when we go outside and around the corner, there it is. The wall we have just seen on the tv right across the street from the back of their house. A shooting, and we had all slept through it.

The next night, we come home from touring Independence Hall and eating at the City Tavern, and are doing ordinary stuff. Meredith has heading to the basement with laundry. I am cutting a piece of cake. The doorbell rings, David answers it and comes back into the living room followed by three large men, detectives investigating the shooting. 

Bless them, they were right out of central casting. We had Kojak, tall, bald, and the obvious leader; the intellectual, black messy hair, black rimmed eye glasses and knows all about the internet and navigating the video footage; and the young one, who probably hasn’t been a detective long. And there they stood in the middle of the living room. 

David accessed the footage from the video cam for them and they loved it. They got lots of information and were pleased with the visit. Meredith was a little startled when she came up from the basement to see them standing in her living room but again, David introduced them and they were very polite and efficient and grateful for being let in and shown the footage.

It was definitely a lesson in white privilege as we were not scared or worried and they were surprised (as they said several times) to find the necessary electronic equipment in this lovely little apartment. I asked David if they had shown him ID and he said, yes, their shields were out when he opened the door. 

I do enjoy visiting my family and I have to say, there is never a dull moment, and sometimes you are almost on the morning news and feel like you are in the middle of a tv show. 

Philly Phood

I ate my way through this last week so was delightfully surprised to discover that I had also walked my way through the week because I lost two pounds!

Not all the food was restaurant style. Some was deliciously homemade.

My cousin Doris, in Delaware, gave us homemade pimento cheese for an evening appetizer. Oh yum!

Pimento cheese is such a Southern dish and one that has been around our family for a long time. The original was cooked - because it had eggs in it I believe. Doris makes a much easier recipe which she graciously told me and I shall blend up here in the next several days.

Doris also baked Sam's mother's (my Aunt Lalah's) caramel cake. Aunt Lalah put the caramel icing on hot milk cake. Doris put it on a maple cake, very similar to what David had as child in Canada. We ate cake for three meals and brought some home with us. So good! So sweet! Just had to forget about being off sugar and become 8 again and enjoy. 

When we arrived back from Delaware, we were stuffed but into the evening wanted a little something, "a little smackeral" as Pooh says. David made Toad in the Hole. I had heard of it but had no idea what it was. It is egg in Yorkshire Pudding. He adds rosemary for flavoring. Perfect. 

My last night we topped the visit with David's prime rib. 

He spent three days preparing the roast and finally letting it sit in fridge

wrapped tightly with a salt crust.

And of course, with rib roast comes more Yorkshire Pudding. 

Light, airy, puffy and delicious. Perfect for absorbing the rib juices.

Meredith asked if I wanted green beans with almonds or green bean casserole with my roast.

I make really nice green beans almandine so I opted for a good old fashioned casserole which Meredith made to accompany the roast. 

My roast on Yorkshire pudding ~ 

~ with a addition of green bean casserole.

And from the sublime to the ridiculous:

during a long Independence Hall touring day, we had a street hot dog.

Although I have had street food before, this was my first hot dog. It was 

as good for what it was as any of the other amazing food we ate. 

City Tavern, Philadelphia

We left the amazement of Independence Hall with some time to wander before our reservations at City Tavern. Here are some of the things we saw on our way. 

George Washington, who chaired the Continental Congress that created the Constitution. 

Abraham Lincoln stood here when he raised the flag on Independence Hall,

February 22nd, 1861.

Walking several blocks toward the Tavern, we passed and went into Ben Franklin's original

Post Office. We even mailed a letter there. 

And then we reached the Tavern ~ 

~ "the most genteel tavern in America" according to John Adams.

The place where the Congressional representatives went to continue to discuss

business and finally to celebrate the signing of the Declaration. (Signed mostly August through November in spite of the wonderful picture of them all gathered at the table.)

As it was a treasonous document, it is no wonder John Hancock commented (in the movie at least), "If you look closely, gentlemen, mine is the only name on the damned thing."

Steps to the door. 

Wonderful breads, brown bread that was Ben Franklin's favorite; sweet pumpkin

rolls that were Thomas Jefferson's favorite, and Sally Lunn (Lund) bread. Of course

we all ate one of each. 

Corn Chowder, classic and delicious.

Meredith and I had corn chowder. David had the mallard duck sausage on

red cabbage. To drink, David had apple cider with rum; I had plain apple cider; 

and Meredith had champagne.

Our lovely server Melana ~ in period costume as they all were. 

Lobster Pie ~ whose picture I forgot to take until I/we were half way through.

Dessert options: creme brûlée', Martha Washington's chocolate sponge cake, pumpkin cheese cake,

pecan tart, raspberry torte, and apple crisp. Meredith and I shared the pecan tart.

We left very full and very happy and very in accord with John Adams. 

Independence Hall, Philadelphia

Here we are: Independence Hall, the place where treason was debated and declared as for the first time in history a colony broke from the mother country in a successful rebellion. Had it been other than successful, all these men would have been hanged as traitors. "If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately." (Benjamin Franklin) It was a difficult and frightening time even while they were being brilliant and hoping to fulfill a vision beyond any ever imagined before. 

I know we have not lived up to that vision. Sometimes we don't even come close. And ~ my soul needed to spend time where these men sat and debated and their voices and those of their wives echo down the centuries. Here's to Tom and John and Ben and all the others who sat around these tables. 

The first room we entered was a court room, the first in the country. The judges sat behind the desk on the dais. The lawyers at the round table on the floor. 

This is the dock. The suspect stood in the dock which is where the phrase "standing trial" originated. 

Meredith was very happy to be in this historic court room. 

Across the hall was the room where the Continental Congress met, both to debate declaring independence and later to write the Constitution. The chair in front was where George Washington sat to chair the Congress that wrote the Constitution. I don't know if it was the same chair used by John Hancock during the Declaration debates. 

I loved being in this room and feeling the echo of the past and the so important present. 

Our guide spoke very fast because as she said, it was a 20 minute tour and there was so much history to impart. If you have seen the movie 1776, the desks were separated for blocking and cameras and they created the room to perfection.

It was a wonderful day and although there was more wonder to follow, I will leave you for now in this very important room to dream your dreams and have your visions of what this country can become.  ~ blessings, my friends. 

Cousins at the Beach

My Philadelphia family lives just 2 1/2  hours from my family in Selbyville Delaware. We drove down on Sunday to spend some time with all time favorite cousins.

Cousin Sam has been a part of my life since I was born. 

Meredith and Cousin Doris Ann were so glad to see each other. 

Sam and David took an immediate liking to each other

and spent a lot of time sharing stories and interesting conversation. 

Sam brought out the family notebook and researcher Meredith

begin to study the genealogy of the Pierces and the Trents.

She had such a good time. 

We went to the beach and wandered in the warm wind. 

David is a descendant of White Hat John Willis, captain of the original

Cuttysark. He gazed at the ocean through the eyes of his ancestor.

For me, the beach is home, the womb, a place of peace and renewal.

Together we shared a lovely afternoon.

Cousin Claudia, Sam and Doris Ann's daughter, came to dinner

at the Cottage Cafe' in Bethany Beach. 

Thanks to neighbor Kathleen who came over and took a picture of all of us, 

still smiling, still in love with our time together. We are so blessed.