Mom loved her family, she loved to cook and she loved to take care of us. One of her favorite foods was apple pie. So Froggy and I decided that we needed to have apple pie today. Froggy makes hers from scratch. I prefer to buy mine pre-made, so I have a Mrs. Smith's in the oven. And a carton of vanilla ice cream in the freezer, since as Bill says it's illegal to have pie without ice cream. (Froggy, email me Mom's recipe for apple pie and I'll put it on the cooking blog.)
Since Otter's not a big pie fan, she's just going to have the ice cream part of the equation. But it will still be in Mom's memory. One of Mom's other favorites was to make homemade ice cream. Like the pie, mine came from the store. We do make it in the cuisenart (sp?) from time to time, but I wanted enough to have over the next couple of days so I bought it.
Mom also liked to make peach cobbler. Her recipe is on my cooking blog. She loved peaches, she preferred fresh ones to canned. She would buy them in Fredericksburg, TEXAS, which is the peach capital of the world. She would make various things with fresh peaches and she would also freeze them. Her peach cobbler was out of this world. I've made it myself a few times, but it's just not the same. She could make a meal out of the most different batch of leftovers possible, and it would be delicious.
Mom taught us to love animals. Some of my earliest and fondest memories involve the zoo. Dad brought me turtles, but Mom is where I first learned to love animals.
Mom also taught us to sit on the floor or ground. Even today, I'd prefer to sit on the floor as opposed to a chair. Although we didn't know it at the time, it's a Cherokee habit. If you are sitting on the floor (or preferably, the ground), you are touching something that the Creator made and that makes you physically closer to the Creator. Same thing applies to going barefoot, because after all, if your feet are touching the earth then you are touching something made by the Creator. Although Otter and I both have a shoe fetish, we still love to go barefoot. I think all of us do, and a lot of my childhood memories involve having bare feet.
One of my most special memories of Mom is being baptised with her. I have a very early memory of being baptised in the Methodist Church, I remember the water being sprinkled on my head but not much else about it. But when I was about Otter's age, we had started attending the Baptist Church on a regular basis - we'd attended it off & on already. Dad was baptised first, then I think Froggy was next. That left Mom and I. We both decided at the same time, on the same day and in the same service in fact, that it was time and what we wanted/needed to do. So we were baptised in the same ceremony, she was first and then it was my turn. It made a very special moment even more special and it is a memory I will treasure forever.
I don't mean to leave Toadles out, but he was already out of the house and in the Navy by the time my memories start. Toadles, email me if you have anything you want me to mention - Froggy, you too.
One of Mom's major joys was her grandchildren. I remember how excited she was when JediMom came along. JediMom was her first one and she was overjoyed. So was Dad, I'm not leaving him out, but this is about Mom. Each of her grandchildren was special to her and she was crazy about all of them. I think she would be very happy that there is another generation, JediMom's precious children. She loved children and they loved her just as much, total strangers would let her hold their children. She was just a natural!
Today is also what we are calling the dog's birthday. Maggie was Otter's birthday present 4 years ago, we got her right before the 12th and Otter decided that Maggie's birthday would be the same as her Grammy's. Frasier joined the family on January 1 of the same year, so we've had him a couple of months longer than Maggie, but we decided Frasier's day would be the same. We don't celebrate dog birthdays or have parties for them. (They get treats later on this evening.) With Mom's love of animals, we think it's appropriate to remember the dogs today.
One more personal note: Mom was very happy that Otter was born in March since it was the same month as her birthday. Otter was actuall due mid-April, but she must have known that it was better to be born in the same month as her Grammy because she certain listened when Mom told me that I should have her in March!
2 comments:
Mom was worried that Otter would be born on April 1. She was so relieved when that did not happen.
Before you were baptized in the Methodist Church, you and I went in the bathroom and practiced sprinkling your head with water. Mom thought this was hilarious.
Froggy
I don't remember you sprinkling water on my head, but I do remember the actual event.
I remember Mom wanting Otter to be born in March, although Bill and Dad seemed to think that April Fools Day would be good. I'm glad she wasn't born April 1! I would have been happy with March 12, she would not have been 4 weeks early - she would have been 2 weeks early. (TMI Warning) The doctor was wrong, I know for a fact the exact day & time that she was conceived and she was right on time. The 12th would have been just a little early but not enough to matter. But Bill still thinks that it would have been fun to call people on April Fools Day and tell them that she'd been born, because they wouldn't have believed him!
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