Fleetingly Carol

When Old Man was Young Man and the kids were younger - when the world was new and all, dinners could sometimes be very, oh, what's the word? tense. Ours was a very nontraditional dinner-time. We ate with one another with no television running in the background for distraction. This, Dear Reader, is ancient history, not even cable or dish networks had been invented, much less the Internet, computers and cell phones. I don't know how families do it these days. Why, I was on that very popular social website (which I can't name because of the Terms of Service on Blogger, the hosting website for this blog. I am not allowed to say their name, or any product name, for that matter). Anyway, here I was reading all the posts by family and friends, when a new one from Son came through. It simply said, "Daughter, get downstairs, dinner is ready." Not 2 seconds later, Daughter posted, "But, Dad, I'm right in the middle of a school project." Her father's res

Happy Easter, Dear Reader! The Lord is Risen, Alleluia! I spent today with family, as I dearly hope all of you were able to do. Easter is a very special time. Our children would like to think that it all boils down to the Easter Bunny hiding eggs and leaving candy. Sometimes, I'm tempted to agree with them, especially about hazelnut and chocolate. Especially the hazelnut spread that has a hint of cocoa in it. This spread is not for the faint-of-heart! The following incident happened to a professional. Remember DO NOT try this at home. I joined Young Man on a tour of duty overseas where the delicious spread was commonplace - we had yet to hear of it in the United States. I was 9 months pregnant with our first child. I weighed 135 at the beginning of that pregnancy and topped out at 199. It was ALL because of the hazelnut spread. I scoured our apartment for pfennigs until I found enough to walk down the street to a Bäckerei to buy a loaf of hard bread. It was in this Bäckerei t

     It was Old Man's birthday the other day. He turned old as dirt. He was old as rocks only a few years ago. And before that by a few years, he was old as boulders. So, his favorite birthday cake is carrot cake. Now, I suppose I could go to the local bakery and buy a nice carrot cake, but I had the time off, so I thought I would delight him with my culinary skills. I do not possess many skills needed in the kitchen, but I can make a mean carrot cake.    Having baked the cake, I skimped on dinner - I ordered delivery pizza. Old Man is married to Old Woman. I no longer want to put that much time into cooking a meal that will be eaten in ten minutes.      The carrot cake was impeccable. It was moist, fluffy, and smelled of spices and carrots. Old Man arrived home, and after the succulent odors accosted his nostrils, he praised his wife's culinary skills! And pronounced that he would eat the carrot cake this very minute to prove his elation over this most mouthwatering of bir

Today was an awesome day! It started out when my oh, so nice boss (you remember, the one who doesn't care if we are late every once in a while?) let me off for the afternoon so I could go and visit Aunt Mildred. You see, I was so busy cleaning out my closets this weekend, that I didn't have time to visit. Oh, I can hear you now, dear Reader! Clean closets? Leave poor Aunt Mildred by herself while you clean closets? Well, hush, yes, that's exactly what I did! But, there were what you would call 'extenuating' circumstances. No one calls the cleaning done in the fall as 'Fall Cleaning' the way they call it 'Spring Cleaning'. But that's what I was doing. I was putting away summer clothes and bringing out the fall clothes, sweaters and things like that. And this was the only Saturday available. In my defense, I found a whole trash bag full of clothes that I was able to bring down to the Goodwill Store. It was a win win situation! Peering through A

I talked to a good friend today. She listened patiently while I talked about how Aunt Mildred's illness is taking it's toll on Old Man and myself. Aunt Mildred is 88 years old and the stroke has affected her mind in a terrible way. She truly believes the kind nurses and aids who are caring for her in the hospital are mean to her. Well, we found out what constitutes "mean" in Aunt Mildred's poor mind. They make her go to bed too early. Anyway, my friend called just as Old Man and I were getting home from visiting with her. I was very stressed and my friend listened, and then she made me laugh. Yes, she did! She burned her beans and she was dealing with the aftermath. Apparently, she put on a pot of black beans to cook and then left the house. I think she should take the bed next to Aunt Mildred. But, I digress. At the time of the phone call, my friend was dealing with the aftermath of burned beans in her beautiful home. She has vaulted ceilings and the odor was l