This morning I sit in the spot my father occupied most evenings during the summer as I grew up.
In his webbed chair that glided back and forth, he’d sit with his cup of tea after dinner and watch the neighborhood go by. We might sit near by on the metal couch glider reading a book.
The Porch
Was he surveying what needed to be done around the yard? Mowing the lawn was the main focus as there were no shrubs and the trees and bushes were growing “naturally”. He was not a man who enjoyed taking care of yard work and we three girls did our share of mowing the lawn (we enjoyed the exercise!). Or was he just enjoying the view, our company, and counting his blessings?
I know he would have sat here on a Sunday morning like I am as there would be a flurry of preparation for 9:15 mass. But after Sunday midday dinner, he’d be here listening to his radio with a ballgame on or country music, watching the neighborhood go by.
Which food, when you eat it, instantly transports you to childhood?
I grew up in a traditional household in the 60s and 70s. Sundays involved the 9:15 mass, picking up newspapers (New Haven Register, New York Daily News, Boston paper) with the possibility of a comic at Boylans, and a stop at my aunt’s house before we were home. Once home, we read the papers, and waited for Sunday Dinner which happened anywhere between Noon and 2 p.m. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating, but some Sundays it felt like it was that late because everyone else was out playing while we were still waiting to eat!
Except for that rare Sunday when we got Kentucky Fried Chicken….
Kentucky Fried Chicken. There was a store across the street from our church that opened at noon. On those Sundays (usually during the summer), my mom would head back out to pick up a box or bucket. They would also get the cole slaw and mashed potatoes and gravy that went with it.
Oh that chicken! So crunchy and greasy. I probably ate it for the skin more for the chicken. You can have those big old chicken breasts at the bottom of the box or bucket! Give me a leg or thigh for that juicy dark meat. As a last resort, I’d eat the breast but I’d need a lot of cranberry sauce to wash it down.
My father would jokingly swear that the cole slaw tasted “just like ice cream” and I’m sure we choked it down. Not like now – I love cole slaw!
Stores still exist, but the one across from our church is long gone and it’s probably a good thing because, like anything else that tastes so delicious, that skin is not good for you!
The last time I had it was in 2022 when we were traveling in California to visit my father in law and we stopped to pick it up and bring it for a dinner with him. It was as good as I remembered it and I’m sure as I did every other time I ate it, I told my husband the stories of my families KFC Sunday dinners.
Here in Connecticut, it has rained at some point during 15 consecutive weekends. Maybe one day, maybe both days.
When we moved back here in 1995, me, the Connecticut native, told my husband, the California native to expect at least one day on a summer weekend to be rainy. I think I did pretty good with that assessment. Overall, this has been a Really Wet Year and it doesn’t look like much is changing.
Now that we are in “summer”, the humidity rises. And falls. And rises. I can handle it but my poor husband suffers from the Jekyll and Hyde atmospheric pressures. Vertigo, sinus conditions, headache – he’s had them all!
Do you have constantly changing weather where you live?
Tonight on Spring Baking Championship on HGTV, one of the challenges was for the bakers to elevate one of their favorite childhood desserts. That got me thinking about MY favorite childhood desserts.
My uncle on my mother’s side was a baker. I don’t know if he learned his trade in the army or by osmosis from my grandmother. He owned his own bakery for a few years and, after closing it, worked first at the local prep school, until finally settling in as the baker at Masonic Home and Hospital, a rehabilitation hospital and nursing home for people who were members of the Masonic Temple Association.
This man made the most INCREDIBLE baked goods. It’s amazing that he could make hundreds of desserts for the people at Masonic using these huge tubs for the dough and ovens to bake in and each one tasted as delicious as if it was one of only a dozen.
My favorites were his chocolate eclairs. They were all one piece filled with cream and delicious chocolate on top.
Chocolate Eclair (from the internet)
His cream puffs! Oh my word! Filled with delightful air pockets stuffed with cream.
Cream Puffs (internet photo)
He also made something called a Hermit Cookie. I found it quickly online. They were square bar cookies with ginger and molasses and raisins. One version I found is called New England Hermit Cookie Bar with the story that they date back to the Pilgrims and they were good for travel because they were dense and stayed moist for up to two weeks! Maybe his mother, my grandmother, brought the recipe with her when she immigrated from the Galician area of Poland in the early 1900s!
From thelemonbowl.com recipe
I do remember my uncle’s Hermit cookies being overall dark like the inside of this one.
In addition to his job and making desserts for family events, he made the wedding cakes for my mother, and for my cousin.
We did not have homemade desserts in our house. They were store bought cookies and pastries. My mother worked full time and she wasn’t really a baker, with the exception of the four layer chocolate cake with whipped cream filling and chocolate frosting we requested for our family birthday parties! She never said no! There would always be cake left over and we would eat that until there wasn’t a crumb left anywhere.
By working four days a week, I’m getting glimpses of what retirement will look like.
I have a variety of hobbies that include knitting, ancestry research, writing for this and my family stories blog, puzzles, reading. All my indoor stuff but I also have a new e-gravel bike to ride and a boat that will go in the water next month. And travel!
I wish I had more retirement time every day to find a flow to work on my hobbies and outdoor activities!
In my quest to be mindful in 2025, I’m focusing on my emotional and mental wellbeing in addition to my physical wellbeing.
I know that sleep is important, and in our house it’s always been important to my husband! For most of our marriage, this man has gone to bed at 8pm and would get a good 8 hours of sleep. I would usually make it into bed by 10. Since the first, I’ve made an effort to head up by 9pm, get some reading in and have lights out by 9:30. I also started wearing my Apple Watch to bed so it can record the different stages of my sleep.
Another bedtime ritual I’ve started is a 5 or 10 sleep meditation with my Peloton app. I wear my ear buds, start the program and absorb the soothing music and soft voice of the instructor. I usually discover I’ve fallen asleep! My average sleep time for a week has ranged from 7 hours 15 minutes to 7 hours and 28 minutes. My crowning achievement was a night of sleep with NO minutes awake!
100%!
Because I don’t have a set time I need to be in the office, This year I’m learning to embrace that! It’s tough to get used to when for so many years, I’ve been at my desk by 8:30! My alarm is still set for 5:45 but I take time to drink my coffee and complete my workout. I have extra time to read the paper!
There are times at work that cause me and the two people there (one being my son) to start to wallow in frustration and self-pity. It’s specially tough to see it in my son, so I always try to turn it around and cheer us all on! We have so much more going for us than against us!
I’m packing up for the day and heading home at 3pm (to-do lists are vital for me!), so I can walk with my husband and our friends for some exercise and socialization.
I’m not on board with our upcoming federal administration so that has made me anxious when I read stories that seem more fiction than fact. For the time being, I’m averting my eyes because I know there is nothing I can do to change any of it. I hope in the near future I can get involved with an organization that will help make a difference for people in need.
I took a look at my Day Planner for 2024 and my phone calendar and made a list in Notes of What Happened in 2024. I was surprised at all the events from the year. Sometimes in my mind I think “I never do anything!”, but this proved me wrong. There were lunches and dinners out with friends, two trips to New York other than our yearly Christmas shopping spree, and three week long vacations!
I’m looking forward to this new year of adventures!
My husband and I had nothing to do the day after Christmas. What a treat after hosting our family party of 26 people on Saturday which was fabulous and I loved every minute, but we were enjoying our down time!
I had to go to Hamden a couple of towns away to drop something off. Since we were taking “the back way” home, via Whitney Avenue, I suggested a stop at Wentworth’s Ice Cream, not really thinking they’d be open, but I enjoy that route.
As I suspected, they were closed. However, right next door is an antiques store, actually a house, that I’d never been to, but “always meant to get to”. I’ve seen it advertised in the local weekly newspaper, and in the little booklets we get in the mail as he is always looking for antiques and coins. As a matter of fact, I actually knew him as the former brother in law of a friend from the crowd I hung around with in my mid-20s.
We drove through the ice cream shop parking lot and went back, parked in front of the house and were instantly taken in by the stone bird baths, railings, and objects in the front yard.
We stepped in to the house (after he unlocked the door!) and were mesmerized by the amount of antiques throughout the space. And this was just the first floor!
Clocks, pictures in big gold ornate frames, sculptures, Tiffany lamps – Oh My!
We talked with Don, the owner, for quite a while. He was telling us the history of his love for antiques and where he gets them and we shared what we enjoy and what we look for for our home and yard.
My eye caught a piece on the wall. It wasn’t large, but I felt a connection to it from the religious items I love to see in museums.
Pietre Dure pieceCut and highly polished colored stones
He explained to us it was Pietre Dure – hard stones. I looked it up when I got home and it is known as Intarsia Lapidary. Unlike mosaic pieces which are generally of similar pieces and grouted in place, Pietre Dura are mostly larger and cut to a shape suiting their place in the image and glued in place. They first appeared in Rome in the 16th century. The technique is used on table tops, altars and portraits.
I didn’t know what it was when I saw it, and I was attracted to the frame more than the picture, is that a horn coming out of her head?, but the more I look at it, the more I love all of it.
Current location of my Pietre Dure piece
We have it hung on the wall, but I feel like it needs a larger expanse of wall around it to really make it pop.
If you’re local to the Wallingford area, the location is 3651 Whitney Avenue in Hamden – Don Barese Fine Art & Antiques. His hours are by appointment, but the OPEN flag was out when we drove by. He buys and sells internationally. We’re already planning our next trip back!
Thoughts From The Passenger Seat 