Lovely evening and a day of resolution

A dear friend of--what? thirty-five years or more?--came for supper tonight. We used to see each other once a week but now it has been since the holidays, so we had lots of catching up to do. And what better guest than one who brings dinner and does the dishes too? Linda brought a wonderful goat cheese/wasabi appetizer, chicken rolls stuffed with ham and wrapped in bacon, and a salad. All delicious. And we spent three hours catching up, laughing at old memories, working out current  problems. So wonderful to have such long lasting friendships.
And it was a perfect cap to the day that brought me some peace of mind. My doctor confirmed what I suspected--a transient alteration of awareness was a junk diagnosis. I had a transient ischemic accident, known to some as a mini-stroke. It left no damage, and I am back to normal. He is changing a medication, prescribing a new one, and advising an aspirin a day. Other than that, he said, "Go live your life. It may never happen again."
I am shaken by the fact that I had a TIA at an age ten years younger than my mom. I had always thought that it was a series of TIAs that sent her into senility and I dread that more than anything. But I guess I can't live my life in fear, so I'll go about my normal activities and thank the Lord for my good health. The doctor said that the fact that I take good care of myself and have had good medical care all my life probably meant that what could have been a stroke was only a TIA--my body compensated.
Jordan has been so wonderful throughout this, and she was with me at the doctor's office today. I am so very grateful to her and to my other children who have each expressed their concern in their own ways. Between children and friends, I feel surrounded by a cocoon of love, and I know I am a most fortunate person.
So tomorrow it's hit the grocery stores, get ready for Sunday supper for six, and move on with my life. Putting TIAs and health worries behind me.
I've sent thanks to many who expressed concern, but if I missed you, please know how much I appreciate it.

Alabana moves to East Texas--great folk tales

Want to hear a seemingly authentic East Texas voice spinning tales of World War II times and little towns and gossip and local characters? And talking about such radio programs as Fibber McGee and such things as blackouts--you have to be of a certain age to remember these things, but they were all nostalgic to me. To hear about them just listen to Jim Lee read from his new collection of short stories, A Texas Jubilee (TCU Press). Now Jim will be the first to tell you that many of these stories are based on incidents he remembers from his home town of Leeds, Alabama, and many of the characters come from there. But being, as he now is, the grandfather of Texas folk tales and folklore (and a Fellow of the Texas Folklore Society), he moved  them to his adopted state where he's lived longer than I care to tell you. At first, he set these tales in Bonham but then he decided he didn't know enough about Bonham, so he moved them to the fictional town of Bodark Springs and the characters and stories began to emerge almost on their own, with Jim as a conduit. He'll tell you he's not a writer but he is--he's a master of the short story. He'll also tell you the stories have much in common with Alabama, because East Texas is the South, and anywhere east of I-35 is the South; west of that highway is the West.
Delightful evening tonight. The Bookish Frogs (another name for friends of TCU Press) met at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens for a pot-luck supper and evening with Jim Lee. An impromptu happy hour developed at my house first, with Melinda, production manager at the press, and Carol Roark who said she was going and did I want a ride, and then Christian who came along to get Jacob and stayed an hour, and finally Elizabeth who wandered in after making movies with Jacob. We had a happy time, nibbling on this wonderful rosemary/olive oil asiago cheese I get at Central Market, so wonderful Carol and I were almost late to the party.
Dinner was good--it's amazing the things people bring to pot-luck suppers. One good friend always brings a bok choy salad because it's such a hit. There was potato salad and--be still my heart!--spanakopita (so delicious), tuna salad, fried chicken and ribs, and so much more. I made a layered salad--one of those retro things where you layer the salad, spread mayo and sour cream on the top and let it sit all night. Green peas are an essential ingredient--except I forgot and found them on the counter after I'd' finished off the salad and no way to add them then. They'll be good on leftover salad tomorrow.
I saw people I hadn't seen in a while and was glad to see, missed some familiar faces, but all in all it was a lovely evening. And Jim was the star, as he always is whenever he speaks. If anyone ever had a natural talent for humor, it's Jim Lee. So, cheers for him and his new book. May he sell many, many copies.

Nothing is as easy as it seems

Thanks to all who understood about the typos in my blog last night and sent good wishes and advice. One of my symptoms was that I could not type--it simply came out gibberish. I wrote the blog late last night when I thought all was well--apparently not.
And what I thought was a one-day little deal has grown into a pain in the neck. I'm to have an MI (I think the office assistant meant MRI) tomorrow. I dread that because I'm a bit claustrophobic--time to practice yoga deep breathing, etc. And then I see my doctor Friday. Bad news for me: I am forbidden to drive at least until I see the doctor on Friday and he has the results of the MRI. I had invited friends for Friday night supper and had a wonderful menu planned, now all down the drain. I've left messages asking if we can't go out, and I'm adjusting slowly, rearranging my thinking. Optimist that I am, I plan on grocery shopping Saturday morning, but I did tell Elizabeth she might have to go on a wine run before that.
You'd think two days at home would be a great time to write but it's too uncertain--or I'm too uncertain. I may get a guest blog done--have one in mind--but I'm between novels, waiting for my mentor to critique the one I gave him last week. So, joy oh joy, I'll read. That's what I meant to do today but I didn't get far.
Nice treat: Jamie, my third child, had an appointment in town today and came afterward to take me to lunch. I had picked out a nice little Italian place but he was so late we went to the deli--my favorite place anyway. Such a good visit with him. I've said it before and will no doubt say it again, but much as I love all my children, it's lovely to have face-to-face time with one of them. Jamie went with me to pick up Jacob, who was thrilled to see him, and then we went to see Jamie's third grade teacher, who is still hard at work. Lots of hugs and good memories (Jacob looked a little bored.)
'Off to shower and then there's that book I've been wanting to read. Oh, wait, I've got to make sense out of the disorder of my desk.

Not the way I intended to spend my day

Started out the day with breakfast with a friend, catching up on writing new, friends, yes gossip. Then off to the nursery where I had several purchases in my mind. Tried to carry all the plants up the stir at once. Bit mistake. Fell although I didn't hurt myself. But noticed that I wasn't walking quite as assuredly as I usually do, and I had trouble typing simple messages. Buy the time a friend called to say she was picking my up for lunch, she said, "Are you okay? " I assured her I was fine. When she got here, she said, "Are you sure  you're all right. Do you want to postpone lunch. "No, I have to eat. In the car on the way home, she said, "I thnk you should see your doctor. Something happened today." I pooh-poohed the suggested. Then Elizabeth came in and said, "Are you all alright? Your speech is slow, slurred."  I ddn't see or hear that. But the next thing I knew Jordan arrived, Elizabeth having called her. And almost instantaneously my brother called. They all convinced me to call the doctor who, of course, wasn't it. But the nurse recommended the  ER. So off Jordan and I went, while Elizabeth went to get Jacob and do homework.
The ER was very efficient (Harris Southwest) and the personnel kind. All kind of tests--chest x-ray, urine sample, blood work, EKG, and CT of m brain.
Final diagnosis: transient alternative awareness, which nobody had ever heard of except me who could identify. Anxiety/phobia patients often suffer a feeling of dissociation. The thing as I didn't feel that way today, but I suppose all things are possible. Also lo sodium and potassium, so the girls have been plying me with water, o.j., and bananas. They also went, sweet things, and got me meatloaf for supper, so now I have a nice piece for a lunch sandwich tomorrow.
But a da in the ER (okay really only two hours) make you focus on yourself; how od I feel? Is my gait unsteady? Is my typing erratic? Yes to some of those, but Elizabeth said tight that I sound much better.
Tomorrow will be a better day. I have promised tot take it easy, have canceled some social meetings for the next two days.  I may bore myself to death.
But tonight I am grateful that I have friends and family around me who are so observant and care so much. What if I lived totally alone? Think Sophie would have called for help?

TCU Mystery Weekend and so much else

I know it's Sunday night, and I should be posting on Potluck with Judy, but I'm still bursting with excitement over my weekend. Late Friday afternoon, I was honored to be the kickoff mystery author at TCU's Mystery Weekend. Thirty-one people attended, including three men. Longtime friend Shari Barnes, who teaches a non-credit mystery course, interviewed me, and as always she made me look much smarter than I am. The attendees were attentive, encouraging, and they had questions A nice touch--the caterers had prepared Doris' casserole, which comes from my cookbook, along with three kinds of cookies also from the cookbook. I didn't sell many books but that was okay--most of the people had already read them. And I understand some of the participants want the cookbook--should have brought some with me.
After dinner and the discussion, we boarded a bus for Austin--Jordan and Jacob had driven down the day before so I was grateful for a seat on the bus. Really nice new coach, good driver--and two major accidents that tied up I-35 so that our trip was longer than expected. But Megan came to get me, at the hotel where they were staying, and I spent the rest of my weekend with my two daughters and three of my grandsons. Lazy but fun. Ate too much.
We went to Shady Grove for lunch--if you know Austin, you'll recognize the name. Here's Megan and me at the restaurant

 

Discovered that my oldest grandson, Sawyer, who will turn nine in July, is a real bookworm. You have to pry the book out of his hands to get him to go to bed at night, and I predict he'll soon discover the trick of a flashlight under the covers--hurray for him! He was reading the third in the Percy Jackson series, Curse of the Titans, and was almost through. He was also most impressed that I once interviewed the author, Rick Riordan, over the phone. This is Sawyer at the restaurant, when his cousins were running around the play area. I so love having my grandchildren become readers.

 

 

The cousins played, swam a bit (the water is still so cold), jumped on the trampoline, went to Ford's baseball game, but they also showed that they are the children of the electronic age. Here the three of them are this morning (I think the grim looks were because they knew I was taking a picture)

 

 

All said, it was a great visit, mostly hanging out at the house. I read, watched while the girls cooked (how our roles have reversed), sat on the porch and drank wine with them, and thoroughly enjoyed myself, especially seeing my oldest daughter who I don't see often enough. Kudos to Jordan for arranging the trip, driving, and generally being her efficient self. She makes my life shine. 



Mysteries and food--which came first?

Sometime in the last few months I was at my son’s new house and in the kitchen I searched for the wooden spoons my daughter-in-law has always had. Gone! “He threw them out during the move,” she said, “because he wants everything to match.” She was left with black plastic utensils. I was horrified and I think as said as much to the son involved. My other daughter-in-law routinely puts her wooden spoons in the dishwasher. I explained that would dry them out, but the next time I emptied her dishwasher, there they were. “Habit,” she shrugged.

To me, wooden spoons are special. Most of mine speak of years of cooking; a few are relatively new, some of most interesting woods. But I reach for them for almost anything I cook. I found today a blog titled “Pen, Spoon and Dagger” with a post that talks about the heritage and importance of wooden cooking spoons. I printed it out because—shhh!, don’t tell! I have a lovely engraved wooden spoon put away in my gift closet for the daughter who lost hers. I'll include a copy of the blog with it.

But the blog combines cooking and mystery, a frequent combination. I’ve often wondered why we have so many culinary mysteries. Is it because food is one of the biggest comforts of life? Maybe we combine it with murder—the ultimate disaster—to soften the horror? Maybe to humanize the protagonist? I love culinary mysteries, and with Murder at the Blue Plate Café have edged close to writing one.

Traditionally chefs were always men. Nero Wolfe was the first to make food a character in his books and you can still get the Nero Wolfe Cookbook. But today’s culinary mystery protagonists are almost uniformly women, while a man may be the antagonist, if not the villain. Does that have to do with women’s equality? Julia Child?

The relationship between food and mysteries is one I have long wanted to explore. The list of culinary mysteries is almost endless, but I haven’t untangled the thread yet. Anybody got any ideas? Maybe another time I’ll list some of the mysteries, and some of the cookbooks—by gosh, there’s even a Nancy Drew cookbook and I don’t remember a word about food in those books.

It's easy to be lost in April

At least, it’s easy to be lost this April. We never know if it’s winter, spring or summer, at least in Texas. And look at all that snow in Colorado in late April! Yesterday the temperature was balmy, the day delightful and sunny. Today it is overcast and cold, in the upper 40s, to go to the upper 30s tonight, with a chill factor well below that (I do wish they’d stop telling us the chill factor!). By the weekend, it will be 80 again. My plants are confused…and so am I. I have a hydrangea that I want to take outside for brief spells to “harden” it, but there’s no sense doing that in weather this cold. And my sweet potato plants are drooping—in fact, one just gave up the ghost. Glad I didn’t buy those cherry tomatoes yet. My brother said tonight in doleful tones, “Summer is over.” I told him we haven’t had it yet, and he said, “Oh, I thought  it was awfully short.”

And I’m sort of at loose ends anyway. Finished first edits on a manuscript last night. Tomorrow it goes to my mentor (need to think of a better descriptive term)—if he says, “This is trash,” in the trash it goes. If he says it has possibilities, back to editing. I know one thing it needs is a better sense of place, so yesterday I drew a map of the fictional town, one of the university (it’s what Fred calls an academic novel meaning it’s not academic in itself but it’s set on a campus), one of the protagonist’s house, and one of her boyfriend’s house. But I’m on hold until he reads it. Meantime I have a novel to review but it’s hard to pull yourself quickly from one fictional world to another, so I’m stalling.

And this is a doctor week for me. Today I went to the ophthalmologist, an appointment I always dread for several reasons. It went much more smoothly than I anticipated, and I do not need the laser treatment he anticipated I would. Good news. Hope the next two go as smoothly.

Life is always uncertain, even the small things. Tonight we waited to hear if they would cancel Jacob’s baseball game because of weather. 5:30 came, so we all trooped to the Grill for supper, and still no word. The staff asked, “Is everybody going to the game?” “Not me,” I replied. “It’s cold  out.” So after supper I saw them off to the game and retreated to my warm house. It’s a night to go to bed early. Jordan just texted on her way home and said, "So cold!"

Maybe tomorrow will be spring again.

Inertia

Inertia, I've decided, breeds inertia. I stayed home alone all day. Not deliberately, but I had nothing I needed to do outside the house--no lunch date, no grocery shopping. If I went out mindlessly, I'd end up spending money. And I did have things to do at my desk. So I stayed home. But I felt sluggish, tentative, etc. When I looked in the mirror, I was surprised to see that I looked normal.
Jordan and Jacob came by at noon--a slight break--and then about five Jacob arrived to spend the night, and my day has brightened a great deal. We watched the news together--who knew a six-year-old is that interested in what goes on in the world? But at the end he clasped his hand to his forehead and said, "A bomb, a fire, and now a flood. This has been a bad violent week!" I agreed. It's been a hard week on all of us.
After the news, we had happy hour in the backyard--sparkling cider in a flute for him, chardonnay for me, and lots of love for the dog. Jacob ran out to get a small decorative pail or metal basket by Elizabeth's door, filled it with ice, and put my wine and his in it to carry outside (I really should have gotten a picture). Sophie discovered some kind of buzzing bug in the grass and carried on, nosing up to it, then jumping back in alarm. Jacob declared it was a bee, but I suspect a wasp of some sort--the sort I'm allergic to.
Jacob is watering Elizabeth's plants while she's away. He watered this morning and started to do it again this evening, but I warned him about the dangers of over-watering. So he carefully felt the soil in each pot and discussed which one was moist--most--and which dry. He can discuss minutiae endlessly.
We finally came in for a dinner of leftovers--barbecue, which last night he said was sloppy Joe and tonight he refused to eat, beans, carrots, tomatoes, and broccoli. He ate medium well and has just, at 7:45, announced that he's hungry. Endless.
Tomorrow we'll go to church and a friend is coming for dinner, so I can banish inertia. But it's an insidious disease.

A good kind of too tired

Last night I posted that I was too tired to write Judy's Stew and several kind people posted with wishes for a good rest and the like. I was so tired I did something I never do: went to bed with dishes in the sink and got up this morning to face soaking flatware and a greasy crockpot. But let me stress: I was the good kind of tired that comes from an evening surrounded by people who are important to me, eating more than my share of food and drinking a tad more wine than wise. When my neighbors and family get together, it's noisy, happy, always an evening full of joy. I can't hear a thing anyone says, but I love it.
We gathered last night to welcome Graham and Heather Brizendine, with son Gage, my new neighbors to the east. We'll see a lot of each other in years to come as we have common driveways. Their house has been a worry to me--rental property in which there have been some people who became dear to me, some whom I never saw, and a couple of difficult ones--like the reclusive couple who threw trash in the bushes or the loud fraternity boys. I've had coeds--they were really polite and considerate--and a three TCU boys who made great neighbors. I had Sue, who has become part ofmy close circle of friends, and her two children for at least three years and grew use to having them nearby, parted with them sadly--but they're not far away. Still I always worried about who would move in next. Now I have a nice family, set to stay for many years--I hope they do.
It was a potluck supper, and I made crockpot barbecue--and announced last night if I ever said I would do it again, someone should commit me (Jay thought I mean commit me to making it but that's not what I had in mind). I remembered how good it was, I just forgot how much work it took. I shredded beef by hand while watching the Boston search. We had a feast--Jay made great potato salad with a definite lemon flavor, Greg and Jaimie brought enough cole slaw for Cox's army, Elizabeth contributed beans, Jordan and Cathy both brought veggies, cheese and snacks. I made a pan of cheater's chocolate chip cookies (so easy) and Cathy brought those bars that are graham crackers with brown sugar, butter and pecans on them--delicious! I hope Heather and Graham don't think we eat that way all the time! But I'm looking forward to a good lunch today. Even Jacob ate barbecue--he thought it was sloppy Joe.
Special thanks to Jordan and Elizabeth for helping put the dinner together, and even more important, putting away leftovers and organizing the kitchen so well that I finished it in under thirty minutes this morning. They freed me to visit with our guests, and I am grateful.
I am so grateful for my small, happy corner of the world!