Monday, August 16, 2010

This and That, Deux


Sometimes it's the "little things" that make life special, like an old doll quilt from a departed Great Grandma, little animals, and tea dishes to share with the granddaughters.  My sister gets down on the floor and plays "tea party"  with her two granddaughters, my great-nieces, and our old things are new again. 

Some observations on a beautiful dry sunny windy day in Wisconsin:
  • We have hardwood floors in the house, and I no longer need to dust under the recliners in the family room.  Oliver loves to hide and sit under them when we are in them, rolls around, and thoroughly removes any dust.  What a cat.  A Roomba of a cat.
  • The PGA tournament this weekend was near here in Wisconsin, on the shores of majestic Lake Michigan, really an inland sea.  I hope people from around the country got a glimpse of why we like it here.
  • I am sorting through very early quilts I made back in the 80's.  Some are still terrific, the classic designs, pieced well, tried and true.  I'm keeping them.  Some are rather unfortunate, and are being bundled up to give to charity, as someone can love them.  They are being wasted at my house.  Oliver loves to help sort quilts too.  We were both sneezing though.
  • I have too many sewing machines.  And too many boxes they came in.  Oh no..... 
  • On the top shelf of an unused closet an old "word processor/electric typewriter" from before we had computers was found.  What to do with it?  Does anyone still want an electric typewriter? Hmmm. The word processor function let you see 4 lines of type and had memory for that too, so you could somehow go back and correct things in those 4 lines.  The readout was vile neon green.  I remember I thought it was amazing at the time.
  • Getting old means you still save things that might prove useful, but you can't find them even if you do remember you have them.  I have decided if you don't know you have them you might as well NOT have them.  Out it all goes.  The house is beginning to feel lighter.
  • Satellite Delay.  This is a term from several years ago that was used in the news when interviewing people by satellite and we had that time lag when there was dead air.  We now use it in our house to describe not being able to remember something or have it actually register until that lag occurs.  Sometimes it is a moment or two, but recently my satellite delay in remembering the name of that white sauce I made for creamed fresh veggies took two weeks.  Then it popped into my head, Bechamel Sauce.  Yum.   Just scream out "satellite delay......" and then what you remembered. 
  • Quilting?  Ah, not right now. 
Enjoy your summer and the little things.
Diane

12 comments:

Beth@IHaveANotion.com said...

Satellite Delay!!! I love it... Of course now we can call it the Skype Delay... because so many TV's programs are using Skype the same way that the Satellite was used....

We were living lite... and today my Air Shipment finally showed up.... funny what we thought would be important... until our major shipment arrives.... similar to the junk we find in the small place of our homes... forgotten and unused.

Beth-Pretoria, South Africa

Diane Gaudynski said...

Oh no Beth! I am already outdated with "satellite delay"! I will now update my term to "Skype Delay" - thanks!

Quilt or Dye said...

How can you possibly have too many sewing machines??? LOL

Featheronawire Sally Bramald said...

I'm just so impressed you have an unused closet. I wish I could find one of those.
Slowly we are getting rid of 'stuff'. This is with a little bullying from a friend/organiser. She keeps telling me how much there is in the loft. I can't get up there so I can't matter at all, can it?
I wish my cats would deal with the dust bunnies.

Diane Gaudynski said...

Not too many machines, just too many for a smaller space. Darn.

Oh, I misspoke. It isn't an unused closet, it is so chock-full of bric-a-brac from the ages that digging into it is daunting. I took out stacks of old coats and you can't even tell. It started out as an "extra" closet and filled with things not used, hence the 'unused' description.

I do think the cutting down on clutter is calming.

And no, don't worry about what you can't access!

floribunda said...

I've just started watching the first season of Madmen, and there's a wonderful scene where the new secretary comes in and her predecessor tells her not to be scared of the "new technology"... a first-generation IBM Selectric typewriter! (also, I think my DH went to high school in Waukesha all those years ago.)

Kay Lynne said...

I've been slowly cutting down on clutter and finding that it's nice to not have to work around it :)

Marsha said...

OMG - satellite delay! Gotta love it .... perfect for those of us in the 55+ generation (way over 55, BTW).

Elaine said...

Bechamel sauce....another of those things that I can no longer afford to include in my diet, Sigh. Nor can I toss veggies lightly with butter and salt. Being very slim all my young life was bad training for being this old!

Diane Gaudynski said...

Elaine, I spelled it just like you do, then changed it to bechemel....I think the "a" is correct, but another problem about getting older is I am now impatient and don't bother checking things out and just wing it way too often.

I can't believe all the good things I cooked or my mother cooked that we no longer eat either, and once in a while I'll make something from days gone by. So delicious.

Dinny said...

Yes, the French quilt lady says "Béchamel sauce" but I think my mother from Scarsdale, NY just said "white cream sauce." My Cuisine mentor was and still is Julia Childs and I had the privilege of having a divine lunch at La Couronne in Rouen this July where she was introduced to French cooking. Nothing on quilting but never mind! Dinny

Diane Gaudynski said...

Dinny, you are right about the sauce spelling, and my mother said "white cream sauce" too, or just "creamed fresh green beans," or "creamed peas" - we always had creamed peas with new potatoes in the spring, and with crispy southern fried chicken.

I am so envious of your lunch where Julia dined in Rouen! I cooked along with Julia on TV and with her recipes in the 1970's, and still make many of her dishes, and of course use the techniques all the time.

Loved the movie last year too. I think we gained a little weight after I saw it and started cooking for real again afterwards.