Where is Blythe?

Peeeeeeeeeeeek--

--a boo!

Blythe hid herself on our bed, then delightedly revealed herself after we had "looked" for her all over.

She is already a big tease.

Grandpa B is 85! Moo moo moo moo moo moo

(explanation of the cow to follow)

It was Grandpa B's 85th birthday yesterday, and family gathered today to celebrate.  George is so young at heart, eager to be on the move, and always on the lookout for the next good project to engage him.  He is happiest when surrounded by family; one of his oft quoted sayings is "No empty chairs."  There were a few empty chairs at his birthday party today, but not many.  

Yesterday, on his actual birthday, we called Grandpa to sing "Happy Birthday."  Brandt said, "Let's sing like cows," began to moo "Happy Birthday" and then said, after a few bars, "Like that."  Kent and I said okay, we called Grandpa, and then we mooed--the whole song.   

When finished, George asked, somewhat stupefied, "Why the mooing?"  I explained and George said, "In all my 85 years, I have never been mooed to.  That was wonderful!"  Naturally a grandpa would think anything his grandson did was wonderful--even mooing. 

The birthday boy and Michellie with the cake she made for him.

And a close-up of the cake.  It is Grandpa on the Great Wall of China.

Brandt and Blythe played outside on the "pirate ship" for most of the party, and fortunately it was warm enough this afternoon that they could be outside comfortably.

Grandpa George--always on the hunt for the best shot.

Blythe with a considerable amount of her raspberry sherbet ice cream cone 

ALL OVER HER FACE!  

I wonder how much actually got in her mouth.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I just read this book for my book group.  It is the story of the German occupation during WWII of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of England.  It was wonderful--funny and sad and romantic and about books!  I wanted it to be 300 more pages so I could keep reading.  It was all told through letters, and in one letter, someone writes about the Red Cross boxes the inhabitants of Guernsey received after several years of occupation and lack of food.  The contents were listed and the recipient expressed such gratitude for all the boxes contained.

During the war, my Grandpa DeMartini was shot down over Germany and ended up in a POW camp.  I have copies of notebooks he wrote in while he was incarcerated. They are full of notes about food--foods Grandpa longed for in Kriegieland (as he called Germany), meals he would eat later, including the first breakfast when he gets home (orange juice, oatmeal with sugar and cream, pancakes with butter and syrup, scrambled eggs and ham steak, French fried potatoes, hot biscuits, and coffee--I hope he got it), and all sorts of recipes and menus for the future.

There are also recipes for meals made with food from German rations and contents of American Red Cross parcels, things like pea powder pudding (roasted pea powder, sugar, mashed bread, milk, D-bar, sprinkled cocoa topping), and Kriegie spread (cheese, salmon or sardines, ground K-2 biscuits, butter, and raisins eaten on toast).  From the comfort of the family room couch, those both sound terrible.  But from the discomfort of a POW camp, they may have been somewhat satisfying.

Grandpa also listed the contents of American Red Cross Parcels.  Here is what they contained:

1 can powdered milk (Klim, Milko, Rosemary, Nestle, Beatrice)

1 can meat (Spam, spiced ham, etc.)

1 can C-ration stew or meat and beans (or 1 can corned beef)

1 can salmon or tuna (or 2 cans sardines)

1 can Oleomargine (1 lb.)

1 can jam or peanut butter (cherry, pineapple, grape, strawberry)

1 can cocoa or 2 D-bars or 1 D-bar and M&Ms

1 can coffee, soluable

1 box biscuits or 1 box cereal

1 box raisins or prunes

1 can or box of American cheese (Kraft, etc)

1 can liver or chicken pate

1 box (1/2 lb) sugar (Jack Frost, Domino)

1 packet salt and pepper mixture

2 bars soap

5 packs cigarettes

1 package vitamin pills

Most of the contents had a points value, but I have no idea what the points were for.  Grandpa also received Canadian Red Cross parcels and a POW capture parcel which had clothes and cleaning supplies rather than food.  All these parcels seem sparse, and I wonder how often they were sent and how long they were meant to last.  I don't imagine anything worth having lasted long enough.  

Date Night

For Christmas, Kent promised he would take me to the movie at least four times this year.

I like going to the movie.

Kent doesn't.  

But Kent does like me.

So last night we went to see the 1923 silent movie Safety Last starring Harold Lloyd and accompanied by 

Mike Ohman, an avid theater organist who is absolutely amazing.

It was wonderfully funny and the music was incredible.

And then after the movie, Kent took me for ice cream.

Love Potion #31 at Baskin Robbins.  

YUM!

Our family sign

Made with My Cool Signs.Net

Brandt's most frequent request

Can you guess what Brandt asks us to do all the time?

Several times a day, at least.  

Two things really.

First: Do a puppet show, Dad/Mom.

He loves us to tell him stories with puppets.  

However, we will frequently be derailed in our story telling if Brandt doesn't like where the story is going.  Here is an example:

One day, I had a horse puppet who was going to market with a pig (the one who went to market.)  The horse wanted to buy some oats and the pig was showing him the best place to purchase them.  When the horse and pig arrived, the shopkeeper (Brandt) informed us that he was all out of oats.  The horse asked for barley, and hay, and even some clover, but without luck.  So what is a puppeteer to do?  Ask the shopkeeper what he does have and let him create the story.  

Request number two?

Tell me a Jack and Simon story.

Jack and Simon Tanner are our neighbors and Brandt loves them.

He likes to go on adventures with them--to the circus, to the fire station, on motorcycle or four-wheeler rides, to the mountains or lakes or to help others in need.  

They have a marvelous time together, really and in our collective imagination.

Kung Hei Fat Choi

Happy Chinese New Year

We gathered with friends for delish Chinese food and Chinese conversation.  

My contribution was to wish everyone happy new year, but I did it in Cantonese, not Mandarin.

Hey! It was Chinese.

What a fish!

Look at that bowl of dumplings.

I think I ate nine.  

Or ten.

Happy Valentine's Day

It is the season of love.  

And sugar cookies.

With all the DeMartini cousins, we gathered at Grandma and Grandpa's house 

to decorate cookies and make valentines.  

It was yummy and messy.  And always fun to be with cousins.

Brandt making a heart necklace for Dad, although Mom ended up wearing it.

The valentine making mess.  Griffin ate glitter.

Heart necklace making.

Mom and Blythe with heart necklaces.

Makenna, Aunt Sharae, and Luke making valentines.

Grandpa De looking thrilled to be involved in valentine making. 

Someone give him a cookie!

And Grandma Sue with her cute heart necklace.  

She's happy, but give her a cookie too.

Brandt was really pestering me to decorate cookies.  

When we were ready to frost and decorate, Brandt came excitedly to the table, 

decorated two cookies, one for Dad (the one with the red hearts) and one for him (the one he is eating) 

and was done. 

Are two cookies enough?

 

Crew was an enthusiastic decorator.  

He made sure each cookie had plenty of sprinkles.  

He said, "I want a pile" and he had one.

The finished product.  

They were beautiful and tasty!

Blythe and Uncle Christopher.  

She likes to snuggle with him and he likes to tickle her.

.

Ava with her heart necklace . . . 

and Blake with his.  

We had fun, fun, fun!

Being a woman in Kabul, and being one here

For book group this month, I selected The Bookseller of Kabul.  The author, Asne Seierstad, is a Norwegian woman journalist who lived for several months with the family of a man who owns several bookstores in Kabul.  She gives the reader an insider's view of this family's personal interactions and relationships.  


Quite frankly, it was depressing.  The family lives in very humble circumstances in spite of being comparatively well off, and the women, especially, seem to have such miserable existences.  They cook, they clean, they wear the burka, they are denied education and employment opportunities.  They are oppressed with no real hope of release or change.  


I naturally compared my life experience to theirs.  I too cook and clean.  While I sometimes feel oppressed because those tasks are part of my life responsibilities, I get to cook whatever I want and I get to clean a lovely, large home.  In fact, we enjoy enormous variety in what we eat and only yesterday I hired someone to help with the cleaning.  


I have never been denied educational opportunities.  My formal education has ended, but I still have access to books and experiences that enrich my life and fulfill my intellectual needs.  And while I don't work, I consider it a tremendous blessing that I don't have to work.  Kent fully supports me in my endeavors and wants me to succeed in anything I do.  


And burkas.  I'm not sure it is even worth commenting about burkas.   


So as I compare and contrast, I feel so incredibly fortunate to be a woman where I am.  And not just geographically.  


I am the wife of a fine man.
I am the mother of two beautiful, healthy, interesting, funny, bright children.
I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I am a cherished daughter and daughter-in-law.  
I am a valued sister and sister-in-law.
I am a doctor of arts.
I am an American.
I am a friend and neighbor.
I am a child of God.

Feed the ducks--goldfish crackers

After a long week in the house because the children have been sick--icky noses and coughing--Aunt Tysen called to invite us to join them at the BYU botany pond to feed the ducks.  It was sunny and not too cold.  The ducks greeted us enthusiastically and flocked around our feet, anxious for our offerings.  Aunt Tysen brought cheddar cheese goldfish which were a big hit all around.  As I watched, Blythe would throw a goldfish to the ducks, eat one or two, and only then throw another to the ducks.  Brandt and Blythe ran around with Ava, Crew, and Griffin, and we all enjoyed being outside in the sun.

Will any of ducks actually get crackers, or will the children eat them all?

Our Blythe in the sun

Brandt and Ava

Blythe and a duck, giving each other the eye

These pictures have the same time signature.

How is it possible for Brandt be happy and cranky in the same minute? 

 

See the itty-bitty goldfish on the ground?  The muddy ground?

Blythe has a goldfish in her mouth that only moments before was resting right next to the goldfish you can see.  I wasn't quite fast enough to stop her from putting it in her mouth.

Yum!

Cousin Ava, Blythe, Cousins Griffin and Crew, and Brandt

The circus is coming!

Actually, it came.  And we went.  

Brandt was so excited when he learned the circus was coming.  He jumped around yelling, 

"The circus is coming!  The circus is coming!"

Kent got off work early and came too.

Brandt desperately wanted to take pictures.  We probably had 18 pictures of the elephants, and all of them were of the south side of a northbound beast.  What is it with little boys and bums?

Before the show started we saw Aunt Sharae, Uncle Gene, and Blake, Makenna, and Luke.  They sat with us.

The other part of our "party":

Becky Phillips, Leyla, Heidi, Jack and Simon Tanner.

That is Ian Tanner's elbow--he came too.

We had a great time.  Since we went, Brandt has been reenacting the beginning of each half.  He says, "I ringmaster. Countdown to blackout."  Then we countdown from ten and he yells, "Blackout!"  We can hardly wait until they come again.

A welcome surprise, a strange sign, and a recipe you simply must try

It was warm and lovely today (47 degrees on February 6th!) and this afternoon, after being inside practically all week because both Brandt and Blythe have been sick and felt crummy, we went for a walk around the complex.  We saw a most welcome surprise.

They are bulbs!  Poking their heads through the snow!  Spring must be on its way, in spite of what Punxsutawney Phil says.  What does he know for Utah anyway?  The bulbs always seem to know when spring is really on its way.

Further along our walk we saw a very strange sign.  Parts are certainly understandable, but that middle section.  What does it all mean?  

I hope, if Aidan is going to kiss Whitney, that it is a chaste sort of kiss as this sign is at the local middle school where the students are 12-14 years old.  

We couldn't just go back inside after our walk--it was too beautiful.  So Brandt and Blythe went into the backyard to play in the sandbox.  Yes, the sand is mushy enough to scoop.  Brandt proceeded to make cold mud soup in his restaurant.  Stop by for a bite.  You simply must try it!  It's cold, it's muddy, and it's soupy with snow.  Who could resist such a temptation?

And in case you were worried, Brandt did wash his hands before beginning his food preparations.