I will miss you, Grandmom Lee

When I think of Grandmom Lee, I think of the word "respite." She taught me that word when I was maybe 10 or so, and said whenever I needed it, I could come to her and she would be my respite, my peaceful break from life.
I remember her house, and how she always saved milk tops, and meat trays, and rubber bands. I remember every room of the house in Plymouth Meeting vividly.
As a cook, alot of my memories are wrapped around meals, and some of my favorite childhood memories take place in Grandmoms kitchen and dining room, where the menu rarely fluctuated- halved grapefruit with a cherry, salad in those wooden bowls, with a whole onion for grandpop, barley soup, and, as we used to joke about, some type of"meat," Living around so much of my husbands family now, and watching all my nieces put o plays and sing for the adults, I yearn to be back in grandmoms house with all of my aunts, uncles and cousins.
I remember going to plymar with grandmom, and how she used to watch me endlessly on the slides and the diving boards. I remember laughing in the showers with her in the locker room, jumping out of the spray when someone flushed the toilet.
It is bittersweet for me that I live so far away, and have not seen grandmom for many years. The memories i have of her will always be when she was younger, of walking in the wissahicon, and swimming laps.
I wish she had gotten to meet my Sam, as I was her first grandchild,he is her first great grandchild, and I know she would have made him feel as special as she did her Meri Day.
I love you, grandmom. Thank you for giving me a love of books, and a love of writing, and for always making me feel special and peaceful. I hope you are at peace, now.

Cousin Allegra

Allegra- I am so sorry we missed your wedding. You look so beautiful! I heard it was quite a party, and I hate to miss a good party. I wish you so much happiness. Hope to see you soon.

Blue Skies!!

We returned home from Portland to be greeted by lovely blue skies this morning, a huge treat after what seems like months of smoke smoke smoke. It was so nice to be home, sleep in my own bed, and see Jeff. I love to watch Sam's face when he sees his daddy after a long time, he just lights right up and it is so cute.

I am sorry, but I did not take one picture the whole time we were away. The lovely photo above is courtesy of Pam, who is also my hero for the autographed Chuck (chuckles!!) Pahlaniuck book, which we can't leave around the kiddies.

So, Portland. It rained the whole time, which was actually great, better then the heat wave I heard they were having. We did too much shopping, It was a trip to take my German nieces and nephew to Clackamas Town Center, but good for them, great exchange rate! Its funny how overwhelmed I get at a mall now, too, after living in Orleans. So much stuff!!

I got to take my nieces Geena and Annie to walk on Hawthorne, we went to lunch at the Cup and Saucer. Our waitress was so sweet, Lori, she brought Sam fruit without us asking and he flirted with her the whole time. Then Brian and I saw her later at the Triple Nickle and I was going to buy her a drink but she was leaving.

Sam and I also got to visit Dr. Ed, which was very sweet. Sam had just woken up from sleeping in the car, so Dr. Ed did not get to experience the full effect of Sam's' personality.

Bri and I went out Tuesday night to the Galaxy, and got to hang out with Justen and the rest of the crew. It is just so surreal to hang out with them now. I miss my boys so much. Justen, bless his heart, burned me Hannah Montana and Jonas Brother Cd's for my niece Geena who was riding home with me. She was in heaven, and now I have "Best of Both Worlds" in my head.

Sam turned 9 months old yesterday. He has three teeth and a nub of a top tooth. His hair is growing. He has been getting constant attention from 11 nieces and nephews, Aunts and grandparents. He can crawl up stairs, which makes me sick to my stomach. He babbles constantly, and is so funny.

Next week is my blog's 1 year anniversary!!

My brilliant child

So, Sam and I have a book that we read together before naps and bedtime, "I love you through and through." Last night, Jeff and I were reading on the couch and Sam was playing at our feet. I said "Sam, go bring mommy 'I Love you Through and Through'" and darned if he didn't crawl right over to the book, pick it up, and bring it back to me. Jeff is my witness. We both looked at each other in shock. Smart baby!!

We are going to Newport for a few days and then off to Portland! Hopefully I will get to see a few of my friends, none of them have seen Sam since he was 3 months old. He is much bigger and way more fun!!

Visitors!

We have Aunt Lisa, and cousins Sophie, Lena, Annie and Luis visiting from Germany. I'll post pictures soon. Sam is never wanting for company and is going to be awfully let down when they all leave and the girls start school again. His cousins are beautiful and talented, and Sam cannot get enough of them! Aunt Jennifer and cousins Lillian, Jackson and Avery from Detroit will be down this afternoon. Sam will be completely overstimulated, but its great for me because I have a lot of down time and I love to see him play with the kids. He really believes he is older than he is. He is pulling up on everything, and cruising around. I am afraid he will be walking soon. Oh no!!
We got him a mini basketball game so that he can be ready for basketball season. GO BLAZERS!!!

Pasta Machine!!

I got a pasta machine from Amazon.com, so I decided to jump right in and make pasta for about 16 people! I used a recipe from Saveur Magazine, and since it served 4 decided to triple it. The dough was stiff and complicated to knead, so I threw it in the stand mixer. Due to the amount of dough I made, the mixer was making sad wheezing sounds,so I took it out and kneaded the rest by hand.
Half way through. Will I ever be done?
All of the Pasta

Beautiful finished product- Linguine with Lamb Ragu'. After all that, we have a ton of pasta left over in the fridge. I will never triple any recipe again! It was delicous, though, and got rave reviews.

Pictures

Grandpop Steve, Grandmom El, and Sam
I let Sam have a carpet buffet while we were watching "Lonesome Dove."
Sam found a lot of interest in the roll of toilet paper and the trash can.

Fall TV

Well, its almost time for fall TV and I am pretty sad. We don't get Fox, NBC,or CBS, so it looks like I am going to have to find alternate ways to watch "House," "Prison Break" "The Office" " Survivor" and whatever else I forgot. Justen? My VCR savior? Please? I guess I could watch them on line but it's really not the same. Also, Brian is my Prison Break buddy so i am sure he will miss me.

As well as we are talking about television, I should mention just how lame I think all of the new designers are on this season of "Project Runway." I thought that Tim Gunn was going to have an apoplexy 3 weeks ago when everyone made their dresses out of tablecloths instead of something creative. I do like Leanne from Portland and that Kenley, who is super cute.