Today is cold, downright chilly, but for the first time in a while, the sun is shining though the sky is still a bit cloudy. The high today will be 30°. It seems so wrong to call 30° a high.

The dogs are out back barking. Well, mostly Henry is out back barking. Nala just goes along for the ride, so to speak. She follows him out then follows him back inside to the front door where he barks at nothing.

Yesterday I found the dogs’ nail cutter. I had hidden it from Nala as she has taken it outside a couple of times. The handle is chewed. I trimmed Nala’s nails yesterday. Henry had one look and took off running. He is not a fan of nail cutting, at least by me, but he definitely needs his nails trimmed. The last time I tried I managed to trim only a couple of nails on one paw before he got away. I will be persistent rather than pay to have them done.

Last night I was overcome with nostalgia. I watched the first Zorro episode, the Disney Zorro, and the first Spin and Marty. I was ten when Zorro started. Even then I always wondered why nobody knew Don Diego was Zorro, just like I wondered about Superman and Clark Kent. Even Don Diego’s father didn’t recognize him behind the mask despite the same mustache and a familiar voice.

When I was a kid, my mother always made her cakes and brownies from scratch. Her brownies had chocolate frosting and jimmies, sprinkles to those of you not from here. No other brownies come close. Hers still define chocolate for me. She also never bought biscuits for her strawberry shortcake. She made cream of tartar biscuits, my father’s favorite. That’s how I serve my strawberry shortcake. They are the tastes of my childhood.

The field and swamp near my house were bleak in winter. The grassy field was brown. The swamp usually turned to ice early on because it was shallow. We skated there. The swamp was a straight walk through the fields from my house, but if I turned right beyond the field, there was a small hill with a water tower at the top. I always wanted to climb that tower, but there was no way up, probably a good thing.

I saw a cooking video the other day. The cook had mealy flour. He explained that you could sift the flour to get rid of the bugs or pick them out. He went on the say that leaving the bugs in gave the food more protein. I immediately called my friends. In Ghana, our flour came in huge bags and flour weevils moved right in. We never bothered with them. We used to say they were added protein. That cook must’ve heard us.

This entry was posted on January 30, 2024 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.