“A man’s palate can, in time, become accustomed to anything.”
Posted May 7, 2022 by katryCategories: Musings
Tags: Accra, chapter books, Garlic, Ghana, Lebanese food, Peace Corps, puddles, rain
The morning is ugly. The rain comes and goes. The high will be in the low 50’s, and the day will stay rainy. I’m glad I have nowhere I have to be. The house is warm and the coffee is hot. I have harkened back to my childhood and am watching Monster from the Ocean Floor, a 1954 black and white science fiction movie. All I’m missing is the Rice Krispies.
The dogs watched from the deck while two spawns of Satan chased other from tree to tree, branch to branch. I figure the chase is a prelude to romance. Ah, spring!
Puddles were always inviting. When I was little, I loved stomping in the water until the puddle disappeared. I always rode my bike through puddles. I’d raise both legs off the pedals and watch the water spray into the air on each side of my bike. It was a bit like the parting of the Red Sea.
When I was a kid, I remember being excited when I started reading chapter books. Gone were the chickens, the hens, small animals and the colored pictures of the Golden Books. Because the chapter books were long, I always used a bookmark to keep my place. I thought it a sin of sorts, a sacrilege, when people dog-eared pages. I still use bookmarks. Some are official while others are just torn pieces of paper. My current book mark is from a bookstore no longer around. It is ephemera.
My father liked spaghetti with stewed tomatoes. That was the way his mother cooked it when he was a kid. He always said the only places for garlic were shrimp scampi and garlic bread. He didn’t like Romano cheese, only parmesan, but he was easily duped. As long as he didn’t see the garlic or the Romano being used, he didn’t taste them. I loved watching him eat Chinese food. He’d keep his handkerchief close so he could blow his nose and wipe his eyes, effects from the amount of hot mustard he used. He often chose foods with his eyes. He wouldn’t eat hummus. He said it looked like wallpaper paste.
My palate expanded when I lived in Ghana. I was introduced not only to Ghanaian food but also to Lebanese and Indian. Hole-in-the-wall Lebanese restaurants were all around Accra. The food was cheap so I ate a lot of Lebanese food, mostly for lunch. Indian food was a treat. The one Chinese restaurant in Accra served its Chinese food with a Ghanaian twist. The flavors were unique. We always ate outside on the veranda. Eating there was a bit expensive. Even the taxi ride was dear, but we didn’t really care. We were on vacation when we went to Accra, the big city, the city of cars and lights and street markets. I knew the city well, but being from the Upper Region, I always felt a bit like a rube, a country cousin.
“If leeches ate peaches instead of my blood, then I would be free to drink tea in the mud!”
Posted May 6, 2022 by katryCategories: Musings
Today is supposed to be really warm, in the 60’s. Today it is also supposed to rain. The sky is filed with light clouds, not yet ominous. The air is still. The dogs are in and out, and in between they eat each other’s faces while playing in the hall. I’m hoping their morning naps are close at hand.
My father bought a CB radio when CB radios were the rage. He kept it on the whole time we were traveling usually back and forth to Boston. He picked up all the slang. It used to make me laugh. He loved to chat. My father had good buddies and wanted to know if there were smokies. 10-4 acknowledged the information he received. We were extras in a Smokey the Bandit movie. My father was the star.
I have some really old black and white photos from a New Hampshire vacation when I was around four. One photo is of my brother and me sitting on top of a tiny waterfall. I remember doing that. I remember the water felt tingly on my legs, and I have a huge grin on my face from the tingles.
I remember another trip to visit some of my father’s relatives also in New Hampshire. The house was by a small pond. A row boat sat on the ground between the pond and the house. Its life on the water had ended. The row boat was now a planter with red flowers. My brother and I went swimming in our underwear as we hadn’t expected to swim so no bathing suits. We didn’t swim long. My mother screamed when we got out of the water. Leeches were on our backs. My father pulled them off.
Nala is much better. She is still taking pills and getting drops in her ear. She found one pill not so well hidden in her first morning piece of banana and spit it out. I tried again and duped her. She ate both pieces with better hidden pills.
On my dance card today is a uke concert at an assisted living facility. We were there a month ago and we were their first entertainment since the start of Covid. We’re singing bluegrass today.
