Peach Pies and Memories of Home

Saturday was the first time my grandmother, Mamadot, had the opportunity to meet Jacob. When she saw him, she immediately said, “I’ve seen that baby before.” She swears he looks just like me. It was fun to hear that as most people say he looks like Anna and Anna looks like Doug. I’ve always wanted one of the children to at least resemble me in some small manner but they tend to favor Doug or his side most (I think). It was special to be able to have some quality time with Mamadot this visit. Normally, our trips are so rushed. This one was also but we found the time to spend the night at her house one night. She came and stayed with us at my mother’s and also accompanied us to the airport. A friend of ours once mentioned that he wished he could blink his eyes and capture an image that would stay forever in his mind as a camera-snapped image would on a piece of photo paper. As I thought about that on this trip, I took a few moments to snap some shots that I often picture in my head whenever I think of visiting Mamadot’s.


Her hands and the rings she always wears...


The view of the house from the pond...

The windmill...


The barn my older cousins convinced my brother to jump from when he was little. It's near the shed the same older cousins tried to hang me in when I was little. :)

One of the ponds where my cousin and I used to fish with our cane poles for catfish.

My grandmother is one of the sweetest women you will ever meet. She never has a bad word to say about anyone. She’s always pleasant and always quick to laugh. She is still quite spry at age 83 and her mind is like a steel trap. She remembers everyone and everything. I have trouble remembering my own birthday but without even a moment’s hesitation she can tell you each of her four daughter’s birthdays, her eight grandkids’ birthdays, and her eight great-grandkids’ birthdays. She, like me, or should I say, I, like her are the two avid readers in the family and we both love crossword puzzles and Sudoku. I would love for her to be able to visit our family here in California but we can’t convince her to fly. She’s a strong woman and a wonderful role model for our girls. I’m glad they had a chance to spend some time with her this trip. It just wasn’t enough.
It’s that time of year and the peaches are ripe. Mamadot has always loved peaches. She once told me the story of how she and her brother climbed into a peach tree and ate a ton of green peaches. Her grandmother told her father and she got in trouble. Well, she now has her own peach trees and can eat them whenever she likes. She makes a wonderful peach pie. It's so good in fact that I must share it. Enjoy!



Fresh Peach Pie

Bake pie shell of choice and allow to cool.

Mix together 1 c. of sugar, 3 tbs. of cornstarch and 1 c. of water. Bring to a boil.

Remove from heat and add 1 3-oz. box of peach jello. Mix well.

Quarter 3-4 ripe peaches and layer in pie shell. When the jello mixture thickens, pour over peaches and chill. When cool and set, cover with cool whip.

Lazy Daze

When I was a child, my family spent many summer days on the white sands of the beach at Gulf Shores. I have so many fond memories of those times. I loved the feel of the sand between my toes, the smell of the salt in the breeze, the bath-like temperatures of the water, the heat of the sun on my face, and the sound of thunderstorms as they rolled off the water toward land. Many weekends were passed with my mother at my grandparent's beach house in Orange Beach. And every year for one week, we would have a fun-filled adventure in a cabin in Gulf Shores with my dad and Elaine. They always rented a turquoise, two-story outfitted with yellow dolphins and a mermaid cutout. We would spend the entire week sun-soaked, water-logged, and seafood-filled. My dad would begin his day by fishing out on the jetty. Wes and I would swim and snorkel and build sand castles. There was a small shower that you could rinse off under and a hammock perfect for an afternoon nap when the day became too hot. We found sand dollars and starfish and would go crabbing in the lagoon down the way. Elaine and her mother always used the blue crabs we caught in their homemade gumbo. It was a special tradition and one I really wanted to share with my children. So, when I found out that not only were we going to be in town at the same time as my brother and his wife, but also that Elaine had rented a place at the beach for us, I was over the moon. We couldn't get the little turquoise cabin this time but we did get a beautiful condo right on the water. Elaine had rented the condo as a present to Daddy for his retirement and as a birthday present for the two of them. It really turned out to be a gift for all of us.

It warmed my heart to see my kids doing the same things my brother and I had done.
They caught bait fish with Uncle Wes and Aunt Amy.

They hunted for seashells.They swam A LOT and did a little fishing with PawPaw. Lauren even carried this Red all the way down the beach from the jetty, telling people all along the way they could pet her fish if they wanted. They built sand castles with Granny. They did a little bird and dolphin watching. They socialized.... and rested.

And they ate Granny's gumbo...just like we used to do.

They had to be carried (cough...Lauren) off the beach kicking and screaming. They visited with cousins.



They came in at night, covered in dried salt, fingers and toes pruned, brown as berries, and exhausted from the business of having fun. The shot above may look idyllic but when I asked Anna if she would have her picture taken with me, she said she would only do it if I would give her a dollar. Stinker.

I remember it was a big deal as a child to to visit Souvenir City and so I felt it necessary to take the girls there. I thought they would appreciate the bins full of shells that I remembered from when I was small. They were, however, most excited, I think, by the fact that they got to "walk through a shark into his stomach". The bins of shells didn't even merit a response from the peanut gallery.Granny had given them each $10 to buy a toy or t-shirt. But oh no, not my two. They decided that only a hermit crab would do as their souvenir. So, we came home with Balmie and Sonny...our new pets.

In case you're wondering, these guys are not easy to photograph. It took me about 1500 photos or so it seemed to get 3 decent ones.Another FYI, United Airlines does NOT allow in-cabin or checked travel for hermit crabs. So, Balmie and Sonny are now living a happy life in the country with their Nana.
Still, however, the girls thoroughly enjoyed them while we were there.

You may remember that I've mentioned I've developed an irrational fear of sharks. While swimming, the girls kept wanting to go deeper and deeper. I kept wanting them to come back to shore. My dad attempted to comfort me by telling me that he had been swimming, fishing, and diving in those waters since 1963 and in all that time he had only ever seen two sharks. I tried to be sensible and relax. Early Wednesday evening though, Wes, Amy, Jacob, and I were in the room putting together a puzzle. It began to get a little dark but Anna and Lauren were still hard at play with Granny and PawPaw in the water. My dad was fishing while Elaine swam with the girls. I walked out on the balcony and looked at them all through the binoculars to make sure everything was okay. When I walked back in, I mumbled something to Wes and Amy to the effect of, "Don't they know that sharks feed at sunset?" After another half hour or so, Elaine called in over the walkie talkie and asked us to bring down some towels for them. Wes and Amy went down while I stayed in the room. Well, when they all came back to the room, I nearly had a heart attack. Apparently, while they were fishing AND swimming, Daddy pulled in a 2 foot black-tip shark. He hauled it into shore where it was apparently a big draw for the remaining people on the beach. One of the gawkers mentioned to my stepmom, "Well, if this is a baby, the mom must be out there somewhere." Elaine's response was, "GIRLS...OUT OF THE WATER!" I know, I know...I'm being over dramatic but they're my babies and it was a shark even if it was a little one. The girls both got to touch the shark on its back before my dad put it back in the water. Afterwards, my dad told me that Lauren was dancing a little jig with her eyes the size of full moons, saying, "PawPaw, you caught a shark! YOU CAUGHT A SHARK!! Let's eat him!!!!" Well, we didn't eat the shark but we did eat well! We had seafood salad, gumbo, fresh corn, corn salad, incredible sandwiches, and breakfasts as well as homemade whipped cream atop freshly pureed strawberries on a cream cheese pound cake. Speaking of pounds, I think I put on about five!

This was the first time in many years that I was able to spend some quality time with my brother. I left for the military when he was just starting high school and I never knew how darned funny he is. He kept me in stitches the entire trip. He sang songs, he made walkie-talkie jokes, and he gave my children their American Indian names. We are part Cherokee somewhere along the way so I guess it was only fitting. I made a reference to Jacob and some asparagus I had eaten and so young Jacob became "Green Cloud". Lauren has been on a "NO" kick lately and normally responds to any request with "No" or "Never". So, squaw Lauren became known as "Sez No Sez No". Anna was unusually whiny this trip. I think it must have been because she was tired. The kids really did play so hard. That didn't stop Wes, however, from naming my oldest "Whining Bird". I really did have the best time with Wes and Amy. I just adore them and would love to live closer. Amy is one of those people that you just instantly feel like you've known forever. She and Wes are perfect together.

We were so sad to see the trip come to an end but are already talking about doing it again next year. I can't wait.

Fishin' Time

Friday morning we awoke to find that Poppy (my stepdad) had driven through the night to make it home to see the little ones. I think he got into bed around 4:00 that morning and the girls had him up two hours later. This was the first time he had ever seen Jacob and so they had a little male-bonding time.

The girls were on cloud 9 because Poppy was home ...and they finally…finally got to go fishing!

Lauren was determined to eat the fish they were going to catch and told Poppy so in no uncertain terms. He told her that was fine and set about teaching them how to cast their new “Transformer” and “Barbie” fishing reels courtesy of PawPaw’s retirement party the day before. We were out of crickets so we decided to just take them to the pond and let them go through the motions of fishing. This was probably a good idea as they hit Poppy in the stomach with the worm while casting countless times. So, we didn’t actually come home with fish but Poppy still fried up some fish he had in the freezer for Lauren.

While the fish were cooking, Poppy pulled out this metal trough for the girls to take a dip in. It was insanely hot this trip and the girls couldn't wait to get into the water.