PICKLE TIME

           Somehow another year has passed and I just put my last jar of Aunt Lola’s Dill Pickles in the fridge. That means it’s once again time to put up dill pickles. This is something I’ve been doing since my early twenties, so that makes about fifty years of making dill pickles.

          My Great Aunt Lola was the canning queen in my life. She canned everything from pickles to sauerkraut and actual mincemeat. Her house was on Beacon Hill and her basement was full of jars that contained everything you could possibly can. She had green beans, peaches, pears, cherries, blueberries, huckleberries…if you could can it, she did.

          The mincemeat with which most of us are familiar is the stuff that comes in a jar around the holidays. It’s mostly raisons and chopped apples. Auntie Lola made the real thing that contained actual meat. It was usually some form of venison, elk or moose because all the men back then hunted and brought home da meat. If memory serves, she made pies with her mincemeat and they were tasty.

          I loved her dill pickles as did John. Rather than just give me some…well, maybe one jar…she offered to teach me how to put up my own. The last sentence in her recipe was, “When someone compliments you on your pickles, don’t give them a jar. Offer to help them make some, otherwise you’ll run out in no time.”

          The first time I made dill pickles, I did it at her house. It was 1968 and Aunt Lola supervised each and every step through the process.  I’m still grateful for that because I’ve followed her recipe and instructions ever since. When Uncle Ike put the box of pickles in my car after we finished, she cautioned me about driving home because the jars were still warm and could potentially break. I’m proud to say I got them all home without any breakage.

          One of the things Aunt Lola liked to know, being a very frugal woman, was the cost of her canning projects. In 1968, it was thirty-three cents per quart for 18-20 quarts. In 1996, I figured out the cost and it came to ninety-nine cents per jar. This year I made twelve quarts and the cost was $4.63 per quart. That includes the cost of rings and lids plus a gallon of apple cider vinegar. I already had enough salt left over from last year and didn’t have to purchase any jars, or it would have been closer to six or seven dollars a jar.

          There was a time I put up somewhere between thirty and forty jars every August. That was because I gave them away to family, friends and coworkers at the holidays. For the most part, I believe everyone who received a jar was pleased to be a recipient because they really are the best dill pickles ever. Once I retired, I stopped making so many and cut back to twenty or less. I still gifted some friends, but also offered to teach them how to do their own the way I was taught.

          It’s been a few years, pre-covid I think, when I had three friends over. I had told them to let the cucumbers stand overnight in cold water and to scrub them clean before coming to my house. I did my cucumbers first and then supervised each woman as they did their own cucumbers. To my knowledge, only one of those friends still does her own. I gift one of the other women a jar each Christmas.

          Last year I taught Arayli and Amber how to make dill pickles. Arayli went home with five jars of her own. I texted with Amber and she is going one better…she is going to a U-Pick place and picking her own cucumbers…yay Amber. No one else in the family is interested in learning to make these fabulous treats. Perhaps once I’m gone and they discover the original recipe, someone will be eager to pick up the cucumber, so to speak. Besides teaching people how to make their own, I’ve also given the recipe away to countless folks. I don’t know how many went on to make their own pickles.

         

          A couple of things have changed over the decades I’ve been doing this. I used to peel a bulb of garlic for each and every jar. My hands would smell wonderful for days. Sometimes the skin would even peel as if I had been burned. I no longer peel garlic…my hands and wrists rebelled some years ago. Instead, I purchase the big pre-peeled bag from Costco. Since there’s so much to a bag and I don’t put up that many jars any longer, I usually try to share a bag with another pickle maker. Any that’s left over I chop, put into ice cube trays, freeze and use in recipes during the winter. 

          The other thing that has changed I actually did in the beginning. I let the cucumbers soak overnight in cold water and then scrubbed them one-by-one with a vegetable brush. When I complained about this to Aunt Lola, she asked me why I wasn’t putting them in the washing machine. Whoa, I can do that? So, for years, at least until my top-loading, not so electronic, washing machine gave up its life. I put the cucumbers in the washer, filled it with cold water, let it sit overnight and then spun the water and detritus out the following morning. The result was squeaky clean, bright green cucumbers. Now that washers are so “smart,” it’s not possible to do this, so it’s back to scrubbing with a vegetable brush…not so fun.

Great Aunt Lola’s dill pickles have once again been put up. They’ll be ready to eat in about a month and will be delicious over the coming months. At a time like this, it makes me feel very good to think Auntie Lola, wherever her spirit may reside these days, is pleased to know just how far her recipe and instructions have gone…and to know that I’m still pickling away all these years later.

PEEVISH QUESTIONS!!!

 

          How many of you have noticed the landscaping that’s being done alongside the new light rail adjacent I-5? I have and am amazed at the waste of funds. I’ve watched them grade, add topsoil and/or compost and then install nice plants. In one case between Mountlake Terrace and Lynnwood, they had to do it twice because it rained so hard gullies formed on the steep hillside.    It even appears as though there may be a sprinkler system unless those white pipes perform some other function.

          Now, don’t get me wrong, I love nice landscaping, but what makes me want to bang my head…or someone’s head…against the wall is the fact that adjacent these new plantings are areas, some of them large, full of weeds that have been growing there forever. How long before those weeds transplant themselves to the new planting areas, especially if there is a sprinkler system.

          How hard would it have been to plow up the entire area and eliminate those weeds? I’m sure that wasn’t in the scope of work which is why it didn’t get done. I’d also like to know how the sprinkler system, if there is one, is going to operate. From where will the system get the water? Who’s going to be responsible for turning it off and on and/or setting the timers so it happens. Finally, who is going to weed these huge areas of new plantings? 

          This also brings up another sort of peeve. Along Highway 99 in Snohomish County, they have installed planter barriers between the north and south lanes. These contain some lovely plants and are beautiful. Again, it looks as though there may be a sprinkler system for them, but it raises the same questions raised in the previous paragraph.

          There are other street plantings throughout King County and Seattle that were lovely when originally created. Unfortunately, they weren’t watered or weeded so now they are just unsightly concrete planters full of weeds. This makes me wonder if any of the planners for the light rail or Highway 99 looked around and saw what was created in the past. I seriously doubt they did so.

          At a time when funds are so badly needed for education and a wide variety of other necessities that would improve our society, city, county, state, country, world, it seems a huge waste of funding to build planters, install plantings in new areas only to leave them to deteriorate over time. And, yes, I know the plantings beside the light rail are undoubtedly there to help stabilize the hillside. Maybe the highway planters are to keep drivers from crossing and crashing.

          I don’t have any answers to my questions. I just know it bothers me enough to write this blog about the projects and my questions. Maybe, as I continue to age, I’m just getting more peevish about stuff or maybe it’s my wisdom kicking in.

HOUSEKEEPING

 

          A very long time ago, when my mother was younger than I am now, I would wonder why she didn’t completely clean her house. It wasn’t that it needed vacuuming or dusting all over, it was more the minor little things that she overlooked. For instance, her bathroom was always clean, but the dust on the shelves was thick. Didn’t she see all that dust? Didn’t she care?

          Well, I’m older now than she was then and I’ve become a horrible housekeeper. I look back and remember what a terrific job I used to do in my youth. A visitor could arrive any old time and find a clean house empty of dog hair, dust, and miscellaneous crap. Back then I even washed my own windows, inside and out, in a single day several times a year. Now, I pay someone to wash them inside and out once a year.

          I think perhaps the pandemic had a bit to do with my housekeeping downfall. For two years or more, no one came to visit. Why vacuum or dust or deep clean when it’s just for me, myself and I. None of us mind a bit of dog hair, dust, paw prints, etc. Now, it’s pretty much become a habit.

          It’s probably not a habit I’m going to change any time soon. True, I do clean the bathroom every week (usually). True, I do take the little vacuum around the house and slurp up dog hair dust bunnies. True, I do the dishes and keep the kitchen clean, but there are days when the everything goes into the sink until there’s no more room. It’s also true I do laundry and change my bed on a regular basis. But the weekly vacuuming and dusting I performed back in the day no longer gets done. It gets done basically when I cannot stand it any longer…and my threshold for these chores has become amazingly high.

          Whenever I know I’m going to have company, as in more than one person, I do get off my bottom and pull out all the stops. Then, I vacuum, scrub, dust, clean and carry on until everything sparkles. That’s the way my house used to look even back when I worked full-time…I cleaned on the weekends. So far this year, I’ve held one event where more than one person came to visit. As you can probably figure out, that’s the only time I worked my ass off to make my house look terrific.

          In writing this blog post, I was reminded of Erma Bombeck, an American humorist very popular for her newspaper column which described suburban home life. It was syndicated from 1965 to 1996. Erma also published 15 books, and most became best sellers.

          Anyway, Erma Bombeck wrote a column entitled, “If I had my Life to Live Over.” I think she knew she was dying when she wrote it. In any case, I’ve always remembered, not necessarily lines, but thoughts/ideas from that column. It dealt with things like having people over regardless of how messy the house was so she could cherish that time with friends and family.

          I like to think of Erma when I don’t feel like cleaning. If company should arrive, well, I’ll just value the time we get to spend together regardless of the dust, dog hair, messiness. Time with friends or even just with me, myself and I, doing stuff we enjoy is far more important…am reminding me, myself and I of that daily, sometimes more than once.

BLISS

           There are mornings, and this is one of them, when as I get out of bed, I’m contemplating just how many hours it will be before I can get back in the bed. It’s not that I want the “big sleep,” but more like my bed is the most comfortable place. I like laying there, snuggling my pillow or Kuma, watching TV, dozing and finally sleeping. It’s probably the most blissful activity in my life and doesn’t require a huge effort on my part.

          Yep, less than eleven hours now and I can enjoy that bliss once again. 

STAR TREK AND SPACE

 

          Every morning I have an email, “Space via IFTTT.” There’s always a photo of some star, galaxy or looking at space from an earth location. These photos always amaze me. I’m not a scientist nor have I done much studying or research about the heavens, but still, the information that accompanies the photo is almost beyond belief to me.

          I’ve always been a big fan of outer space…not a big enough one to actually go to school and obtain enough education to make it my profession. The closest I’ve come to something like that is “Star Trek.” I was fairly young when this became a hit TV show and I didn’t give a lot of thought to the science, whether it was made up or real, behind it. I went on to watch “The Next Generation,” “Deep Space Nine” and “Voyager,” but pretty much stopped there. I didn’t watch “Enterprise” or all the ones that followed. I often said that if an angel came down and offered me anything, I’d choose to serve on the bridge of the USS Enterprise under Captain Picard…love that Jean Luc.

          I am once again watching “The Next Generation.”  The Heros and Icons channel broadcasts all four above mentioned Star Treks beginning at 8:00 pm every night but Saturday night. It’s been long enough since I first watched that it’s like finding a new series all over again. I don’t continue beyond 10:00 pm because my eyes are closing.

          What I find myself wondering now is how much actual science went into the Star Trek programs. I would very much like to meet Gene Roddenberry, and yes, I know he’s passed on. What an imagination he must have had to come up with the original series and what imaginations the writers who followed him and kept the series alive must have had as well. Did they have an education that included space? Did they do a lot of research? Everything that is discussed, discovered, and included in these programs sounds authentic and potentially real.

          Then, there’s the way in which even the original Star Trek utilized the idea that we humans…and nonhumans…were all alike. It began with Lt. Uhura who was black and continued on through so many different kinds of “aliens” through all the Star Treks with Lt. Commander Worf, Cardassians, Betazoids, Romulans, etc. The programs taught without seeming to do so.

          Anyway, back to those IFTTT photos and accompanying information. The information includes things like cosmic winds (how can you have wind without atmosphere?), tidal streams (without water or a moon?), dust lanes, stellar explosions (without oxygen?) and a wide variety of other nouns for which I have no understanding.

          Then, there’s the term “light years.” Just how far is seven hundred light years? I once looked up just how far a light year was only to be shocked and amazed at the distance. How are they able to tell that light from a stellar explosion reached the earth in 1006 AD and that the results of that explosion are still expanding? How do they determine what is an aging star and what is an expanding star? I find myself asking all kinds of questions about the information provided and lack most of the answers.

          I haven’t mentioned the photos. Some of them are absolutely amazing. They look as though they’ve been painted by an artist. The colors are so vibrant and the notations often explain what chemical or elements cause a particular color. It also talks about infrared light versus other types of light. Almost all of it is beyond my poor brain’s ability to understand, but I’d frame just about any of these photos for my wall…they are definitely art, at least to me.

          It’s apparent from each day’s communique that the galaxy, make that galaxies, are continually expanding and growing or, for some, merging, or others have stars that have reached the ends of their lives. I find myself in awe of the people who are astronomers or astrophysicists. Their brains must be amazing, and it always sounds as though there is a new discovery, or discoveries, every single day. How exciting.

          I always thought I’d like to be an archeologist, but now I think if I could go back and begin again, I’d look toward stars and space instead. Better yet, I’d still like to serve on any one of the USS Enterprises and “…go where no one has gone before.”

USHERING

 

          When I was working, I always wanted to volunteer at the 5^th Avenue or the Paramount. I knew people who did, but whenever I checked into the possibility, the theaters didn’t need any more volunteers.

          I now don’t remember quite how my friend and I decided we would volunteer. I also don’t remember which one of us took the ticket by the stub and looked into the possibility. Doesn’t really matter.

          We began volunteering at the Village Theater in Everett the beginning of 2022. Then, we became volunteers at the 5^th Avenue. We both really like it and we’ve seen some amazing shows as a result without a cash outlay. I believe we are going to do it again for the 2023-2024 season.

          We take turns driving. For Everett, we have to drive up I-5, but for the 5^th Avenue, we drive to Northgate and take the train. I think the volunteer coordinators for both places began to wonder if we could tell time. For some reason, we were always late to Everett. For Seattle, somehow, we managed to stay on the train several stops past University Street which is where we wanted to debark. Good thing the planners leave a cushion for us late arrivals. Eventually, though, we finally got our shit together and began arriving on time.

          As ushers, we are the keepers of the doors. We keep attendees from going into the venue until the proper time arrives. There is wine, soda, maybe beer, cookies and other eatables available during the wait time for the early birds. Once the doors are opened, we greet the attendees, “Good afternoon.; Enjoy the Show.; Can I help you find your seat?; and give them a program. Once it’s time for the show to begin, we close the doors and find our allotted places from which we can watch the show. We’ve usually been told about the intermission and end, so we can be ready to jump up and open the doors. When the show’s over, we thank people for coming and tell them we hope they enjoyed the show.

          Then, it’s time to clean up after the show goers. We go row-by-row to pick up cups, bottles, programs and other detritus. We’re provided with gloves for this job, but it’s amazing just how little is actually left behind by the folks filling those seats.

          My favorite job is greeting and scanning the tickets of people coming through the doors. I’ve only done that once, but I’m hoping I can request that position this year. Once you get in the groove, it’s quite possible to catch the fact that some folks just don’t look at their tickets or maybe their calendars. The one time I did the doors, I had two sets of people who showed up on the wrong day…one was for the week before and the other for the week after. Staff take these folks under their wings and try to make arrangements so they can attend that particular show. Just depends on whether there are seats available.

          I know we tried to become ushers at the Paramount; however, it’s a whole separate system and those volunteers also work other locations, i.e., Seattle Rep, Moore, Neptune, ACT. We were unsuccessful, but I now know someone who has been doing it for years. She told me they definitely need volunteers, so I’m going to reach out to the volunteer coordinator and use my friend’s name. Perhaps that will get us in the door and we can stretch our volunteer wings.

          The 5^th Avenue will be showing “The Little Mermaid,” “Cambodian Rock Band,” “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas,” “Something’s Afoot,” “Spring Awakening,” and “Clue.” We haven’t yet been asked to sign up for shifts at the Village Theater, but I’m sure we’ll do that as well. Now, if we can just get on the volunteer list for the Paramount et al., we’ll have even more events to work and enjoy.

SHOPPING

 

          One thing I’ve really missed in my retirement is shopping. I always loved going to various stores and finding wonderful clothing on sale. I can think of only one time I actually purchased an item that wasn’t on sale. I thought it was on sale but it wasn’t; and I liked it so much, I just had to have it even though the actual price was $158.00.

          What brought on this reflection was putting a bunch of tops on Buy Nothing. They’re all perfectly good, but they just don’t fit me as well as they once did. I haven’t gained a lot of weight, but I do have more of a tummy than I used to plus I’ve developed muscles in my old age. That’s what happens when you go to a fitness class three times a week…you develop muscles.

          Anyway, it’s not that I couldn’t go shopping and buy myself whatever I wanted whether it was on sale or not. It’s more that I don’t need much in the way of clothes beyond what’s already in my drawers and closet. I have jean shorts and tank tops with shelf bras and that’s mostly what I’m wearing in the summer. I do have a couple of dresses and skirts if I want to not wear shorts. In winter, I have sweats and jeans and sweatshirts or flannel shirts to go over my tank tops.

          I don’t know what I’m going to do when all my Champion tank tops wear out, and having had them for more than ten years, they are slowly beginning to show their age. Champion doesn’t make 100% cotton tank tops any longer and they are very hard to find, even online. I’ve mistakenly bought some that are more poly and her sister ester, that stretch as well as the cotton tops, but I don’t like the way they feel. I’ve also bought some stretchy ones that don’t have the racer back. Instead, they have thin straps. I feel as though these are more underwear than outerwear.

          Ah well, what goes around comes around, so eventually, I’m sure they…whoever they are…will begin making cotton tank tops again. I just hope that happens before I have to resort to the other ones in my drawer. True, I could put them on Buy Nothing, but I’m keeping them in reserve just in case.

          About the only shopping I do these days is Costco and the grocery store. At Costco, I rarely look at the clothing they have available because there’s nothing I need or I don’t like the product. I have two heavy shirts I bought at Costco a few years a go and I don’t care for the way they feel or smell even when they are freshly laundered. Maybe they’ll go on Buy Nothing next.

          I do have to admit that at Costco and the grocery store, I buy myself whatever I want. I still look at the price of the item, but if it’s something I know I will eat/use, I buy it no matter the cost. I deserve it. I’m worth it. I enjoy it.

          You could say I still enjoy shopping, I guess. It’s just a different kind of shopping than I used to do…more for the inside as opposed to the outside.