Dear Friends and Family,
This photo shows me with Arthur leaning against me (we called him "baby" then though he's only a year younger than brother Harvey, who looks like such a big boy here, in 1955 or 1956, I think). We are at the Mill wheel in Roslyn Park, a favorite outing for us all. Also in the photo are Lester, Merwin's cousin from Buffalo, his aunt Mona's son, and his wife Diane, who stayed with us when we lived in Glenwood Landing for a while until they found a place nearer to where he was stationed, at Fort Totten. Our relationship with this cousin went awry after the closeness of living together in a tiny house, and we hardly ever saw them after that. Lester, always a joker, made us the butt of his wit (which others unkindly told us), and I was bewildered by it all: how is it that lending a hand to someone can lead to estrangement rather than continued closeness? After they moved to Texas, we sometimes saw them when we visited our nephews In Houston and Austin, and we saw them at some big events there, like weddings. We learned yesterday from our nephew Mike that Lester had died. That closes the chapter.
Today is the two-week anniversary of the flu. If I am not better by tomorrow, we will see Dr. Janus, the pulmonologist, as our Dr. G suggested. I am getting sick of this sedentary life and of having to keep Merwin away from my germs. I am getting better, clearly, because at least I feel like communicating. Can't talk, though, without coughing. I welcome your emails.
I have done a very little cooking and only simple things, like soup. I made a salmon loaf that served for about 3 meals. After preheating the oven to 400, I chopped some vegetables (onion, carrots, bliss potatoes and the like) in our Cuisinart, then mixed them in a bowl with a one pound can of pink salmon, bread crumbs, and 3 eggs. We like salmon patties, but that would have been too much work, so I made a pseudo pancake by spreading the mix very thinly in a 9 x 13 pan. I had skimmed the pan with oil and heated it till the oil was wavy but not smoking, then spread the salmon mix very thinly in the pan. This baked for almost an hour till it was very brown all over. The leftovers made excellent sandwiches. It took longer to write this than to prepare it.
I miss my phone conversations with all my sons and my friends.
Love to all,
Bernice
No comments:
Post a Comment