Category Archives: Life at Home

Mini-Easter

08 Sunday Mar 2009

Posted by in In the Garden, Life at Home, Soul Care

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I love how every Sunday is a mini-Easter — a feast day set aside to celebrate the resurrection of Christ — and that the six Sundays during Lent are no exception. 

The season of Lent is more meaningful if I make a sacrifice.  So this year I decided to give up breakfast, easily my favorite meal.  This means I fast until lunch six days of the week.  And on Sundays, I feast with the return of breakfast.  Today I broke my fast twice.  I ate pancakes with my husband, then had a cup of coffee with Lara while she enjoyed her own short stack of cakes. 

While she was eating, I enjoyed hearing Lara talk about her new life in OKC.  Oh, she’s embracing it all with joy.  Every brand spanking new inch of it.  New job.  New home.  New friends to make.  She’s a special gal, this second-string daughter of mine.   Can’t wait for my first-string  ‘kids’ to meet her.

After Lara left, I worked in the garden with my husband.  Three short hours later, our front yard has been transformed into quite the looker.  With lawn mowed, weeds pulled, rose bushes trimmed and many, many Lirope now sporting a fresh ‘haircut’, it looks like spring outside.  Down on my knees, I could see all the new life bursting forth — baby mums, flower buds on my Spirea, green shoots of Lirope peeking through the dirt.  Is there any color lovelier than spring green? 

We ended the day cheering on the Thunder, as our players racked up another victory.  Talk about new life!  Our team has won 7 of their last 10 home games — and this one without their big stars.  Of course they remain last in their division.  But even so, this team looks different from the one I first watched in November.  The recent trades and the experience gained by our young players is starting to pay-off. 

My entire day was like watching some lovely mini-Easter parade — as I observed the new life in Lara, my garden and the Thunder.  I’m lucky to have snagged a seat so close to the action.  Because it let the joy of new life bump smack up against me.   It didn’t hurt one bit. 

All Shook Up

05 Thursday Mar 2009

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“My hands are shaky and my knees are weak
I can’t seem to stand on my own two feet…
Please don’t ask me what’s on my mind
I’m a little mixed up but I’m feeling fine…
My tongue get tied when I try to speak…”

 

By all rights, it should be Daddy singing this old Elvis Presley song tonight.  But he and his speech are too shaky to do it.   So at least he’s safe.  And safe without sound may be all we can ask for right now.    

Dad was caught near the busy road in front of his house this afternoon.  He was on a rescue and recovery mission to save his wandering dogs.  The dogs didn’t want rescuing.  But that’s beside the point.  At least in Daddy’s mind.  It was also beside the point that he’d left the house against Christi’s expressed wishes.  Daddy forgets he’s now house-bound….that he’s no longer mobile.   Even though his legs tell him every minute of his day.      

My cousins Mike and Judy were driving by on their way home.  And seeing Dad outside, they stopped to get him safely into the house.   Part-way there, Daddy’s shaky old legs ran out of steam.  Without warning, his knees buckled.   So they caught him a second time.  

Daddy sat in his recliner for three hours before he regained his small store of strength.  And while he was in recovery, the others were building a front-yard fence to keep the dogs (and Daddy)  corralled.  Christi says it won’t be pretty — but it may be a solution.   

How do you thank people who do out of love what others could not be paid to do?   They were tired themselves, ready to get home–they’d been up early with Mike’s mom (my Aunt Jo)– who had a heart procedure this morning.   And instead of relaxing, they were building a fence.  I know Daddy would thank them if he could string two words together.   I know Christi already has.

The fence may or may not be a solution.  And it may or may not be a beauty.  But I’ll always see it as one.  Because as the old Greek proverb goes — beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  And this beholder is beholden.  For the two who accepted our trouble as their own.      And did more than we could have asked or hoped.         

In spite of being tired and all shook up.

Shrimp Fry

01 Sunday Mar 2009

Posted by in In the Kitchen, Life at Home

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We had an unexpected treat last night because Kyle came home to visit.

Being a college man living in an apartment, he’s always ready for a home-cooked meal and tonight it was fried shrimp.  Frying shrimp is our version of killing the fatted calf for Kyle.   Everyone of our children has their own special dish and this is one of Kyle’s.

But he’s not alone.  Our entire family enjoys this meal though we don’t believe all fried shrimp are created equal — especially this far north of the ocean.  So here’s my confession–we’re a proud bunch of seafood snobs.  We’ve found nothing in OKC to compare to the melt-in-your mouth seafood so plentiful on the Texas Gulf Coast where fried shrimp is a menu staple — from the humblest of fish shacks to nationally acclaimed 4 star dining establishments.

If you’re ever near Surfside, Texas, treat yourself to either of these — Inn on the River on 2nd Street in downtown Freeport, or my personal favorite — owned by Greeks who serve a Greek salad that’s a meal in itself — Red Snapper Inn on the Blue Water Highway.  There are too many to list, but these all sit within a few miles of Surfside.  And if you’ve eaten you’re way through this list and find yourself craving more — any local will be glad to point you in the direction of their favorite place.

So what do seafood snobs do if living in land-locked OKC?   Well, if they want the best, they stay home and cook like we do.  And thanks to my good friend Wynona, whose aunt once owned her own seafood place, we gratefully use this recipe to make our own mouth-watering  fried shrimp.

The secret is the batter and having hot oil to fry the shrimp quick — it takes at least two inches of oil in a deep skillet.  We serve it with french fries and usually some cole slaw and cornbread.  Living up to its name, it’s as easy as one- two-three.

1-2-3 Shrimp Fry Batter

1 Pint Buttermilk

2 t. baking powder

3 T. white vinegar

Soak cleaned shrimp in mixture for 15 mins.  Dredge in flour.  Fry in hot oil — three to five minutes until shrimp are pink on the inside, golden on the out.