On Strawberry Rhubarb Pie in Summer

The Gingham Inn’s Pie, Spirit Lake, Iowa

A few nights ago, in Omaha, we were treated to a dinner, our 2nd dinner out in the last year. It was so stimulating to be there! I’m still thinking about the conversation, atmosphere, and food, all casually elegant.

I passed on dessert until strawberry rhubarb was mentioned. I had to try it. This was the chef’s original version, not pie shaped, but somehow little bundles of strawberries and rhubarb and pastry scattered on the plate. The actual menu description was “STRAWBERRY RHUBARB TURNOVER, vanilla ice cream, almonds, mint”. Every bite was devoured and appreciated.

Mom always liked rhubarb. She tried to get her children to like it too.

“Here, try it raw”, she’d say, “dipped in sugar.” Not for me.

Then, she’d make a rhubarb sauce, like applesauce. Still, not for me.

“Maybe in a jam?” she’d offer us. No way.

“OK, then, how about strawberry rhubarb jam?” This I liked!

She may have even made a strawberry rhubarb pie, but I don’t especially remember that.

Last night, we picked up homemade pan fried chicken and sides (good gravy!) for the first time at The Gingham Inn, a take-out only place.

They had strawberry rhubarb pie on the menu. One piece came home with us. It was very good and fresh tasting!

On another summer’s day, on August 4, 2011, I wrote this about a visit to a small town Iowa cafe, and its strawberry rhubarb pie:

Driving to Lake Okoboji, I suggest that we stop in Odebolt, a town north of Denison, IA. I wanted to see the gorgeous bank building that I saw years ago. Back then, it was all boarded up, and piled with junk, as I saw through a window. Maybe now it had become a trendy, comfortable coffee shop.

We get there and I see that it looks like a functioning bank. Dan very nicely parks the car so I can see it up close. As I open my car door, he rolls his eyes a little, wanting to keep going, I think. I explain that I have to see the inside!

It is gorgeously detailed, with gold-bronze metalwork, built in 1915 by a Chicago architectural firm. After closing in the 1930’s because of the Depression, and for several decades after, it was restored and recently put back into use.

During renovation, and an original image.

The next thing I want to find out is where we can have lunch in town. The teller says there’s a cafe on Main St. It’s one block away, so that’s where we go.

The farmers are leaving their boots outside, for a very good reason.

We go inside and I see the special on the board is strawberry rhubarb pie. I picture a fresh, 2 inch thick filling with a tender flaky crust. The waitress says there is one slice left.

“I’ll take it!” I say.

“Do you want that warmed up?”

“Yes, absolutely.” And the picture in my mind gets even more enticing.

“How about Cool Whip?”

“No, thank you”, I say, thinking how wonderful real whipped cream or ice cream would be.

Then, I ask, “Is it homemade?”

“Yes,” she says, and I can hardly wait!

Now she’s carrying it to me, and I am deflated. This little, thin piece with a thick, biscuit-like crust, and what looks like canned something or other filling is on my plate. Oh well, I’ll eat it.

But, when I took that first bite, I knew I would not eat another bite of the worst pie I’ve ever had.

Even my feelings of guilt over taking the last piece in the cafe could not make me finish it.

Dan has a saying about this: “A bad piece of pie is better than no piece of pie.” I disagree.

Life is too short.

Shirley

On Matchbox Cars

When I saw this Hot Wheels Postage Stamp design, I was delighted by its playfulness! It also reminded me of my mother who collected new USPS stamp offerings for her letters to family. She especially liked cancelled stamps (a hobby she picked up from her brother, Bill, she once told me). Each letter sent out had a note to “save stamp”.

All of my saved letters have the stamp cut out or torn off. My brother, Tony, inherited her stamps, along with a knack for writing letters, which also included the “save stamp” request.

Kind of messy looking letter collection, without their colorful stamps!

So, these miniature car stamps made me think of Mom (gone from earthly life since 2014), and also of a short essay I wrote on 7-18-2011:

As I look down on Omaha’s streets from our upper floor , east facing condo on 31st Ave, I am reminded of Matchbox cars, because that’s what the vehicles look like down below. Many colored cars, trucks, emergency vehicles, business vans, police cars, and buses drive by on their merry way.

Dodge and Turner Blvd and Douglas (2021 photo, 7AM)

As a fan of miniatures (furniture, cars, models), I have always liked Matchbox cars at the toy store. I would pick them up occasionally for our young kids.

Once, I remember a garage sale that had a carrying case with many “matchbox” and “hot wheel” cars.

The price was $40.00. I wanted it badly, for the kids, but also for myself. I did not get it—too expensive and frivolous, I thought.

But now, I think I’ll still look for a used, played with collection just like that at today’s yard sales.

That was then, in 2011.

Now, in 2021, I’m continuing to downsize and minimize. I don’t need toys. However, I do like history, and art. Here are a few interesting photos on this mini car topic, found online.

It would have been fun to purchase or receive these little boxes, in a Christmas stocking, or Easter basket.

Artist Ross Palmer Beecher’s “Square License Plate Quilt”, 61” by 61”, 2014, with cutouts for little cars.

Ross Palmer Beecher, “Hot Wheels Car Quilt Study”, 2013-2014, with silver backs of license plates.

I hope you enjoyed these thoughts and photos!

Shirley

On Jigsaw Puzzles

My favorite puzzle that I borrowed, and put together twice last year! The 2nd time was much easier.

Studies have shown that when we work on a jigsaw puzzle, we use both sides of the brain. Even if that isn’t true, puzzles are useful for the enjoyment and relaxation they can bring.

My siblings and I started young and did lots of them while we were growing up, beginning with a Zorro puzzle that Mom kept together in a shoe box long after the original box became dilapidated.

Ours was similar to this early 1960’s version.

The ET puzzle was a Christmas gift to our family. The year we received it, we became snowbound in Carroll, IA, and had to stick around for a few days. Snow play, monopoly marathons, and puzzles filled some of the time so we didn’t drive Mom and Dad crazy, with so many people in the house.

Ed and Linda, working on the new puzzle in Carroll, Christmas 1982.

My 18 year old granddaughter loves puzzles and completes them very fast. We trade them back and forth. I like to savor my work on it, so we are different in that way.

Here is one borrowed from Clara, called “Tag Sale”, which I enjoyed very much in March, 2020.

It’s quite disappointing if there’s a missing piece or two. I like how my daughter-in-law, Amy, writes on the bottom of the box, something like “missing 2 pieces”. At least then you know.

Sometimes, the missing piece is in Dan’s pocket, where he has kept it stashed until the end, so that he can triumphantly insert the last piece and finish the puzzle.

And sometimes, it’s in the kitchen junk drawer, where I remember seeing its waywardness and wondering where it belongs.

Mom would buy puzzles from garage sales, enjoying the gamble that maybe they were complete.

If a piece is irretrievably lost, I create a replacement by putting white cardboard under the missing space and outline the piece. Then I cut it out (in double, if needed, glued together, to match the thickness of the other pieces) and paint a matching color or design on the cardboard. When it’s all put together, you can hardly tell that it’s not an original.

For my birthday last year, I received an intricately designed constellations puzzle. It was frustratingly difficult at times, but I stuck with it. About 3/4 of the way through, I KNEW some pieces were not there. I searched the floor 3 times, shook Dan down pretty hard, ha ha, and thought how I would let the company know of this imperfection. I would tell them that we have no dogs or children who could have carried them off.

Customer service was excellent, and very efficient in getting those pieces to me, with a handwritten note in a letterpress card, after I sent them the picture. Plus, they promised to send me a whole new puzzle, my choice!

The new puzzle sent to me, completed in January, 2021, a new favorite! This was so much fun!

Some people say they can’t sit still long enough to do a puzzle. I tell them that I stand when I do mine because it’s easier to see all of the pieces, and to reach for some of them, especially if there are 1000 pieces.

Lighting is sometimes an issue with puzzles. Even with good interior lights, there is often an annoying glare. So, it is best to put them together next to a window, in daylight, I think.

A couple of years ago, we were in Galena, IL. It was December, and the narrow, curving street was adorned with real evergreen garland. There was a charming puzzle shop where I found a winter themed puzzle. This was the first puzzle I ever did without doing the border first, but focusing on interior subjects.

Working on it, February 2019, Galena puzzle.

All of this talk of puzzles reminds me of a movie I watched recently on a TV movie channel. It was called “Puzzle”, a 2018 drama. It was a surprisingly good story, about a suburban housewife who is always doing for others. Even at her own birthday party, she is the one planning, decorating, serving, and cleaning up.

One of her gifts is a jigsaw puzzle, which she puts together very fast. This leads to her going into NYC, (for the first time ever!) to a puzzle shop, which opens up her life in many ways.

I’m going to take a break from puzzles for awhile, and reintroduce my body to the cold, and winter walk explorations, which I used to do often. When I’m in the mood for a puzzle again, I’ll do this one, borrowed from Clara, (who purchased it @spruceomaha).

I hope you are finding time for puzzle play in your life!

Shirley

On Holiday Lights

This is our 5th day of cold and clouds and not melting snow. The days and nights of December need lights, and I’ve never realized it more than during this cold spell! Staying inside a lot, I catch myself looking out, and glimpsing, (or staring at) the simple clear, and lush lights of Turner Park, or a neighbor’s lit up Christmas tree in a condo window, always a delight!

Some of the park lights that I look out at.

Corner condo dwellers’ Christmas trees, Dec. 2020

I tend toward moderation and simplicity. Less is more, to me.

Here’s something I wrote on December 22, 2015:

Today, I read an essay in OUR IOWA magazine about a Californian recalling her growing up days in small town Iowa (Red Oak). She wrote about how, at Christmas-time, she could see the town square from her grandma’s 2nd floor apartment, and how they sat there at 5 PM to see the very first Christmas light come on, and then all of them, the reds, yellows, blues and greens.

An image flashed through my mind of Breda, Iowa’s (population 500) downtown holiday lights strung across the street, row after row. It was very simple, yet so effective against the night sky. I loved it then, and I LOVE thinking about it now!

Contrast that with the fancy, flashy light displays—which are very special really for their once a year occurence—in retail areas and home neighborhoods, or such as The Holly Jolly Lights in Des Moines, (a drive through fundraiser for Make A Wish). All very nice, but maybe trying just a little too hard.

This week, 2020, I searched online for a historical photo of those lights in Breda, and Carroll, IA, and in Omaha, with no success. So, I did a quick little watercolor sketch to express what I’m missing.

Still searching for Christmas lights like these.

Here it is! The magnificent simplicity of Breda, Iowa’s holiday lights on Main St.
Photo by my cousin, Virginia Kennebeck, Dec. 2020.

Enjoy the brilliance, whatever kind, and wherever you are!

Merry Christmas,

Shirley

On Pigeons

Picasso painting, seen in 2004 at the Guggenheim Museum, inside the Venetian, Las Vegas.

What do you think of when you see a pigeon?

Is it the beautiful deep blue/gray coloring?

Is it the way they gracefully fly, and then perch lightly on a railing?

Is it the way they tend to pair up and/or congregate?

I think of the cities I’ve visited with great plazas and fountains. The pigeons are all around them, and often, people are feeding them.

Feed them?? Not me! Living in a city, we are now living with pigeons on our balcony, especially when we’ve been away for a couple of months.

You can imagine.

This is the first summer that we’ve had this particular problem, due to no activity on the balcony. With park concerts cancelled, and the coronavirus, we chose to isolate away from the city.

The pigeons nested under our grill, sometime in June, when we were gone. We discovered it, and all the surrounding evidence, on July 3, when we came back for a couple of days. The outdoor furniture was all a mess of droppings and feathers.

Wearing a mask, I used a throw away spoon to scrape up most of it into a trash bag. Then Dan used a putty knife which worked well, although he did comment that perhaps we should hire someone to do this dirty job. Then, a cleaning solution was gently poured over it (due to water runoff toward the sidewalk below, I had to be careful).

Then, rags were laid down on top to soak for awhile, and ultimately used to wipe up. Next, a disinfectant cleaner on tables and chairs, and concrete floor.

Finally, we could sit out and use the balcony again!

Then, we went back to NW Iowa’s Lake Okoboji, on July 6th.

This time, we put all balcony chairs inside, just in case the pigeons came back.

Well, we returned on October 8th, and yes, the pigeons love our balcony. I’m so glad the chairs were spared.

So, once again, clean up is going on, as well as chasing the birds away every time they land or get near. I was yelling and clapping my hands furiously, which sounded terrible and stung my hands.

Then, I remembered Dad’s trick of pounding 2 blocks of hard wood together to startle the starlings out of our front yard trees in Carroll, IA.

I went to our toy closet to get the Playskool wooden blocks (given to our oldest son, Bryan, in 1973, by his uncle, Michael Neary). I took 2 to use, and it worked great!

I still like our balcony a lot, even with the unwelcome pigeons. Who knows? I may even start painting them.

Shirley

On Crosswords

A newspaper crossword puzzle on the dining room table, ready to be solved.

A few years ago, Leigh and I were on a trip together. She was working on a crossword puzzle, in ink, as I do. I thought it was just so interesting because she also crossed off each clue as she answered it. That’s what I like to do.

Her dad uses only a mechanical pencil. I’m not sure how her 3 older brothers do crosswords. I would guess by pencil.

I admire people who do crossword puzzles. Once, when I walked into a neighbor’s house on South 55th St., I thought its most decorative and homey feature was the newspaper’s unfinished crossword puzzle on the clean dining room table. A bright yellow-orange pencil was placed on top of it, ready for use.

Sometimes, I copy that style by setting the crossword puzzle on the table, along with a pencil. It can be an inviting look!

Generally, I don’t do word puzzles. Occasionally, I like to finish one started by Dan, or collaborate on a particularly hard one (like in Sunday’s newspapers), with a group while traveling. It is kind of fun to pass it around.

The Omaha World Herald has 2 daily crossword puzzles: one in the Living section, and one in the Sports pages. In our household, there were several fans of these puzzles.

When our children were growing up, during their young teen years especially, I barely got a chance to read the Living/Sports sections because they disappeared so quickly.

Dan enjoyed all of the puzzles in the paper so he also would take it prematurely (before me).

Brandon, preparing Wednesday’s delivery.

When Brandon, (then later on Leigh) became a paper carrier, it was a thrill to have an extra paper once in awhile.

We’ve recently stopped receiving the print edition, opting for a digital subscription. I reasoned that I could go to our neighborhood grocery, Wohlner’s, while on an early morning walk and pick one up. I do like to spread out a newspaper on the table and read it.

However, reading the online version is fun too, especially when we are away from home. And, it occurred to me, that I could print out the puzzles each day for Dan (and for me to finish).

Some printed out puzzles, ready to work on!

It’s been said that solving puzzles increases and maintains your brain power. I don’t know about that. What I do know, is that it’s made Dan a consistent Scrabble winner, (much to my annoyance, ha ha). I just think it’s very important to do what you enjoy every day!

Enjoy your puzzles!

Shirley

On a Drawing

I found one sheet of this fabulous drawing paper (Rives?, Arches?) in my supplies from my days at the University of Nebraska Omaha, studying art. The Berol prismacolor pencils and drawing board were there also.

This drawing, “Clara in the Boat” was started in August 2018, while I was staying solo at the lakehouse. The composition of putting Clara in the lower part of the page was inspired by a portrait I saw at Joslyn Art Museum, where the figure was placed like this.

I like this stage of color in the water. The circles are an attempt to show the sun sparkles. My plan is to draw a simple outline of the boat, in black, and add detail to Clara.

Water too dark, I think! I left this drawing at the lake, to sit until the next summer, hoping I could lighten it up. Maybe if I did that, the dark spots would show the depth of the water.

Finished! That darkness in the water bothered me all winter (in my mind, because it was away from Omaha). I just didn’t like it, and I didn’t know how I was going to fix it.

After erasing a small section with a good art/pencil eraser, I used a tissue to rub off some color. It worked perfectly, taking off the pastel chalk that I had used on top of the colored pencil.

Then, I outlined the boat some more, and added color to the towel, which was an especially fun process!

Shirley

On a Boy Who Sits

A lone figure in Turner Park, April 21, 2020

Yesterday afternoon, if you were to look into my heart and soul as I sat on our balcony overlooking the now closed city park, you would have seen a mellow, sympathetic, confused COVID 19 world inhabitant.

I understand why the mayor closed our parks. Too many people were gathering, sometimes in the hundreds, even at night, which caused mischief and serious crimes, (besides violating the current order to keep groups to 10).

Here is what I observed:

The Frontline Security officer asked people to leave the greenspace, which they did.

He asked 2 kids on scooters to leave the concrete stage area, which they, and their father, did.

He asked a young couple sitting together on the edge of the stage to leave, which they did, moving to a bench along the sidewalk, which I thought was open. No, it was not, apparently, because the officer asked them to leave the bench, which they did.

This is not good, I thought. It’s 70 degrees and sunny. This park which was just mowed and maintained needs to be used!

Next, the guard moved toward a young man in plaid shorts and dark socks, who was sitting in the middle of the stage, casually, yet thoughtfully, soaking up the 5 PM sun.

I felt for him. He didn’t want to move. He’s isolated. All should be OK.

He threw his arms up, a couple of times, in gestures that said, “Really?”

The security guard threw his arms up in the air also, as if to say, “it’s my job to remove all people from the park.”

The kid won for now. He stayed put. What was he contemplating? Is it a world problem, or a personal problem? Or, maybe he was just choosing to sit in the sunshine and enjoy it.

Then, the boy (defiantly, I think) got down and walked right through the green space (which is most definitely off limits) to the west side of the park, along the sidewalk. He walked toward a bench where the guard had just sent 2 people away who were sitting on that bench.

Our young man walking in the park, viewed through my balcony railing.

Benches and playgrounds are not open for use because the city can not possibly disinfect them.

I think it’s ridiculous. It’s all gotten so crazy. The kid (of high school, or maybe college age) sat on a bench, looking east.

I watched him for 20 minutes or so, as walkers moved around him (the sidewalk is open). He didn’t move, as if deep in thought, or observation.

I went inside for a minute and when I got back, he was gone. Which way did he go? Oh, there he was, walking on the sidewalk. Then, he got in his little white car, and drove away.

I really hope the parks (and cities) open up soon!

Shirley

On Having a Silver Tooth

”Embrace your imperfections” is a quote that I’ve had on my bulletin board for years. I like to think of it as a way to be/stay humble, or, as a way to be more human, acknowledging our flaws, be they physical, mental, or emotional.

Today, I’m thinking about teeth and dental work. We go to a team of fabulous dentists and staff, who I’ve been told, treat famous people (must get more detail on that!). Dan and I are both patients there. When they asked him if he’d like to get his teeth bleached, he told them, “No, I don’t plan on smiling that much.”, which made me laugh out loud!

On March 5th, I went in for the replacement of my front tooth. I’ve had that porcelain crown for 20 years or so, and the gum had receded enough to make them worry about food getting trapped under it. Besides, the materials in use now are far superior, more natural looking, than what was used back then.

I dreaded this work. 2 hours in the chair, and a temporary to wear for 4 weeks, while the new tooth was being manufactured. They told me that doing one front tooth is the most difficult procedure for dentists. I think it’s because of the matching that must be done.

Well, it wasn’t that bad! I thought I’d be wanting to go home and cry. Instead, I felt so good, I went to Williams Sonoma and bought a LeCruset dutch oven! It was such a mood lifter, thinking about the breads and meals we could use that for.

They sent me home with instructions on how to floss it (only pull the floss through, not down, or the tooth would pop right off), and how to re”glue” it in place if I had to, with vaseline or toothpaste as a bonding agent.

The next appointment was set for April 2nd. I patiently counted the days. Then, Dan heard on the news that dental offices were closing for 2 weeks, along with everything else, because of the corona virus and social distancing guidelines. “You might not get your 2nd appt.” he told me. “Oh, they for sure will do this appointment for me!” I said confidently, thinking of it as almost emergency work.

I was wrong! The office called me twice to re-schedule, going for April 7, then April 14, and then, to tell me they’re closing until June! They won’t even schedule an appointment at this time. I am assured that people can live with a temporary for weeks (now months) at a time.

All is good, not to worry. I can live with this minor setback.

Here is something I wrote on October 21, 2014, about the reason for my front tooth repair:

In the 3rd grade, while fighting with my cousin over a comic book, I slipped on his home’s beautifully polished , super slick hardwood floor, and chipped my front tooth diagonally in half.

We lived in rural Iowa, and had a wonderful dentist in Wall Lake who treated me with a form making (chocolate pie, he told me) substance that I bit into, and it tasted terrible. A few weeks later, I had a new front tooth, and it was silver!

It didn’t bother me to have that silver tooth that I remember. As a matter of fact, my best playmate at the time, Nancy, had to get one also, after chipping her tooth on the school playground. Everyone said that whatever Shirley did, Nancy had to do also. I’m a year older than Nancy.

Soon after, our family moved to Carroll, Iowa, where I was the new kid in the Catholic grade school. The boys teased me a little.

The one incident I remember the most happened in 4th grade. I was seated up front. One of the boys, who I will call Dan (wink, wink) was sitting in the back. He would whisper, “Oh Shirley”. I would turn around and he would pretend to be combing his hair, along with some of his buddies who he had enticed to do the same thing, while looking at “the mirror in my mouth”, as he called it.

Dan, all innocence here, early elementary school.

Such juveniles! And to think I married this leader of the pack, ha ha.

When I was in 7th or 8th grade, I must have been embarrassed by it, because all of my class pictures have a closed mouth smile.

Some time in high school, it was replaced with a nice white tooth, that held up until I foolishly bit into a Slo-Poke sucker that pulled it right off at the swimming pool. It was the day before an out of town cheerleading camp.

An emergency temporary cap was put on by our dentist, and I was able to carry on and go to the camp, at Simpson College, Indianola, IA, where I had a very good time!

Me, at cheerleading tryouts before the Student Council, Kuemper High School cafeteria, 1969.

May you all enjoy excellent dental health,

Shirley

On Moving Day

Today, as I look out over the windy city of Omaha, NE, I’m reminded of how I felt in the early days of living in Midtown Crossing, loving the views. We’ve now been here for 9 years.

Here is something I wrote on February 25, 2011, about those beginnings:

Actually, this moving day should be posted as 2 days (24th and 25th) or even many more days. It’s been months in the making. But, yesterday was a red letter day.

I found myself at 2 PM with a car loaded with Leigh’s closet, my art things, some clothes and hangers, and various cupcake business things. Should I wait until the actual moving day (Feb. 25) to bring these things? I still had to stop at Cupcake Island and pick up mail and payroll, AND an ice storm was due at any minute.

I decided to go to the condo/new home after Cupcake, saying to myself I would be home by 3 for a short nap (having gotten up at 4 AM, so excited, can’t sleep). After the nap, I would prepare the house for a 6:30 showing, then do Cupcake books, before everything (desktop computer, printer, modem) got disconnected and boxed up for the move, short as it is to Midtown.

We were also entertaining the FAB 5!, (friends and fellow United Way volunteers), at 6:30 at Crave restaurant.

Anyhow, I found myself pulling into our underground parking garage alone for the first time. It took about 5 elevator trips to empty the car, not a big deal.

I was enjoying every step through the condo/new home as I puttered about organizing what I had brought, imagining Dan’s surprise to find family pics set out, and his shirts hanging in the closet.

But what I really liked was the view toward the park and the city!!! The huge flag cheered me as the clouds got darker and something like snow came down—I wasn’t sure—was it ice?—I seemed so high up, on this 8th floor. That snow looked different from there, I think.

Moving from a home of 13 years that you’ve made your own is a huge transition. And so is enjoying, savoring the first few steps of moving into a completely new space, with completely new views.

Here are a few of those new views: