To say Wilma was a good cook is an understatement. She learned the basics from Mom who was a genius in the kitchen. Wilma was helping in the kitchen from the time I was big enough to have a memory. Mom spent most of her life in the kitchen and Wilma spent a lot of her life in the kitchen. Have I overused the word kitchen? Well the kitchen was the most important room in our house growing up and the most important thing in the kitchen was the refrigerator. A Well stocked refrigerator!
Wilma's refrigerator was always full and anything you might need to cook a meal was generally at hand. However you could have fed another complete family from the things we would throw away that just never made it to the table. But my point is that friends and family could show up unannounced and Willie could whip up a full meal in no time without going to the grocery store. And trust me friends and family showed up at her door for a great meal often. Her recipes were always in demand and she was always coming up with new ones.
I think my favorite all-time entree was her "Beef Stroganoff" (She called it California Steak). My goodness I still cannot make it as good as she could even using the same recipe. I think we all pretty much have our favorites and I am so thankful that we put them all in our family recipe book. A book I treasure and use so often. When I cook do I think of Willie, yes indeed I do. After all, she taught me how to cook and how could I ever make all those wonderful things she used to make without thinking about her. I treasure each hand written recipe that she shared with me. You knew it was a keeper if she wrote it down. Her busy day soup is still my favorite to whip up on short notice just like she used to do and I long for her chef salads that she introduced me to at the age of 14. But I guess if I could pick one particular recipe of hers that would tower over them all it would be her corn bread dressing. I hope that when I get to heaven and see my sis again that she will be able to whip up some of that incredible dressing one more time!! Love you sister!!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Always looking Out for Me.
This weekend as I was busy around the house doing this and that I was playing my music as I love to do. I selected some of the older groups from the 80’s and 90’s and when “Three Dog Night’s” Joy to the World began to play my mind automatically went back to the Young Men’s Club days with Willie, Charlie and other family members enjoying food, song and dance together. There are many songs that bring Wilma to mind when I hear them but that one song is especially joyful as I see her and Charlie out on the dance floor like two young kids just having a blast. The first few notes of that song was like an alarm going off and they were generally the first couple on the floor. Wow, how she loved to dance and I was so happy for her that Charlie also loved to dance. They spent many hours of their marriage on the dance floor somewhere just enjoying life.
Music was always a part of Wilma. She started playing the piano by ear when she was a young girl. Dad gave us all some piano lessons as children but Wilma had the knack for it while the rest of us just became a grateful audience. My younger sister Tootie and I would beg her to play for us and we would sing and dance around to her wonderful notes. We of course never let on that we heard the off keys and the missed rhythm and broken melodies. We loved them all. What incredible times we had dancing to Tommy Dorsey’s Boogie Woogie, Singing in the Rain, and so many of the wonderful big band songs that you could actually sing. Of Course chop sticks was one of our daily treats and we would take turns playing duets to that one. Life was good at least sometimes.
We were so poor after dad died that our coats each year were donations from churches and schools and our school lunches were provided free by the school lunch program, but we were happy go lucky in those days, except for Willie that is. Her life was tough. She had to drop out of high school when dad died and take a job to help support the family. She worked as a car hop at a drive inn for quite a while and then she got a pretty good job at an optical company making lens for eye glasses. As busy as she was she always kept an eye out for me and Tootie. She made sure we had food and gave us money for movies and treats when she had it.
In the summer, Wilma played on a girl’s softball team. I loved to go to her games and watch her play. I too played on a softball team and actually got to play on her team a couple of times to fill in the catchers spot when needed. How big I thought I was to play on my big sisters team. How gracious Wilma was to let me play and to watch over me as they were already of age and partaking of cigarettes and beer. She made darn sure I was not around the girls when they were partaking. Always watching out for me. Loved her so.
Music was always a part of Wilma. She started playing the piano by ear when she was a young girl. Dad gave us all some piano lessons as children but Wilma had the knack for it while the rest of us just became a grateful audience. My younger sister Tootie and I would beg her to play for us and we would sing and dance around to her wonderful notes. We of course never let on that we heard the off keys and the missed rhythm and broken melodies. We loved them all. What incredible times we had dancing to Tommy Dorsey’s Boogie Woogie, Singing in the Rain, and so many of the wonderful big band songs that you could actually sing. Of Course chop sticks was one of our daily treats and we would take turns playing duets to that one. Life was good at least sometimes.
We were so poor after dad died that our coats each year were donations from churches and schools and our school lunches were provided free by the school lunch program, but we were happy go lucky in those days, except for Willie that is. Her life was tough. She had to drop out of high school when dad died and take a job to help support the family. She worked as a car hop at a drive inn for quite a while and then she got a pretty good job at an optical company making lens for eye glasses. As busy as she was she always kept an eye out for me and Tootie. She made sure we had food and gave us money for movies and treats when she had it.
In the summer, Wilma played on a girl’s softball team. I loved to go to her games and watch her play. I too played on a softball team and actually got to play on her team a couple of times to fill in the catchers spot when needed. How big I thought I was to play on my big sisters team. How gracious Wilma was to let me play and to watch over me as they were already of age and partaking of cigarettes and beer. She made darn sure I was not around the girls when they were partaking. Always watching out for me. Loved her so.
Monday, June 1, 2009
She Should have been given an honorary degree in crafting..
Sitting at Kalie’s basketball game yesterday passing the time between games, I was chatting with one of the other basketball grandmothers and the subject of crafting came up. She was telling me about crafting with her sister and all the fun they had together. That was a big door opener for me to reminisce about some of the wonderful time spent crafting with Willie. It was not just time with me; it was a special time she spent with Cindy (daughter-in-law) and with Carol (daughter) and many more family members and friends.
When it came to crafting no one could hold a candle to Wilma. She was an accomplished crafter if you will. Sewing, knitting, crocheting, cross stitching, painting, and just about anything you were up for. Her hobby closet was bursting with crafts to work on. We delighted in shopping at hobby lobby for the very latest Christmas tree ornament kits and we would sit for hours sewing up a storm to make all those little felt delights to hang on
our trees the next December. The enjoyment she got when her grandkids would behold the newest additions was all the motivation she needed to make more and more. As I said before, she was an accomplished crafter and she could craft rings around me. I personally think she should have been given the Hobby Lobby honorary degree in crafting.
Her Children divided the ornaments between them after her death and each year they all put up a special Nanny K Christmas tree to display those wonderful hand sewn ornaments during the holiday season as a special reminder of the incredible person that took the time to sew them for the kids she loved so dearly.
One of my most prized possessions is her knitting and crochet needle bag filled with every size needle she might need for that next special project we would be working on.
Every once in a while I get a whim to knit or crochet and I go to her special needle bag and choose the needles I need because I know the right size will be there. This is the time I feel especially close to her and know her spirit is right there with me. Amazingly, we still have that special craft time together.
Love you Willie!
Lisa
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