One Hundred Things My Mother Taught Me A Million Times – Chapter 36

#36 – “Don’t let children fill up on tea before supper.”

 Photo of mom receiving special recognition from the Texas Historical Commission in 2005.

As I think about #36 of the one hundred things mom taught me a million times, two things come to mind immediately: Tea and Supper.   I don’t know about your family, but ours drank ice tea pretty much 24-7. It didn’t matter how hot or how cold it was outside, or what mom was serving, there would always be a big pitcher of tea and lots of ice, served in recycled Del Monte sliced peaches cans (the residual of mom’s peach cobblers). To this day my sister Dorothy and my youngest son, Colt drink their tea in recycled tin cans, learned at the knee of mom, or memaw as my kids called her. 

There’s nothing as refreshing on a hot summer day as ice tea served in a tin can. The tin imparts a very subtle and unique flavor, and you’ll never drink a colder tea. Try it! That is if you can find a real tin can. Most cans are now actually made from aluminum. I remember like yesterday mom showing me how to hammer down the sharp edges of the can where it was opened with an old time can opener. Remember those – just a 2-3-inch piece of steel blade with a windmill looking crank, and a bottle-opener on one end? I still have one in my camping gear – for nostalgia and convenience. Click on Read More Below...

GALS GRAZE

I asked my mom one time why all of her friends were so young and she said, “Because everyone my age is too old!” Well, obviously that is relative, and truth be told, when I asked mom that question, most of the people her age were actually dead. But I must admit that I also enjoy the energy and enthusiasm of younger gals. Case in point: my luncheon last Thursday with three young, Very Smart Gals, Beth Rowan, Randi Knight and Debbie Tate.

I met Beth Rowan around 1997, when she was the Events Coordinator at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Anyone who has done events knows that is the hardest work in the world, and she was one of the best I’ve ever seen. The Wildflower Center is a classy place, does classy events, and Beth was a classy events coordinator. Since then she’s become the mother of two little girls and an editor of curriculum for students with a speech disability, for international publisher, pro-ed. Beth is just one of the nicest gals around so I’ve tried really hard to keep her in my life.

I adore Randi Knight, and I’m not just saying that because she is a client. Randi is the Director of Development and Marketing at The Arc of the Capital Area, an accomplished artist, and the brainiac behind The Arc of the Arts, an artist studio and gallery for artists with a developmental disability. This program/place is amazing and has done so much for the self-esteem of a community of people often overlooked, undervalued, and sometimes even feared. Check out the Arc of the Arts Blog and you’ll see what I mean. Anyway, Randi is a super cool gal, and she and her husband own a home on Lake Tahoe for gauds sake! I am so jealous, but I love her anyway. 

Debbie Tate is one of my closest and dearest friends and someone that I truly respect and admire. She is super energetic, super smart and super fun. Debbie is also the Director of Development at the Center for Child Protection, coordinating, among many other things, fabulous fundraisers such as PlayBingo and Dancing With The Stars, all focused on raising money to keep children in Central Texas safe from abuse. You will not meet a more down-to-earth gal - and she’s a cowgirl to boot, helping her dad work cattle several times a month.

Yee Haw! Thanks, Beth, Randi and Debbie for your gal-acious friendships and for helping me stay young!

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

I recently received an email from Riverhead Books asking if I would like a free “advance” copy of Jean Kwok’s debut novel, Girl in Translation. They probably already knew this was a pretty safe investment, and that I would like and recommend the book on this blog, and they were right.

It is a simple story about a complicated situation. Simple because it is a quick read told in the minimalist style of Cormac McCarthy, complicated in the covertly, thought-provoking style of Ian McEwan. I could say that Girl in Translation is a well-told story about a young Chinese girl and her mother coming to America, living in a horrible condemned, heatless building full of roaches and rats, toiling for 15+ hours a day for pennies, finding and losing love, and eventually achieving the American dream, but my take on this book goes deeper than that.

First, I was reminded of the enormous cultural crevasse between China and America - traditions, family protocols, manners and language, and the universality of other things - fear, ambition, loss and love. This was reflected not only in the very different behaviors but also in the verbal perspective. Click on Read More Below.