Tomorrow morning at 4:21 AM will be nine weeks since mom passed into God's loving arms.  Please dear Lord grant her the pain free rest she so earned here on earth and deserves so very much.  Grant her peace and contentment with knowing she was so loved by so many that she left behind.

Although it has been 9 weeks, I still have trouble not picking up the phone and calling her as I did most everyday for the last three years and weekly prior to that.  Not a day goes by that I do not think "Oh I need to remember to tell mom this or that." and of course, I cannot, however I hope she knows, as I believe she most certainly does. 

Funny it is, I very seldom think of my father however mom is still a most common  source in my life.  And yes I still try to talk with her daily and tell things however I really believe she already knows what I feel impelled to speak.  Miss you so much mom...Please beam a smile down me when you can...Love you so very much!

Mom grabbing some Good Luck at Rain Forest Café Downtown Disney

Mom on the Mariner of the Seas--Darlene's Wedding

Mom and Rick at her house in Omaha

Brother Larry and Mom on her 80th



The Chipmunks loved mom at Downtown Disney

Christmas 2011 @ Brookstone

Mom's last entry into her daily activities book...,

Annabelle had been born.  She was so happy ..., Richard called to tell her that,

Grandma was so proud that day.,

Yesterday, 9-1-2013 was one month since mom's passing.  I have gone to the phone several times in the past month to call and tell her something about the grandchildren or something we saw or did, only to stop and realize she will no longer be on the other end of the line.  So when I was thinking over my life with mom in it, I thought what were some of her favorite things in life.  Since it is Labor Day, the last summer holiday and mom was a worker like no other, I thought food!

Some of the favorite food items mom really enjoyed were [as I knew of her] :

An ice cold beer-- on a hot summer day!  Mom would work in her flower gardens and mowed the grass and would be drinking water or tea all day long, however when she was done and it was hot out, she like nothing better than an ice cold beer.  She usually did not drink a whole beer, but she sure enjoyed those first few sips to cool her throat.  When she lived in Grandview I would bring her the 7 ounce cans from Kansas of Coor's and she very much enjoyed these because she would say "These are just the right size for me!"

Corn Mush--   Some of you might say, “Corn Mush” what on earth is that?  Or as we knew it growing us “Mush”.  Italians call it “Polenta” and season it with various herbs.  Mom would always dip it in milk, then dredge it in flour and fry it in corn oil and serve it with her homemade maple syrup.  She always made her own syrup and nothing, for me today taste as good.  Mom would order mush if she saw it on a menu in a restaurant it always enjoyed it.  Probably more than her own, due to the fact someone else made it.

Fried Chicken—Mom’s fried chicken was the best, [after she learned to fry it—there is a story to this I will relay a little later] and she always served it with the best milk gravy and perfectly mashed potatoes.  Smooth, no lumps, and just the perfect consistency. Although mom’s was the best, she really enjoyed the Broasted Chicken we used to get in Raytown, MO.  We went at least once a month or maybe more.   Mom also enjoyed chicken livers and gizzards.  Guess that is where I get my taste for the delicacies.

Pickled Beets---mom would eat beets from the jar or can and really enjoyed homemade beets with little pieces of onions in them.  Whenever she would come to Florida, she would ask if we could go to the Colonial Café in Sanford and always ordered their beets which she claimed to be the best she ever tasted.  We actually took her some from the Colonial to Omaha for her to enjoy.

 

Another Colonial Café favorite of moms was [ ugh...] liver and onions.  She thought the Colonial did this dish right and so enjoyed it.  We had to eat this as dad liked it and whenever he wanted it we were also to enjoy it...luckily for me ketchup had been discovered by then because for me it took lots of ketchup.  Mom would order this if it was on the menu if she was hungry for meat.

Fried Cod at the Forum Cafeteria in downtown KC or when they moved into the Blue Ridge Mall.  Both unfortunately have closed however my memories of going to the Forum with mom will live with me forever.

While mom really enjoyed the fried cod at the Forum, her favorite was crappie.  She enjoyed fried crappie so much and the last time she was with us here in Florida our neighbor Bob brought us over a couple of pounds of freshly caught crappie for mom.  She so enjoyed them and told us of how she would always sneak a piece whenever she fried it for dad on Friday’s.

A good hamburger with a slice of fresh onion and pickle, mustard and ketchup.

Nothing was better for mom than a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich.  Especially with a slice of tomato fresh off the vine from the garden plant.  She  would wait every year for that first tomato and then fry bacon nice and crisp, slice the tomato and slather a piece of bread with Miracle Whip and put the bacon, lettuce and tomato together for her masterpiece. 

Mom especially enjoyed the chocolate malts from Big Boys when I was little, however when Zarda’s Dairy opened in Raytown she found their malts to be most enjoyable as well.  Another KC tradition gone.

Mom in later years enjoyed breakfast [at any time of the day] at Perkins.  In earlier years it was Waid’s for breakfast if you wanted really good breakfast food.  Mom like Perkin’s pancakes and especially how their chefs always seemed to know how to baste an egg to her satisfaction.  When we were there in March/April we took her to Perkins in Omaha and she so enjoyed having breakfast fixed to order and correctly. I remember her commenting to Bev and I:  “Boy we sure do not get eggs like this back at the home.” She ate every piece and I thought she might lick the plate.  Just kidding as I would with her.

A good strong cup of coffee.  And for all the years I can remember with whole milk, half and half or cream and sugar.  Actually she liked her coffee more like what I now know as Cuban coffee.  I remember in my childhood years the we always had cans of Milnot non-dairy creamer in the cabinet and refrigerator.  Mom always used it until they came out with Coffee-Mate and then she and Helen both switched to Coffee-mate.

Mom also like Chinina [Okay, I am not sure of the spelling] or also known as Blood Soup by the Polish or Croation populations.  Actually it was duck soup however in the old days they would capture of quart of the blood of the duck and once the duck was cooked and removed for deboning, the blood would be added slowly to the broth which also contained apples, raisins and prunes before them eat of the duck was returned.  Somewhere along the way vinegar and sugar would be combined and add to the mix to give the soup it sweet and sour taste that made it most definitely Chinina.  This was then served over wide egg noodles

Povitica—[Polish Walnut Bread]  While nobody and I mean nobody has ever made it as good as my grandmother [Clara Cernech] (and I have had it in the Chech Republic and Hungary and a couple other Eastern European countries) mom use to make a pretty dog gone good one.  I always looked forward to the post man delivering our Christmas loaf.  Mom always told me the story of how my grandparents would work together in the old days to pull the dough to be thin enough for grand mom and then they would work together to roll up the loaves and always did this in their dining room on the table with all of the leaves installed.  Mom did not go to that extent although she would roll and roll to get it thin enough for her standards.  She was so miffed when I told her that I used Pillsbury Hot Roll mix for mine and she thought it was every bit as tasty as hers.  Now that was a compliment I can assure you.  She would boil potatoes and use the starch water for her dough and sift the flour and on and on…  Hot Roll mix: ready to roll out in an hour and only 5 minutes to mix.  She could not believe it.

And since we are on Hot Roll mix, mom so enjoyed her own home made cinnamon rolls or at least watching them disappear whenever one of her families were around for morning buffets.

Well there are many other things mom enjoyed in the culinary world however I think this is enough for today.  I will add more as I think of them and with the Holiday’s only a few months away, I am certain to come up with more.