Cookies, etc.

The grasshopper in the bottom picture was really big, and he lived in the plant until the first frost a couple of weeks ago.

The blooms are all done on these plants now, but they were sure pretty on our porch for a few weeks! Punkins are still looking good.

No word yet of when B 52s will reschedule their show, so we just went ahead and got a refund. The ticket company kept $4.50 of our money for our trouble, though....stupid.

Oh, and the upstairs neighbors have been as quiet and well behaved as possible since our complaint was lodged last weekend. Success, I truly hope.

We put our bikes in storage in Dave's parents' shed, and now this weekend, it's supposed to be in the 70's again. This weather has been so weird!

It was cold enough to freeze a couple of nights ago, though...finally. I stopped taking the Zyrtec. We'll see if my chronic stuffy sinuses get any better now that the rag weed will be dead.

It's effing NOVEMBER, for cry I, as my mother used to say.

Been thinking about my mother lately. Remembering stuff. Good stuff, for a change.

Like when she would make holiday cookies with her cookie press. I would always "help."

I remember being very little, and watching the press touch the cookie sheet, and watching the batter come out.

And oddly, I distinctly remember the soft tap of sound as the metal feet of the cookie press touched the cookie sheet, and the sound of the batter coming through, and, oddly, the sound my mother made with her mouth when she breathed.

And then, I recall the strangely comforting smell of gin and cigarettes on her breath.

Yeah.

Hey Brother, you guys doing anything with that cookie press? I'd sure like to have it. Last I knew, it was in the corner cabinet in the kitchen, where the mix master is/was. I'll even pay you back for shipping.

Anyway, when I was big enough to actually be of any good, I would put the "ornaments" on the tree shaped cookies. These were silver coated sugar balls that would get gently pressed into the dough before the cookies went into the oven.

I don't remember any other shapes, besides trees. And those cookies were full of green food coloring.

I don't remember the cookies being particularly GOOD, either--and you could break your teech on those stupid, horrible "ornaments,"....but I loved them nonetheless. The smell of them baking was heavenly. I remember that, too.

Mom was not much of a cook, but she could bake. Pies, cookies, cakes. Frosting made from scratch. Mmmmm.

Despite the bitter memories, she had a sweet streak. And I choose to remember that.