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Showing posts from May, 2018

(May) Holiday Memories

It's late May, which in the U.S. means that we are in the midst of Memorial Day Weekend. Like many holidays, and many American holidays, there is a political and nationalistic cast to this holiday: on Memorial Day, the last Monday of May, we are supposed to think of our dead, especially our war dead. When I was a child we had a Memorial Day Parade, and we always ended up at the cemetery. Union Memorial, Evergreen Cemetery, Barrington, IL Often it was hot, really hot, and we would stand around the Union Memorial at Evergreen Cemetery. There were actual veterans in the parade, of course, and an honor salute. My most vivid memory was when a fellow member of the trombone section fainted on me from heat and dehydration in about the eighth grade or so. I knew how important the holiday was, really I did. It's just that it can be awfully hot at the end of May. That sense of patriotism is missing in a lot of holiday celebrations these days. For most Americans, Memorial Day wee

Maintaining Standards of Civilization

Trump's in the White House, the  Russians are encroaching on Ukraine, the EU is hemorrhaging members, and there are Americans in the House of Windsor. Someone has to maintain standards. I was just on my own recipe blog, the 2014 Recipe Project , in order to make a cheesecake. (My daughter is home from college and my husband just submitted his final grades -- end of academic year rituals ensue.) But on that recipe blog an important item is missing. Scones. I can't remember the first scone I ever ate, but I can call up some delicious moments, many of which took place in England. At Henley-on-Thames after a long spring trek. At St. Martin-in-the-Fields in the Crypt Cafe in London. Outdoors near the Borough Market with Tina our former Thai exchange student. Having tea and scones -- or even a cream tea, with that thick clotted cream -- is a ritual for my family. Talking with Tina (who lived with us in 2011-12 and is now practically a medical doctor) via facetime the other d