Cosmos, Carrots and Carolyn

Two of my dad's favorite activities: tending to the garden and spending time with Emily. We recently harvested the last of the carrots and picked enough cosmos to make a beautiful bouquet for Norma. I took a bag of carrots home to St. Louis and the rest were used to make a carrot souffle, made famous by Carolyn Johnson. She generously made this dish as part of a meal she sent over for Ralph and Norma. The recipe is below.

Carrot Soufflé from the kitchen of Carolyn Johnson

1 lb. carrots, peeled and chopped
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Bring carrots and water to cover to a boil in a medium saucepan
2. Cook for 45 minutes or until tender
3. Drain
4. Process carrots in a food processor or blend until smooth
5. Stir together carrot puree, eggs and remaining ingredients
6. Spoon into a lightly greased 1-quart baking dish
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until set

Devine Farms

My mom and dad are good friends with Charla and Ralph Devine, owners of Devine Farms, a favorite destination this time of year. We enjoyed a hay ride, sloppy joe sandwiches and apple cider. Paul raced me through the cornfield maze. He's in much better shape than I am!

Norma pictured with Paul in her pumpkin hat, a gift from Charla.

The Pie Lady

Mom and I made our rounds at the final (and coldest)
Granville Farmer's Market for the year. Picture here are Norma and our favorite baker, Sue Renner of "Sue's Kitchen". We can't resist her pies. This time it was peach.

Rest

My mom has not been one to rest much in her life (too much to do and see) but that's what she is having to do now. At first she resisted it. Then she was mad about it because she felt unproductive. Now, she's eased into realizing her body needs it and she lets herself. She might have a morning full of errands or a game of bridge with her card-playing buddies, but then she takes a nap. And she never misses watching a game of Emily or Paul's after that.

She continues to be well-managed by her team of doctors and nurses. She trusts them completely. They see her every Monday, and sometimes more often if a treatment is scheduled. They call to check on her, and they request that she checks in with them, daily if necessary. She and her chief oncologist, Dr. Laufman have a plan, and they shake on it.

I'm headed to Ohio this weekend. Enjoy the photos below from a recent trip Norma made to St. Louis. Expect more photos next week.

Art Weekend in St. Louis

While in St. Louis at the end of September, Mom and I attended several quilt exhibitions that are part of the Innovations in Textiles symposium.
Mom's been coming to St. Louis to participate in this event for the past several years. This year was no different.
Pictured with Norma is friend and artist Sun Smith-Foret, who had just lectured on her exhibition, "Silver Screen Quilts: Art about Movies" at the Duane Reed gallery.

Art St. Louis

Art St. Louis has a new, beautiful gallery and Mom and I went to the opening of a "Fiber Focus" show just after seeing Quilt National, the exhibit that travels from Ohio to St. Louis. Mom is always my guest at the sponsorship event where we get a preview of 75 award-winning art quilts.

We had a great art-viewing weekend, with time for good food and a few naps.

Norma's favorite massage therapy team in St. Louis

Whenever Norma visits St. Louis, a massage with Theresa Paskas, a veteran body worker, is a must! She is joined here by assistant Sarah. They take very good care of Norma and always love having the chance to work on her.

Great friends, family and food in St. Louis

While in St. Louis last weekend, Norma had a chance to have dinner with dear friends Drs. Don and Judie Chaney at Trattoria Branica in Kirkwood. Delicious!
And, you can always count on a fine dining experience at Frank Papa's, an Italian restaurant in Brentwood. At Frank's, were were joined by the Central High School gang and Ray.
Pictured are Norma, Frank Papa and Dawn, and below that are Dawn and Norma and Vicki, Dixie, Andi and Jim Groff.

Gathering at Aurea and Dave's 9/27/09

We had a couple of impromptu gathering at Aurea and Dave's place in Glen Carbon, Illinois when Norma was recently in St. Louis.

Pictured above are Aurea (my mom's oldest sister) and Lois (my mom's youngest sister) and they are both fabulous, efficient cooks. They take after their mother/my Grandma who raised nine children, prepared 3 square meals a day for her family and the hired hands on the farm, raised chickens, managed my grandfather (Louie) and still had time to quilt. By the time grandkids and great grandkids came along, she was preparing holiday feasts for more than 40 people. It was nothing for her to make a dozen pies before lunch. Aurea and Lois are like that too.


Four of the 9: Aurea, Norma, Lois and Melvin, joined by husbands, kids and grandkids.

Field hockey and soccer

Donna, my mom's sister from Chicago, Dr. Petryk, mom's family doctor, and Norma watch Granville's field hockey team. Dr. Petryk's daughter plays on the same team as Emily, who is the goalie this year, seen below blocking a shot. Below that...Lisa, and all of her expertise in field hockey (she's a quick study!), is the manager of the team, along with her good friend Tara Parsley.

Next photo: Paul playing soccer. He's a great kicker and towers above most of the other players. Sometimes he's the goalie.

And now you what weekends are like in Granville.

Brussel sprouts, coming up!

Ralph's plot at the community garden produced the best-tasting brussel sprouts. He wasn't too sure about growing them, and they started out as pathetic-looking plants, but they flourished with his tender, loving care. Here, Lisa and Emily assist in the final prep for dinner.

S'mores and more 9/12/09

Brian and Emily at the backyard firepit.
Paul, William and Peter below.

Breakfast for Donna's birthday 9/13/09

Dawn, Lisa, Donna (Norma's sister from Chicago), Norma and Emily sitting in front of a little shop in downtown Granville. We had just finished having breakfast with the rest of the gang -- Ralph, Brian and Paul. Then we celebrated Donna's birthday on my mom and dad's deck with a sunflower-shaped cake and fresh strawberries from the Granville Farmer's Market.