Fruit flies and a funeral (in no order of importance)

I cannot for the life of me form a coherent stream of thought this afternoon. All I can think is, “these fruit flies are so annoying,” “I really should say something profound about Melissa’s funeral.” And, “Man, senior pictures and video projects sure have taken over Lucy’s spot in I-photo.” (…Sorry Andrea, not much quality of the kids these days)

So here we go – a perfect specimen of stream-of-conscious writing:

Last week, an avid gardener (who shall remain nameless – but you know who you are) brought me 5 squash. Now, I had asked for one small zucchini – but you know how it goes with squash – and the gardener came baring an assortment of “had-seen-better-days-but-I-need-to-get-them-out-of-my-house-before-they-go-bad” produce. And this is why I need to put this into print – we gardeners need to establish a “go-bad” criteria. If there is mold – it is bad – if it is split and ozzing something – bad. More bruises than firm flesh – bad. Larger then life or turning an inappropriate color – do not give it away. It is not a gift – it is a blight. If the fruit flies have taken over your kitchen like moths swarming around bright lights – your harvesting methods are inappropriate. I give this little pep-talk as much to myself as others. But after the fruit-fly infestation of 2008 brought on by 5 “had-seen-better-days” squash I am taking a pledge to raise my standards and COMPOST if QUESTIONABLE. People, it is so bad that a bat tried to get into my kitchen and have at the fruit flies! Last night a bat was stuck in our stairwell just banging against my kitchen door… and we don’t have bats in KS!

But, you see, I got to experience the whole bat fiasco because late into the night I was peeling and chopping produce for a salad for a funeral dinner this afternoon. It’s like the only positive thing that could come out of a funeral… the funeral dinner cleaned out my kitchen enough that I should be able to starve out the fruit flies. There was so much food at the funeral dinner we could have done without my salad + 1/2 of the food there. But here is the deal – when someone you love dies… or I guess, when someone you love has someone they love die – you want to “DO” something to “help” - “to make things OK”. And well, you can’t – so you just make food. Maybe you can measure how much a family is loved by how much homemade food is at their funeral. You can quantify the value of a person’s life in how many of the “best” recipes and intricate time-consuming dishes are brought to that final dinner. And you know, today the over-supplied funeral dinner was for a woman who had been in a persistent vegetative state for 14 years. So I don’t need anyone to tell me that every life is valuable… it was proven today in the food. So thank you Melissa, for one last time showing me the value of life… and for helping me to eradicate my kitchen plague….

To continue you this random post….

here's a photos Jude took with his little camera right after Lucy was born... look at how good he is getting at including heads!


Here's 3 shots from Cousin Maysyn's b-day party




My mom captured this quaint photo of us making pies... from fresh peaches and blackberries....mmmm... even worth the fruit flies


Here is Lu w/ Grandma Stafford... one of the few times she would actually hold her!