Born in 1917, she turns 95 this month. She was a teacher and married to my grandpa, a probate judge, the country coroner, justice of the peace, school superintendent, insurance salesman and owner of the title company in town, among other things, in a small town where people often wore many hats in the community. She has a sweet tooth like no other. She passed it to my dad, who passed it to me and when we're together, there will always be cake or ice cream or cookies, or all three at once. This was such an occasion as we celebrated her monumental birthday and she was funny as she not-so-patiently insisted it was time to cut the cake. Conversation continued and she kept bringing it back to the cake. My grandma Elsie taught me to crochet. Grannie squares her lesson of choice and I remember the multi-colored afghans draped over the couch. She is funny and witty and smart and still loves to play games. She made mudpies with me and we played dolls on the river's edge while my parents and brother fished. She once threw me a birthday party, I was, oh, 5 or 6 maybe. It was a June summer afternoon, on the side yard with a bright paper covered picnic table, kool-aid, plenty of sweets, my younger brother and neighbor kids I only saw when visiting her house in that small town in central Idaho. I think I vaguely remember it, but there is a photo of that exact scene and sometimes I wonder if I remember the scene because of the photo, or the other way around. Either way, it reminds me of the importance of pictures and I was so happy to have the chance to visit and snap a few of her this weekend. Happy birthday Gram!
Edited to add the birthday photo. The back says "9th birthday" so I was a bit older. And I fixed my Grandpa's jobs. Mom said he wasn't a sheriff, as I had listed, but he was a whole lot more than I knew! And check out the full on mullett I was sporting!
Little sneak peek of a session I did this afternoon. We had to reschedule twice because of the smoke. It paid off when this morning dawned to actual sun and some fairly clear skies. Let's hope it continues!
I've shot Logan more times than anyone else (well, tied with his sister.) Several family and holiday sessions over the years and now he's a senior preparing to enter the Air Force upon graduation. Always makes me happy to hear plans that include military service. I grew up around the military lifestyle and I'm so grateful for those men and women who serve on our behalf. "Aim high" Logan!
We have staff meetings at work about once a month. Each month it is assigned to one person to provide a safety tip and (in the past) provide a treat. Months ago, we all agreed that the treat was not necessary and that "we won't be doing that anymore." Well each month the treat (NO TREAT) person STILL brings a treat. Not required of course, but "hey, I did anyway..." Well, September rolls around and it's my month. Or I think it is. I don't remember if I am September-person or October-person but someone comes to me the night before and says "oh hey, you're safety tip tomorrow...so bring a treat." And we all kinda' laugh and I say "but we're not doing that anymore...?" And everyone AGREES, we are NOT...but ya know...if you wanted to...
So that night I decide there is no way I'm going to be the person who doesn't bring a treat even though we ALL AGREE we are not doing that. Not me, no way, not on my watch. A quick scan through my pantry reveals an assortment of partially filled (but not completely gone) things. Half a package of still-moist, dried apricots. About one-third of a package each of unsweetened and regular sweetened shredded coconuts. Some walnuts. Three-fourths of a pack of white-chocolate chips. Two almost gone boxes of cereal (Honey Bunches of Oats and Rice Krispies.) A box of Chai Spice tea. And my saving grace, a new box of Spice Cake mix.
I can work with this. Those can all go together and spice is perfect for September/October. Now, I'm not even sure if it's really MY TURN to be the safety tip/treat (no treat!) person ANYWAY, but I've been tapped to provide/not provide a treat, so spicey it is. I'm calling these "Apricot Exotic Chai Spice cookies" because "Apricot Exotic Chai Spice Coconut Walnut Honey Bunches of Oats Rice Krispies White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies" is a tad long-winded.
So here we go:
- 1 regular package spice cake mix
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup strong brewed Chai tea (I used 3 tea bags)
- 1/2 cup crushed Honey Bunches of Oats cereal
- 1/2 cup Rice Krispies cereal
- 1 cup quick or rolled oats
- 1 cup shredded coconut (I mixed sweetened and unsweetened)
- 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 3/4 cup chopped dried apricots (the moist kind)
- 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons sugar (I used chunky Demerrera, again because it was in the cupboard and almost gone)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, butter, brewed Chai tea and eggs; mix well. I used a hand mixer. The mixture is thick.
- Add cereals, oats, coconut, walnuts, white chocolate chips and dried apricots; mix well. Now it is really thick. I used the hand mixer and then my muscles to try and get all the add-ins distributed as evenly as I could.
- Use a big cookie scoop (mine was a 3 TBS scoop) to scoop and drop dough 2 inches apart onto parchement-lined cookie sheets.
- Take a flat-bottom glass, rub a bit of butter on the bottom and dip in the sugar. Use this to flatten the cookies. (repeating the sugar-dip between each one and re-butter as necessary to keep the glass from sticking to the cookie.)
- Bake about 14 minutes, or until set. Let cool 5 minutes then move to wire racks and let cool completely. Well, eat one first while it's still warm. Then let the rest cool.
This made about 20 large cookies.
2 days to the weekend (never enough) and my list of TO DO's is growing.
- Take my 13 year old on a taste test + compare of the two, newish frozen yogurt places in town.
- Help above child clean her overwhelmingly messy bedroom (the above which is the activity we'll only do after the room is done) in preparation for the school year starting in less than 2 weeks.
- Something fun. Movie? Splash in the river?
- Normal laundry/kitchen/chores/daily life.
- Bake something from among the number of recipes I write down + tweak throughout the week.
- School clothes shopping for 13.
- Gym or hike once.
- Walk once.
- Crafts, of course, in the in-between times.
- Farmer's market.
- Grocery shopping.
- Prep my lunches for next week (I'm certain this breathtaking salad will be on the menu.)
- Go through and donate clothes and shoes that I don't need in my life and my space any longer. And actually take them to Goodwill, rather than let them sit in the trunk for, oh, 6 months or so.
- Try not to buy myself anything for the next couple weeks. I have enough. I need nothing else right now.