Our Blue Family

In his post of June 22, 2008, Daddy D wrote about his family heirloom little blue Budgee Boy suit. The suit was initially worn by Daddy D himself. Then, both of our sons were photographed in the suit as babies, and more recently our oldest granddaughter wore the suit for a picture-taking afternoon. A few weeks ago, Luke put her grandpa's suit on our youngest granddaughter.

When composing this blue-suit post, I remembered an unusual expression that Luke would utter as a child. At about age three, Luke would say from time to time, "Remember when I was a blue child?" Now, I am not sure exactly what Luke meant. Since he was never actually blue, maybe Luke was referring to wearing his daddy's little blue suit. I will never know.

Mama Doesn't Have Back (Nor Does Her Baby)

For the past six months, I have been following an eating plan suggested to my husband by a dear friend. The plan he suggested is The G.I. Diet by Rick Gallop. For a variety reasons, Daddy D decided to try Gallop's easy-to-follow-traffic-light plan. Even though I too could stand to lose a few pounds and chins, my weight-loss on this plan was almost accidental. I was following the plan for convenience so not to prepare two different meals.

Recently, our diet enthusiast friend kindly commented to me that I should get off the diet as I was losing too much weight on "the bottom." Now, my butt is not a part of my body that is especially large even at my heaviest weight. His comment reminded me of something my mother used to say.

My mother, who in many ways was twice the woman that I am, did not have a particularly large posterior although she battled weight problems much of her life. She would say that her diminutive rear was due to a special medicine called Noassitol (pronounced N0-Ass-At-All.) So my lack of back is either due to genetics, or I take the same medicine as my mom did. My mother, Laura Gray, was a bit of a character. You can read more about her sayings here, here, and here.

Fun Monday - Blue Forever

The Hula Girl at Growing Older But Not Up is this week's Fun Monday hostess. For our Fun Monday assignment, Hula Girl is asking us to show those pieces of clothing we just can't part with, whether we wear them or not.

I have not worn this particular article of clothing for sixty some years. You might recognize the little blue suit worn by Little Budgee (that's me) from my wife. Molly's post last week. Considering the age of the corduroy suit, this piece of clothing is in relatively good condition. My mother saved this little blue suit and encouraged us to have our son's pictures taken in the suit.

When Dean had a lovely child of his own, our daughter-in-law suggested that our first granddaughter wear the blue suit for picture-taking. Doesn't she look lovely in her grandpa's suit? The tradition of the Little Budgee Boy suit will continue as the little blue suit is washed and ready for our youngest granddaughter to wear as well as her little brother or sister.

Little Budgee's first granddaughter

To see other folks valuable clothing, visit Hula Girl at Growing Older But Not Up

Fun Monday - Shoot 'em Up

My bride, Molly of Return of the White Robin, is the host of this Fun Monday. The assignment this week is to describe a happy memory from your childhood. If possible, include pictures with your reminiscing.

One of the happy memories of my youth is the memory of building various kinds of models. My brother and I did a lot of models. He was actually the better builder. Sometimes a model car was assembled and glued together; and then those original kits might be taken apart and built again. Maybe that was due to being without much money available to buy new kits. However, it was probably as Mom thought, we were destructive. To do a rebuild would prove her wrong. She would think this was a creative act and not just destruction. However, my brother and I did shoot up nearly all the rest of our models with BB guns. Maybe, Mom was right after all.

Here is a picture provided by my wife of a model car from my past youth. In 1960, this model won “Best of Show” at a hobby store. Since so many different components came together, this was very positive experience for me. The model has a 1956 Continental roof, a ’32 Deuce Roadster body and engine, and an Indianapolis racer front end. There are many other parts, such as the carb intakes from Revell’s tug boat.

To read about other happy memories visit Molly at Return of the White Robin.

Going to the Prom

Tonight, I am going to the virtual prom at Sunshine's and the pursuit of happiness, and I have a date, my wife, MJD. In my town and in my day, it was customary to have a prom for juniors and another prom for seniors. After my Junior Prom , I decided that a rented tuxedo is not necessary for status and a good time. Last year, I blogged about my ill-fitting attire for the Junior Prom. For my Senior Prom, I took a new girl, who transferred from a local private high school. Pam was intelligent and lovely. Additionally, I wore my very own suit instead of the inferior rented garb. However, following another tradition, I did buy a wrist corsage for my date. Hoping for a special prom kiss, I brought strawberry-scented lipstick for my date's luscious lips. Sadly, my hopes were dashed; there was no goodnight kiss.

Tonight for the virtual prom, I am wearing blue jeans and a purple polo...times sure have changed since 1962.

Double Nickel - Fun Monday

This week's Fun Monday assignment hosted by the Nekked Lizards is this: FIVE PICTURES - FIVE WORDS PER PICTURE.Any 5 (FIVE) pictures, any subject, and any 5 (FIVE) words to describe and/or explain each picture.

Hearing about the Nekked Lizards' Fun Monday Quest, I planned to show some pictures relating to the concept of double nickel. You know...my '55 Chevy, the street that I live on Indiana 55 and so on. However, time escaped me, that and I was busy watching Trevor edge Tiger out of another Master's win. Instead, I have decided to present my parent's five children as a tribute to my mother's ninetieth birthday.

Meecy looking in the mirror.

Sissy is a curly girly.

Look at that sweet smile.

The sailor man means business.

I wish I had hair.

"What are you making for supper?"

"What are you making for supper?", was a question that I used to ask my dad. In our home, my father cooked the day to day meals. My mother saved her culinary skills for company or special gourmet offerings. Dad, however, treated us with fried chicken and the world's best meat loaf. But one of my fondest memories is when he answered my query about the evening's fare with, "I am making purple ice cream." Purple Ice Cream or Grape Kool-Aid ice cream was a inexpensive treat. I made this delectable treat for my sons and looked forward to making the tasty treat for my grandchildren. Here our granddaughter is trying her first bite of Purple Ice Cream that may not have been invented by her great-grandfather, but in my mind and in my heart, he made the treat famous.

Purple Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 can of evaporated milk

1 package unsweetened Grape Kool-Aid Mix

1 cup of cold water

1 cup of sugar

Directions:

1. Mix Kool-Aid, sugar, and water. Chill

2. Pour evaporated milk into 9" x 13" pan or dish. Place the milk in the freezer for about 20 minutes.

3. Whip the cooled evaporated milk in a large bowl until stiff.

4. Fold the chilled Kool-Aid into the whipped milk.

5. Freeze for about 4 hours

Yes, you can make other flavors of ice cream with Kool-Aid...but why would you want to?