"How come you have so much tripe?" I asked the Mama, as I stared at a large clear plastic bag full of white, honey-combed cow stomach lining. "Your godfather gave it to me," she said. "That's a lot of tripe. How many pounds is that? "Twenty." "What are you going to do with all that tripe?" "Put it in the freezer." I lugged the heavy bag to the big freezer in the garage. What the heck? On top of other more frozen items was another large clear plastic bag of tripe. Just as I closed the freezer, Frances, one of the Mama's friends walked up the driveway. The garage door was open. "Hello. Is your mom home?" "She's in the house. Come inside," I said. "I need to get something out of the car first," Frances said. "I have something for your mom." She ran out of the garage. I opened the door and yelled into the house, "Mama! You have a visitor." Then I went to see if

My  Alphabe Thursday  theme -- The Dude, The Husband The Husband enjoys walking, whether it's in the wilds or a park, down the street, or through the neighborhood. The kind of walking that's tough for him is slow walking like when we're browsing through a museum or a shop. That tires him out. He has an easy gait with a long stride. I have a slower place than him, so I tell him to go stretch his legs. Until recently, I was usually half a block behind him. These days, I can keep up with him or just be a few steps behind him, some of the time. I love walking with the Husband. I also like taking photos of him on our walks and hikes. It's Alphabe Thursday , hosted by the sweet Jenny Matlock. Today is the letter W. To check other participants, please click here .  By the way, if you're coming from the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge , my T post is over here .

This is the Mama's spoon, the one with which she cooked for as long as I can remember. And, for those who are new to the blog, I'm in my early 60s and the Mama is 30-some years older than me. I like cooking with the Mama's spoon. It's smooth, fits in my hand, and has the perfect heft to it. I also like the way the metal spoon sounds against a pot or pan. Most of all, I like cooking with it because it's the Mama's spoon. When I pick up the Mama's spoon, I think of her using it to stir her bittermelon chicken soup, eggplant-bittermelon stew, tabongow chicken soup, pork adobo, ginger beef, fried rice, scrambled eggs, pancit, and diningding (a soup of all the Filipino vegetables in her garden). In my mind, I see her making Thanksgiving dinner with that spoon. She sauteed the ingredients for the dressing. She basted the turkey. She mashed the potatoes with the back of the spoon. And, she stirred and stirred the gravy. She cooked a lot of meals with that

My  ABC Wednesday   theme:  The Mama and Her Authentic Green Thumbs. . .and Fingers I got this orchid plant as a gift six years ago. Every year it has bloomed again because of the Mama, who took it over from the moment it came into the house. She doesn't feed it any special orchid food.  She just waters it and reminds me not to water it. Today is ABC W ednesday , a meme began by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt and now headed by Roger Green  and his helpers.   Click  here  to read posts around today's letter O.  If you've come from the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge , my S post is over here .

We usually have cooked rice in the refrigerator, ready to be heated as is or made into a fast and easy fried rice dish. Rice is the one dish that the Mama usually makes. I'd rather cook it because hers comes out too dry. But, I let her prepare the rice because I think it makes her feel that she's contributing to cooking the meals. When I warm up the rice in the microwave, I just add a bit of water. So no big deal. Twice a year, the Mama sees her eye doctor who always asks,"What's your secret for long life?" "I eat rice," she tells him. "Eat rice for a long life. You don't get so many wrinkles." I don't know about that.  But, hey, she is 93 years old. Click   here  to find other A to Z challenge participants.

Yesterday the Husband and I got together with friends and hiked in the Pinnacles National Park, one of the newest parks in the National Park Service system. It had been planned for awhile, but as usual, I didn't think about what to bring for trail snacks until Saturday. We had no idea how far or how long we would hike. "What do you think about getting energy bars for the hike?" I asked the Husband. "Great idea," he said. "We can bring apples." "Okay. How about some nuts?" "Yeah." "We have carrots." "That'll be good, too." Done. Quick and easy meal planning. I always like that. Click   here  to find other A to Z challenge participants.

Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo is the funny book I read for my 2015 Reading Challenge . If there was a charming characters category, this children's novel would fit it, too. Ulysses is a squirrel that is very strong, flies through the air with the greatest at ease, types, writes poetry, and loves Flora. All this he was able to do after he was sucked up by and spitted out of a super strong vacuum cleaner. Flora Belle Buckman is a young girl who loves to read comic books, thinks of herself as a cynic, doesn't like that her parents are divorced, and loves Ulysses. Her mother, alas, wants nothing more than the squirrel to be no more, with the help of a sack and a shovel. The quest for Flora and Ulysses is to remain together for as long as ever can be. She is helped by her neighbor Tootie Tickham who accidentally sucked Ulysses up in her vacuum cleaner; William Spiver, Tootie's grandnephew, who is temporarily blind, but nobody believes him; George Buckman, Flora&#