Usually when I think of something yummy I think of chocolate cake with milk, chocolate pudding with milk and sugar, creme brulee and flan (which are almost the same thing), fudge, and cookies of all kinds.  But there are other days when something yummy means

• Fresh raspberries hidden in the milk of my Red Berries cereal (never sugar)
• Veggies in abundance from the garden
• Oranges found on our tree in July (they’re a winter fruit)
• Little yummy somethings  made on the spot

OK, I’ll get to it.  Roy bought a pound of smoked salmon a few days ago.  He bought a pound because it was less per pound than 1/2 pound of smoked salmon.  Now he’s beginning to understand why 1/2 pound even might have been too much.  We have

• Made little bits of goodies by stacking sliced radishes, smoked salmon, and sour cream with a top hat of fresh dill to share with our square dance friends.
• Created a smoked salmon salad
• Ate crackers and cheese with smoked salmon – twice
• Today, created little bites of something yummy using varying combinations of fresh tomato, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, cucumber, dijon mustard, wheat thins, and those pretzel/cracker combos I like so much.

You may get the idea that we’re almost out of salmon, but we’re not.  We are almost out of wanting to eat smoked salmon.  It is so good.  It was so expensive.  But the truth is, we’re tired of it – and we don’t know what to do with the rest.

Marilynne

You can share my fun by trying some of the recipes below.

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/grilled-salmon-i/Detail.aspx

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/good-eats/grilled-salmon-steaks-recipe/index.html

http://www.salmonrecipes.us/salmon-loaf.html

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1817,148188-233201,00.html

http://www.grouprecipes.com/5718/salmon-patties.html

Mothers can be real tigers when their children are in danger.  We hover over our tiny babies determined to protect them from anything from diaper rash to other children.  Nothing bad is going to happen to OUR child.  We will prevent it at all costs.

Our children, however, are destined to break away from us and go out into the world.  There’s not a lot we can do about that besides help them be ready for it.  Picture the toddler stubbornly trying to pull a shirt over her head.  You can see she doesn’t have the skill, but she wants to do it.  She is intent on doing it.  So you help a little here and there and soon your child can do it herself.

We send our children to school and that’s hard too.  How could the school environment possibly be a safe as home and mother?  The answer is: it isn’t and our child needs to learn how to cope with it.  We can help, but our children need that bit of independence.

Sometimes the mother just can’t let go and thereby we have coined the term “helicopter mother.”  That’s the mother who is convinced her child cannot live in the world without her.  Helicoptering over a baby might even be necessary.  When a child begins to walk, we sometimes shelter them in our arms, ready to catch them if they fall.  However, most babies can fall quite comfortably, with that soft diaper cushion to land on.  We need only to protect them from falls that might seriously injure them.

Helicoptering in Jr. High and High School is an embarrassment to the child and hinders their learning.  These are the years in which a child begins the passage into adulthood.  These are the years when they can make huge mistakes and the mother needs to stand back and stand ready to help them through it.  Sometimes to intervene, but never to helicopter.   These years are similar to the terrible two’s with the exception that changes can be life shattering, or life lifting.  The mother no longer holds her arms out around her child, but is ready to discipline, give advice, help the child through this risky phase of life.

We need to be ready to pick them up when they fall and try to hold them back from disastrous decisions.  These are scary years for the mother, but eventually the child breaks free and goes into adulthood, more or less independent of her mother.

Are you wondering where I’m going with this?  My daughters, now in their forties, still worry about telling me things.  I don’t think I was (or am) a helicopter Mom.  I always knew my job was to bring my children up to be happy, fully functional adults.  I try to be a hands-off Mom, ready to advise when asked, and trying not to critique their decisions.

I find myself telling them “You have the right to chart your own life.”  The tough part is unspoken “whether I like your choices or not.”  Part of me loves being Mom, and part of me still wonders where being Mom ends – maybe never.

Marilynne

Thanks to PhotoBucket for the pictures of toddlers.

We recently returned from an 8-day vacation in Washington State.  Our granddaughter and her husband were coming from Finland for her Very, Very, Late, Wedding Reception.  You see, they were married in Finland and none of our side of the family was able to attend.  So now, 2-years later, it was time to celebrate with them.

We met in the foothills of the scenic Cascades, miles and miles from where my husband and I live in California.  Still, they had come from Finland and we did want to see them.  Her mother hosted a BBQ for her friends and family.  I have some photos.

We gather at an Indian Restaurant

Then there was the totally cute couple.  I observed that it was like letting two magnets come close.  They were never far apart.  We all were snapping pictures of them and most of them came out similar to this one.

The happy couple

My husband and I stayed at a Bed & Breakfast in Snohomish, WA, where we had stayed many years before for a family wedding.  Here are two photos.  They were taken in the same room more than 20 years apart.

The first group at the Countryman B&B.

Here is the old photo.  The grown women, left and right, are in the second picture in a similar position.  The baby boy is now a Marine.  The child at the top and the one in the blue sleeper are grown, one now in the working world, one in college.  The daughter in the red/pink T-shirt wasn’t able to attend, but we thought a lot about her not being there.

Now the new one:

The family in 2010. Grandfather, daughters, granddaughter and husband.

We’ve all changed, but it’s an interesting bit of history, isn’t it?

We did a lot of sight-seeing.  I’ll just give you the photos.

The Snohomish River at Snohomish, WA

Open Air Market at Bellingham, WA

Pike Place Market in Seattle - surroundings

Wasn't she supposed to be taking in the view?

Just a lot of talking, visiting, doing things.

That’s enough for now.  I’ve also posted photos at Maxie Girls Books and  Writer Lady.  You can clink the link if you wish.

Marilynne

Over the years, whenever I longed to escape to another place and leave the worries of my life behind, I always dreamed I would go to a cabin in the woods.  It would have a stream or a lake nearby.  It would be just an escape.  I’d go back home, but I needed not to be there for a while.  Do you have a favorite place to dream about?

Last week I found my dream cabin residing in my real world.  It was everything I hoped for and more.  We went to Nevada City in California’s Sierra Mountains for our granddaughter’s high school graduation.  Even though my daughter called a month ahead, she could only get a cabin at the Northern Queen.  “It costs a bit more,” she said, “but it was all I could find.”

We owned that cabin for three nights and four days.  It was tucked at the end of a road above the rest of the motel, at the end of a string of similar cabins.  Each cabin had a parking place lined with rocks and chunks of trees, and paved in pine needles.  The trees hung protectively over our heads and around the cabin.

View from the balcony

From the balcony, screened by trees, you could see the little creek below and across from that a tiny railroad that takes kids for a ride in the woods on hot summer days.  There were also trails for a walk around the grounds.  Stunned, I sat on the balcony and just sat for a while, taking it all in.  This was the place of my dreams.

If you live in a place that’s tree-lined, as two of my daughters do, it might seem ordinary to you.  When you live in a place with water rationing, and a scorched lawn in the summer, it looks like heaven.

The cabin came with a kitchen, living-dining room, and a small bedroom.  What I liked was just down the road there is one of my favorite restaurants in the whole world (my world that is).

The restaurant deck is surrounded by trees and overlooks a waterfall

I ate my breakfast every morning either on this lovely deck or inside with big windows over looking the waterfall.  I had wonderful things like a waffle ringed in strawberries and a fruit cup topped with macaroon cream.  My spouse would have been just as happy cooking and eating in the cabin, but I wouldn’t hear of it.  Many times, not only this visit, we have met our family here for a meal together.  I have memories here.

Or sometimes we just sip our coffee and tea and have a quiet moment together.

Reading the complimentary newspaper on the deck.

This cabin waits for our next visit.  Location:  The Northern Queen, Nevada City, CA.

Marilynne