My Grandma, Jean Blumer Glatzel

My grandma -

My Grandma loved flowers, and she would have really liked these flowers that were at her memorial service.

My Grandma loved to garden. I think I got my green thumb from her.

When my Grandma and Grandpa sold their house in West Bloomington and moved to their townhouse behind the Target in Savage we dug up her rhubarb plant and moved it to my yard, where it grows very nicely. It is time to pick some rhubarb now, and make a cake or something.

My Grandma was a very kind, patient, person. She was a gentle soul. When I was a kid we went and visited both of my sets of grandparents every Sunday afternoon. My Grandma Glatzel always had made some kind of dessert, a lot of time cookies, and we would have dessert and coffee. At this time of year she would have made something from that rhubarb. Or we would have just dipped the stalks in sugar and ate it raw. As time went on her desserts and cookies got fancier, she was a big fan of Martha Stewart, and watched her show on TV.

I remember when I was a junior in high school she helped me make my prom dress. It was a peachy color, with flowing flaps of sheer fabric over the solid colored peach satin part. She was a good seamstress. She took a lot of classes at the Stretch and Sew over by Valley West shopping center. She made me lots of clothes when I was little. I had a red velvet dress for myself and one for my favorite doll. She always did lots of crafty things too, like knit and crochet. She was always interested in whatever project I was working on, and liked to see what I was making.

My Grandma used to have the ladies over to play bridge. She had card tables, and fancy napkins. We would use up the leftover napkins on Sunday afternoons with our desserts.

My Grandma was adopted. Her father, William, was a high school teacher at South High in Minneapolis. I think he started his teaching career in Ely. He was an avid outdoors man. He built a cabin up on the north shore of Minnesota on Pike Lake. They spent every summer up there when my Grandma was a kid. No running water, no electric. My Grandma's mother, Doris, died when my Grandma was 13 (I think she was 13). After that it was just her and her dad, and a Chesapeake Retriever named Peggy. Mike and I went to visit the Blumer's graves on Memorial Day weekend. They are buried at Lakewood cemetary, with a view of Lake Calhoun.

William F. Blumer

Dec. 11, 1890 - Dec. 19, 1989

Doris Brown Blumer

Jan. 13, 1889 - Nov. 25, 1935

I brought some lilacs from home and we decorated the graves.

Here is their view of the Lake Calhoun -

Lakewood is a beautiful cemetary if you ever have a chance go down and take a look around.

They have walking tours, and carriage rides - here is a link to the webpage http://www.lakewoodcemetery.com/About.html There are a lot of famous people buried there - like Paul, Sheila, and Marcia Wellstone, there is a whole list on the webpage.

My Grandma always liked dogs. When I was a kid they had dachshunds, the original 2 were Freddie and Heidi. I also remember Oscar, Tyge, and Maggie. We had a dachshund when I was growing up from a litter of puppies they had. Her name was Schultze. She used to lay on my legs in the recliner while I read my Charlie Brown/Snoopy books.

My Grandma had Alzheimer's for the past few years, and lived at the Masonic Home in Bloomington. She was still a polite, gentle, person, but would ask the same questions over and over again. It was sad to see her this way, and it was very hard on my Grandpa. They had a good marriage, I think they were very happy together. He used to call her Mrs. G, as kind of a term of endearment. They enjoyed having Happy Hour together in the early evenings. I do remember one Thanksgiving when I was a kid when Grandma had too much wine and had to go lie down on her twin bed (they always had twin beds) and my mom and my aunt Janet had to make the Thanksgiving dinner.

My uncle David, who is only 7 years older than I am was a teenager in the early 70's. He had long hair, and dropped out of high school, and my grandma loved him very much. It didn't matter to her that he did those things, even though she was a pretty proper type of person. She still knew he was a good person, just trying to find his way in the world. And of course he eventually did find his way. And I'm sure he appreciated having a mother like her, who was always there for him, and always loved him for who he was. I feel bad for my uncle, who never got along very well with my grandpa. As an aside, I remember that he had a girlfriend back in the 70's that worked at the Gedney Pickle Factory, and always smelled like pickles. Funny what we remember from our childhoods...

If God had intended us to follow recipes,

He wouldn't have given us grandmothers.

~Linda Henley

My Grandma was a recipe follower - here is a cookie recipe that my Grandma Glatzel always made for Christmas, and I still make these cookies today!

Grandma Glatzel's Green Meringues

2 egg whites
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. cream of tartar
2/3 c. sugar
mint chocolate chips, or I use Andes mint pieces found in choc. chip aisle at xmas
green food color

Beat egg whites, salt and cream of tartar until frothy. Gradually add sugar, while still beating. Stir in food color and chips. Using a teaspoon drop a small pile of meringue on GREASED cookie sheets. Heat oven to 350. Put cookies in oven, shut the oven off and leave 6-8 hours or overnight. The cookies don't really bake, they just dry up. And then they melt in your mouth when you eat them - YUM!

Wildlife Update!

Sweet Pea, the Mallard living outside the window, behind the bush, was there a few days ago, with some cracked eggs by her side.

Later that day, she was gone. And I waited until she was gone for at least a day before I took a closer look at the nest she left behind.

It looks like there were never baby ducks, the eggs just looked sort of hollow.

I wonder how ducks know when to give up and move on?

Here are a few, really cute shots of some wildlife in the back yard...

Kinsey is her real name, but I call her Sweet Pea sometimes too.

Life has been crazy around here lately, and I'm going to try to Blog everyday this week to catch up.

A preview of upcoming events - Eagle Scout Court of Honor and Party, Knowledge Bowl Banquet, Band Banquet, Memorial Day, a remembrance of my Grandma Glatzel and some spring planting, that she would have liked very much.

Wildlife!

I like animals. I really like them when they are in my yard, and they pose for pictures.

Like this robin -

And this tiny, barely flying, sparrow -

And I really love rabbits...

And something new this year - take a close look -

There she is - I call her Sweet Pea - sitting on her nest.

At least once a day she leaves to go eat, and sometimes it looks all feathery like this -

Other times it looks like this -

I've counted 10 eggs in the nest. She has been sitting there for a few weeks, so I'm wondering if the hatching will happen soon? Here is what centralpets.com has to say about Mallard babies:

Mallard Ducks usually nest in March, though by autumn most have formed pairs. They use nests located on the ground, made from leaves, grass, and other vegetation and lined with feathers. Often, these nests may be located away from water.

The eggs are usually a green color, ranging from olive green to blue green. Between 8 and 12 eggs are laid in an average clutch, and they require between 22 and 30 days of incubation by the hen, or female Mallard Duck, before they hatch.

Normally drakes have little to do with the ducklings, and the female will lead them to the water once they have hatched. Usually the drake will have abandoned the family during the first week of incubation. The hatching of Mallard ducklings usually occurs between the end of March and July. By the time they are about two months old, the little Mallard Ducks begin to fly.

Pictures of baby ducks coming soon? Stay tuned...

Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Patty’s Chicken Wild Rice Soup

½ c. butter
¾ c. onion, chopped
¼ c. flour
4 c. chicken broth
1 c. carrots, grated
1 c. celery, diced
2 c. cooked wild rice
1 c. cooked chicken, chopped
1/2 c. cooked bacon, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 c. half & half
½ c. slivered almonds

Saute onion in butter. Add flour and broth; thicken. Add other ingredients except almonds. Simmer over low heat until all flavors blend. Add almonds. Serve hot.

If you want the tasteless version use olive oil instead of butter, skim milk instead of half & half, low sodium chicken broth, and don't put in the bacon.

And for all you poetry lovers, here is the month of May from Maurice Sendak's Chicken Soup With Rice book...

"In May
I truly think it best
to be a robin
lightly dressed
concocting soup
inside my next.
Mix it once
mix it twice
mix that chicken soup
with rice."

Who doesn't love that?