June 4, first Friday of the month

 TERRY

I would say NO news is good news and Terry remains the same.  Again, as usual, she is reading the paper as I write my blog.  

We had a real treat last night for dinner as we had fresh sweet corn.  After 23 minutes on the grill it came out a golden color and oh oh so sweet and delicious.  I never grill sweet corn that long but this Treager grill is a bit different.  It certainly was a change of plans as usually we eat in the bedroom that being easier for Terry.  We have two cobs left and not sure how we will eat them but we will as the taste is so so good.

I am not certain about today as I will be away from home for some time and that always makes me a bit uneasy.  I plan tennis at 9:00 and no problem as Sonia will be here but then Karl and I will play golf one last time in the afternoon as he leaves for north on Monday.  I think they have a home in Delaware.  So it is just the two of us and IF we do not join up with anyone else it should be kind of a fast 18.  Still being away that long always makes me nervous.  Terry has been good about me doing it as this will be the 4th time I have played but still!!!

I had a fun tennis match yesterday.  Karl and I took on Tim and Bob and most would expect that match up to be one sided, not in our favor.  We battled back and forth and finally when time was up we were ahead 5-4 so kind of fun.  IF we were to play them again the result may not be the same but!

Here it is Friday and there are no plans for the weekend.  I may end of going to the store once or twice but that is it.  OH, I am going to make Mom's potato salad and am looking forward to it.  The recipe calls for 5 pounds of potatoes and a jar of Mayo.  I just could not wrap my brain around the "jar of mayo" so I called sister Joan and asked about it.  She said that was about it but then she added.  "we had 18 people here over Memorial Dad and I made it with the 5 pounds of potatoes and we had some left.  SO here it is pretty much ME--I think I may cut the recipe in half at least!  Maybe even in 1/4th!

Oh my goodness I think we are in the summer mode here in Naples.  Yesterday we had rain showers in the afternoon as the temp was about 90!  Yikes, this may be an interesting summer.  I have talked to people who are here year around and they do say that one needs to do outdoor work/play early in the day and then enjoy AC inside the rest of the day.  BUT they add that the traffic, the stores, the cafes etc are wide open most of the time as population in the summer is maybe 1/4 of the winter.  So as Terry and I stay here we will be happy to take the good with the not so good.

DAKOTA ATTITUDE

Gertrude remembers winter nights after marriage.  "It was so cold in the winter, we'd moved our mattress to the floor in the kitchen where we wouldn't freeze.  Bob adds, "The furnace was shot, but we had a cookstove in the kitchen.  We kept that fire, and then we shut the doors, and we could sleep in there.  We had heat all night long"

"Ted chokes up when he remembers his father buying kerosene for their oil lamps during the Dirty 30's.  It was two gallons o'kerosene.  That was for the winter.  That was it.  That was that power bill.  I think we didn't get electrical power til 1951, and the power bill was a flat $5, and they figured that was awful expensive, because they couldn't imagine paying for it."  

"Like many of his contemporaries, Ted attended a country school.  He remembers discipline was strict and enjoyed parental reinforcement.  Everybody kind of respected the teacher; whatever she said that was it.  I remember my cousins, I don't know whether they did anything in school or what and anyway, my uncle Joe, their dad, came in to school.  He had this big stick.  He handed it to the teacher.  Use it he says and walked out!

Here it is almost 8:30 and time to sip the last of the FP and sign off.