Archive | May, 2011

Day 34: Mother’s Day in Mexico

11 May

In Mexico, Mother’s Day has been celebrated on May 10th since 1922.  In the US, Mother’s Day has been celebrated on the second Sunday in May since 1914.  It is likely that many times over the years these two celebrations have occurred on the same day.  What is most important is that both countries have established days to honor the mother’s of the nation.

Today I wanted to honor a woman who has been a friend and co-worker for many years.  We come from different worlds but deep down we are the same:  we love our children fiercely and would do anything for them.  We don’t know how to behave any other way.

To my friend, I want you to know that I share your joys and your sorrows, for your journey is mine as well.

A hundred years from now… it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove… but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child. -Kathy Davis

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Day 33: For it is in giving that we receive

10 May

It’s only been 33 days since I began making pies and giving them away.  There have been times that I wondered, is this what I should be doing?  What difference can a pie make?

It has been amazing to find that such a small gesture can be so appreciated.  At times I am overcome with gratitude for being the one to give someone else thanks or recognition.  What a gift. It occurs to me that  perhaps we don’t express our thanks, or our love, often enough.

Three things happened this week that have inspired me to continue with this project.  First, my dear friend Debbie bought me a case of pie tins – 250 pie tins to be exact.  That is a lot of pie tins!  I am grateful to have her support and encouragement.  Thank you Debbie.

The second event is that my husband bought me an antique Hoosier cabinet or “kitchen queen”.  It is such a gorgeous piece of history – and I am thrilled to have his love and support as well.

The third event happened last evening.  My doorbell rang and it was my friend Claudia – and she had brought me a Rhubarb pie.  How about that?  I have been baking pies for over a month and had yet to make a pie for my family.  Thank you Claudia for giving the gift of a pie to me – it was delicious!

Lastly, tonight I brought a Triple Berry Pie to a young lady who is experiencing health challenges – and she was delighted.  Yet moments later when I left her house I felt as if I had been given the greater gift.

“For it is in giving that we receive.”  St. Francis of Assisi

Day 32: Mother’s Day

9 May

Today is Mother’s Day and while I am blessed to be the mother of two great kids, it is also a time of sadness since my own Mother passed away twenty two years ago, only a few months after I became a Mom.  Over the years I have found women who were able to help fill the empty space my mother left – dear aunts and good friends – and that has been incredibly helpful.  However, it hasn’t stopped me from missing Mom.

There are so many things I would have liked to ask my Mom about being a mom.  I would have loved to talk with her about the challenges I faced as a mother and  listen to her advice. There are times I think of what I put her through when I was a teenager (and didn’t think anything of at the time) and hope that she knows that I regret them.

I think of the things I only understood after having children of my own.  My mother had a baby girl about 18 months after I was born.  Her name was Elizabeth.  When she was not quite two months old, she died from pneumonia.  My parents were 23 at the time.  They had no counselors to help them cope with their loss; the conventional wisdom was that you didn’t speak about it.  My mother never really talked about Elizabeth except around the time of her birthday or the anniversary of her death.  Until I held my own baby I did not know how strong a mother’s love was – or how much it could hurt.

On this day, I wanted to honor my Mother but I wasn’t sure how to do that.  A friend recommended honoring the women and children at the local women’s shelter, Dunn House.   They are courageous women who are on what can be called  a “hero’s journey”. To them I offer these three apple-blueberry pies.  May they be blessed with all that they need to succeed.

Day 31: Bernie

8 May

If you look carefully,  you will see a path that my cats have made in the grass from my house to my neighbor, Bernie’s.

When we moved into our home 16 years ago, Bernie was our backyard neighbor. He was retired and was sort of quiet; we were a noisy bunch busy with kids and work and so we did not become close friends. However, in his own way, Bernie has become a great neighbor. We have shared gifts from our yards – roses from our yard, cherries from his tree.

As far as I know, Bernie has never had a pet. We, on the other hand, have had a steady stream of pets in our household: 2 Mice, 2 Rats, 2 Bunnies, 2 Fish, 1 Dog, 6 Cats. When you have children, it seems that pets just become part of the mix. My husband and I had two cats before we had children: I thought of it as a trial run. Okay, I now know that there is no comparison but at the time I thought that if we survived pets, we might be able to handle children.

What I did not consider at the time is that I might need help. And in his quiet way, Bernie has been a help. He has given our cats a much needed respite from our busy household. In his lovely British accent he has told me, on more than one occasion, “Well, I gave him some salmon, I hope you don’t mind.” Mind? Are you kidding? No wonder my cats have beaten a path to your door!

This evening I would like to offer my thanks to Bernie for his help with our numerous pets. He has given them a safe berth when they most needed it and for that we are grateful.

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Day 30: Thanks for a job well done

7 May

Today, I baked an apple pie to thank someone that I don’t even know. We see her each day as we take our morning walk. It is my guess that she is an owner in DeVore Construction, the company that is doing the installation of sidewalks in our neighborhood. This project has been going on for only a short time and it has been amazing to see the work that is accomplished each day.

Have you ever noticed how sometimes the area surrounding a construction site is strewn with debris from the building process, or with coffee cups or other trash from the workers? That is not the case with this crew. In fact, often you will see the owner sweeping gravel from the roadway and at the end of the workday, the entire area is straightened up. It is really impressive. She seems to understand that this space is part of our home, and she is respecting that space.

Now, I know that this woman is getting paid for her work – but you can’t pay someone to care. That comes from within. What I want to acknowledge is her conscientiousness and her attention to detail. She is going above and beyond and we appreciate it.

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Day 29: Miss Mia

6 May

We live one block away from Helman Elementary School.  Both of our children attended Helman and I have volunteered there for many years – and because of this I have a good relationship with many of the teachers.  One such teacher is Mia – and she teaches kindergarten. It seems to me that children in kindergarten are discovering new things about their world each day…  and Mia seems to share that trait with them.  I love her positive energy and enthusiasm.

Mia is a master at crafts and finds uses for fabric scraps, excess tile, scrap paper, and all sorts of other things.  She is also an avid gardener and has established a garden plot at Helman.  Often I will see her walking with her class towards a pond in our neighborhood so the children can learn about nature first hand.  She is the real deal.

A few years ago, when my nephew was stationed in Kuwait, I asked Mia if her class would be willing to write a few Valentine’s cards for the men in his company. She jumped at the chance. Within a short time she had arranged for the whole school to write Valentine’s cards to the service men.  I sent my nephew two boxes filled with about 200 Valentine’s.  After doing so I wondered how that was going to be received by the other soldiers.  After a week or two I was able to ask my nephew about it.  He told me that he had placed a few Valentine’s on each person’s bunk.  He said that when the men came back to the barracks and saw something on their bed, they would shout, “What the ….” and then they would be silent.  Not another word was said.  I asked him what they had done with the cards and my nephew said, “Aunt Karen, they are all taped inside their lockers.”   Because of Mia, those children were able to give a precious moment of respite to those men.

For this and so many reasons, I would like to thank Miss Mia with a Berry Pie. She gives her all everyday – and her students – and we in the community – are lucky to have her.

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Day 28: I Can See Clearly Now

5 May

A while ago I decided it was time to see an eye doctor.  I’d always known that something was unusual about my vision but I didn’t really know what it was or really give it much thought.  Enter Dr. Dukes from Progressive Optometry.  Within a few moments he was able to tell me what was wrong.  Dr. Dukes told me that my eyes had not been working together for some time and I lacked what he called binocular vision.  I had no idea what that meant until he put the eye testing machine lenses on me and took me outside to look at a tree.  It was incredible!  I had never seen branches reach out like that before.  They were three-dimensional now whereas before what I seen was somewhat flat.

Now that we knew what the problem was, we needed to find a solution.  A simple pair of glasses was not going to work because my eyes needed two very different lens strengths.  Dr. Dukes, his wife Melissa and their staff worked with me for about a year testing a variety of contact lenses so that I could find the one that would work best for me.  And what a difference the contact makes!   I am still seeing the same objects that were there before.  It’s just that now there is a third dimension to those objects – and it is amazing.  And what’s even stranger is that I didn’t even know what I was missing.

To Dr. Dukes, Melissa and the Progressive Optometry staff, Thank you.  You changed my world view – literally!  I hope that this Apple Pie brings you a taste of the joy that I have been given.

Day 27: Mr. Leo Meltzer

4 May

When I was a little girl, the principal at my elementary school, PS 14, was a man named Mr. Leo Meltzer.  The memory that I have of him is of a man who was always impeccably dressed – dark suit, dress shirt, tie and polished shoes.  He was well respected but also was approachable and friendly.  He would walk the halls of that old brick school house, nodding and smiling as he passed, and now and then he would visit our classrooms.

On one such visit he regaled my class with details of a recent trip that he had taken with his family to Mexico.  At that time Mexico seemed about as far away as the moon to me and I was mesmerized.  The hightlight of the story was when he told us that he had seen some folks eating sandwiches that looked delicious and he just had to have one.  He ordered the sandwich and ate it hungrily.  Only afterwards did he ask what exactly was in the sandwich.  What he’d thought were fried onions turned out to be fried worms!  The whole class erupted!  Imagine eating worms!  Yuck!  But here was Mr. Meltzer standing before us, alive and well and chuckling.  He had to be about the bravest person I’d ever seen!

I don’t know why I thought of Mr. Meltzer today, and since he died so many years ago, I could not honor him with a pie.  Instead, I tried to think of someone who shared some of his qualities: approachable, friendly, well respected, willing and able to laugh.  Today I decided to recognize the principal of Ashland High School, Michelle Zundel, with a pie  (yet another Strawberry Rhubarb – but I promise tomorrow will be different!) in honor of Mr. Meltzer.  Michelle earns her stripes everyday and I am very grateful for the care and effort that she puts forth to inspire, encourage and teach our students.

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Day 26: A Woman with Heart

3 May

Several years ago I decided I wanted to go back to school and earn my Master’s Degree.  My children were older and did not need me as much and I wanted to focus on me for a while.  One day soon thereafter a group of instructors from Southern Oregon University‘s School of Business were having lunch at our restaurant and my husband encouraged me to talk with them about my decision.  One of the instructors was a woman named Hart and she was in charge of the Master in Management (MiM) program at SOU.  Hart told me that The MiM program is an advanced degree for “people who lead.”  It sounded like it would be a good fit and a few days later I applied for the program.

For the next two years, I attended classes, met many new people, relearned some old information and was introduced to new concepts.  At times it was incredibly difficult but Hart was always there to talk me through it.  I poured my heart out to her on more than one occasion, and personally think that she should have invested in Kleenex based on my tears alone.  But Hart was there for everyone – not just me.  She’s a mixture of so many juxtapositions: Hart loves a good joke but is serious when it comes to work; she is sympathetic when you have a problem but demands that you do your best work.  She was a good mentor for me (and many others) and I am very glad that I got to know her.

When I brought Hart her pie and told her that it was Strawberry Rhubarb (I swear, the garden is sprouting this plant faster than I can pick it!) she was delighted. And I was delighted to present  her with a small token of appreciation for her endless dedication to her students.

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Day 25: Pam Hammond

2 May

It takes many dedicated people for a community to thrive.   You need people to teach, civil servants to protect, and artists to inspire.  And it is equally important for the community to have strong business owners to provide jobs and bring vibrance to the town. Pam Hammond is one such business person.

Many of you may know Pam because she is the current president of the Ashland Chamber of Commerce.  I got to know Pam because our daughters are close in age and were both in a production of Annie a number of years ago at Camelot Theatre.  She and her husband Don have owned Paddington Station for nearly twenty years.  Pam and Don have worked hard to create a successful business and their success is good for all of us who live here. Many of their employees have been with them for years and, best of all, they give back to our community in countless ways.

One of my favorite times of the year is when Paddington Station hosts their annual holiday open house.  They arrange for live music, provide an array of tasty treats and host hourly prize drawings.  It is a great time to visit with old friends and get in the holiday spirit.

For Pam, I baked a Mixed Berry Lattice Top Pie.  I want to offer my sincere thanks to her for all that she does for our town.

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