Well, Bert's feeling quite a bit better; we visited our good country vet yesterday morning and as suspected, he's got a viral bug. He'll need a week more home from the dog park, along with extra rest and as much fluid as we can get him to drink. Many kind thanks to those of you who wrote and called with get well wishes and advices.
My Great Uncle J.W. (John William) McDaniel passed away late last week. He was the baby brother of my late maternal grandfather H.V. (Herman Victor). Of that big bunch of siblings, only my Great Aunt Annie Faye remains. I planned to go drive to Bowling Green for the funeral service yesterday, but car troubles (electrical system) intervened and had me stranded in a blinding downpour with no windshield wipers for over an hour, leaving no time to get there and only the poor choice of chancing it again. I'll be holding the McDaniel family in the light, as both they and the
La Grones are experiencing a major shift in generational leadership --- that my own parents are now the elders is astonishing to me, particularly since I am such a late bloomer my own self, and am only now starting a family just shy of forty.
My dreams of late are incredibly colorful, rich, intense. Lots of baby dreams (not just about mine, but about baby girls from China, abandonned children, etc.) -- I should perhaps say maternal dreams. And lots of sexually / sensually hyper-focused dreamings. I find myself wanting to stay in bed for "just five more minutes," to complete a particular dream cycle come early mornings....
Sister Dana and the little girls, Autumn and Haley Jo, will be here around noon-time for a two day visit. If the rains don't make it too cool or unlikely, we'll swim at the Y and visit the parks & playgrounds. We'll continue to celebrate Dana's birthday (our family always celebrates the entire month!). To that end, I'll be baking my favorite birthday cake, which has also become that of my Beloved Mister. (I've included the recipe for you below.) It came to be appreciated in our family when my mother prepared it for some church lady event. It was near my birthday; I was a teenager, who up until that time was a German Chocolate Cake nut. In any case, the cake got dropped on the floor, busted up beyond repair and we ate it immediately (like crows, we are!). So good (and simple) it is, it's since become a La Grone staple for birthdays, weddings, and other gatherings. The picture above is at our wedding's pre-ception at our home; my mother is slicing into her fresh apple cake, seated next to the cranberry coffee cake. From L-R: brother-in-law Keith, Isabel, Autumn, Peggy & Dana.
As promised: Here is the recipe. Even if you drop it on the floor and it busts all over the linoleum, it's still damned good cake. Especially warm. Mmm.
Peggy's Cranberry (Church Lady) Coffee Cake (Linoleum, or not)
2 C flour
1 t soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 stick butter, soft
1 C sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 pint sour cream
1 8 oz can whole cranberries
1/2 C nuts (chopped pecans, almonds, or walnuts....)
confectioners sugar
Grease a tube, loaf or bundt pan. Cooking spray works well.
Sift together flour, soda, baking powder and salt. Cream in butter. Add sugar to creamed mixture. Add in eggs, mix. Add vanilla and stir in sour cream. Mix all but cranberries, nuts and confectioners sugar.
Alternate cake batter, cranberries and nuts in baking pan. It'll be pretty and swirly.
Bake at 350 for 55 minutes.
Cool in pan (if using bundt pan, cooling on a coke bottle helps). Put cake on plate, sift confectioners sugar over cake to prettify.
Peggy's note: "If you serve warm, it will be crumbly. Makes me want some... I love... love... Mmm."
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