Cookouts and Cemeteries

Todays thought:
So what happens next? None of us know. But what they do know is that you should cherish every day, accept whatever comes along.

Gail is planning a cookout for Saturday. I would like to be home with George, if I am at her house she will want me to take part and pretend I am having a good time, If I stayed in my room she would worry and she and Mikael would constantly bug me about it. I don't feel up to socializing it only brings back memories. Oh well this atitude doesn't match todays thought does it?

This got me to thinking about how different Memorial day used to be when I was a child and even in my 20's. You always and I mean always went to the cemetery on the actual memorial day. Everyone took flowers. Some bought them, some picked from their gardens and others were made from crepe or tissue paper. There would be a short service led by a minister. It was important to my Mother that we go every year. You need to understand that my Mother grew up in a different time and world from the way it is today. You did not dress casually to go to the cemetery on this day. Things were starting to change some but not for my Mother.That means no jeans, shorts or even dress pants. Even after we were grown some of us tried to go each year to the cemetery with her. One year my sister Dee was visiting from California and wanted to take her. So the plans were made.
The next day we were ready to go and my Mother walked in and just about had a heart attack. Dee had on shorts!! She had not bought a dress or skirt with her. Mother refused to go. She would not be disgraced by a daughter of hers going to the cemetery dressd like that. My other sisters and I finally came up with a dress she could wear and the drama was over.

I have always liked cemeteries and I like to read the inscriptions on the headstones. Ocracoke Island is a good place to visit the cemeteries. When I was a child we played in the cemetery. We would make sandwiches and kool aid to take for a picnic. We usually set the kool aid on someone's headstone. I first learned to ride a bike in our old cemetery.

Even if I don't hang around for the cookout, I will make some food for Gail. Potato salad, cole slaw, and deviled eggs. I need to stop at the Farmer's Market for some vegetables. Local vegetables are not in yet, but they have some hydrophonic tomatoes that are pretty good. Hmm that means I could have a BLT for breakfast.
I will make a cake too. It is a very easy dessert. You bake a chocolate cake according to the directions on the box. After the cake is done pour a jar of butterscotch ice cream topping over the cake, top off with a container of cool whip and refrigerate until time to eat.