Around the time your cousin T's birth Nana came to visit me. During that visit she revealed the family secret. Nana’s specialty was Italian cuisine, not because she was Italian, but because she was a redheaded, Irish maiden who married into an off-the-boat Italian family. Pop-pop’s parents were immigrants. They peppered our conversations with many words from their native tongue. I remember being in college and getting letters from grandmother written by a neighbor because she never mastered the art of writing in English.

When  Pop-pop set eyes on Nana for the first time at a party for the staff of St. Vincent’s hospital in New York City he knew he was going to marry her, and in October of 1958, that’s just what he did. It wasn’t easy going for my mother though, the Italian traditions were strong in this family and she was an outsider. Food is an important part of the Italian culture, and a few Sunday’s per month after church we arrived at my grandparent’s house and joined our extended family for a traditional Italian meal. Salad, pasta with sauce, oil-cured olives, homemade pizza (this was similar to foccacia bread), homemade red wine in gallon green glass jugs and pizzelles or canolli for dessert.

In order to gain entrance into this family my mother learned how to cook like an Italian and her tomato sauce was better than any that I have ever had. Your older cousins used to call it “Grandma Joan’s secret sauce". My mother never wrote down recipes. You had to watch her cook in order to know how to get that specific taste that made it the best tomato sauce in the whole world. During her visit I participated in the ritual of passing down this wonderful secret recipe to the next generation as I watched and mentally wrote the recipe down.

I made the secret sauce last night for dinner, I always marvel when I get it just right and I can revel in the presence of my mother (if only by spirit) for that brief window of time.

My daughter is coming home soon; maybe it’s time for her to learn a family secret. Someday your mom will pass the secret on to you too.

And The Gift goes on.......

                                           Love, Aunt Cassandra

PS Aunt Carissa edited this letter so all the spelling errors are hers.

Do you have a special food memory you would like to share?

I have never made one of these but when I have grand kids I am so doing this:

The Marshmallow Gun

I would probably make one by myself to see if I could do it and then another with my grandchild. You can never have enough marshmallow guns. I might make these as Christmas gifts or my teens this year........hmmmm

Also consider getting some squirt guns or balloons for a water balloon fight (or two).

For heavy artillery (This is too complicated for me)

Spud Gun

Even with directions we will head out the wrong direction. “Turn north” has no meaning for us unless the sign says Turn North HERE Right NOW.

We jokingly decided it would be fun to take a cross country trip together. We would point the car west towards California. The odds of us actually winding up in California are not good.

We had better pack our passports just in case.

Invest your money in a 529 for your grandkids, a digital camera and experiences. Take them bowling, teach them what you love: fishing, chess, cooking, baseball. Buy stuff that is attached to experiences. A baseball from the ball game. Postcards for the art hunt at the museum. Go to Build A Bear together rather than buying another stuffed animal at the store (even if it is soft and cuddly does your grandkid really need 47 stuffed animals?) Go to the movies and send them home with gift certificates so they can go with their parent or friends. Go to the bead store or the craft shop, pick out the beads and make the necklaces together rather then buying a kit. Go to the farmers market and pick out something interesting to cook together. (Just don’t be disappointed if your grandchild doesn’t eat the vegetable even after you prepare it together. Memories are not about the final destination but the journey). Buy a piece of music together and offer to help pay for ongoing piano, guitar or whatever lesson as part of a birthday or Christmas gift (if that is okay with the parents.)

Unless it was a long yearned for, hoped for, dreamed of toy kids don’t remember who bought them what. They do remember who did what with them. Taking pictures and looking at them together also helps cement memories, hence the digital camera.

I have heard tell that it is easy to send pictures over the internet.

Thanks you to:

Karen at Zemek's Updates This is a great post to look for that next book to read.

Roxanne at Musings of A Work at Home Mom suggested James Patterson's The Maximun Ride Series.

Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series (I admit one of my favorites) and Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series were books recommended by Susanne at West Of Mars.

Kitten at KraftyKitten enjoyed the President's book Audacity of Hope. Dreams of My Father is next on her list.

Lynn at The Sewing Mom has suggested an book I had not heard of (always fun to find new to me authors!)The Mighty Queens of Freeville, a memoir by Amy Dickinson.

Margaret at My Reading Nook has a review for the latest Diane Mott Davison book Fatally Flaky posted on her blog right now. I love her books. The perfect summer reading with recipes!!

I am off to the library! Happy Summer Reading Everyone!!

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Paper and Pencil games

The advantage of these games is you get stuck waiting somewhere for some reson you can keep the kids amused and perhaps even patient.

Another rainy day sanity saver suggestion brought to you by A Second Cup.

I saw some jacks at the dollar store and bought them for the fun of it. Tech Princess was about 10 at the time and she had never see jacks before! I taught her to play and she loved it. There are so many games we played as kids that kids today don’t even know about.

Consider introducing you grandkids to jacks, jump rope with the rhymes, marbles, mancala and with a group kickball, double Dutch, Chinese jump rope.

Anyone want to add to the list?

My kids have loved these evangelistic out reaches. It is a measure of how much I trust our church staff that they get to go each year. Each year I would worry and pray for the kids’ safety.

This year they are going to Power Plant. A church planting outreach in hot areas of the country at least 6 hours from home. No roofs were involved so I was not concerned this year about my kids safety. Actually I was so unconcerned I didn’t go to the information meetings.

My Mistake. While there is no roof repair involved the ministry takes place in some gang controlled areas of Atlanta. Gangs as in do not where black, blue, red or purple. As in do not wear a ball cap. As in mom will be worrying and letting worry direct me to prayer again this year.

¹⁹Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. Eph 6

That is my prayer for them this year. I am grateful they are not in chains.

This year they are going to Power Plant and they are already packed!

Dare I say it....I think they are maturing.

Be still my heart!

⁴I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John

Check out this one North Wake’s Runners Camp.

The Boomerang Express is another popular VBS in our area.

To find one in your area check local churches’ web sites.