My Mother was the most perfect and

magnetic character, the rarest

combination of practical, moral,

and spiritual, and the least selfish,

of all and any I have ever known,

and by me O so much the most

deeply loved.

~Walt Witman

Emma Sage has been helping me bake this morning.....and noticing the tears. When I open my cookbooks [many gifts from my Mother or passed on to me from my Mamie and great-grandmothers]....when I open my cookbooks I start to cry when I notice my Mothers handwritting and little notes about each recipe. My Mother loved to cook and more than anything, loved to collect recipes from friends and family, which she would lovingly hand write and make little notes in the side margins about each recipe and where it came from or on what occassion it was first introduced into our lives.....then making it a mainstay, a tradition at future gatherings.

One thing that I hope to do over the next year is to create a cookbook of all these wonderful recipes,,,,but more importantly, these wonderful memories.

So we have baked an apple pie [actually two], made a fresh cranberry/apple relish and our famous Broccoli casserole [yes, my Mom has it written next to the recipe, Rick's famous broccoli casserole.......as he makes it for every family gathering and we always get calls asking us to bring it....so I guess that makes it famous in our family!!!!!

We are off to celebrate the rest of the day at my brothers.........

May your day be filled with good food and cheer!

and Mommy,,,,,,,I miss you so dearly. I saw this poem above and thought to my self......"Wow, Walt Witman had a Mother just like I did.....how blessed he was, and how blessed I am!"