A Goldilocks Life

That’s My Dad

Tonight, we will celebrate Father’s Day. It worked out for everyone to meet up this evening instead of Sunday, and that was fine with Steve. That’s my husband—easy-going but never a pushover. We’ll enjoy a meal, talk until late, then head north (us) and south (them) for home. We can hardly wait to be together. There aren’t enough days in a week or weeks in a month to see our kids and grandkids as often as we want. Thankfully, we love each other and being together. Life is busy, though, so the days in between are too many.

Like Steve, my dad was easy-going. Fun-loving and creative, he taught us all kinds of games and activities. He even made up games and would play them with us and the neighbor kids. I really don’t know how my folks made ends meet with eight children, but I don’t remember going without anything I needed. Dad’s work as a floor refinisher was demanding, but after dinner he would spend time entertaining us with board games, card games, and silly stuff. He called one of the games Inches, and he would start at our big toe and say, “One inch, two inches, three inches…” raising the tone of his voice higher and higher as he measured each of us with his thumb and index finger, counting toward our heads. By the time he reached the waist, the tickling, giggling, and wiggling would start, and he’d never reach our chins. That’s my dad.

Dad, I miss spending Father’s Days with you. I will take time to recall hearing you play boogie-woogie on the piano or leading Christmas carols, strumming the guitar. Thank you, Dad, for bringing joy to my life.

Miracle of Your Creation

The pond and slough behind our building host waterfowl, reptiles, and mammals. The Canada geese and their goslings have finally moved off, and along with them so have the droppings that make navigating the sidewalks a potentially slippery trip. I’ve watched a muskrat sneak its way across the pond and an egret standing stock still waiting for lunch to swim nearby.

This week, the turtles have been busy. On Sunday, I watched a female turtle lay her eggs into the hole she had dug by the bushes in front of our building. She finished by swiping some dirt into the hole to cover the eggs. On Monday my dog and I watched another turtle walk steadily back toward the pond through a group of evergreens. Along the walk around the pond, there are various holes dug, and I assume those are other nests.

Turtles near us don’t stay with their eggs and don’t appear to return to them once they are laid. I read that they lay them on land where they are more likely to survive. Near our pond it isn’t unusual for a mammal to gobble up the eggs in the unprotected holes. Last year around this time, I observed broken eggshells surrounding the holes soon after they were laid. As their presence proves, turtles continue to flourish in our area despite their reproduction methods.

I’ve snapped videos and pictures of these and other creatures and look back in wonder at the many ways our world supports all that God created to live in it. Genesis chapter 1 verse 31 says, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening and morning—the sixth day.”

A prayer: Dear Lord, from creatures that move along the ground to people created in your own image, you made everything to exhibit your glorious power, knowledge, and sovereignty. You say in Psalm 19, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.” Thank you for giving us eyes to see and ears to hear all you’ve made. Praise your glorious name, Elohim our Creator God! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Trifle

The definitions of the noun Trifle in the Merriam Webster Dictionary© are, 1. Something of little value, substance, or importance, or 2. A dessert typically consisting of plain or sponge cake often soaked with wine or spirits and topped with layers of preserves, custard, and cream.

Though it would be stimulating to write about definition 1, something people think of as little value, substance, or importance (e.g. babies in the womb or the differences between male and female), instead, I’m going with definition 2, that is, a layered dessert recipe.

I’ve made Strawberry Trifle many times, like my mom used to for family parties. Since I consider a recipe just a suggestion, I tweak it depending on the ingredients I have on hand and the people who will be enjoying the food with me. Tomorrow as I prepare the dessert that I promised to bring to my friend Sue’s house where we’ll enjoy a meal together, I will adjust the recipe since she eats mostly gluten free. I bought a gluten-free box cake mix and will use that in place of the usual angel food cake. I have baked an angel food cake from scratch exactly once in my life. You must beat a dozen egg whites and sugar together for what seems like forever to reach the consistency required to make a perfect cake, and the box mix works well and takes less time. Also, there will only be three or four of us sharing the dessert, and the cake mix I bought makes a small cake.

It will be an adventure fixing the gluten-free version, with other variations. I plan to skip the Jello and ice cream and adjust the quantity of milk in the pudding. I will include fresh, cut-up strawberries and skip the frozen ones. I figure the cake, pudding, and whipped topping should be enough to hold the trifle together. Below is Mom’s recipe—with no tweaks. :^)

Strawberry Trifle

By Pauline Semmerling

Make a day ahead. If necessary, you may freeze the layers to make the same day.

1 angel food cake (12-13 ounces), baked or bought, broken into chunks in a 9 x 13 pan

1 – 3.4 oz. pkg. instant pudding, vanilla flavor

1 cup milk

1 pint (2 cups) vanilla ice cream (softened)

1 – 3.4 oz. pkg strawberry Jello

1 cup hot water

1 – 16-20 oz. pkg. frozen strawberries with sugar

1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced (optional)

Mix milk into pudding, stir for 2-3 minutes. Add ice cream, blend. Pour over cake. Refrigerate. Add Jello to hot water. Stir per package directions. Add frozen strawberries. Stir and break up with spoon until berries separate. Stir in fresh strawberries. Let stand until soft set.

Spoon Jello and fruit mixture over cake and ice cream mixture. Refrigerate overnight.

Top with whipped cream or Cool Whip before serving, if desired.

Serves 8-10