Messy Italian Cooks and a little eye candy

Lynne was on my mind when I saw this tiny red rosebud today. It’s for you, Linne.


Every two months, my husband makes homemade spaghetti sauce and it’s not the kind you get in most Italian restaurants. It’s rich. When you pour it over pasta there are no fat chunks of tomato or watery puddles on your plate. A supply that will last us through Thanksgiving and Christmas simmered on the stove today for several hours. The pot is loaded with sauce (we call gravy) derived from his Mother’s recipe and lots of garlicy meatballs, mild Italian sausage, and pork bones. He begins his cooking before sunrise, usually. The aroma wakes me.

His Italian family includes several restaurant owners in downtown Baltimore’s famous Little Italy where you can have a great meal and watch a bocce ball game under night lights. Many of the best cooks have passed on over the years, including his Mother, aunts and uncles, and their famous meals have been taken over by newer recipes and menus. Little Italy is timeless and will always please.

His sauce is delicious. I appreciate it. He thinks he cleans up the mess but he doesn’t, really. When I cook, I clean very well as I go. It’s tradition that I do the final clean-up when the sauce is simmering. Well, I wonder… did he sneeze with a mouthful of sauce that speckled the microwave, stove top and the ceramic behind the oven? A film of olive oil and grease coated all of the surfaces. How nice. As I walked around the kitchen assessing the damage, I crushed bits of garlic underfoot and tracked fresh parsley into another room. After the week I had, it was just too much to take. I had to get out of that kitchen for an hour in the sun.

The water temperature is below 50 at night but I fed them a little anyway. Already, they are sluggish.

Sweet eye candy.

Very sweet. I remember fretting over not having Gold Finches when my feeders were new last winter. They know me now!

Thank you, Goldie. I needed you.

The White Throated Sparrows are back! Oooo, I’ll be back to see you later! Juncos have returned and the activity around the feeders is entertaining. I’ve heard new bird songs but I need good binoculars to find them. Sigh…

Oh, I guess thirty minutes slipped by quickly when I heard the screen door open…ugh. The messy Italian cook let the dogs out. I stomped my foot!

They only wanted to be with me and to scare the pigeons away.

Sweet, kissable Bella. She’s so soft. Still limping, because Bella needs to learn to stop flying off beds and chairs and sofas.

Our dear Chlo, aging gracefully and becoming more loving than ever.