Mistake?

When my sister was in 5th grade her teacher was called Miss Taake. She was ugly and mean to the children. Sometimes she would leave the children in the room by themselves when she was supposed to be teaching them. Then, if they got noisy or ran around while she was gone, she would punish them when she got back. The children called her "Mistake" because she was mean and nasty.
But here's another part of the story. Grandpa's Uncle was in Miss Taake's class in second grade, more than 20 years before my sister. At that time, he says, she was young and beautiful and all the children loved her. Then at the end of the year, she got married and, since at that time, around 1932, married women were not allowed to continue teaching, she didn't come back to school.
But she was still Miss Taake years later. What happened? Did she get married but tell the school she was not married? Or did she decide not to get married? Or did she get married and later get divorced? When did she go from being young and beautiful and kind to being nasty and old and ugly?
This is all a mystery. Or maybe there was some mistake.

Great Meal

These are pictures of the delicious meal we had at Harvest, a restaurant on Big Bend in Clayton. The salad had quinoa in it. The lamb was served with a cherry sauce, fennel and a potato cake.

Niki de Saint Phalle

The St Louis Botanical Garden currently has a fantastic exhibit of sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle. I took lots of pictures, but am posting just a few here, after a couple of postcards from my collection to contrast with the "nanas", which she called "heralds of a new matriarchal age".
The first postcard is a TWA advertisement called "Valley of the Sun", postage one cent. The second was sent by Aunt Bernadine (name on green suited lady) and Aunt Sadie (red polk-a-dot suit) in 1953, with the message "Two more days & we'll look like those two dolllies", postage two cents.


These nanas (translate as "chicks" or "babes", says the visitor guide) are in the water in front of the Linnaean House.

This lion looked like fun. You were allowed to climb on some of the sculptures.

And you could sit on some of them.

Some were really weird. There were 40 sculptures on display. I took pictures of most of them, and have posted them all on Snapfish.

Amphibians

Theo says he isn't so interested in amphibians any more, but I wanted him to see this picture. Turtles come out on the log when the sun shines. They live just down the hill from us, in the pond where the river overflows. This one jumped off the log right after I took this picture.

Father's Day

Since we will be out of town on Father's Day, I made a special treat for Grandpa last Sunday, chocolate pie with filling from Great Grandma Ruth's recipe and crust thanks to Lara.

Pie Shell:
1 1/4 C graham cracker crumbs
1/4 C flour
1/3 C sugar
1/3 C butter, melted

Combine crumbs and sugar in medium sized bowl. Stir in melted butter until thoroughly blended. Pack firmly in 9 inch pie plate and press to bottom and sides, pressing till crumbs come evenly to the rim. Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool, chill and fill.

Chocolate Pie Filling
2 or 2 1/4 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 1/2 C milk (divided into 1 C and 1 1/2 C)
6 T sifted flour
1 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 egg yolks, beaten
2 T butter
1 tsp vanilla

Mix 1 C milk with the flour, using a blender or a wire whisk. Set aside.
In a double boiler or a pot set over simmering hot water or in a heavy saucepan on very low heat, mix the 1 1/2 C milk with the cut up chocolate. Stir (wooden or silicone spoon) and cook until the chocolate melts. Beat with an egg beater or the whisk. Gradually add the flour-milk mixture to the chocolate-milk mixure. Add sugar and salt and cook until thick, stirring constantly. (Takes from 8 to 12 minutes). Add a little of the chocolate mixture to the beaten egg yolks stirring hard so they won't start to cook. Add this mixture back into the chocolate mixture; keep stirring hard.
Now cook another 2 minutes or so until the mixture is really thick. Add butter (cut up) and vanilla. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally so butter is incorporated. Pour into the pie shell.

Cool in refrigerator. Decorate with whipped cream before serving.

Thank you Tracy

Tracy came to our house with a beautiful potted plant. We put it on the front steps. Then she went with me to the garden store and planned and planted a few beautiful garden spots and some boxes. Thanks to all the rain we have been having, everything is growing beautifully.