Trip for Father's Day makes for lively get together

Editor's Note: The following story took place several years ago.

For Father's Day we were invited down to daughter Susie and son Rob's for the weekend. The weather cooperated. It was great summer weather.

We had a big picnic lunch at Susie's out on their screened porch. There was a breeze, very conducive for eating, visiting, reading or napping, not necessarily in that order. Not everyone was there, but those that could be there made for a lively get-together.

The afternoon was spent playing ball and other games. We then walked to Middleton Heights Park, just a few blocks from Susie's. It is a new developed area. Not too long agoit was a field with deer and other critters. On our way to the park it goes through a small swampy area, they have a raised boardwalk that is very children friendly. The kids tried to catch some tadpoles. They also had bug containers, and were continually looking for bugs. I never seem to have any trouble finding bugs, they always seem to find me. "Hey kids, just follow me, you'll find plenty of bugs."

The next day we visited one of Susie's neighbor's, who are from India. She and her husband were lovely, gracious hosts. They invited us in and we had hardly sat down before she began to bring us strange, exotic Indian food. First she brought in a small plate for each of us plus bottles of water. The plates had little cracker like finger food, they were about the size of those little fish shaped crackers that kids just love. They had a salty taste, and were crunchy and very tasty, but quite hot, hence the water.

She then brought in small plates with small silver bowls in the middle of the plate. In the silver bowl looked to be (close as I could come) stew, minus any meat, as they don't eat beef or pork. What it was, she explained, was small chunks of potatoes, a light base of tomatoes, and lots of spices, including chili pepper, quite HOT to be exact. Next to the silver bowl was a small round flat cake with what looked like cinnamon, but make no mistake, it was not cinnamon; it too was HOT. She explained that you break off a piece, and with the spoon, put on a chunk of the potato mixture, very good, but very hot. One bite of potato and gulp of water. She said their custom was to give their guests what they had had for their meal. And this had been their breakfast. I polished off my bottle of water in several gulps.

She said the farther south you go in India, the hotter the food is, I said, "Gosh, you would think you would want cold food." She said the weather is so hot, that you eat the hot food which forces you to drink lots of water, or you would dehydrate. Guess that makes sense.

I was having such a good time, I hated to leave, but it was time to get our suitcases packed and head home to Ironquill. On our way home we stopped at a quick stop in Necedah, Bob wanted an ice cream cone. The clerk told me they didn't have ice cream cones. but they did have frozen malt cups, so we took a couple of those, and started looking for some plastic spoons, none were to be found. But I went back up to the clerk, and told her my tale of woe so she started checking around and she too could find none. So she went back to the kitchen and checked and they said they were out. I was told we would have to use a plastic fork. Was she kiddin? Those frozen malt cups are as hard as brick bats.

On my way out I checked at the condiment counter looking for spoons, but woe is me, none could I find. As I neared the door, there was a coffee pot and all sorts of things, so I thought I would check it out, and low and behold, I spied not one, but two spoons, and they were the last of the Mohicans. I raced out to the car to tell Bob the good news, I think he thought I had lost my marbles.

But, when we opened the malt cups, sure 'nuff they were hard as brick bats. I could just see us trying to dig it out of the cup with a plastic fork. We stopped at a rest area to eat them. They were yummy and really hit the spot.

We arrived home, tired and ready to hit the sack. Another Father's Day had come to an end.