Refinishing Teak Table

I promised someone that I would tell how my teak table turned out. We got this table the week before my 33 year old daughter was born and it was delivered while I was in the hospital giving birth. In those days, you would get to stay in the hospital days to recover. Can't help but wonder if moms would be better off if they weren't rushed out of the hospital 22 hours after delivery. So many new moms are having postpartum depression. Is there any connection? Just asking?

I took the table outside to sand with the electric sander. Started out with 1600 grit, moved to 800 and neither took off a thing. After many different size grit papers, I moved to 100 for a few strokes. I then went back to 150 grit which worked pretty well. I spent probably 45 minutes sanding. The picture above is what it looked like after I brought it in the house. I wiped it down several times with a damp cloth and let it dry.

I had a couple of teak oils in my cabinet, but I finally decided that the oil I used the first and only time I refinished the table was the one in the picture.

Here are a few photos after the oil. You can see how beautifully the table looked after only a few minutes of sanding and some oil. No stain was used. The last picture was taken after several coats of oil. Hubby put on another coat the next day. The wood absorbs the oil like a sponge and I will continue to oil it over the next few weeks. Don't throw your teak tables out. They truly will look like new if you only take the time to sand and oil. Some of the deeper scratches are still there, but they only remind me of the good times we have had around that table.

As Always, Julia

After weeks I finally finished reading "As Always, Julia", the letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto, edited by Joan Reardon. This book of letters really has opened my eyes to the previous generation. These women started their friendship as being pen pals in 1952 and ended up being best friends until Avis' death in 1989.

Everything that is on our minds today was discussed openly and freely even in 1952. Who knew that Julia Child's private life was so interesting? We all know about Julia, her cookbook, and her TV show, but I had no idea who Avis DeVoto was. She had Julia's back from the first letter they exchanged. After reading these letters I do not think I know of another friendship so loyal and so loving.

There are many passages in these letters that I could quote, but I only will share two and both were written by Avis. "You know it is funny. By the time we develop real taste in food, and begin to learn how to prepare it, digestive disorders set in and weight piles up. When I think what I could have done in my youth, when I ate like a horse with no bad results at all, with the knowledge I'm getting now, I could cry.", Avis' letter to Julia, February 27, 1954. In her letter to Julia, April 30, 1961, she writes about the Cuban Missile Crisis "I cannot discuss Cuba. It is too dreary, too awful, too depressing. I only know the world limps on, and occasionally I get a bit of a laugh."

I hope you get a chance to read this fascinating book. Every letter was filled with political news, family life, descriptions of world travel, frustrations of the publishing world, and of course, food. I have learned from them that I have a very inadequate knowledge of politics, world events, and political leaders. I also learned that in order to have such a friendship as these two, I need to give more. "The world limps on, and occasionally I get a bit of a laugh."

Washing Dishes or Zoloft

I love to wash dishes. Sounds a little crazy, but it is very relaxing to me. Makes me think and the older I get the more I think....about the past....about the present...and the future. Today I was thinking about how people used to wash dishes.

When I was little my dad's parents didn't have indoor plumbing. In order to have water, you'd have to lower a long water tube down their well from a pulley and rope. The echo of the tube hitting the water is still fresh in my mind; never heard that sound after they got indoor plumbing many years later. You'd pull the tube out of the well and over to the bucket, pull the release voila a fresh bucket of cold water. Grandma D. had a little cabinet just inside the back door where the bucket sat and above it hung the water dipper. A water dipper was an enamel cup with a long, long handle which everyone used for drinking, even our city cousins. Yes, we all drank from the same dipper - not a glass, just that dipper without regard to germs. I don't remember us being sicker than people are today. Just a great tasting drink of water.

OK, back to the dishes. Grandma D. had two galvanized pans that she would place on the table because she didn't have cabinets, just a couple of pie safes. One held hot soapy water and the other was empty where she would place the dishes to rinse. She'd pour hot boiling water from the teakettle over each dish, moving them around until she covered each dish. Not a drop of water wasted. I wonder how many dishes had soap residual on them.....?? I could write a book about Grandma D. and how much she meant to me.

My mom's parents on the other hand, had indoor plumbing as far back as I can recall. Grandma T. had a large white farm sink and the back when up the back of the wall where the faucets were. I can only imagine how many people would pay big money to have that sink today. Grandma T. had a dishwasher, but not the kind you would think....Grandpa! In fact my mom said that her mother retired as it were when she was 50 letting others take care of her but that is another story.

Mom had 5 dishwashers, wait..only 4 since I don't ever remember my brother washing a dish. We had two pans just like my Grandma D. only we didn't pour the water over the dishes to rinse, we had a sink, and we could get hot water from the faucet, but water was a precious commodity for us, too (again another story). We had a pan of clean rinse water where we would dip each dish before placing it in the dish drainer. Do you remember how high we could stack those dishes before we dried them? I was champ at piling dishes in the drainer. If we were really sly we could let them drain until they dried on their own.

During the first year of my marriage someone gave us a portable dishwasher. It was already an older model, but since we didn't have one we thought we had gotten a real prize. The wooden top would have been handy for chopping, but we never used it for that. It opened from the top and you would have to remove the top rack to load the plates. Then you'd have to roll it over the sink and hook up the hose to the faucet. The dishes may or may not be clean - just like gambling every time you started it. That thing was the biggest waste of space in our tiny house. Needless to say, it lasted about two months.

For years I have been using a built-in dishwasher. Never want to get rid of it, but every once in a while when not all dishes will fit I am forced to relax a little with my hands in warm soapy water, a lot cheaper than Zoloft or therapy and I feel like I have accomplished something.

Purple Hull Peas

We are in my husband's home state tonight; a much needed trip for both of us. We are not here to visit relatives or even to visit his old haunts--just to get out of Dodge and our comfort zone, but memories crept up on us anyway. We have found an incredibly delicious place to eat here in Malvern, AR, on Highway 270 East from downtown Malvern. The Brick House serves home cooked American foods and as you enter there is a glass pie case filled with at least 7 different cream pies and cheesecakes and it took little persuasion for us to bring two slices back to the hotel. Tonight my husband had chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes made with real potatoes, and collard greens. I had fried catfish, baked potato, and purple hull peas. Purple Hull Peas!!!

The peas were exactly the way my mother-in-law fixed them, flavored with onion and bacon. I haven't had purple hulls since she passed away in 1994. Tonight I gave my husband a taste and his reaction was "We lost a lot of things when we lost mom". I had not thought about it in that sense, but this is so true. Even though we loved the peas I didn't fix them for my family. The same for many other foods she would fix. Sometimes it is years before something triggers a memory of something "lost". I think I will cook some purple hulls in honor of a wonderful woman.

Cousins

These little boys, cousins, and friends grew up to be handsome men. Sweet men with good hearts. Honorable men. Fathers, grandfathers. Sweethearts, lovers and the heart beat of their wives. See the guy on the left. He's mine.

These little boys played together in the '40s when life was simpler. They could ride across town, a couple of miles, to each others houses with a BB gun in the bike basket, waving to the policemen along the way. They could each tell stories for hours about the "good old days", but that isn't what is post is about. I will save the good old stories for another time.

These little boys have each endured the hardships and problems along life's highway that beset everyone, but none are as difficult as the one hanging over their heads. You see, sickness has plagued one of the little boys. It is hard to accept and even harder to understand. Just when they have their lives together, retired or soon to be retired, when the fruits of their labor are ripe for the picking, life throws a curve ball. Something that has to faced head on. These little boys came together this weekend to laugh and remember. To quietly love without ever saying the word love.

I think these little boys would tell us to be happy, to live each moment as if it was the last, to laugh and to love even if the word love is never spoken. They know....they know.

Whoa Whoa Whoa!!

What is it about riding in a car that brings out profound statements? I suppose it is the fact that one is trapped in a slab of steel; no escaping. I personally feel free to confess, proclaim, dream aloud, or question anything that pops in my mind. After all, I have a captive audience. They have to listen to me, they just have to. That is just what happened today on the way to get groceries with my hubby. If you read yesterday's blog you remember that I had a skunk problem. I cleaned and cleaned yesterday knowing that I could not overcome that skunk smell in my house, but I could make sure everything else was in order. Perfect except for the odor. That was my second day to clean this week since Monday is my normal cleaning day. Then today I was expecting the stone fabricator to come calling so again I cleaned all over again hoping that my guest's nose would be filled with the smell of lemon scented Pledge and Pinesol (not to mention pleasant smells of candles, incense, and ionic sprays) rather that blasted SKUNK. My husband and I were just riding along silently which often is the best thing to do when one retires. Then my thoughts could not be contained and I just formed these words out loud, "I think I like having a clean house. I think I will clean every day. It makes me feel so good." "Whoa, whoa, whoa," my husband said as he jerked his head a 90-degree angle to look at me. "Whoosh, plop, was that the sound of pulling a head out?" I just totally cracked up. Seriously, I was laughing so hard I could hardly stay in my seat belt. This the man I married, the wise ---. He has an extremely dry sense of humor and I appreciate it more everyday.

Skunk

Living in the rural areas of Oklahoma City, you will often smell the odor of a skunk. Most of the time you will smell their scent right at the same time you see their flatten bodies on the street. Too late! You cannot get away from it. BUT today, guess where I smelled that odor. Inside my house! Yes, that is right, inside my house. Stink to high heaven! Horrible! Disgusting!! And there is no DEAD skunk YET, but believe me, if he ever shows his disgusting black and white body, he is DEAD. He is already DEAD to me! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get rid of this smell in my house? I am burning every candle in the house. Even pulled out the 1970 incense. Boiling vinegar doesn't work, neither does bleach in the sinks, toilets, and any other thing that will hold bleach. I tried using Febreze and any other deodorizer I had in the house, even using an air ionizer. Nothing is working folks. So I did what every woman does in a panic situation. I cleaned. I used every product I had. Most of the times when you clean, you have that great clean smell. Well, that was what I was hoping. Nothing! Oh yeah, my house is clean, but I am going to be so embarrassed when someone comes to the door cause this smell is going to knock them over. Yes tomorrow I am expecting the marble fabricator to measure my bathroom vanity. Ugh! And my clothes, what about my clothes? Will people gag when they come near me? Am I going to have to wash everything in my closet????

Now this is the strangest part of this whole story and I am not sure that I am not just a little crazy. I lived on a farm until I was 21 years old and have lots of wonderful stories which I hope to share in another post. Living in the country is a simple life dealing with all kinds of critters including skunks so I should be seasoned. Mom and Dad's house had a crawl space with a little door so you could fix plumbing if need be. Once in a while a skunk would get under the house and do his dirty work, but one time in particular the smell was especially horrible. This was after I married and for over a month every time we visited them you could smell that nasty smell. Today that memory came flooding back to me. You would think it would be a disgusting memory, but for some odd feeling it was a sense of comfort. I think the memory of visiting my parents during that "skunk" episode and the warm fresh air flowing through my windows via my attic fan served as a catalyst to the past.

I guess if one can find a blessing in a skunk spraying the house, it might be the sweet memory of momma and daddy. Still, I don't want my own kids to have this memory. Life is just a laugh a minute.

If Only She Had Lost Two Pounds........

Have you ever obsessed about your weight when actually there was nothing to obsess about? I could tell when I woke up Saturday morning that I was going to be in one of "those" moods. Nonetheless, I walked with my husband our normal 2.5 miles. Normal since we only started walking again 2 weeks ago. We hadn't walked but about a block before he asked me what was wrong. Being in "the" mood, I replied, "Nothing". This is how is goes with us, the question is asked what is wrong. "Nothing" is the normal reply. He and I both know something is wrong, but we have to go through this little game. So we walk on silently. Finally, I have to let it go. We both know that sooner or later I will talk. And talk I did. About my weight! Of all the things in this world that need my attention, my weight seems to be at the top or at least it was on Saturday. Oh boohoo! You see we had eaten Chinese food the night before and do you know how much good food is plated up in Chinese restaurants? And this was not even a buffet. And I over ate. You know it is a lot of food when the doggie bag weighs 3 pounds.

Then I got the call. Doesn't everyone carry their cell phones when they walk? Wouldn't want to miss that all important call. Now mind you I haven't had an important call in 5 years, but you never know. My daughter was needing me.....oh yes, she was needing me to help her put together the horse-shaped cake. As often it does, that call gave me a purpose other than dwelling on those two pounds. Then my husband and I both got to laughing about how silly it was to worry about those two pounds. He told me I was beautiful (a much needed compliment), how healthy I was, how much we had to be thankful for and then he said "This is what I am going to put on your tombstone. 'If she had only lost those two pounds'". Now the giggling was really going.

What I woke wanting to do Saturday morning was be this "put your own word here" for the day. Instead, thanks to help from a dear man, it was a wonderful day. I went to my daughter's house to help with the cake. It only took us a few minutes to have the puzzle cake into the shape of a horse. She was relieved and I was happy to be useful. Sometimes it takes just a little bit of help from someone else for us to see the bigger picture.