Can you sing? I can't. Does your bucket have a hole in it? Mine looks like it was used for shot gun target practice. Let me tell you about it. I was looking through an old photo album the other day and came across a picture of my youngest daughter, Elizabeth, singing with her high school chorale group. She even learned to read music.

It was in the fall of 1942 when my brother, Rod, approached me with an offer to take me hunting. “I will teach you how to hunt squirrel,” he said. Wait a minute! Where did he get off using such a big word? Rod could take school or leave it. He wasn't an educator. Not at all. I did figure I was teachable, however.

Do you like strawberries? Do you like rhubarb? I say yes to both questions. I learned how to make Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie just a few years ago. Previously, when I thought of Strawberry Pie it was the one with fresh strawberries in a baked crust, cover with strawberry glaze and piled high with Cool Whip. There was a serious gap in my pie repertoire.

I like Chicken Chow Mein. It is a quick easy meal. I remember when I worked back in the late 70s with four kids at home and a hungry husband. I worked in a sewing factory. Sewing doesn't require much thinking capacity. Once you learn what the operations require, it was pretty much rote. I would plan my supper meal as I sewed.

Brooke Cox recently wrote about the “Spider in the Blue House.” That reminded me of why I also hate spiders. It happened a long time ago when I was in the fourth grade. Spiders have given me the willy-wooley crawlies ever since.

Suppertime isn't like it used to be back in the day. When was the last time your entire family sat down together for the evening meal? Those of us in our elder years know what I am talking about. It's not an every day event anymore, even on Sunday.

Aluminum foil hasn't always been available for the housewife. (That's what we called married ladies that stayed home and didn't work outside in the real world.) I remember, after World War II, when aluminum foil and I were first introduced. Oh yes, I had become quite an expert in using waxed paper to seal a bowl for chilling in the fridge, but we all know you can't cook with waxed paper. It was love at first rip between me and aluminum foil. I looked for new ways to use this wonderful invention. This oven dish is one of them.

I got a call from Aaron Russell the other day. He was checking to see how I was doing. He hadn't talked with me in a while. During the conversation, he mentions that he likes to bake bread. Not just any bread, but salt-rising bread. He described the process as well as how good the bread tastes. That got me thinking.

Fresh pie cherries aren't available in February. That's okay. Food City does my canning for me these days. They have one pound cans of red tart cherries on the shelf every day. I call them sour cherries.

Do you really think George cut down a cherry tree? Do you really think he fested up to the deed? Naw. George was known as a ladies man. I wouldn't be surprised if he did tell a lie now and then.

Here is a fudge recipe I made a long time ago, that is, if you call 1981 a long time ago. Fudge recipes have evolved over the years. They are easier to make now. Just cook up some sugar and evaporated milk. Add chocolate and marshmallow cream and you have fudge. But it is not the same as the old fashioned variety. Oldsters will agree with me. (I will share one of those recipes at a later date.).