Thatโs what I tell people who say Iโm too old to do this or that. I say, โHide
and watch me!โ Iโm eighty-two. So what? Thatโs nothing but a number. I can go
and do just about as good as I could thirty years ago.
For my eightieth birthday, I decided I wanted to get in on all this Internet
stuff the kids are doing. So I asked for a computer. My niece Jennaโshe lives
with me, you knowโsaid, โNow, Aunt Bess, you donโt need a computer. You can use
mine.โ
โWell, I donโt want to use yours,โ I said. โI want my own.โ
So she and her daughter Amy and my granddaughter Jackie all went in together and
bought me this little laptop. Thatโs what they call it. Itโs a computer you can
put on your lap. But if you put it on your lap and donโt have a tray or
something underneath it, itโs gonna get your legs hot, Iโll tell you that. And
thatโs not necessarily a bad thing in the winter, but Iโd rather not burn up in
the summer. Thatโs why I had Jackie go over to the store and get me this
contraption that has a wooden top like a desk and a beanbag bottom. Itโs nice.
Itโs curved to fit around your middle, so you can plop your laptop right down on
that desk of a thing and surf around that Internet all day or until a good
program comes on, you decide youโd rather be reading, or your battery
diesโwhichever comes first.
One of the sites I like is the Pinterest. Do yโall have the Pinterest? Itโs a
wonderful thing. You sign up for an accountโfor free, they donโt charge you a
thingโand they let you make what they call boards. You give these boards names
and then you can put pictures up on them. For instance, one of my boards is
called People Iโve Outlived. That can be a sad, sad board. It has
pictures of Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Cary Grant, one of the neighbor
women, Princess Diana and Robin Williams (those two purt near broke my heart
when I added them), and Saddam Hussein. It didnโt really bother me too awful
much to put him up on the board. I didnโt know him, and they said on the news
that he was real mean.
I have this other board called Things Iโd Love to Eat. Thatโs one of my
favorites. If youโve never been to the Pinterest, they have the biggest bunch of
recipes you ever did see. They have recipes for specific diets, foods you can
make in a hurry, party foods, and desserts. I love desserts. Iโve pinned me a
whole slew of desserts on my Things Iโd Love to Eat board. The thing
is, Amy and Jackie use that board to see what I might want to have when they
come over to cook me and Jenna Sunday lunch.
One time, Amy asked me, โAunt Bess, you do know there are other foods out there
besides dessert, donโt you?โ
I told her, โYes, maโam, I do, but Iโm eighty-two years old. And if I want to
have a meal thatโs all desserts, by crackie, Iโll have it.โ
She laughed and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Sheโll be old one of these days,
and Iโll remind her of that little remark about the desserts.
First in a new cozy mystery series featuring Southern cooking that is to
die for.
Aspiring chef and small-town Virginia native Amy Flowers is ready to open
her own cafรฉ offering old-fashioned Southern food. But her dream may go up in
smoke when someone kills the competition...
Tired of waiting tables at Louโs Joint, Amy Flowers doesnโt just quitโshe
offers to buy the place from her bully of a boss, so she can finally open the
cafรฉ of her dreams. Amy can't wait to serve the kind of Southern, down-home
treats and dishes that her grandmother always loved to the kooky cast of
regulars at the restaurant. She knows her comfort food will be the talk of the
sweet, small town of Winter Garden, Virginia.
At first Lou Lou refuses to sell, but when she seems ready to make a deal,
she tells Amy to come see her. Showing up at the eatery ready to negotiate,
Amy is shocked to find her former employer murdered. As the prime suspect, Amy
will have to clear her name by serving up the real killerโand with Lou Louโs
stack of enemies, thatโs a tall order.
I live in Virginia with my family, which includes her own โAngusโ
who is not an Irish wolfhound but a Great Pyrenees who provides plenty of
inspiration for the character of Mr. OโRuff.
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