Are We Coming Apart or Will We Come Together?

Election Year 2016


It goes without saying that the 2016 Presidential election has become the most contentious, preposterous,  tumultuous, chaotic, ludicrous, divisive, uncivil,  nasty, disturbing, threatening,  depressing, embarrassing and sad time in our history. I wonder what other countries think of this process; I can only hope they are not listening, but it is hard to ignore.

 The 2008 election was historic for electing America's first African-American President. I felt hopeful that perhaps we had turned a corner, that we had finally broken down a barrier. In 2016 we could perhaps break the gender barrier by electing our first woman as President. Whether you agree with her policies or not, it would be a momentous event. But it is dispiriting, discouraging and depressing that it could be tarnished by the current rhetoric.

What will happen in 17 days when it is over and one candidate or another has been elected? In our country there has been a peaceful transfer of "power" since 1797 and it would seem that might be about to change, or is it all bluster and show? Is it an attempt to threaten or intimidate? Or is it a more insidious effort to incite some to rebellion or even violence? Or could it be something more innocuous, like an endeavor to garner publicity for some future venture?

I confess to having a great deal of distress regarding one of the candidates, but perhaps even more distressing is some of the discourse I have read by supporters of both candidates. It's a good thing to be passionate about your beliefs, but at the same time I think we all need to have the same passion for the right of others to have their own beliefs. Is it necessary to rant and rave and rail against "the other side"? I am probably living in a dream world wishing that we could have a respectful  passionate dialogue.

In all ways, this election is unlike any other in our 200 plus year history and I can't help but think that Lady Liberty is crying. After it is over will we come together in national unity or has the chasm too wide? I am worried.

Another 4th of July Experience

When I first thought about writing a blog about 4th of July experiences I was thinking of many times that I celebrated it along with my parents and several of their friends. At the time Baby Bird (remember her? we first started out to write a blog together, a sort of back and forth type  between Mama Bird and Baby Bird. Not to far along the line, she gave up posting as she was just too busy) was not yet a teenager and really had no choice but to accompany us to these gatherings. Thank goodness my youngest brother was closer to her age than he was to mine or my parents so she someone to commiserate with. I was remembering days spent outside in the yard sitting around sipping drinks, talking and laughing and of course eating.  One thing that Baby Bird and I wanted to resurrect from those days was the chocolate cake that was referred to as "Tommy's Chocolate Cake".  I don't know who "Tommy" was but I thought he was a relative of one of my mother's friends, but maybe somewhere along the way I just imagined that--perhaps it was some other "Tommy", a baker perhaps? I remembered that cake as being so dark, chocolatey, moist and delicious. For some reason I thought it had no flour in it and that it was so different than other recipes. 

This past 4th of July, Baby Bird was telling one of the Grand Baby Birds about the cake and we decided that for "old time's sake" we would find that recipe and make it for our celebration. I had the recipe on my computer at one time, but I thought I remembered printing it and then deleting it.  Sure enough, I had deleted it from my recipe folder.  I was determined that I still had it somewhere in writing and made a trip to the basement to search through all kinds of recipe piles I had saved in actual file folders. It took sometime, but I finally came up with it. In addition I found old family photos documenting some of these "Friends and Family" celebrations. It was amusing to see these examples of all the fun times we had (or does it just seem like "fun" now as I look back nostalgically at those times?) )

Those were definitely times when people spent time talking to each other, laughing with each other 

complaining to each other and consoling each other face to face. There were no electronic devices for everyone to be absorbed in (though maybe Baby Bird and my brother wished there were), ignoring any attempts at conversation.  As for "Tommy's Chocolate Cake", I compared it to other recipes I found for old-fashioned chocolate cakes and found that the recipe was pretty typical of all those other recipes with ingredients like sour cream and/or buttermilk, cocoa (I had erroneously remembered it as using baking squares), eggs, two sticks of butter and yes, flour.                                                                                                

I guess it just an example of the memory sometimes being sweeter than the actual event, but I still do believe that those were better times (and better cakes!!).  We tried this recipe this 4th of July and it really did not turn out as I remembered it, perhaps because the cakes I remember had always been baked at sea level and we did not adjust for high altitude. Well, it sounds like a good excuse anyway!                                                                               

                                            TOMMY'S CHOCOLATE CAKE

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon soda
Pinch of salt
Combine above ingredients in a large bowl. Melt the following sauce ingredients and allow to cool:
2 cubes of butter or margarine
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 cup water
Bring to a boil, stirring often. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Add to dry ingredients, stirring thoroughly but do not over mix. To this add:
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Blend thoroughly again, do over mix. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.