Saturday, August 17, 2002

 

Still in Michigan. Its hot. Lots of family time and upstairs from where I sit, my nephew and his mamma (Tricia Fojtik) are playing with trains. Maxwell is 2 and a half, and he is crazy for trains. Its so hard to turn him down when he says,"Unc'a Jon, play trains!" I'm usually the caboose or the coal car cuz Max is always the engine. No bones about it, this redheaded spitfire is in charge over here. His little sister, just a few months old sits idley by in her baby seat that rocks up and down like a bouncing La-Z-Boy when she kicks her left foot up. Her name is Lily and she has the darkest blue-grey eyes. I like to call her my little punk rock cuz she has a mohawk by God's own design. She loves to laugh and smile and gurgle at me. When Max, who loves her dearly yet can't seem to learn how play gently just yet, gets close to her to snuggle up, she makes faces. Faces like the kind of face you make when you know something bad just might happen and all you can do is anticipate it. She kind of cringes I guess. She's getting used to being his little sister.

The Fojtik family is preparing for tomorrow's reunion, when a hundred and more czechs gather round tables of chicken and dumplings and sauerkraut and pastries. We'll drink plenty of beer ("They got a keg this year!" exclaimed Jim Fojtik, my pops) and we'll pull out a few button boxes... or accordions to the uninitiated... to sing old world waltzes and polkas. Yesterday, as I helped my mamma with cooking up some dumplings and prepared the sweet sauerkraut, she pulled her own accordion out to show me how well she could still play. Damn. That was real cool, too. She played that K.D. Lang song, "Constant Craving." I jumped in to sing the words I've always made up for that tune..... "Instaaant Graaaaavy!" We laughed.



Have you ever prepared Sauerkraut for shishke? Did you know its to be washed before cooking? I sure didnt. But wash it I did. Mamma even taught me how to wash it! Think about it. How would you clean a vat of sauerkraut?

posted by Hog 9:31 AM