Roger's View of the World, Love and Seafood Gumbo!
Seize the Day! Put no trust in the morrow! — Horace
When our children have birthdays , it brings back many memories. Kristin’s special day was yesterday followed by Karen’s today.
Looking back I do remember Karen wanting to play with me all the time… jumping into my arms followed by being tossed into the deep end as they got older… and then trying to sneak and grab my beer. I may sound a little prudish, but 2 years old is way too early to start stealing my brewsky!
Here’s a recipe Karen and I worked up!
Happy Birthday Karen!
Roger
Another year for Kristin, and a wonderful reminder to me of how this all came about. Yes, I remember it had been a long hard week, we just had friends over and then it happened! Kristin made her appearance on the world, but not right away… I finished my beer and it was off to the hospital. This is how the adventure began…. and continues. Here are pictures of Kristin cooking with me and off at a convention with her mom and sister in Athens this past summer…. always moving.
One of my favorite stories of Kristin have to do with her at West Point. A very nice feature had been done in NY Times Magazine on West Point and … well… I thought I would comment… and the snowball began moving down the hill.
The New York Times magazine published an article on the summer basic training of the cadets referred to as ‘Beast.’ I wrote the following:
The Beauty of Beast Barracks
Published: November 2, 1997As the father of a daughter who survived this year’s Beast experience, I enjoyed Winerip’s article on West Point’s technique for breaking in plebes.
A big plus for parents: my daughter now knows how to clean her room (in fact, she can clean anything), and her academic work actually gets done!
It was a wonderful article.
Roger Freberg
San Luis Obispo, Calif
The letter had some unintended positive effects.
While many parents and others whined about this or that, my letter engendered sympathy for my daughter… and a protective brotherly nature from the often hazing upper classmen. They thought that she had already been through enough having to grow up with me as her dad! ha!
Funny, not much Kristin can’t do now. Here’s Kristin’s signature dish!
Happy Birthday, Kristin!
Roger
Karla wrote about what she remembers of the day:
I was at home, at our house. I just woke up from my sleep and I was walking in the hallway to get a snack from the kitchen. I remembered that Mom or Dad was talking to a friend on the phone, saying “Oh no! Look what happened to the World Trade Center!” and then they went to their bedroom to watch the news on TV to see what happened. Karen was at school at SMU that day. Kristin was in a Officer’s Basic Course in Missouri before being stationed in Seattle at Fort Lewis. That same day I was drawing in my room and listening to my radio walkman. I was only 17 years old that day. Even so, but still. I feel very sorry for the poor families who lost their loved ones on that day. I hope a day like this never happens again. Not only the day affected the United States, but also affected most other countries altogether. We shall never forget.
Thank you Karla,
Dad
Well, I am planning to have a great fourth of July… especially when it comes to food. Laura has asked me to fix something very exotic…. American Hamburgers! Oh yeah! Now, science has shown us that this interesting cuisine goes down especially well with Greek Beer so I will have plenty on-hand ( I have some left overs from my corned beef curing process).
Thanks to the men and women who make this celebration possible.
Have fun!
Roger Freberg
Every mother deserves some special treatment on this special day! Laura wanted a very simple luncheon of artichoke, my spicy and cheesy bread sticks and a nice dessert. The only challenge for me was that our Marinara sauce takes hours and hours, so it was a pedal to the metal to get this simple meal ready! Laura loved it and that’s all that matters.
Happy Mothers’ day!
Roger Freberg