14 Comments
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Jim Nolan's avatar

I agree with you about candles. It is rare they smell as labeled. For me, anyway. We do not have Waffle Houses up here, but I bet I'd like them. Good to hear the bookstore was crowded, especially at the holidays.

Kathy Minicozzi's avatar

I remember bayberry candles and how good they smelled. I don't think you see so many of them around anymore.

Polly Walker Blakemore's avatar

I have never seen a bayberry candle but I bet I would like one!

Kathy Minicozzi's avatar

Childhood Christmas memories!

Candy Kennedy's avatar

What I thought about while reading this journal entry is how great it was that your Mom enjoyed a small pizza until the end. I don’t seem to have pizza much anymore. Perhaps it is due to it being a staple most Fridays in my marriage or because I admit even a small pizza is too much for my smaller appetite. Either way, I don’t indulge often enough and that must change! Oh, and, I am a scented candle lover, but your are corect in saying few smell as they are advertised.

Polly Walker Blakemore's avatar

My mom was also big on burgers and fries. And Red Lobster now and then.

GINNY ROWAN's avatar

A smoke and a Coke and a toke. Love that. And MOM may have lost her mind, but she hasn’t lost her appetite. Great read thanks Polly

Polly Walker Blakemore's avatar

Thank you, Ginny. My mom loved pizza and burgers right up to the end and I admit that once I took a hit from her oxygen machine but, being in better shape than my mom, it did not refresh me in the same way. I have a book coming out, Visiting, about my time with my mom when she was in hospice. It's excerpts from my journal from that time. I will be sharing pre-order information soon here on Substack if you are interested. And in my next post I talk about doing Cindy and Allison's resistance writing group.

GINNY ROWAN's avatar

oh Im excited for your book. I had to do a 6 month migraine elimination diet- see if food was triggering it. after all that and finding out I was basically sensitive to all and told eat clean and know cake will make you feel bad blah blah blah doc then said what do you want to eat most? and I said Newmans frozen pizza. just 17 min and 20 seconds and dinner is on the table. no complaints. so easy. thats what I want.

Polly Walker Blakemore's avatar

My mom suffered from almost daily migraines and became pretty much a Tylenol 3 junkie. Many moments in Visiting discussing her headaches, meds, foods, poops, and other health challenges, some of it sad but much of it funny. I sympathize with your situation and am glad that Newman's pizza hits the spot!

GINNY ROWAN's avatar

and its profits go to charity. PIZZA = CHARITABLE DONATIONS . win win!

Polly Walker Blakemore's avatar

A while ago I read Newman's memoir. I forget what it's called. Or maybe it was a biography. In any case he was a complicated man with both great flaws and virtues.

GINNY ROWAN's avatar

we had a big black and white framed photo of him on my Mother's piano. I thought he was a relative. My mom saw him at a ski resort and pushed people down to get to him. Dad said, "it wasn't pretty."