Hamburgers, Onions and Memories

Tonight we had Jeremy Burgers, he makes the best burger I have ever eaten and anyone who has had one will agree. He has a gift for making burgers and cooking them, not to long, not to short, just right. But tonight it wasn't the burger that brought on this blog, it was the onion. Strange? Yea, probably if you don't know my family better yet, my Grandaddy. When he had a burger he didnt want a small piece of onion or onion rings or any kind of sissy strips. He wanted the whole slice and it better be thick. Vidalea of course was best, but if you didnt have that any white or yellow onion would do, as long as it was thick.

A few years ago, sitting at Memamas table watching Grandaddy make his burger, I realized the joy he got from that simple act. The bun, mayo, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, pickles, meat and of course the thick onion slice. I cant watch him do that anymore and I bet I'm not the only one who misses having lunch with him. So tonight I have been brought to tears by an onion, not from chopping, slicing or eating one but from the memories of watching my Grandaddy enjoy 'em.

Lunch with the birds

I had lunch today with 2 geese and 3 geese babies, gosling's if you will. A Mom and Dad goose, well at least I assumed they were, anyway, the 3 gosling's are getting large. I have been watching this feathery family all Spring. They live on the little island in the middle of the pond I like to have lunch beside. I saw the babies when they first fell out of the nest, tiny little furry, feathery fluff balls. They stuck close by the parents as they glided through the pond, eating whatever geese eat. Well today these 3 babies walked tall out of the pond, half the size of their parents, geese are pretty large by the way, and mean. They all swam right toward me and got out of the pond right in front of me, walked up to my lunch bag, like I brought something for them. I felt kind of bad, because I had a chicken pot pie for lunch, one of their distant cousins. Strange. Anyway, the parents sat no less than 10 feet from me and watched me eat my KFC delight, the gosling's poked around in the grass and weeds, again, eating whatever it is geese eat. I kept waiting on them to get board, freak out or spooked, something and walk away. They didnt, I guess I was their lunch entertainment. I brought a book and tried to read, but having 5 geese stair at you is a little strange, especially when I have seen these same 2 geese chase a stupid, but grown, man, woman and child across the grassy area on the other side of the pond. I put my book down, one because I was afraid of a sneak attack and two because I thought perhaps they wanted to have a conversation and I didn't want to be rude.

Finally the children got board and walked away into the deeper weeds by the pond, again, eating whatever geese eat. One parent bird gave me a head nod and walked away. After a few minutes the other parent, actually bowed, or something like it, ducked its head really close to the ground and made a funny noise, turned and waddled off with the others. It was like it was saying goodbye to me. Made me smile. Lunch with the birds great!