Ceremonies

Sonia Dog's head peeks over that back of the couch as soon as Fiorella finishes her Shredded Wheat. She knows what's coming, that Mommy will place the bowl on the floor, call her to "come," then tell her to "stop," then invite her to lick up the milk remaining in the breakfast bowl, which doggie does with relish. Next, Mommy approaches her with a paper towl in one hand to wipe up the splashes on the floor and two Milkbones in the other hand as Baby's reward for being a good dog and drinking her milk.

Sonia likes ceremonies. Patterned activities reassure us all. We like to know what is going on, what our role is, and what the outcome will be--that if we plug in the computer, it will open up, that if we are nice to people, theywill be nice to us. But there are always exceptions, deviations from our expectancies that we have to handle on our own. And we can. Fight the good fight.

Bones, Spanish, Trump

Fiorella is dense--at least that's what her doctor said. Well, actually what she said is that Fio's bones are dense, but Fio could have told her that. Twenty years ago Fio learned that her bones had the density of a women half her age, which meant she  would never get osteoporosis. All Fio can say is "Thank you, genetics. Thank you, all you cows whose milk I drank from childhood on and still drink today."
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Fio is getting discouraged in her quest to find Spanish teaching aids for herself, but she persists. If she can get a rock edge built along her entrada de los coches, she will eventually work out ways to help her learn el espanol.
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Trump sinks deeper and deeper in the dreck. It's come out that he and Putin planned the air strike scenario two months ago. Putin may have also had something to do with the gassing. WHEN WILL THIS END? WHEN WILL THE LEGISLATURE REVOLT? WHEN WILL THE PUBLIC REVOLT? WHEN CAN WE BE PROUD OF AMERICA AGAIN?
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Food

Fiorella is not a foodie.  In fact, she considers food to be much overrated.  We all have to eat, of course, but Fio does not understand the interest in food other than as tasty nourishment.  Cooking shows bore her--or offend her with all the yelling and shaming.  Besides, she sees no reason to vary from the restricted palate she has maintained since childhood.  Milk is her preferred beverage (she's lactose persistent), and she will not eat salads or other mixtures, tomatoes, peanut butter, or pizzas.  Her hamburgers are "plain."  And before you say anything, yes, Fio is in very good health, thank you.

Drink or Burn

It's supported by scientific research now--Fiorella is what is called "lactose-persistent," which means that, thanks to a North European DNA adjustment, she's still swilling milk well into adulthood. Apparently a gene in her ancestry got altered because drinking milk is a compensation for lack of exposure to vitamin D in dark, dank climates.  No wonder her Galitzian great-grandfather was so vehement about providing milk for his children.  It was either that or his pale-skinned offspring would have burned to crisps.

Paper Cups

Fiorella is a big supporter of the paper cup industry.  She uses one per day as her water cup and another one as her morning milk cup.  Paper cups are not only easy to use, but save on dishwasher use, which is important when one has a septic system. And when one has three thirsty children.

Fiorella grew up using a common cup for casual drinks of water.  The whole family drank from the same yellow plastic cup which was in a holder next to the refrigerator. And, yes, Virginia, the family that drinks together also catches everything that comes along together.

Live on, paper cups.

Countdown!

Fiorella is having to lay off water, one of her favorite drinks, and indulge herself in milk, her other favorite drink.  There may even be a few milkshakes along the line.  And it's all medically prescribed--Fio had some shots in her neck that affect the swallowing mechanism and thus she needs to drink thicker liquids for a while. The procedure is to make sure her voice is in the best of shape for the National Romance Writers of America conference this summer.

More than two thousand women will be there, and Fio wants to be heard.

Food Fads

Fiorella is sick and tired of being told what to eat--what is GOOD for her to eat, to be more exact.  She grew up being told that milk was nature's most perfect food, but later she was told that it was fattening and that adult digestive systems didn't handle it well.  She also learned that chocolate, which she loved, was bad for her.  Coffee too.  And that she should cut down on eggs and bacon and saturated fats in favor of carbohydrates.  Now, all of that has been reversed.

All Fio asks for is that she be left in peace to enjoy her hamburger, fries, and ice cream..  

Snappy Snippets

Fiorella is the toilet paper fairy and the only one in the house who knows how to throw stuff in the waste basket, to close cabinet and pantry doors, or to empty the dishwasher.  If she didn't open the blinds every morning, they'd stay shut all day.  In short, she's female.
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Re: dogs.  We take them in for shots and medical treatments, we feed them, we decide whether they should mate and with whom.  How did they ever get along without us?   
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All Fio's good habits have come back to haunt her.  Coffee, tea, and wine, which she never or rarely drinks, are now good for you while milk, which she guzzles like a newborn calf, is now on the bad list.
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Fio could title a book The Right Thing to Do and no one would buy it.  If she called the book The Wrong Thing to Do, it would be a best seller'
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Matricide--is Fio a serial killer of motherboards?

Lactic Consideration

Whole milk and skim milk were all that existed when Fio was growing up, and skim milk was blue and tasted funny. Nowadays she can choose between whole milk, two percent, one percent, or skim, which doesn't taste funny anymore. Yeah, the dairies have figured out how to beat the diet-driven anti-milk campaign by serving up different mixes of their product.

On the other hand, maybe skim milk comes from skinny cows.

Ba-boom!

Milk-aholic

According to the latest dietary studies, your Fio has a sixty percent less chance of getting diabetes than the average bear, and it's all because she drinks a lot of milk--whole udders of it, in fact.

Fiorella usually turns a jaundiced eye toward dietary reports because their they tend to be faddish, but this one makes sense to her. Her mother, who didn't like milk, developed diabetes when she was younger than Fio is now, and Fio has read that Hispanics--who have higher rates of lactose intolerance than the general population--also run higher rates of diabetes.

Fio's paternal cousins are all milk drinkers too. Her great-grandfather is said to have observed that when Poles get money, they buy a showy horse, but when Galitzians get money, they buy a cow so the children can have milk. One guess where Fio's father's line hailed from. And Dad stayed true to his heritage. Fio remembers when she, age twenty-five, was eating out with her parents and ordered a Coke with her lunch. Her father looked at her with sad eyes and, in a gentle voice, asked, "Shouldn't that be milk?"

Looks like Dad had it right: milk is nature's most nearly perfect food.