Hey, Sis, let's make something...

 

                                                    Robert Kent Peck 1951-1997, in red cowboy shirt

 All my life, my family has called me "Sis".  Now that there are only three of us, hearing "Sis" comes less and less frequently. That fact pulls out stories  about a few of those times.

My brother Robert was born January 14, 1951.  Then about eleven months later, I was born on December 4, 1951.  We were inseparable, sometimes enemies and sometimes friends.  But, always always we were ready to be there for the other.  

Robert was able to talk me into cook or bake a treat for him.  How, I don't know.  "Sis...let's make some..."  only he did not do the work. 

He convinced me to make deep-fried onion rings on Sunday afternoon. My hair smelled like onions even when we went to church at night.  Had to shampoo several times to remove that odor.  Then he thought frying up some bologna sounded good and I made that for him.  

But, Robert's favorites were anything sweet.  Again, he would say, "Sis...let's make some..." I would sigh, but there would quickly be some dessert of any type.

Here are some of his favorites, taken from Mom's cook book given to her as a wedding present in 1946. The binding is gone, pages fragile and crumbling. Lots of splatters and wear speak volumes.

God bless Betty Crocker.

Sis. How I would love to hear Robert say "Sis...let's make some..." again.  I probably would mix up hundreds of batches, just for him.

The War of the Words

Source: Check this one out!

In 1951, a new word came into being and later was added to the dictionary:  Eek, which means “an expression of surprise”.  Why this word was worthy to be added makes no sense, no sense at all.

But what about this one: Eke?

Is it real?  What the heck does it mean?  Was it a 1951 wonder?

Actually, this is an ancient word.  From around 900 AD, “eke” came into being from a combination of languages. 

Germanic and Norse contributed auka.  Latin added the word augēr.  Old English mixed those into ēacian.  Finally Middle English created eek.

All the words in their different languages mean “to manage to support oneself, but barely.”  It also means “to enlarge, to increase, and to stretch resources.”

As long as humans have existed, all have been trying to eke out a living.  They were trying to stretch what they had just a little bit farther.  If they had not done so, surviving became a serious issue.

Eek wisely became EKE.  After all, who had ever heard of EEK?

Oddly enough, I have been trying to eke all my life, and I never knew it.