Page 37 - REALLY What A time Book IX

REALLY SO WHAT
What A Time

MY FAMILY

be out in a moment’. Grandpa was right. He twisted his leg
and the fellow was out like a light from the pain

Both he and Banatyne recovered, and despite his clumsy
experience with the milk bucket, he did all right, graduating
from the University of Pennsylvania at 16 and becoming the
youngest judge in the state at 25. Years later that old oak
operating table became my dining room table.

At home in Fairlington everyone walked in the woods behind
our apartments. Few were so resourceful as Pop. He was
always on the lookout for things to eat. And after years of
camping and traveling he had collected and eaten lots of
strange things.

I recall going out with him often, gathering different things.
Although I don’t remember ever finding any mushrooms, for
his weird salads. We would often stop to pick dandelions. I
never cared much for the flowers, but we only took the leaves.
They were bitter, as was so much of what we ate. We might
have picked other weeds to go into his salads, but they were
enough for me. Mom would mix up a mayonnaise with
chopped hard boiled eggs, and bacon. Yum, Yum, as I got
older I changed my taste.
This wasn’t the only strange food we had. Pop from his
Pennsylvania Dutch heritage had other weird foods. They
kept most of these things in the refrigerator. Often if they
weren’t cooked they were kept in vinegar solutions.

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