Potato heads and loose chips
I wash up at the kitchen sink.
Next to me, Nonna leans on the counter for a closer look at the gimmicky, techy photograph frame, the one with the chip and the constant rolling pictures.
“Where is dat one den?” she asks with a quivering pointy finger for emphasis. I lean to the left but I've already missed it.
“Um what was it of?”
“You know.”
I guess. As the current image rolls away and try to calculate which would have been the one before it? If there are 78 photographs on the chip and we're about half way through, so they're about three or four years old, so that would have been our trip to England so that would have been….
“Ooo what about dat one den?” she asks with a quivering pointy finger for emphasis.
I lean to the left but I've already missed it. “Um what was it of?”
“You know.”
I pout and reach for the sack of potatoes to peel so that I re-use the water, even though it's still a bit tepid.
“What about dat one den?” I lean to the left and we bump shoulders accidentally and face each other. “Wot?”
“Um?”
“Dat one?”
“Er?”
“In your………..hand.”
“The potato.”
“The potato. What about the potato.”
“Is it American?”
“Er……yes……we're in America…..I think it's safe to say that this is indeed an American potato.”
“No!”
Beam me up Scotty!
“No?”
“I mean…..is it one of those……..what is it……begins with an 'i'?”
I think. I think hard. What is a vegetable that looks like a potato but begins with an 'i'? When Nonna's son walks in looking ever so slightly dazed, I lean backwards, so that I can interrupt his path, stare at him and give him 'the look.' He startles in response, “what?”
I whisper, “if you don't answer the next fifty questions I swear I won't be responsible for my actions!” I wave the peeler in front of him for emphasis.
“Oh right. MORNING MUM!” he bellows putting an arm around her shoulders just to startle her.
“Be gentle!” I snap as she wobbles to regain her balance.
“Ooo what about dat one den?”
“Dunno.”
“I'm not askin you, I'm asking Maddy. Maddy, what about dis one den?”
I glare at her son who sputters, “well I don't know do I?”
“Maddy, is dat a mouse picture?”
Her pronunciation of 'picture' is exquisite.
I relent.
I will explain the mouse picture to both of them for umpteenth time.
“Well…..it's a VOLE……do you remember?”
“A what?”
“VOLE!”
“Oh yes. I remember you said dat. Was it really in the house?”
“YES.”
“How did it get dere den?”
“THE CAT BROUGHT IT IN AS A PRESENT.”
“Which one?”
“NOT THESE CATS, THE CATS WE HAD BEFORE, 5 YEARS AGO.”
“Oh yes. Jasper and Meadow. I remember. They were beautiful cats too.”
Sharp as a tack!
August 11th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
I just went through the photo albums with my kids and they had a million questions. Honestly I didn’t have many answers either.
Idaho!
August 11th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
It seems conversations with our very Jr’s and our very Sr’s have a lot in common. You account brings to mind conversations I had with my grandmother in her later years and with Diva just yesterday.
Idaho! Yes, yes, sharp as a tack indeed :0)
August 12th, 2008 at 1:52 am
I figured out the Idaho straight away, lol!
August 12th, 2008 at 3:38 am
Ooh, I could sure use those old cats to chase out the voles from my garden! And here I thought she was referring to the new iPotato just out from Apple! heh heh heh
August 12th, 2008 at 3:41 am
Like Trixie, Idaho came to mind immediately for me too!
Must be living in my own private Idaho…
August 12th, 2008 at 4:15 am
That is too funny! Don’t you have those pictures memorized in order!?…I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer but knew what the “i” question was right away, but, I’m from the Midwest. Pin a rose on my nose huh? Thanks for the imagery!
August 12th, 2008 at 4:16 am
Oh, and am I just dumb or isn’t it “mole”? Is a “vole” some other creature I don’t know about?
August 12th, 2008 at 4:28 am
Idaho for the win!
I’m also the designated question answerer/decision maker/font of all knowledge. Then of course, no matter what I say, my response must (by law) be contradicted. You have a lot of patience, dear.
August 12th, 2008 at 5:11 am
Is it just me or does her speech and your youngest son’s speech seem simular? “Des den”
I don’t know just an observation. You have the patience of a saint and I expect you will be canonized any day now!
August 12th, 2008 at 5:34 am
Yep, I should live with you too.
I guessed “Idaho” right off the bat.
Love you,
Suzy
August 12th, 2008 at 7:08 am
i’m not sure which one is your wordless wednesday here but u got some interesting photos! mine’s up too…hope u can stop by…
August 12th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Maybe time to fade the screen to black, just for a bit?
August 12th, 2008 at 7:41 am
Enough to make anyone lose their chips!
August 12th, 2008 at 8:28 am
Haha!
August 12th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Oh, I would never have gotten Idaho. My brain is just that addled. I just bought my mom one of those digital picture frames. Hope she has as much fun with it.
August 12th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
good lord, I was thinking “eye”…
August 12th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Blue Screen of death for the photo frame
Idaho!
August 12th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
LOL. Idaho potato. I missed it, too, until the end!
August 12th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Gotta admit, Nonna has a good attention span, stays on topic, and makes sure her sharp tack is fully embedded.
August 12th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
I am gonna catch up on your posts tomorrow…been so busy. (Don’t think I missed your post that I need to answer on my blog…lol!)
I imagine the digital frame would be confusing…thanks for the giggle!
August 13th, 2008 at 5:07 am
Online just for a moment. I didn’t get the idaho till the end. *sigh*
“I’m not askin you, I’m asking Maddy.”
You know there’s love in that statement somewhere.
August 13th, 2008 at 5:36 am
Snicker.