Dinner at Freda and Bernie Samuels in Warrington PA

In appreciation of my editing Freda's memoir, "My Name is Fredarose" Bernie prepared a wonderful dinner for me. At table we talked about a variety of things including his time in the army where he served in the Pacific when he was an innocent kid of 18.

He not only wasn't innocent when he got home, he had severe PTSD. This smartest of men had no idea what he was doing when he returned to the Philadelphia area.

Bernie, I said, after kvelling over the dinner. You've gotta write your memoirs next.

Bernie had asked me what my favorite foods are.

Cheesecake
Pecan Pie
Peach cobbler

Instead I told him scallops and salad.

He gets his fish from his wholesaler friend Barry. The scallops and salmon were out of this world! He told me the difference between dry and wet scallops. Supermarket scallops are wet. They're shucked on the boat and put in water to preserve them and may also be injected w a preservative. They absorb the water, making them less tasty.

Dry scallops, also shucked on the boat, are put in a dry container. They are fresher when you buy them but have a shorter shelf-life.

The salad had sweet onions and avocados.

Corny cob from Produce Junction near them.

We also had bing cherries for dessert.

Too many carbs for me. But guess what? Freda and I went into the basement where she played a couple of cassette tapes of her late husband Len Tevelson singing. I hopped on her recumbent stationery bike and rode - metaphorically or figuratively - halfway up Folly Road on the bike. Sugar was perfect when I got home.

Bernie bought raw almonds at Costco, their fave store, and roasted them for me. I am chomping on them now. Best almonds you ever had.

Bernie said they're the most healthy of the nuts.

He also said to eat plenty of tomatoes.

 Her nearly-finished memoir. Hardest part is adding the photos, which really enhance the book.

Told them I wanted to leave shortly after 7 pm, which I did, so I wouldn't have to drive home in the dark.

Read them my new short story "The Obituary Writer."

Their comments were right on the mark.... where did she get the money to travel to Kenya - and how did she get there. I figured it out right there in the living room. Her father, who we have never met, will give her the money.

They both understood all the work I put into it - the enormous amount of Internet research



I'll finish it up sometime this week and then submit it. When I told my writers' group I get only one out of 15 stories published, Floyd commented, "That's good!"  Sure don't feel good.