Young people to the rescue!

I am worried that there will come a day when I will not be able to watch television in my own home. Remote control devices used to be a nice simple technology but they have become a nightmare. Sometimes I feel like they are taking over my life. Just as I was beginning to feel confident using the three different remotes it takes to run our television system, Comcast decided to re-design their cable programming giving us a more sophisticated way to navigate their cable channels. HELP ME!!!

All the technological changes the world keeps dishing out at ever faster rates have made turning on a television set downright intimidating. I love having all the options but I feel so inept trying to get them to work. Granted, I could just veto cable television all together and go out to the movies rather than ordering from Netflix, but one becomes spoiled with all the bells and whistles. Netflix now also allows you to stream movies from your computer onto your television screen. I leave that one totally up to Harry! We pre-record most of the programs we watch because you can zip through the ads at lightening speed or pause for a bathroom break. We can also program ahead for what we want to tape. You don't have to revolve your life around a good program you want to watch on television.

Last night we had our young friends Jack and Terra over for dinner. (I think of Jack as the son I always wanted to have. Jack and Alexis were good friends from elementary school through high school, and Jack spent a lot of time at our house on Abbott. Harry married Jack and Terra seven years ago.) After dinner, the four of us were sitting in the living room, sharing new pics of our grandchildren. I was about to serve dessert when Harry the Deaf mentioned how hard it is for us to get enough volume on our new flat screen television. Jack and Terra said all we probably needed was a sound bar.

Target is only a four-minute drive from our condo, so Harry and Jack jumped in the car and Jack had our new sound bar installed within the hour. The difference for us old folks going deaf (Jeanne) and the almost completely deaf (Harry) is amazing. (I think Harry had this planned from the beginning. He knew full well Jack and Terra would feel sorry for us old folks and offer to help in any way they could.) The new sound bar means we do not have to watch everything with the sub-titles flashing across the screen. Our night of good fortune did not end there, however.

As we were marveling at the sound bar, I turned on our dining-room ceiling fan, hoping to relieve the heat and humidity in the room. It is so nice finally to be able to open the windows. Jack mentioned that the fan didn't seem to be doing much to cool the room. I said I agreed with him. The next thing I knew Jack was jumping up on a dining-room chair to adjust some knob on the fan that we had no idea existed. The fan was on the winter setting mode and needed to be on the summer mode. The room cooled off promptly.

Jack and Terra also pointed out that our new sound bar has a place for me to plug in my I-pod, which Harry bought for my birthday a few years back and which had been sitting on the television shelf for years unused because I never put in the time to learn how to use it. Jack set it in the sound bar and out came a couple of Josh Grobin songs which another young friend had downloaded for me years back. Now the technological pressure is on! I suddenly decided to feel empowered. If I can use a GPS system in the car, I should be able to use an I-pod, for heaven's sake!

I wanted to think we have something to offer these youngsters in return for their willingness to help us with our technological ineptitude. I wasn't sure just what that might be when Terra said the dessert was so good she wanted the recipe, and that I should publish the recipe on my blog. I was so flattered. I many not be techno-savvy but at least I can cook. I told her I would include the recipe I half-way invented on my next blog. Now if I can just learn to operate the new remote for the sound bar while operating the other three remotes I will be OK.

Triple Berry Cobbler

one half pint raspberries
one half pint blueberries
one half pint blackberries

Place berries in a casserole and sprinkle them with some brown sugar.

Mix together using your hands:

one cup flour
one cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
4 tablespoons milk

Put mixture on top of berries

Sprinkle some nutmeg on top and bake at 350 for 35 -40 minutes or until brown and bubbling. Serve with cream.