PIETOPIA, update and backdate

Once upon a time I dreamed of being a pie-maker.  Unlike just about every other old lady blogger I never had a mom or grandma whose luscious pies would sit on a country window sill and tempt the neighborhood.

Aside:  At  a 1990 conference, a drama therapist and I did a performance on "The Idea of  "Home."  It began with my opening the oven, removing a baked good, raising the window described above, placing the pie.  Very powerful fantasy enhanced by 1930s and 40s children's books and print ads.

When Ron was on the faculty at Oberlin, we went to dinner at the psychology chair's house. In the kitchen I was spellbound as  his wife (those were the days) made a pie with such grace and ease that the memory is still clear forty years later.  Would have been perfect to learn from her but did not happen.  "Crisps" are my forte, as the rhubarb one pictured above.

Three pies were winners in the recent Pietopia event.  Most striking was the text for Margit Beerli's "Rinky Dinky Pie."

 "My life is simple right now because I choose to live uncomplicated and because I am in the third third of my life."  [italics mine]

Love that phrase. Perfect addition to my recently developed  employed (not retired) life script.  Comforting too that someone over thirty entered the contest.  If you lived in Portland, Oregon, and hung around food, you would get this.  Margit lives in Seattle which I'm told is more big city than PDX.

To remind readers once again to take notice of what is happening in the big world, here's Pietopia-innovator Tricia Martin's "Rhubarb Custard Pie:  The Pie of Unemployment II."  She did this one in 2009.   She, like my 20th century self, like many women and men all around us every day, has had her own frequent experiences with joblessness.  And uses her considerable creativity to get through the days.

Comments

[Tricia]

Margit is a gem--I'm so glad she entered and won too! I just re-read my pie of unemployment post...sometimes reading back logged entries like that is a little like re-reading your diary. It was interesting to reflect on how much has changed, and how much has not! Thanks for the post, Naomi :). Take care!

[Hattie]

I have always suffered from pie deficiency. My mother was not a baker. My husband's mother was renowned for (especially) her apple pie with the flaky crust.
My friend Mary is a fabulous baker. Next time she brings by a pie I'm going to get a photo. She makes pies out of berries she grows on her property: mulberries and "poha" berries or bushberries.
One of these days I'm ging to stand over her shoulder as she bakes and learn how she does it.