I often think fondly of the food prepared by Mrs. Pugh.  She was the cafeteria cook at Osoyoos Elementary Junior Secondary School.  When I attended, it housed a few hundred kids from grades one to ten.  At lunch time we’d all head down to the cafeteria, some of us clutching 25 cents for lunch.

Not to insult the dead, but Mrs. Pugh was no Julia Child.  And even though her meals were simple and not gourmet, they’re a very positive memory for me.  Actually, a lot of fond memories centre around food, whether it was good or bad.

My pal Liz and I soon figured out that wasting 25 cents on the main meal was for losers.  For 25 cents you got a scoop of mashed potatoes, a vegetable, and some meat.  On Thursdays, for example, it was the potatoes, accompanied by creamed corn and a couple of sausages.

Liz and I preferred carbs and sweets, so wisely ordered the 10 cent meal.  That way you got the potatoes and vegetables, and had 15 cents to squander.  We’d often get a chocolate pudding for five cents and then have a Fudgsicle with the last dime.  Good times.

It was awfully nice to hear this the other week when Luke was here.  He and Michelle walked in and she said, “Oh, how I’ve missed the smells from this house!”  No matter what happens in a lot of these kids’ lives, I know somewhere in the world a kid will be sighing deeply and saying, “I miss Luke’s mom’s food.”

But that’s my problem.  I go on-line and find interesting recipes and make them, and then wonder why I don’t have time to devote to other things.  Just baking and making nice food for a bunch of louts is surely the road to disaster.

Here’s what I absolutely must do.  Cassandra, the nice owner of the Woman’s Place fitness centre is going to let me put my bark into her showcase for the week before Easter.  So by this Friday I have to have all kinds of bark made and adorably bagged.

Then by May 1 for the WAM Wine Festival event I have to have a bunch of promotional materials ready, as well as more bark for samples.  There’s no point in going if I’m not ready to sell like a scalper at a Canucks game.

And there’s the garden, which I won’t even discuss because I’m so far behind.  Remember what Frank Costanza used to say? “Serenity Now!”