Grateful

He’s anxiously reading about,

The life expectancy,

Of Jack Russell Terriers,

And discovering,

Unique and incredible,

Stories of resilience,

He’s feeling so grateful,

To have London,

In his life.

Taylor Dibbert is a widely published writer, journalist, and poet. He’s author of the Peace Corps memoir “Fiesta of Sunset,” and the forthcoming poetry collection “Home Again.”

THE EMERGENCE OF BAKERY PRODUCTS AND THEIR TYPES

Masharipova Bakhor Ixtiyor

2-A student of Food Technology, Faculty of Chemical Technology Karakalpak State University named after Berdak

Abstract: this article shows in detail the history of the emergence of bakery products, the main types and varieties of bread and bakery products.

Keywords: Bread Festival, bakery products, rye bread made from cedar and elan flour.

Bread is one of the most popular and widely consumed products in the world. Therefore, it is not surprising that he has his own holiday — World Bread Day (World Bread Day), this holiday is celebrated every year on October 16.   The holiday was established in 2006. The choice of date is due to the fact that on October 16, 1945, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization was created, which is engaged in solving problems in agriculture and production.

In every country in the world, bread and bakery products are always eaten in love. He is given the most honorable place on the table, bread was and remains a symbol of life. The history of bread goes back several millennia. According to scientific research, the first bakery products appeared about 8 thousand years ago. The first yeast bread was made in Egypt. 

In addition, in ancient times, white bread was consumed by people of the upper class, and black and gray bread was considered the food of the poor. It was only in the 20th century that rye and whole grain bread became known about its benefits and nutritional value, which became even more popular. 

Today’s Holiday, World Bread Day, is one reason to draw the attention of the general public to the problems of hunger, poverty and malnutrition in the world. Therefore, traditionally, on World Bread Day, many countries hold various bakery exhibitions, meetings of chefs, bakers and confectioners, fairs, master classes, folk walks, as well as free bread distribution to those in need, charity events.  People will be able not only to taste different varieties and types of bread and bakery products, but also to get acquainted with how bread appeared, history and traditions, what it was made of, how it was baked, etc.

THE MAIN TYPES AND VARIETIES OF BREAD AND BAKERY PRODUCTS

The range of products of the bakery industry consists of bread, buns, pore and bakery products, as well as varieties of local and therapeutic dietary bakery products. According to the commodity classification of bread and bakery products, they are divided into types, varieties and varieties. Types of bakery products are combined with the type of flour used in their preparation. There are such types of bread as wheat, rye, wheat-rye and rye-wheat.

Bread clay is determined by the grade of flour used in baking bread. Wheat bread is made from high, grade I and II, “Uzbekistan” and wheat flour, and rye bread is made from elanma, sidirma and jaydari flour. There are simple and improved varieties of bread according to the recipe. The bread variety combines a number of signs. These are the type of bread, the chili, the baking method (in a mold or tagdone), the shape of the product (buns, batons, wraps), the method of delivery to the consumer (pulled or sold in granules), etc. 

The assortment of Non-bun products consists of several hundred varieties. Rye bread made from rye flour. Rye bread made from Jaydari flour is produced with mold or tagdone, by pulling or by grading. In addition to ordinary rye bread, fermented (red) rye bread is made from such flour, enhanced decoction rye bread with the addition of spices, rye bread “Moscow”, 80% Rye rye flour, 15% II grade wheat flour and Red Rye, “Borodino” breads are also prepared by adding sugar, patoka and spices.

Rye bread made from Sidirma and elanma flour. This group includes not only bakery products made from rye flour varieties, but also prepared by replacing part of them with wheat flour. Elanma and sidirma rye from the flours themselves, rye bread is produced molded or tagdoned, pulled or sold in grains. From a mixture of Sidirma rye and “Uzbek” wheat flour, “Darman” bread with mold and tagdon, which is sold either by grain, Ukrainian bread (20-80% sidirma rye and 80-20% jaydari wheat flour), Uraina fresh bread (20-80% sifted rye flour and 80-20% second-grade wheat flour) is produced. In the same group again “Pahlavon” bread, which is made from Cedar rye and first-grade wheat flour, 5% fermented agan malt, 7% sugar, 3% vegetable oil, 1% cumin; sidirma rye flour and second grade wheat flour, 5% fermented malt, 10% sugar and 1.5% cumin, which can be prepared “President” bread; 80% sidirma rye flour and 15% “Uzbekistan” grade wheat flour, 5% fermented malt, 9% sugar and 0.5% spice “Tangoq bread”, 90% Elma rye flour and 10% first grade wheat flour, 2% Patoka tagdon, which can be prepared by adding Nani; It includes “Riga” bread, which is prepared with the addition of 85% sifted rye flour, 10% first-grade wheat flour, 5% non-fermented rye malt and 0.4% spice, etc.

Rye-wheat and wheat-rye bread made from rye flour. Rye-wheat is made from 60% rye and 40% wheat rye flour with mold or tagdone, pulled or sold by grain, and wheat-rye bread is made from 60% wheat and 40% Rye rye flour. Rye-wheat decoction bread is also prepared by adding 5% fermented rye malt.

Wheat bread. Wheat bread refers to bread baked in a mold or tagdon, pulled or sold in granules, made from wheat flour of jaydari, “Uzbekistan”, I, II and higher grades. Wheat bread is produced in different varieties. For example, from jaydari wheat flour, breads are made that are sold with simple molds and tagdons, pulling or grading. Bread “Zabaykalsk” is made from wheat flour of 50%  and 50% of second-grade. From wheat flour of the second grade, ordinary bread (molded or tagdoned), “Ukrainian palyanitsa” (tagdon), “Kiev arnaunati” (tagdon), white bread (molded or tagdon) and others are produced. From wheat flour” Uzbekistan “is produced bread, which is sold by mold or by grain, and” peasant ” grain bread with tagdons.

From wheat flour of the first variety, ordinary bread (with a mold or tagdon), home bread (tagdon), milk bread, “Saratov kalachi”, “Ukrainian palyanitsa”, Belarusian bread, city bread, white bread, etc. are produced. High-grade wheat flour is made from ordinary molded and tagdoned, raisin bread, milk bread, “Saratov kalachi”, “floral” bread, etc.

In subsequent years, the bakery industry produces white bread from wheat flour of higher, first and second grades. In comparison with ordinary wheat bread, the recipe for this bread differs in an excess (1.5 %) of the amount of pressed yeast. From this, the porosity of this bread should be 2-3% higher than that of ordinary bread.

Buns products. Granular bakery products with different shapes. This group includes batons, buns, saikas, robes, wrap aces, calachs, etc. Batons made from wheat flour of higher, first and second varieties are oblong, with a blunt or sharp shape at the ends. According to the type of products, there are several cuts on the transverse of the surface. The cuts on the surface of some batons are located along the length. The buns have a round or oblong shape with cuts located parallel on the surface. In cooking, due to the dense placement of dough, the wool of the saikas is without a shell. In the recipe for batons, buns, saikas and other buns products 100 kilos of flour includes less than 7% fat and sugar. To the recipe of some varieties of buns products, for example, in ordinary and urban batons, there will be no fat1i and sugar.

“Shirmoy” bread buns products. This group includes all types of non-bun products, the recipe of which contains more than 7% fat and sugar compared to 100 k of flour. (“Shirmoy” bakery products are divided into ordinary bakery, amateur products, simple and shaped “Viborg” bakery. Ordinary bakery products are of the first grade, and amateur and “Viborg” bakery products are made from high-grade wheat flour. The degree of bakery of these varieties differs in that 100 k of sugar, 7 k of cow’s fat and 90 pieces (3.5 k) of eggs are added to ordinary bakery, 17 k of sugar, 13 k of cow’s fat, 220 eggs (8.8 kg) and 4.2 g of vanillin; 20 k of sugar, 2 k of patoka, 7 k of cow’s); 25 k of sugar, 2 k of patoca, 10 k of cow fat, 100 eggs (4 k), 5 g of vanillin and 1 k of powdered sugar (for sprinkling on the surface) are placed in the formative “Viborg” bakery. From each of the above varieties of bakery, it is possible to prepare dozens of products that differ in shape.

REFERENCES:

1. Muzaffar Vasiyev,”technology of bakery products”. “Generation of the new century”, 2009

2.Shamuradov T.R. and so on. Repair and installation of technological equipment for the production of confectionery, non-buns and pasta: a tutorial for professional colleges. – T.: “East”, 2007. – 192 p.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CONCEPT OF RECIDIVISM IN THE SCIENCE OF CRIMINAL LAW

Karakalpak State University

2nd year student of the Faculty of law

          Annotation: in this article, we will highlight the impact of crime on the education of a person in the construction of civil society in our country, its maturation as a perfect person, and the consequences of repeated crimes are mentioned. Among other things, one of the nuances that is relevant today is highlighted about recidivism and is highlighted by comparing the type of recidivism in the Criminal Code of foreign countries with the Criminal Code of our country.          

 Keywords: recidivism crime, civil society, civil society, dangerous, extremely dangerous recidivist. 

It is clear to all of us that the upbringing of a person in the construction of a civil society, its maturation as a perfect person is significant in all respects. Educating a generation that is mature both physically and mentally requires a lot of attention and hard work, above all. In the case of all kinds of crimes that occur in our society, the upbringing of a person has its effect on the fact that he becomes a mature person in every possible way. Among these, one of the crimes that is relevant today is recidivism. 

The fact that a person deliberately commits a new crime after being convicted of a previously intentional crime is recognized as a recidivistic crime. In cases where a person who has committed a crime similar to a previously convicted crime, separately specified in the Criminal Code, the intentional Commission of a new crime by a person convicted of other articles of a special part of the Criminal Code is recognized as a dangerous recidivist crime.

To commit a deliberate new crime, in which a sentence of imprisonment can be imposed for a period of not less than five years, namely:

a) the commission of a very serious crime by a person who has previously been sentenced for a very serious crime or for a serious crime twice and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of not less than five years for each of them;

b) the commission of a serious crime by a person who has been sentenced to imprisonment for serious or very serious crimes for a period of not less than five years each, regardless of whether he was previously convicted twice for a serious crime or before-after, is recognized as an extremely dangerous recidivistic crime.

With the judgment of the court, a person can be considered an extremely  dangerous recidivist. At the time of the resolution of the issue of finding a person as an extremely dangerous recidivist, his conviction in the judgments of the courts of other states can also be taken into account.

Recidivism crimes are characterized by the fact that as a form of committing several crimes, the guilty person commits a new crime after being convicted of a previously intentional crime. It is a common or common recidivist crime based on the following two characters: intentional Commission of a new crime; the conviction of a person for a previously intentional crime.

In the norms of the special part of the Criminal Code, recidivism is recognized as a sign that the crime is associated with a dangerous and extremely dangerous recidivism and is assessed by the composition of the crime.The question of considering a person as a dangerous recidivist is not decided by the court, but on the grounds established by the law itself, the person is a dangerous recidivist.  The person should be found in the process of being charged by the bodies of his investigation as a dangerous recidivist. Because the commission of a crime by a dangerous recidivist is a characteristic sign of a number of crimes and leads to the application of more serious penalties]. For this reason, this situation should be indicated by the preliminary investigation body when it is involved in participation as an accused in a criminal case, and later this should also be reflected in the descriptive part of the court sentence. The rules apply for the removal of grounds for finding a dangerous recidivism in other cases, such as both the removal and deletion of conviction in relation to a dangerous recidivist crime, and the responsibility or exemption from punishment for a crime committed by a person earlier on purpose. Committing a repeated crime or committing a new intentional crime after being convicted of committing a previous intentional crime is not considered a punitive case in the following cases: if the term of criminal prosecution for a crime committed for the first time has passed; if the conviction was removed or extinguished in accordance with the established procedure; or if the liability for criminal acts committed earlier was canceled by law; 65, 66, 66-1 of the Criminal Code. 68, 69, 70, 71, 76-in the event that a person, according to his articles, has been released from criminal liability and punishment for a crime he has committed before. This situation applies not only to ordinary recidivism, but also to all other types of recidivism, among which there is a dangerous and extremely dangerous recidivism crime, since common signs belonging to ordinary recidivism crime are also characteristic of them. “If the guilty person is removed by Amnesty or pardon from the convicted person for the intentional murder committed before him, if yohud is canceled or removed in accordance with the procedure established by law, as well as if by the time of committing the crime of homicide the fans of bringing him to justice for the crimes committed before him have passed, the extremely dangerous recidivism is considered to be one of the most severe forms of committing several crimes. They include the appointment of imprisonment as punishment and imprisonment for a period of not less than five years.

Such a basis arises only in the presence of one of the following options for recidivism:

– the commission of a very serious crime by a person who has previously been sentenced for a very serious crime and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of not less than five years;

– the commission of a very serious crime by a person who was previously sentenced to two serious crimes and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of not less than five years for each of them;

– the commission of a serious crime by a person who was previously sentenced to two sentences for a serious crime and each of them was sentenced to imprisonment for a period of not less than five years;

When we studied the experience of some foreign countries on the issue of committing several crimes and introducing a sentence for them, we witnessed that in countries such as Spain, Japan, Germany this issue was also regulated within the framework of the section on punishment in criminal law, and in countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, together with punishment, within the framework of the section on  Below we will consider the specifics of the legislation of these states on the appointment of penalties for several crimes with a comparative-analysis.

In accordance with the federal law of the Russian Federation of December 8, 2003, the commission of a repeated crime as a form of several crimes is excluded from the Criminal Code.  Currently, a set of crimes and recidivism are recognized as forms of several crimes. Chapter 10 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is called “the appointment of punishment”, in which the procedure for the appointment of punishment in a separate case for any crime is established independently.  That is, in the presence of mitigating circumstances (Article 62), the appointment of a punishment for a crime even lighter than specified in the law (Article 64), the appointment of a punishment for crimes that are not complete (article 66); the appointment of a punishment for a crime committed in participation (Article 67); the appointment of a punishment for a recidic crime (Article 68); 

An analysis of the Spanish Criminal Code shows that there are two forms of several crimes: crime totals and recidivism. The chapter on the rules for the appointment of punishment will address the totality of crimes.  In accordance with Article 73 of this JK, the total of crimes is understood as the commission by the guilty of two or more crimes or socially dangerous acts.  The Spanish Criminal Code does not provide for the rules for the appointment of a single penalty in the event of the commission of two or more crimes by a person.  In these cases, according to Article 73 of the Criminal Code, punishments are assigned for joint execution.  If one or another punishment cannot be performed together, they are performed independently in turn from heavy to light in sequence.

Article 76 of the Spanish Criminal Code establishes the maximum limit for the imposition of penalties on the aggregate of crimes.  The punishment imposed on the aggregate of crimes should not exceed three times the most severe punishment. Maximum limit in the following cases: 

if a person is convicted of two or more crimes, and for one of them a penalty of imprisonment of up to 20 years is established, then 25 years; 

if a person is convicted of two or more crimes and for one of them is provided for a sentence of imprisonment of more than 20 years, it is 30 years. 

Article 77 of the Spanish Criminal Code speaks of the appointment of a penalty for the ideal total of crimes.  The rule in this article is about “committing two or more offenses in one act”, that is, the crimes are applied to the ideal totality. In this case, the assigned uzil-kesil punishment arises from the punishment imposed for the severity of the crimes committed, and the punishment in this case should be lighter than the appointment of a separate punishment for crimes.

Proceeding from this, we can say that the punishment imposed by the Spanish criminal law on the ideal total of crimes is light in relation to the punishment imposed on the real set of crimes. 

The Japanese Criminal Code lists two types of committing several crimes: a set of crimes and a recidivist crime.  Chapter 9 of the criminal code is devoted to the set of crimes.  In accordance with Article 45 of the Criminal Code, a set of crimes is the commission of several crimes by a person for whom a court decision has not yet been made.  Article 54 of the Japanese Criminal Code gives the concept of the ideal total of crimes, and according to this article “if one act falls into several criminal structures, or the act is a means of committing a crime, or its consequence, and coincides with the composition of another crime, the deviation of the penalties provided for by law is assigned.”

Chapter 9 of the Criminal Code establishes the rules for the appointment of penalties for the totality of crimes. According to him, for the most serious crime, which is part of the totality of crimes, the method of applying a more severe punishment and methods of compensating for punishments are used. Aspects related to the commission of several crimes and the appointment of penalties for them in the Federal Republic of Germany are given in Chapter 3 of the third section of the Criminal Code, which is called “penalties for several violations of laws.”  According to paragraph 52 of this chapter, “if one or a similar act violates several criminal laws many times one law, one penalty is applied.”  The analysis of the content of this paragraph shows that its content is not about the commission of several crimes under the Criminal Code of the Federal Republic of Germany, but about the violation of several laws or one law several times. 

If several criminal laws are violated, a punishment is imposed by the established law. The punishment cannot be lighter in this than in other applicable laws. In this case, we are talking about the ideal set of crimes.  In Germany, the ideal set of crimes is considered as a single crime, and one main punishment is assigned to this single crime. 

As a conclusion, I can say that, for example, it is necessary to master the positive side, as the Spanish Criminal Code establishes a separate procedure for imposing punishment for recidivism. After all, the ideal totality of crimes and the degree of social danger of the real totality of crimes differ from each other. It would also be appropriate if a separate procedure for imposing punishment was established for a recidivist crime.

        References: 

Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan

Sharh to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan

       Musical Memories                 

Cars are for crying. I’m not sure if it’s the nostalgic lyrics of the songs pouring out of the radio, or the time alone in a confined space that push the tears out of me. Maybe both. But, a silent, tuneless car ride is empty, somehow. My right hand auto-pilots to the radio as I nestle into the driver’s seat. Sometimes I wonder if I choose to listen to songs that will stir up the sadness in my guts. Music connects me to all the dead people. And to the living, missing people.

I don’t think I consciously choose songs to elicit my tears. Music naturally makes me  feel something. Wakes me up. Disturbs memories. I know I’m not alone with the music. Melodies. Lyrics. They stir everyone differently.

In my office, where the Bluetooth speaker is only quiet when my phone rings, the ladies humor me, and try to sing along as Gene Kelly Radio delivers the songs of my childhood. Dad filled our house with show tunes, all day, every day. I smile. A lot. But Tea for Two makes the tears fall as I shuffle ball change, shuffle hop step across terra cotta tiles, cherishing memories of Dad’s fake soft-shoe as he and I performed in front of the full-length bathroom mirror. I can still hear his perfect pitch voice and see his eyes twinkle beneath his wild tangle of eyebrows as he sang Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’ through the magical days of my childhood and beyond.

Halfway home on the turnpike last week, I touched the XM radio classic rock icon on the stereo screen. The Eagles’ Tequila Sunrise was just ending, and I heard the unmistakable guitar riff of The Beatles’ Revolution. I didn’t pick this song. The DJ did. Eight words into John’s iconic voice, my eyes spilled tears. I never know when it will happen. I had never been much of a crier. Maybe I cry in the car because I don’t want to do it in front of anyone.

            We played mostly Beatles at Jeffie’s funeral in San Francisco. It’s been six and a half years since my oldest brother left us. It still feels impossible. He went to sleep on a Thursday and never woke up on Friday. I’ll never know what to do with it. It’s pain that doesn’t leave.

            We connected through music. And many other things. But the songs are the glue. They stick to the memories. Keep them alive.

            While my brother, Jim and his acoustic guitar sang me to sleep with Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard and Sweet Baby James, Jeffie introduced me to Pousette-Dart Band and 10cc. He got a mile long lemon-yellow Cadillac with black leather seats when he was seventeen. I was ten. At that moment in time, I’m not sure which I loved more: my big brother, his new used car, its smooth creased worn-in seats, or the 8-track radio that blasted all my new favorite songs. He took me for rides just so we could belt out I hope that it’s only Amnesia, believe me I’m sick but not insane… at the top of our lungs. I could only see out the windshield if I sat bent-kneed with my sneakered feet stacked under my butt. I took for granted the fact that he let me play the song as many times as I wanted. Summer swirled my brown mane across my face as it came in the windows. I didn’t miss a word, though, as I scooped long strands of hair out of my mouth.

            Forty-five years later, I play Amnesia, loudly and mostly with a smile. It depends on the day. Sometimes I cry through it. Sometimes I belt it out. Loud and out of tune. But it makes me feel close to my brother. The songs connect the memories so they can stay in my brain. I don’t ever want to lose them. So, I keep playing them. Even if they take up too much space for new music I could enjoy.

Stuck in music of the past keeps me closer to my best memories. Better times. Easier times. Less sad times. Months after losing him, I allowed myself to climb the spiral wooden stairs to Jeffie’s attic bedroom in my parent’s house. I knew exactly where to find them. His box of records sat, unchanged, in the back corner of the cedar closet with the low wooden door.

I felt ten again as my fingers walked over the top edge of each record, advancing them enough to see the name and art work on the well-worn covers. The Beatles, Steely Dan, Dan Fogelberg, Jethro Tull, England Dan and John Ford Coley, David Bowie, Chicago, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, Nicolette Larson. Maybe I’ll be musically stuck in the 70s forever. Maybe the calm of that era that pulses through me keeps me from longing for modern music.

Music flows through our lives all day, every day. My husband, Brian has opened my cemented musical tastes to boatloads of new artists. With my heels still dug into John Denver’s boots, I admit to feeling musically enlightened. Even enthralled by Phish, ALO, the Grateful Dead, the Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails and Goose. I can listen to Pink Floyd. They’re not loud or offensive as I had always assumed. And I don’t have to be stoned to enjoy them. As I had also assumed.

I think I’ll make two saved playlists on my new car stereo: Songs for Crying and Songs Not for Crying.

The car sob-sessions are short-lived and cathartic. The nostalgia of the music fills me up like the chocolate soft serve of my childhood.

+



Where
  Perspectives 
      Meet 

   the throne 
       will seat

              Trust
   Trust   ☆

           Trust 

           Rest

     Becomes 
           Me

             ♡


                                      ............

by John Edward Culp 
Sunday Morning 
February 19, 2023

Angling with Opal

In Grandma Opal’s world, Tuesday is fishing day.

But again, so is Thursday, Friday, and, if you’re

Extremely fortunate, Saturday and Sunday as well.

Any day of the week, around Grandma’s farm and

The environs, there is good fishing. Those bluegill

Don’t stand a chance. The time of departure is

Always six a.m.

Daybreak unfolds the way it always does on Grandma’s

Farm, with the sun peeping through shredded clouds and

Laying on lacquers of vermilion, rose-pink, and orange.

Rays of early sunlight first caressed the base of the

Clouds, then speared through their fluffy, cottony

Fabric like flaming lances. Next, from the top spilled

Out a kaleidoscopic layer of magenta, like a fiery

Volcanic explosion of raspberry jam,

When all of this is going on at four thirty to five a.m.,

It is still dark, but more dusky than black. at that hour.

In the morning, normally exuberant dogs won’t bark.

They, too, are enjoying the majesty of the sunrise. But 

The birds: the seeming millions of sparrows, cocky

Blue jays, gorgeous cardinals, fat starlings, ladderback

Woodpeckers and a hundred other avian varieties,

Loud, chirping and tweeting and singing their songs of

Life.  And, even now, in the middle of summer, there

Are no mosquitoes.  They, too, have their own hours.

By six a.m., they’ll be out and about, but not yet.

The electric power lines are starkly visible in the

Expanding light. They stand out and like thick black

Garlands adorning a room where a party will be held.

Countless birds are already perched along their lengths,

Solemnly observing the earth below. As it grows lighter,

The grass turns from black to gray to blue. It rained last

Night. It rains every night during the summer, for exactly

Ten minutes, not a gullywasher but a steady sprinkle,

Depositing just enough moisture to soften the soil so you

can dig for earthworms for bait. That’s Grandpa’s job.

By quarter to six, Grandpa comes lumbering in,

Squinting through his Coke-bottle-thick spectacles,

Huffing up the back porch stairs while carrying a metal

Bucket containing at least six million worms, newly dug.

Grandma growls, “Jap, you smell like worms!” He

Snorts, looking up. “Be still, old woman,” he replies in

Mock rebuke. But he takes himself off to the bathroom,

Where he avails himself of the Hai Karate cologne

That one of the grandkids gifted him at Christmas.

While Grandpa has been digging bait, Grandma and the rest

Of us have been gathering provisions: fishing poles, rods,

Reels, heavy blue tackle boxes, stringers, creels, scalers,

Fillet knives, fishing knives, at least ten thousand complex

And exotic fishing lures, extra lines, fish hooks, lead sinkers,

Corks—you name it, we take it. We pack all this stuff, along

With five people and one dog, into my grandma’s newest

Buick.Muscle Car.  It has a.351 engine, I think; The lady

Loves to lay rubber, even on a dirt road.

After driving endless miles and conversing with every living

Resident of Franklin County, we arrive at our destination.

We had already passed it at least an hour before. For 

Grandma, fishing is like any other excursion: she always

Comes clad in a perfectly proper, albeit comfortable, dress.

Usually a red print. And Grandpa is always attired in his

Tan Dickies work clothes, a can of Skoal tucked away in his

Shirt pocket.

And Grandma is a smoker. Before I enter kindergarten,

She tries to teach me the alphabet by referencing the back of

A pack of Lucky Strikes: “Can you say these letters, Sugar?”

She asks, turning over the pack to reveal LSMFT.

Embossed on the back. “That means, ‘Lucky Strikes Means

Fine tobacco!’ ” She explained. And she grins eerily.  I nod

My head vigorously and, a little freaked out, I walk over to

Stand by my mother.

We fish all day, I get sunburned, and Mom gets a headache–

It happens every time—and Grandma yanks the head off.

A turtle.  Say what?  Well, it happens this way: Grandma

Uses one of her best fishing lures, a large red thing, and

The turtle has the mendacity to swallow it. I still don’t see how

He goes it down his tiny throat. Grandma hoists the large

Reptile into the air by the fishing line he’d swallowed, and she

Beats him, muttering, “That lure cost me nine dollars, and you

Won’t need it wherever you’re going.”

At length, frustrated by reckoning with the uncooperative turtle,

Grandma slams his carapace against the muddy bank and

Placing one booted foot onto his back, she tugs with all her

Might. The turtle’s head snaps off and swings by the fishing line,

Mesmerizing me.  I think I’m going to be sick. “I told you

I’d get that lure back,” she intones gravely to the bodiless turtle

Head.  I go to stand by my mom again.

Throughout the long day, fish are snatched from the lake like

Nobody’s business. Grandpa says at one point that we’ve caught

More than a hundred bluegill. A while later, I approach Grandma and

find her taking her hook out of a large, incredibly ugly fish. “What’s

That?” I ask, pointing to the creature. She snorts.  “Carp,” she says.

Dismissively.  I look at her questioningly. “Ain’t nothin’ But bones,

Sugar,” she tells me, and she leaves the fish to die on the bank.

The fishing trip concludes with us speeding back into town in the

Buick, not much the worse for wear. Arriving back at the little farm,

Grandpa immediately appropriates the catch and repairs to the

Garden house, out beyond the vegetable garden. There he

Proceeds to whack the heads off the exhausted, oxygen-starved

Bluegill and eviscerate them. And he isn’t wasteful of time, running.

Through the fish like a Ginzu chef. At length he returns to the kitchen

With what must be twenty pounds of fish.  Grandma rapidly disposes

Of them, wrapping most in white freezer paper and trundling them

Off to the deep freeze.

But she selects at least five pounds of bluegill for supper. She

Dips the fillets in milk and eggs, then dredges them in seasoned

Flour. Next, she dips them into the milk mix again, and finally,

Through an intensely seasoned concoction of corn meal. They go

Into the iron skillet. The oil crackles vigorously.

But I see none of this. While the cooking is proceeding apace,

My mom and I are assessing the damage to my person: several

Ticks are removed from my hair; both knees are scuffed.

And we discover an infestation of the dreaded chigger. The only

Known cure for chiggers is a liberal application of fingernail

Polish remover, preferably in a neutral scent. So I skulk around

For the rest of the evening, smelling like a fingernail salon. By now

The little house is filled with the heady, intoxicating aroma of frying

Fish. My mouth waters.

Supper is almost ready. Grandma places a large platter of perfectly

Fried bluegill on the kitchen table. We all dig in as if we had never

Tasted fish before. And we haven’t, either. At least not this good.

“That’s a mess of fish, Jap,” remarks Grandma, matter-of-

Factly.  “Sure is, Ope,” agrees, Grandpa, talking around a face full

Of fish. Corn meal dribbles down his shirt and his glasses have

Grease on them, but he pays this no mind.

Outside the kitchen door, the crickets begin to sing. The sun is down

Now, and it gets notably cooler in the kitchen.  In the distance, a dog

Barks at a full moon. Grandma looks my way. “Get enough to eat,

Sugar?” I nod enthusiastically. I don’t suppose that at that instant. I

wondered if, sixty years later, I would remember every detail of that

Magical, wonderful day.