Thank God it’s Monday, again. I always look forward to every Monday. They’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you. Therefore, have a happy Monday.
Today is the first day of June, which happens to be National Great Outdoors Month, among other things. As kids are getting out of school over the next few weeks, for their summer breaks, it’s time to think about summertime activities in the great outdoors to keep them busy.
The actual Summer Solstice doesn’t start for almost three weeks but once Memorial Day weekend comes and goes and then June arrives, Michiganders are ready to celebrate, observe, and revel in everything summer and outdoor-related. The state of Michigan offers an array of outdoor fun.
As I’ve boasted in other blog posts, Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline in the U.S., at 3,288 miles, and is bordered by four of the five Great Lakes. Regardless of water type, sea or fresh, it’s second only to Alaska in total length of coastline.
Additionally, because of its rocky shoreline, the “Mitten State” (as Michigan is also known) has more lighthouses, by far (at 129), than any other state in the nation. New York comes in second, with around 69, and Maine ranks third, with about 65. Alaska only has 11.
Incidentally, water-related activities are among the most popular summer activities that are enjoyed by Michiganders, as well as those who come to visit our “destination state”.
These water-related activities include but are not limited to fishing, boating, kayaking, canoeing, paddleboarding, water skiing, jet skiing, swimming, and more; as well as rock hunting, exploring lighthouses, and investigating shipwrecks that surround our state.
The Great Lakes, as well as Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers, are a large part of the St. Lawrence Seaway shipping system. We see shipping freighters pass by our small town of St. Clair all of the time. Many ship captains come to our beautiful “Blue Water Area” to retire, too.
Some of my happiest summertime, childhood memories are of fishing off of our dock (in Algonac) with Dad. I remember him teaching me the basics of swimming, when I was about 4 years old, and how to drive our boat, when I was about 10 years old.
We didn’t have electronics or cable TV to occupy our minds when I was a little kid. Whenever possible, we played outside, in the great outdoors, for our entertainment and health. Incidentally, this Saturday is National Play Outside Day (which is the first Saturday of every month).
Did you know that summer activities improve our health, physically and mentally? These activities, for us, included helping Mom with the garden, playing in the sandbox, swinging, biking, swimming, rock hunting, fishing, walking and running and more. Mom and Dad enjoyed golfing whenever they could (especially Dad).
FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
As seen in “No Laughing Matter”, by Gloria Pitzer (no printed date available)
HOW I’M SPENDING MY SUMMER VACATION
I AM REALLY TRYING to enjoy this summer vacation, even though I have the feeling I’m just a first grade version of ‘See Mother Run’. Most of the vacation weeks (and I use the reference loosely) were spent wandering through aspirin lectures asking perfect strangers: “How many more days until school opens?”’
We didn’t try to vacation anywhere with the children this year, considering how we spent two weeks on the Turnpike with them last summer and lived to tell about it.
…There are positive virtues to the “nine-to-three” schedules, which leave mothers five days a week, from September through June [minus the long Christmas and Easter breaks], during which they are not answering dumb questions… For one thing, it is none of the kids’ business why I look pale and plump in a bathing suit.
I knew the minute I walked into “Chubby Chicks Swimwear Boutique” that summer, for me, would mean running under the lawn sprinkler in very dark glasses and a body shirt, cleverly created out of a porch awning by some “shut-in” from “Green Acres”.
Actually, it was all my husband’s idea. For, out of consideration for the neighbors, he only lets my sit on the patio in my bathing suit after dark. He claims I even discourage mosquitos. This is the same man who will also stand on the porch whenever I sing so the neighbors can see he isn’t beating me!
The same man who can come home from (and I quote exactly) “an exhausting day of fishing” and ask, seriously, when am I going to clear off the top of the refrigerator, will I write to his mother, did I have fun at the ‘book mobile’ with the five kids, and is it alright if we “eat out” tonight… meaning, of course, hot dogs in the backyard!
He doesn’t understand why I spend my [summer] vacation counting the days until school opens again. But he doesn’t have to find band-aids for bra-less Barbie dolls and G.I. Joes, who have been sucked up into the vacuum cleaner hose.
He doesn’t have to wander through a vast wasteland of “Pop-Tart” wrappers and “Mr. Misty” cups, while 37 neighborhood kids motorbike their way through the yard, the flower beds, and into the center of a national noise abatement program, sympathetically excused by three probation officers who don’t have to live around here!
Summer vacation – as some teachers laughingly refer to the 10 weeks, during which “families who stay together, get on each other’s nerves” – is NOT a vacation!
It’s enough to make a mother look like a wire service [“Wanted”] photo that, by all rights, should be printed under the caption: “NEVER MIND SENDING HER KIDS TO CAMP… Help send this mother away!”
It’s mothers who need the vacations – not the kids! Ten weeks of kids at home [all day] and Mother can develop a personality of a dental drill with a voice to match! But, as I told the kids the other day, “as soon as Daddy gets home, everything will be all right.”
Sometimes it’s not easy on a mother to come up with the answers to questions all by herself, like: “How many more days until school starts?” … “Can I have a Coke?” … “Did you see my sneakers?” …
“Can I have a popsicle?” … “How come you’re always yelling at me?” … “Why doesn’t anybody like me?” … “Can I have my allowance?”…
But, compared to all of the questions the kids ask me during the day, I can take THOSE [above] from my husband. He means well, even though he doesn’t understand that a mother’s vacation doesn’t begin until school does in the fall.
Mom and Dad took up camping after they became empty nesters. June is also National Camping Month, a popular “great outdoors” activity in Michigan. There are about 1,190 licensed campgrounds in this beautiful state. I don’t remember camping as a child. We always stayed in a motel or cabin.
After she and Dad became empty-nesters, they bought a motorhome and traveled a lot with the national RV group they joined, Good Sam Club. It was undoubtedly much more affordable when it was only the two of them than when they had five kids in tow.
“Recipe seminars that I have conducted for the Good Sam RV organization in, both, Michigan and Ohio, have given me the opportunity to meet with and talk to people from all over the country relative to their recipe interests and food needs.” – Gloria Pitzer, My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, p. 61)
Mom and Dad often mixed work with pleasure, during their trips (as Mom’s work was her pleasure); such as taste-testing restaurant dishes, doing in-station radio “appearances”, as well as giving lectures about her copycat cookery and short-cut cooking concepts.
Joining the Good Sam Club was always one of their most favorite experiences – and they were always grateful to Mom’s sister and brother-in-law, Hazel and Chris, for introducing them to the organization. Mom kept many scrap books full of photos and special keepsakes from their trips with the Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio chapters of “Good Sam”.
“SINCE OUR CAMPING experiences with the national RV organization, ‘Good Sam’, we have truly adopted their slogan… ‘In Good Sam there are no strangers – only friends you haven’t met yet!’ How very true. What would we have done had we not been blessed with meeting Irv and Helen Henze [or] Helen and Chuck Mogg? How much we miss Chuck since he passed away. Friends are those people who know everything there is to know about you, but like you anyhow!” – Gloria Pitzer [As seen in… “More Than Friends”, from My Cup Runneth Over and I Can’t Find My Mop (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; Dec. 1989, p. 100)]
Mom often wrote about the trips she and Dad took in their summer newsletter issues – from the new restaurant dishes they tried as they traveled (and imitated later, when they were home) to all of the great friendships they developed everywhere they went. Mom and Dad always looked forward to all of the “Good Sam Samboree” events each year.
Mom and Dad’s form of camping is considered “glamping” – glamour camping – with a camper and all the creature comforts of home. That’s hardly “roughing it” at all. In fact, Mom never even used the stove or oven in the camper, as they always ate out. Some of their friends jokingly hassled her about that while being the Secret RecipesTM Detective.
MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
Gloria Pitzer’s Secret RecipesTM Newsletter (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May-June 1987, 126th issue, p. 3)
GOOD SAM – CARING AND CAMPING
FRIENDS ARE THOSE people who know everything there is to know about you, but like you anyhow! …Needless to say, I can’t wait until we can begin our ‘motor-home camping’ again with our Good Sam friends. It’s our weekend vacation pleasure, May through October.
Becoming part of the Good Sam organization is the best thing that has ever happened to us, where we could both enjoy mutual friendships and activities. Wonderful, caring people, who constantly remind us that “there are no strangers in Good Sam – only friends we haven’t met, yet!”
When my own children were young, I learned a lot about camping from friends who camped, as well as from other campers I met along the way. It was an affordable way to take the whole family on a weekend vacation. We had a van back then and could pack a lot of stuff to support our family of five, somewhat comfortably, for two nights and three days.
Every time we went camping, I learned a lot of hacks that made “roughing it” much easier and more comfortable for the next time. My husband and I still go camping in Michigan’s great outdoors at least twice a year, during the summer months.
Since we don’t have a camper, I pack a lot of creature comfort stuff to make our “home away from home” as cozy as possible. After we got rid of the van and went to a mid-size car, I had to learn how to “pack 10 pounds of ‘stuff’ in a 5-lb. bag”.
For me, packing has become an art form, over the years, refined and elevated to a high level of perfection so much so that the accomplishment (of packing that much stuff in that little bit of space) feels like a masterpiece. I’ve shared my “comfort camping without a camper” packing checklist in other blog posts. I’ve come to think of camping as “nesting”.
Our trips, even if they’re only for a few days, are essential to our physical and mental well-being. Camping naturally resets our biological clocks, as the constant exposure to natural light and darkness effects our circadian rhythm. Plus, it boosts our physical activity and Vitamin-D intake, while also lowering our stress and cortisol levels. I can’t wait to go again!
LAST THOUGHTS…
Thanks for visiting! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my memories of my mom, her memories, and other related things. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at therecipedetective@outlook.com. You can also find me on Facebook: @TheRecipeDetective. I look forward to hearing from you!
IN CLOSING…
In honor of TODAY, being National Olive Day, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for “Greek Olive Salad”; as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 46). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition)]. As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to re-share it.
P.S. Food-for-thought until next Monday…
The month of June celebrates… National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month, National Candy Month, National Camping Month, National Caribbean American Month, National Country Cooking Month, National Dairy Month, National Iced Tea Month, National Papaya Month, National Soul Food Month, National Rose Month, and more.
Today is also… National Say Something Nice Day, National Pen Pal Day, and National Hazelnut Cake Day.
Tomorrow is… National Rotisserie Chicken Day and National Rocky Road Day. Today (for 2026) is also… National Leave The Office Early Day – unless the 2nd is on a weekend, then it falls on the nearest Monday/Friday business day.
Wednesday, June 3rd, is… National Egg Day, National Repeat Day, and National Chocolate Macaroons Day.
Thursday, June 4th, is… National Cheese Day, National Cognac Day, and National Hug Your Cat Day.
June 5th, is… National Gingerbread Day and National Veggie Burger Day. Plus, as the first Friday in June (for 2026), it’s also… National Doughnut Day.
June 6th, is… National D-Day, National Gardening Exercise Day, National Drive-In Movie Day, and National Applesauce Cake Day. Plus, as the first Saturday in June (for 2026), it is also… National Trails Day, National Bubbly Day, and National Prairie Day. Also, starting the first Saturday in June and running through the second Saturday (June 6th–13th, for 2026), it’s… International Clothesline Week and National Fishing and Boating Week.
June 7th, is… National Chocolate Ice Cream Day, National VCR Day, and National Oklahoma Day. Plus, as the first Sunday in June (for 2026), it’s also… National Cancer Survivor’s Day. Additionally (for 2026), it’s also the start of… National Gardening Week and Community Health Improvement Week.
Have a great week!
…22 down and 30 to go.
