Cornbread



Cornbread. Funny - the things that trigger memories.
I've been nursing a low back problem caused by too many times up and down a ladder this week while painting my photography studio. Feeling a little guilty, I finally got off the couch this afternoon and headed to the kitchen to fix a half decent meal for Scott and me. (A whole decent meal would be way too much to ask, bad back or not). I pulled out salmon to bake in the oven and vegetables to steam - in the microwave, of course. While looking for something in the cupboard, I noticed I had cornbread mix and thought, wouldn't cornbread be yummy with the fish and veggies.

That started a flood of memories about family friend, Jim Peterson. He made the best clam chowder and cornbread ever! My daughters can attest to that.

I met Jim when I started working for the City of Puyallup in 1975. I was first in the clerk's office and later in the city manager's office. Jim was the city building inspector, a no nonsense kind of guy. He had to be that way, given his job, but he always had a great big smile for everyone. And he could fix things. Given that I was enchanted by houses that needed fixing, I called on Jim for advice when a contractor I'd hired to finish a second bathroom made a total mess of the job. He ended up fixing the mess.

Jim took us under his wing. He had a daughter and son of his own, but his daughter committed suicide. She'd refused treatment for depression. I was a single mom and perhaps my daughters and I partially filled a hole in his heart. He and his daughter together had built the house that Jim lived in east of the fairgrounds. It was a tiny, two story home, just right for him.

Jim would invite me, Courtney and Kendall over to his house for homemade clam chowder (no canned stuff for him) and homemade cornbread. He once told me he was his mother's daughter. He'd always helped her in the kitchen and because of that he'd become an excellent cook.

I can remember sharing meals with him and the girls dancing to Neil Diamond's Forever In Blue Jeans, until they fell in a heap from exhaustion and laughter. We enjoyed a lot of great times with Jim: RV camping near Roslyn, a rode trip to Billings, Montana to visit my folks while he visited his son, and later when he moved to Alder Lake, we'd visit and enjoy the lake with him.   

Jim was unlucky in love. He married and divorced the love of his life - twice. It just didn't work out for them. When they were together, we didn't see much of him. He eventually moved to Idaho to live with his son, where he died of cancer at all too early an age. Jim was a sad, sweet and generous man, one whom we loved and miss. We'll always remember Jim fondly. Cornbread just isn't the same. BonnieKingPhotography.com