Pam, Bobby went by 'vacuumfreak.'

Sol

Thanks, Sol. Thought that might be it. He was a bit of an oddball but sweet. I miss the old Cooking Conversations.

i think I still have a recipe for,Sol’s Dirt Bombs.

Bobby is in Florida, I think, and he does have the best info on vacuum cleaners, as he used to sell them. He also belongs to the vintage vacuum cleaner collectors club.

He's also friends with Scott (from Minnesota) who moved to L.A. a few years ago. Scott also collects vintage vacuum cleaners.

I think Bobby is more into quilting now.

Pam, I miss the Conversations side, where we let loose and people’s heads never pirouetted out of control.

I also miss quite a few people—and Dirt Bombs.

Sol

Speaking of missing quite a few people;

What about Mustang (Cathy)?

She told me Vacuum Freak visited her a few times.at her home.

dcarch

Wow, speaking of missing people, welcome back Dedtired!!

I haven't heard from Mustangs (Cathy) for quite a while. I also sent emails to Sherry (sheshebop) and Nancy (wizardnm) but never got answers. I think a lot of people "do" Facebook instead of the forums, unfortunately.

Annie

I remember Cathy posting about Bobby visiting her - they were not that far from each other. I also remember Bobby posting about his disfunctional family, which was rather entertaining. He seems to have stopped posting in 2014, however. People on the quilting forum also miss him.

I'll have to ask Scott if he has heard from him lately.

Whatever happened to the young man who belonged to a drama group and used to talk about the food he was taking to their cast parties? He also used to make his own elaborate Halloween costumes and I recall he was known for a recipe for his Gram's lemonade.

That's moonwolf

That's right, I think his real name is Brad! Anyone know what happened to him?

He's on facebook, but I very seldom go there, especially in an election year.

We’re coming up on Brad season. I look forward to it.

So nice to see you all. If my cooking consisted of more than broiling a salmon filet, I would jump,in. Annie, I hang out with your husband a lot — on Facebook. I “see” a lot of my old Conversations friends there. BubbesKitchen. Alexa Cooks for You, Riverrat, too many to,list. Sherry and I had lunch a couple years ago. Cathy is on FB but not very active.

Remember the swaps? I still have items from them, and use them often, especially my favorite pink ice cream scoop.

Maybe we should beg Houzz to reactivate conversations.

Lars, thanks for the link to. Bobby’s recommendations. Good info, but now I am dithering more than ever. FYI, to others, I am shopping for a new vacuum cleaner which is what made me think of Bobby.

I also use a lot of items from swaps - one in particular is a custom cheese board that a member's husband made for me from blocks of wood arranged in an interesting geometric pattern. I also have a lot of items that I received from Lee (who recently passed😢 before I was able to visit her in Boulder. I did meet with her several times in Los Angeles, however, and I met her husband Max, who painted my portrait on an apron for me.

If you are interested in a Meile or Riccar, you might want to go to K of P to Steve's Sewing and Vac store. I bought my Meile there and have been more than pleased with the vacuum and the service. (I have no connection to them other than being a customer)

Lizbeth, that’s who declared my Kenmore dead. They were really pushing the Miele for $5-600. I do think they are a good resource. They are not fans of Shark or Dyson I think mostly based on longevity. Did you get a canister?

Lars, great picture and I know who made that board! One of my best gifts was homemade Tayberry Jam and a home sewn apron from Teri Pacnw. I know that name is wrong but close.

Hi FOAS. I still using the garlic masher you gave me at our get together in Philadelphia.

oh there’s another missing person, JessyF. aka Evil Jessy.

I did get a Miele canister in 2009 and it's still going strong. I have tile in bathrooms and hardwood and area rugs in rest of house. It does a good job on all. Did you get a chance to use the Miele in the store?

Anyone know what bobby's facebook name is? I do facebook and there are a lot of old Garden Web people there....there is even a forum of some gardening friends who started out on the Garden Web.....with Spike.

Pam, We ADORE our DYSON stick vac. Do you belong to Costco? Otherwise get a great deal direct from Dyson. They run $399 and up but you don't need the top of the line. The Model 8 is very good!

Thanks, Ellen. People with Dysons seem to love them. I’ll see what Costco has. I need to get something before the cleaning lady comes on Wednesday.

Pam, Elery says you are seeing each other, and that's OK with me. (grin) He keeps me kind of up to date, but with all the political noise out there even he has started doing mostly family and old friends and a couple of sub-groups that don't allow any political issues.

Good luck with the vacuum. You need to clean before the cleaning woman comes to clean? Evil Jessica stopped coming here when they linked the forums to social media, not wanting to have all of her information become property of Facebook for whatever purposes they desire. I don't "do" Facebook in part because it's a time sucker and I don't have any time left to be sucked. I do some "hit and run" here, but between Mother, my Clerk job in an election year, the farm and garden and things my kids/grandkids need, well, there's not much time left.

I'm glad to see you again, though.

Annie

Hi Pam. I'm glad to see you here too. Sounds like you are out and about in the world. We're not, and I do miss that!

Annie, yes Elery and I have a thing going. I agree, politics are sucking the fun out of FB and a lot of other stuff. I recently saw a picture of someone riding Copenhagen. Brought back memories of stories about him, may he RIP. No, I definitely do not clean for the cleaning lady. I just run around getting junk,out of the way so she can clean.

Jessy and I got together a couple times. Her son went to college near me. Wonder how she is doing.

Hey Christine, I still have pictures from our get together. I can’t figure out who one of the people is! Yes, I am risking my life by running errands, etc. Only the mostly necessary stuff, if you call going to the farmers market to buy peaches necessary. P.S. your name has gotten popular lately!

Pam, I keep waiting for that stupid meme to be over, but it just keeps on. I hate it. Good thing I have another name here!

Was our last get together the one at Skippack? I think that was after the one in Bucks County. Skippack was you, me, Lpink, and Tracey (not the one from Ohio). Tracey bought a little apron for her daughter.

Yes, Skippack and yes, Tracey. You have a good memory to recall the apron. My niece has the same name as you and she, like you, is the total opposite of the meme. At least you don’t have the same name as spray vegetable oil.

Ha!

Oh wow, I am so happy to hear that. Please give her my best when you talk to her again. I bet her boys are both quite grown now.

I am needing less and less advice in the cooking realm, particularly since I don't entertain much anymore, even before the pandemic. Some, but much less. I am getting less ambitious, even when I do entertain, I stick mostly to simple tried and true stuff. My foray into sourdough brought me back here briefly. Without the Conversations, there's only so much going on in my kitchen worth talking about . . .

Plus 15 years on into my forum participation, old age has caught up with me and I have to carefully watch and parse what I eat for calories and health . . . it's boring mostly. I used to exercise more, I had some work friends that I did it with and we all liked to eat too much so motivated each other to walk 30 min. on our lunch hour. Those days and other days when I easily was motivated to exercise seem to be over . . .

I’m not around here much anymore either. Usually just pop in to look up recipes like Lindac’s blue cheese dressing or Weed’s Pork Tenderloin with Dijon cream or some other wonderful recipe that was shared. Like many others, I rarely cook these days, but I do still think of everyone often. I stopped by tonight to check on Karen (Riverrat) since she is in the path of Hurricane Laura. Has anyone heard from her?