Above / Oh! Those cake memories from the past… and my wonderful life as a young adult in Manhattan, New York. Though some Creative Cakes traveled in limousines for actors on Broadway as well as athletes, entertainers, developers and politicians in New York City, many other cakes rode in taxis to their destinations designed to recognize kindness and the dedicated folks who provide the public services that make a big difference in our lives every day. Even more thanks on March 23, 2020, are extended to our nation’s first responders, critical care givers and dedicated teachers.
Words are important. Most of us use them. Many individuals add adjectives and adverbs to enhance the meanings of words to make stories more interesting and exciting.
Right now, it’s our hope that members of the news media set aside all adjectives and adverbs that intend to influence and distort the facts with sensationalism.
We all wish we had more certainty. We all wish we knew the unintended consequences when faced with so many unknowns and economic shutdowns. We all wish the experts would get it right. Simply explore history dating back to the “world is flat” to note sometimes even the best experts can be wrong. Be open minded. Be vigilant. Be resilient.
All that said, I can safely say unequivocally that the distance between times to hug and babysit our 2-year-old granddaughter during this stay-at-home period when her curiosity and development changes by the hour is almost unbearable for me.
The other evening when Mariko’s dad let me talk to her on his cell phone, she said, “Gotta go night-night now, Grandma.”
Mariko doesn’t always like the intrusion of talking on cell phones. In fact, she’s been known to push electronic devices away. You might say already she’s figured out how to get rid of me in this high-tech world!
Late Sunday afternoon Jeff and Katherine arranged a “play date” for us with Mariko. With a webcam now set up on this computer, Mariko used her dad’s laptop to show her grandpa and me her favorite toys from the toy box her Great Uncle Jim built; read letters from the alphabet that stand for the people/places/things in her life (Certainly her other Grandma and I love when she says, “‘G’ is for Grandma.”); and counted to 20—all while her mother was “making pizza.”
Just before dinner was ready, our very organized granddaughter put things back where she’d found them, an admirable trait she’s inherited from her mother.
Wrong memory of the ‘The Gambler’
With fond memories of thousands of birthdays and anniversaries behind me, Saturday’s news that country-pop singer Kenny Rogers, also known for his silver beard, died Friday night ignited a flashback to the mid-1970s, a time shortly after I’d opened a little cake shop on East 74th Street in New York City.
Thanks to a new business model that included the design of personal, one-of-a-kind chocolate cakes, enhanced by strong connections in the advertising business (Della Femina Travisano & Partners) and publishing business (New York Magazine), I launched Creative Cakes in early December 1974. Ignoring nay-sayers who thought it was a half-baked idea, those decorated special chocolate treats in all shapes and sizes sold like hot cakes, especially when the professional artists from Broadway and media types throughout New York City discovered they could express their creativity via my little cake art business.
In 1975, Creative Cakes attracted the attention of reporter Mary Vespa at People Magazine who told the story of my tiny independent shop on its first birthday. Back then, People was known to feature stories about ordinary people with a passion for the jobs they do. A few years later literary agent David Obst contracted my writing a book (his then-wife was a frequent customer) for Random House. Edited by Kathy Matthews the book featured family recipes and my step-by-step method of creating cakes for every occasion as well as “Cakes I Have Known.”
The weekend news of Rogers’ death at age 81 reminded me that during that first year, I’d designed a special birthday cake in the likeness of country singer and songwriter Charlie Rich who was known as the “Silver Fox.” Never an avid listener to country music, my cultural illiteracy always has confused Charlie Rich and Kenny Rogers because they both had hits on the charts during the 1970s. Rich died in 1995 at age 62. Rogers was the one who made “The Gambler” a Grammy-winning hit in 1978.
Feeling melancholy, I raced down to the basement where thousands of instant Polaroid “cake pictures” from 1974 to 1983 are saved in dozens of photo albums stored in a cupboard. Several of the albums smell musty, having suffered the dampness when our basement in Naperville flooded during the 17-inch deluge in July 1996.
I pulled the albums out, stacked them on the floor next to me and began turning the pages. It didn’t take long before I noticed what I’d forgotten. Back then many of my customers had ordered cakes for first responders and teachers, paying tribute for public service while expressing kindness much like we’re doing today. In particular, one cake in the shape of an Elmer’s Glue bottle was given to the person who “held the office staff together.” A cake shaped like a big bag of Fritos Corn Chips for a Frito freak, was inscribed with icing to say, “When the chips are down, we always look to Jim.”
And one of my all-time favorite cakes in the shape of a six-pack of Michelob Light was given to our next door neighbor in Chatham, New Jersey, former Chatham Fire Chief Jack Conlan, on his 50th birthday.
Flipping through the albums, I also was reminded that what really made every one of those cakes different—all baked from scratch using Grandma Mitchell’s mayonnaise chocolate cake recipe—are all the things that made every customer and every customer’s special occasions different.
Remembering the wonderful folks at Della Femina, Travisano
All day Saturday, that rush of fond memories took me back to folks forever emblazoned in my mind who had begun encouraging my cake art following that first Skippy Peanut Butter-shaped cake I brought to work for Skip. Skip ran the mail room at the ad agency. He had enlisted in the Navy and to bid him a bon voyage on his last day at Della Femina, we celebrated his career choice with gratitude and chocolate cake.
Today I’m thinking about all those wonderful folks—Jerry Della Femina, Ron Travisano, Bob Giraldi, Mark Yustein, Joan Scoccimarro, Jean Scoccimarro, Kay Kavanagh, Frank DiGiacomo, Dick Raboy, Ray Greiche, Jim Travis and many others— for their never-ending voices of humor, encouragement and support when I was a young adult working in the DFT&P creative department, fun-loving folks who likely don’t remember my adoration and gratitude a half century later.
What have you done lately?
While I cherish rich history, local lore and traveling to historic sites—experiences that always contribute to my understanding of where we’ve been—I especially enjoy looking forward, asking myself repeatedly, “What have you done lately?”
That’s why all the years of publishing this monthly independently-owned newspaper, augmented by this website, are so important to me. For 18-plus years, Positively Naperville has been a preview of what’s ahead more than a review of what’s already happened, supported by a wide range of community-focused businesses and contributing columnists who help share the can-do spirit and unmet needs of this active city.
Longtime PN readers likely recall when our first eight-page publication was launched on September 1, 2001, just in time to be distributed during the Jaycees Labor Day Parade, eleven days before the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center were attacked. And that we’ve been digging in our heels ever since to look at the bright side of life in this remarkable city, growing four to eight printed pages at a time.
Mindful of more ups and downs than we can count, we keep moving forward.
We encourage you to find an old photo album or pack of photos that bring back fond memories. Focus on good times and resolve. Reminisce with your family. Share stories. Connect.
Thanks for supporting your local restaurant community
Saturday evening we ordered take out from the restaurant where our daughter, Ashley, is employed in Glendale Heights. The easy-to-find Schnitzel Platz on North Avenue was just a 20-minute drive, adding a little outdoor diversion to the indoor day. Services such as Door-Dash also help with deliveries. Please tip, too!
Looking ahead, we’ll likely order dinner to go with delivery again from one of the Naperville’s eateries participating at Dine Naperville and linked to this website. We’ve been impressed with the turnaround time from Hugo’s. Again, please tip.
We’ve also noted how some restaurants such as Quigley’s Irish Pub are “making lemons,” using this closed period to paint one of its dining rooms, a task made difficult when a business is open every day of the week.
And check out “Naperville Helps!” Find ways to support local restaurants via an initiative being hosted by the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Naperville Alliance that delivered its first lunches today.
What the hell’s going on?
Above / Just a year ago, Dad and I were cheering on Purdue during March Madness. This year the NCAA Tournament was canceled. I know he’s up there among plenty of college basketball fans wondering, “What the hell’s going on?”
As I sit looking at the big screen in front of my desk top, I also can see a red-topped battery-operated recorder that plays five memorable words from my father who died Aug. 6, 2019, at the age of 96.
One of many keepsakes of my witty and wise dad was created by my brother, Jay, who saved one of Dad’s voicemails. Dad didn’t like leaving voicemail messages. Last summer during a call when Jay’s message asked Dad to leave a voicemail, Dad replied, “What the hell’s going on?”
Jay retrieved it and put the message on a little push-button recorder and before Dad died, he gave one to my brother, Jim, and me. For many reasons, I’ve been pressing it over and over for weeks!
“What the hell ‘s going on?
A pandemic is going on
What we know is going on is a pandemic. Coronaviris (aka COVID-19) is not discriminating, so we must carry on in sync, keep calm and be prepared.
Take precautions. Wash your hands. Cover coughs and sneezes. Be a good example for young ones who might be watching. Help them feel safe. Eat nourishing food. Drink plenty of liquids. Exercise.
Stay home if at all possible. Practice staying six feet away from other individuals. It’s OK to take walks outside.
Stick to the facts. Use commonsense. Stay healthy.
I keep seeing cars whiz by our house and I wonder where everybody’s going in such hurry.
And Rogers’ Grammy-winning signature story song keeps playing in my mind: “You gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ’em.”
Go find old photo albums that bring back fond memories. Share stories. Listen.
Write down your thoughts.
Clear an area on a table and begin working a jigsaw puzzle.
Play charades. Play Celebrity Fish Bowl. Play board games.
Find a deck of cards. Practice shuffling. Play solitaire. Deal for gin, bridge, euchre or poker. Just deal!
Deal with facts
We have found Worldometer to provide concise up-to-date data, details and charts with global and state-by-state information.
Learn the “15 Days to Slow the Spread” now in progress.
With the unpredictability of this pandemic, webmaster Tim and I want to reassure our readers that every attempt will be to bring you up-to-date, hyperlocal news posts, aiming to be a trusted source of information brought to you by our forever-appreciated sponsoring advertisers and monthly subscribers. Throughout these challenging times, factual information from reliable sources must remain available at no charge to all our dedicated readers.
Further, since January 22, 2020, this website has been providing info first submitted then by Edward-Elmhurst Health.
We know this post is long. It comes with age. We’re aware some of our thoughts reflect the past with our opinion to focus on positive outcomes.
We also know birthdays, anniversaries and special events will continue for years to come. Thanks for reading.
—Stephanie Penick with gratitude to Tim Penick for his help with technology!
