Pip & Pancakes with Dan

Posted on by Teagan Riordain Geneviene

Great news everyone — we have another guest!  Dan Antion at No Facilities agreed to be my next co-conspirator collaborator.  This post is already live at his blog for his One-Liner Wednesday feature.  So I’m handing things over to Dan to explain.  (I also think he should consider a career change to TV announcer.  He gave me such a nice introduction, I’m still blushing.)

A One and Three Twofer

It’s One-Liner Wednesday, the series brought to us by Linda G. Hill, and many of you will be surprised by how close to one line I am going to come. That’s because I am joined today by Teagan R. Geneviene who will soon release her 1920’s novel. If you’re not familiar with Teagan and her three-things stories, you’re in for a treat. If you are familiar with Teagan’s work, you know exactly what kind of treat you’re in for.

My one-liner is all about a treat too. A few weeks ago, when I woke up in Florida with the task making, changing and cancelling flights on a day the airlines were struggling with a blizzard in the Northeast, I wasn’t eager to get out of bed. I talked myself into action with the following thought:

“When you know you’re going to have a bad day, make it better by starting with pancakes.”

Teagan told me that Pip could have some fun with pancakes, so let me get out of the way (after a few pictures for the foodies).

Quite possibly the perfect breakfast.
Bacon makes anything better, and maple syrup makes bacon better.
Pancakes require butter. No substitute concoctions allowed, butter.

Now, while I finish my breakfast, please enjoy Teagan’s story. Try to imagine my best Ed McMahon voice, as I say:

Heeeeeer’s Teagan!

Thank you again, Dan, for agreeing to collaborate on a post with me.  I hope everyone will visit his blog.  Dan uses several post themes and they’re all terrific.  I had a great time at No Facilities.  His picture of the crow was pos-i-lutely inspired.  You’ll see why in a second.

Now for my part… This vignette is set in the Roaring Twenties world of my flapper character, Paisley Idelle Peabody, aka Pip.  (For more about Pip, see The Three Things Serial Story click here.)  Pip’s father and grandmother decided to “settle her down” by having her live with Granny for awhile.  That’s where this tidbit picks up.  Also, as you guessed, the prompt Dan gave me for this tale was pancakes.  I hope you enjoy it.

Pip and Pancakes

1925 La Vie Parisienne woman pancake cooking
La Vie Parisienne, February 1925

“Horsefeathers!  I think I sprained my wrist,” I complained as the iron skillet plopped back onto the stove with a loud clang.

Outside a crow made a cawing sound that might as well have been the bird’s laughter.

“Paisley Idelle Peabody, you will mind your language while you’re in my kitchen,” Granny Phanny warned me.

My grandmother hefted the heavy skillet with a quick motion.  A perfectly round pancake sailed high into the air.  It landed majestically, golden side up, in the pan.  I heard the crow again.  If it had a human voice, I was sure it would be saying “Ha!  Let’s see you do that.”

Granny must have biceps made of steel under her shirtsleeves.  She handled that heavy skillet like it weighed nothing.

The clear blue sky beyond the kitchen window distracted me.  I imagined being back in Florida with my friends, watching the boats on Santa Rosa Sound.  However, I was in Granny’s kitchen in Savannah, Georgia.  Pops had not appreciated the fact that I was a modern woman, a flapper.  It was an appalling sentence to be given, and it pos-i-lutely did not fit my transgression.  Why it was just a little yachting adventure.  Nonetheless, Pops and Granny contrived for me to stay with her and learn to cook!

Pillsbury Home Journal Pancake flour ad September 1920
Pillsbury ad, Home Journal, September 1920

Of course the crow chose that moment to caw some more.  It really did seem to be laughing at my predicament.  Or at least at the idea of me cooking.  I was ready to stick my tongue out at the bird.

Honestly, I only looked away for a moment.  Maybe it was my sigh that told Granny my attention had wandered.  Her lips curled in, which meant she was impatient.  I grimaced, knowing I wouldn’t get any sympathy there.  However, Granny gave a sigh of her own, and moved the skillet away from the burner.

“Pip, do you already miss your friends?  You’ve just gotten here.  This was supposed to be something fun for us to do together,” my grandmother told me.

I blinked in surprise.  Granny wanted to do something fun?  Applesauce!  If I had known it was meant to be fun, I might have put some effort into enjoying it.  I cringed when I realized I had said as much out loud.

Granny Phanny gave a snort.  “Maybe I’m not as old as I thought, because that actually made sense to me.”

“In that case, let me try again,” I told her with a grin.

I tried to imitate Granny’s motion and give the pancake a flip.  It only came halfway out of the pan and landed in a folded messy lump.  My grandmother gingerly picked up the half-cooked goo and set it to rights.  She told me to try again and give it some body English.

A tight-lipped grimace settled on my face as I picked up the iron skillet.  I heaved it just so.  The sloppy remains of the pancake lifted into the air.  It sailed up and flipped, and then flew even higher.  It made a wet thwack when it hit the ceiling… and there it stayed.

With a gulp, I looked at Granny, wondering how mad she would be.  Her expression was blank as she stared upward.  She cast an evaluative gaze on me, making me wonder if she thought I’d done it on purpose.

“Pip…  Well, that was right impressive,” she said, with the riotous squawking of the crow in the background.

Bye Bye Black Bird sheet music 1920s

Hurriedly I stirred the batter and poured a puddle of it into the skillet.  I didn’t want to give her time to consider in what way a pancake on the previously spotless kitchen ceiling was impressive.

In my haste I had the heat too high, and the hotcake began to smoke.  Granny moved toward the window.  She told me to just get the spatula and turn it before it burned.  I was more than simply nervous by then.  I don’t know what possessed me, but I tried to do a combination, turn and toss, with the spatula in one hand and the skillet in the other.

Just then Granny shrieked.  The crow cawed even louder.  I whirled around.  The bird was right outside the window. 

My one-handed grip on the iron skillet was too loose.  When I moved so suddenly, the skillet flew from my fingers.  The shining black pan could have been the cousin to the cawing crow, the way it soared across the room.

I gazed in amazement at the flying frying pan.  It spun as it sailed cleanly through the open window.  The skillet crashed into the lilac bush just outside.

The crow’s clamorous cawing abruptly choked.  I might have chuckled to have gotten the last word on the bird, even if by accident.  However, the sound of Granny’s scream was still in my ears, so I didn’t savor that victory.

I spun back toward Granny Phanny to see what was wrong.  She stood stock still.  Her hands were in fists at her side.  My magnificently tossed pancake no longer littered the ceiling.  It draped and dripped over Granny’s forehead.

What’s that they say about the better part of valor?  On pretext of retrieving the skillet, I ran from the kitchen.  The crow alighted on the lilac bush and looked at me accusingly.  It fluttered to the windowsill.

“You won’t go in there if you know what’s good for you,” I told the bird.

Granny appeared on the porch, picking batter from her hair.  She gave me a look that I couldn’t define.  The crow made a brazen cackle.  After a moment Granny burst out laughing.

“Pip, go inside and let’s get cleaned up.  You haven’t been to the Georgian Tea Room.  I’ll treat us to brunch there.  If we stay here we might be eating crow — literally,” she said with a meaningful glare at the bird.

With a last disgruntled caw, the crow flapped away.

Georgian Tea Room in The Olde Pink House 1929
The Georgian Tea Room in the Olde Pink House;  Savannah, GA circa 1929

***

The end.

Thanks for visiting.  You’re the cat’s meow.  Mega hugs!

Copyright © 2017 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

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84 thoughts on “Pip & Pancakes with Dan”

  1. Haha, this reminded me of my grandmother and her cast iron skillet. Poor Granny Phanny for getting the pancake on her head. I imagined her laughing on the inside, but she had to keep up the Granny attitude. Pip is probably still waiting for her to let loose. Cute post, Teagan. I love your quote up in the beginning, Dan.

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    1. Hi Mary. I should have asked people to leave their iron skillet memories. The first time I used one, I was scared to death. My mother was considerably taller than me; the oven was such that I had to reach up above shoulder level to extract the skillet — and it contained oil at 450 degrees, spattering away. That was how they made cornbread. It would have been difficult enough without the hot oil, just the weight of the thing, and reaching up to get it… Pip had a lot more fun… and so did I, through her.
      I’m delighted that you enjoyed this collaborative effort. Mega hugs.

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  2. Oh, Teagan, you had me going on this one. When that pancake hit the ceiling I was laughing so hard I had tears, and then when it plopped on Granny Phanny’s head I was literally doubled over. This is hilarious!

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  6. Pingback: Smorgasbord Blogger Daily – 25th April 2017 – Patricia Salamone, Teagan Geneviene, Jane Dougherty and Granny Moon. | Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life

    1. Hi Gerlinde! Thank you so much — it delights me to hear that.
      I hope you are enjoying your vacation. Thanks for taking time to visit here.
      Oh my! In all my many culinary misadventures, at least I’ve never dropped my phone into anything. 😀
      Fortunately for the cell phones of the world, Pip’s era didn’t have them. LOL. But darn… I could have made a story of it. 😀 Mega hugs my friend.

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  10. OK, Teagan, how am I supposed to concentrate on this when all I want to do is eat pancakes? Fine, I’ll try, but I want it noted I’m distracted (think drool everywhere). Pip…Pip…Pip, wow, the adventures and adding Dan and Linda, how does all this fit in one post and topped by all that sweet syrup, oops, there I go again. I’m off to share and I’ll try to return when my hunger for pancakes has been appeased…I’m thinking adding blueberries will help. Mega yummy yummy pancakes and precocious Pip hugs xoxoxo

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    1. Hi Donna! Dan’s pancakes have been a big hit. I’m glad I could introduce you. Sorry about the pancake cravings — I have a virtual basket of napkins over there in the corner. 😀 I hope this week is being good to you. I sincerely appreciate you visiting. Mega hugs my friend.

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      1. Napkins, I don’t need no stinking napkins, ok, sorry, Teaga, I had to get that out of my system, thank you for the offer of napkins, but here in Canada we’re rugged individuals who swipe syrup off with our toques and laugh at butter melting on our parkas. Gee, I wonder if we’ll have a trade war over maple syrup next? lol 😉
        Always lovely to be here and to share your wonder with the world, dear friend.
        Mega pancakes, pancakes for days (seriously, I’ve been eating pancakes for days) hugs xoxo

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        1. Heaven forbid a maple syrup war… Too horrific. 🙂
          I’ll be back with another collaboration this weekend. That one gave my “Hank Hertz” a back story. Happy hump day, and hears to coasting down the rest of the week! Goodness knows I need it. Mega hugs right back.

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  11. Great one, dear Teagan…. when the crow showed up causing so much trouble and funest cooking consequences…. I couldn´t avoid thinking of Poe´s raven…. A symbol of Bad omens, indeed… For worse, he just flew away… at a blink of an eye (at least he could have tried to help fix the mess, right!? 😉 )
    I love the way actions develop… in a quite speedy way…
    But my favorite part … is the flashback: when the character is preparing the pancakes and suddenly looks through the window, that blue sky beyond the kitchen, her friends in Florida, the boats on Santa Rosa Sound. I liked how the character seems to be transported somehow…. How different places converge, thanks to the power of evocation. Beautiful!….
    Wishing you a great week!. Hugs, and pancakes to you! 😀

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    1. Aquileana it is a joy to see you! You always pick up on subtleties in the story. I’ve referred to these stories as a series of non sequential but related vignettes. So I try to always the them back to the novella. Hence Pop’s memory. Thanks for taking time to visit. Mega hugs!

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    1. LOL, you aren’t the only one, Christy! I have a basket of virtual napkins over to the left. 😉 I’m happy you enjoyed this joint effort.
      Congrats on another great review of your beautiful poetry. Mega hugs.

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  14. Teagan, I enjoyed your story with Pip feeling stuck at Granny’s house. Both will learn to meet in the middle and together they may have a wild ride! 😉
    Dan has been in my Reader for a couple of years, he certainly is a kind and intelligent blogger. 🙂

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    1. Welcome, Robin! I’m delighted to have met you via Dan. It is definitely a wild ride for Pip, Granny, and the rest in “Murder at the Bijou, Three Ingredients-I”… But I’ve been sick for the past 2 weeks. I begin to worry whether I’ll have that book available as planned this spring. Here’s to a new week. Mega hugs.

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    1. Hi Andrea. It’s great to see you. I’m happy you enjoyed this joint effort — and that you mentioned the crow. He wasn’t part of my first draft, but I’m glad he flapped and cawed into the story. 😀 Mega hugs!

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  17. I loved the story, Teagan! I would never be able to flip a pancake myself. I think I tried once, long ago… 🙂

    I think Pip and her grandmother are going to enjoy some adventures together. Looking forward to reading more! 🙂

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    1. It’s lovely to see you Lavinia. I’m happy you enjoyed this joint post. Yes, Pip certainly has more adventures in store! And Granny Phanny is always full of surprises. Wishing you a wonderful new week. Mega hugs.

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  18. oh, I enjoyed this so much Teagan. I remember pancake lessons, then trying to teach my daughter how to do pancakes. We had some laughs and some disasters. lol Great episode, loved it. massive hugs. xx

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    1. Dan always gets great pictures for his blog. I’m glad I could introduce you to No Facilities.
      LOL, yep — there’s that much “me” in Pip. I actually burned water once. Seriously. Then the potholder went up in flames… Mega hugs, my friend.

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    1. Hi Diana. Thanks so much for visiting both blogs! I’m happy you enjoyed this collaboration. I always loved breakfast for dinner (though I did it more often before I became allergic to eggs…). Enjoy your pancakes! 😀 Mega hugs.

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        1. I’ve wimped out with a lot more than cooking lately… Whenever you get to them, I’m sure your pancakes will be delicious. (Despite your delightful descriptions of your own kitchen adventures.) 😀 More hugs.

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  21. I get lost in your stories, Teagan. This little vignette was especially delightful, as images of my Sicilian grandmother sat perched in my mind’s eye. I had a few similar experiences with her teaching me to cook. Needless to say, I chuckled quite a bit while reading this. Your stories are always so well-written that they’re an absolute pleasure to read 🙂 ♥

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  22. Loved your post. Well, Dan is an inspiration to me. I have learned so many things from him. He is an influencer and good at writing captions, dialogs and even a good photographer.

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  28. Teagan this was SO MUCH FUN to read! Every scene in the story is so vivid, and the crow as “commentator” is genius, lol! I don’t do so bad once pancakes are in the skillet, it’s the process of making the batter with that evil white stuff that goes everywhere that makes the kitchen such a mess. I’ve no talent with flour, for the most part. I’m so sorry about your awful allergies this year, hopefully all that blooming will stop soon and give you some relief. Hugs! xoxo

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    1. Great to see you, Kathryn. It’s a rainy day here, so I hope that will wash some of the pollen away. I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired from it. o_O
      I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who thinks pancakes are messy.
      LOL, I’m happy you liked the crow. He was an afterthought when I thought the story needed some kind of “glue”. Then Dan posted the crow picture — pure brilliance on his part. That really brought it out for me. Have a wonderful weekend. Hugs.

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  29. Teagan this is a wonderful collaboration with Dan! Have to say I burst out laughing at the thought of Granny Phanny with the pancake dripping on her head😂😂😂Pip is one of my favorite characters and your writing is so descriptive I actually felt like I was there in the kitchen with them. Heading over to Dan’s blog. Absolutely loved this❤️❤️

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    1. Thank you Suzanne. I read this just as the allergy/sinus pressure hit me all over again — I think your support just now gave me the strength to keep going. ❤ Heartfelt thanks for this my friend, for reading, commenting, and supporting — and for making me smile. 😀 Mega hugs.

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  31. Thanks again for the chance to work with you, Teagan. This was fun, and I had the easy part – call Room Service and order pancakes. I didn’t know how much work was involved. I hope Pip gets the hang of it at some point. I’m sure she has many wonderful adventures in her future. I look forward to reading about them.

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  32. Fabulous, Teagan! I’m not big for preparing pancakes, so I share in Pip’s feelings. And the brunch at the Georgian Tearoom sounds great. Have lovely Saturday and thanks for introducing me to Dan.

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    1. It’s wonderful to see you Olga. I’ve never seen inside the tearoom, but the idea of it in the 20s sets my imagination sailing! I appreciate you taking time to visit here. Huge hugs

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