I sent the following letter to Bob's wife:

> Ginny TadrzynskVirginia Tadrzynski wrote:

> Hi Carol,
> You don't know me from Adam's housecat, but Barb Schaller gave me the
> email address and can vouch that I am relatively harmless.
>
> Recently we have been having what are referred to as 'cook-alongs' on
> rfc. What that amounts to is we pick a topic, the last was gumbo, and
> make it on a specific day where ever we may be, and report back to the
> group how it turned out. To say the latest news on Bob's condition is
> devastating to the group and we want to do something, knowing in
> practicality that physically doing something is next to impossible, so
> we came up with this idea:
>
> When there is a sickness or passing, people usually band together,
> cook a comfort food known as 'their' specialty and deliver it to the
> home. We want to do this for Bob. We will hold a cook-along of
> comfort foods, not on a specific date, but over the next few days,
> sorta like how food is delivered to you by your neighbors, one comes
> one day, the other the next.
>
> We will cook it, describe it, and why we feel it is a comfort food.
> We thought Bob would like the idea, in that being the literati that he
> is, he can have his Tom Sawyer moment, when Tom attended his own
> funeral. We want Bob to know what we would send to you if we could,
> what we think of him and that we love him. How many times have we
> heard people say at wakes, funerals, send offs, what have yous, that
> 'so and so would have loved this, s/he should be her'. We want Bob
> to be there, to enjoy it and say 'Damn, they really DO like me'.
>
> I hope that I have not offended anyone with this. Please know that
> this is suggested out of our love for Bob.
>
> Sincerly,
Ginny Tadrzynski

She responded as such:

Ginny, that's a lovely thought, and not the least bit offensive. Bob
thinks the idea is great, although he said, "As long as it's a VIRTUAL
cook-along." That means that we don't need food at present -- friends
and family have been keeping us well supplied -- but the idea of reading
about "what we would send if we could, what we think of him and that we
love him" is very thoughtful. Please go ahead with it on a virtual level
-- Bob will be thrilled to hear about the virtual foods. You're very
kind to suggest it.

Thanks,

Carol


I didn't get a response from Chatty Cathy about the rfc website and if she
would be able to cover it, so I took Barb up on her kind offer of posting on
her jamlady eboard. Bob and Carol read that, so they would have access to
what we write and the pictures we send. I cut and pasted the instructions
on how to get the info to Barb from one of her earlier postings:

"I'm ready to offer my jamlady.eboard.com website to post the pictures
and our words. Unless someone's got a better idea, when you make your
dish, take a picture or two (not too many, please) and size them down to
no more than maybe 150kb (is that reasonable) and send them to me along
with the telling of whatever you're wanting to tell. Send them to my
name (without anything between my first and last names) at mac.com.
If somebody's got another or a better idea, that's okay, too."


So, Bob's waiting and is salivating in virtual time to both see what you
cooked and to know what you have to say about it and him. I'd say he's
dying to read it, but you know....sort of in poor taste donchaknow.

Soooo, man the torpedos, full speed ahead, this cookalong is started. I
sent in a report on tuna noodle salad (no comments, okay, it has staying
power).....we'll keep cooking until Bob or the Man Up Stairs has other
plans.
-ginny