Mixing Oil and Water

Oil and water do not mix - the mantra is familiar to every schoolchild.
Now teachers may want to rewrite their lessons. If you first remove any gas that is dissolved in the water, it will mix spontaneously and even stay that way indefinitely, according to chemist Ric Pashley ix. newscientist.com

However, I doubted that theory even then because I saw first hand how they did mix. I will attemp to explain why I believed that they could mix.

First, I have to give you some background on some history of my grandparents (from both sides). I will begin with my mother's parents.

They were of German and Dutch heritage and were very hard working. They were somewhat reserved but we never doubted their love and dedication to family. However, when we visited their home, at mealtime, everyone ate at the table and it was very quiet. No loud laughter, elbows on the table (you get the picture). Their home was very organized. There were very few idle moments. Papa was a rancher by trade and a very prosperous one. They owned a great deal of land, had cattle, sheep, etc They were also very thrifty. Even though the children were expected to do their share of the work, they also lived a pretty privileged life for those times. Piano lessons, nice clothes, etc Granny D was one of those people you never seemed to see working but her house was always clean, food was always cooked and she always had large gardens and put up food for the winter. When we made the beds in the morning, they were not touched until you got into them at night. If you have never made a feather bed, you are truly deprived. It takes swatting them with a broom to make them nice and smooth. While this might sound like a "stiff" environment, it really wasn't. We grandkids loved to go there in the summer.

Now for the other side of the family. These grandparents were of Irish, English and native American heritage. My dad's parents were totally the opposite. They were farmers and hard workers but never had much but what they did have they would give to others less blessed. An overnight stay at Granny M's house could very well include the kids playing music at night and Granny getting up in her long flannel gown with braids hanging loose and doing the polka with us. As she was a rather large woman, this was truly a sight to behold. Granny M's house was one step ahead of the health department. When there were two or three M's together, they made more noise than 50 of the D's. Mealtime was choatic. Everybody talking at once, don't ask for someone to pass food if you could reach it, (you get this picture also?) Granny M had a reputation as the place on Hwy 99 for transients to stop to get a meal. She didn't invite them in but she did sit them on the porch and fed anyone who came to her door. If you visit with people who relocated to CA in the 50's, at least 50% or them will tell you that they stayed with the M's (free of course) until they found a job.

Now that you have a short synopsis of the background, you see why I grew up thinking oil and water could mix. My mother was a D and my father a M.

One interesting tidbit is that while I enjoyed going to the M's, I chose to go to the D's more often. My older sibling chose the M's. I guess that would give a clue to a shrink on our personalities huh?