The Spice Trade

Thelma is a marvelous hostess. Her house is always tidy, cushions inevitably plumped, her patio is an oasis of calm (as long as the neighbors aren’t mowing) and there is always plenty of tea to savor. (You may make your own if you prefer, but please be sure to do so in the Approved Manner, or you may never hear the end of it.) She can even produce a small coffee maker for the barbarians among us who prefer our brews to be seed, rather than leaf, based. (Truer love hath no friend.)

Thelma does not, however, enjoy cooking as much as I do, so while there is always food on hand, it's not unusual to find me called upon to transform said food items into “a dish”. 

So there I was, relaxing on the patio with my coffee, when my friend looked over at me and mused, “I seem to recall you make a scrumptious peach cobbler... I think you should use the peaches off my tree and make us one. Like…, right now!” 

I was marginally loathe to bestir myself, but on the other hand… I do make a danged good peach cobbler. And these were fresh peaches - which did need to be used fairly soon, Plus, you know, there’s always that vacation/treat relationship to maintain…

So I looked up a recipe (not quite mine but very close) and we checked to see that we had everything on hand, with me calling out ingredients to Thelma as she rummaged through her cupboards, extracting each one in turn. (Sugar - check! Flour - check! Egg - check! Nutmeg - check! Butter - check! Peaches - check!)

Soon, we had a nice, orderly row of sugar and spice and everything nice lined up on her counter, just waiting for me to begin. She unearthed her mixer, set the oven to preheat, and retired with her tea to the patio, while my coffee and I took over the kitchen. I measured and tossed, peeled and sliced, spread and baked. Then it was my turn to retire to the patio, while Thelma came in for cleanup duty.

I had just settled back into my book when I heard peals of infectious laughter ringing out from the kitchen. A head popped out the back door and Thelma’s grinning face looked at me. 

          “Did you actually look at the nutmeg?”

          “Uh, noooo… I operated on blind trust. - Was that a mistake?” 

Still chuckling, she held out the small bottle for me to read.

          “Ah. Ummmm … Whoopsie!!?!”

It turned out okay, tho’.

We’ve decided that Mustard-Crusted Peach Cobbler is actually magnificently trend-setting.

You wait… it will be all the rage any day now!

Quote Ponder

Olivia extended a quote challenge - and I find those hard to resist. 

(Easy to put off, perhaps, but hard to resist! ;-p)

I was given a one-word subject, asked to share my favorite quote on that subject, and as they say in all the best exams, “Discuss.”

So today, we'll look at desire. It’s a subject that feels timely, as I recently experienced a highly significant (and moderately disheartening) birthday, with all the resultant musing that you might expect from such an event - largely about desires of the unmet variety. (Also moderately disheartening, but that's another story for another day...)

My favorite quote about desire comes from my favorite philosopher: Ralph Waldo Emerson.

“Desire is possibility seeking expression.”

(*bam!*) 

Can’t nail that much harder, can you?

Desire is identifying an attractive option and hoping to make it happen. Pretty simple, really.

Except that desire is not generally simple - more like a maddening itch. 

Most of us see within ourselves near-limitless possibilities and, because we are greedy by nature, we want to express them ALL (frequently at the same time,) which results in our often being awash in conflicting desires.

Which leads to the difficulty of winnowing and sorting of those possibilities. Which ones are actually attractive to us? Which are feasible and which are not? Some are complementary, some are mutually exclusive. Some require a distinct chronology in order to come into being, others are free-floating and independent - able to be picked up at any point along the way. 

It's a confusing jumble that does not respond well to organization.

No wonder then that so many of us are made restless by desires. They’re all crammed up inside us, waiting to burst forth like Black Friday shoppers at the doors of Walmart - jostling for priority and whining for attention. Desire sounds so attractive, yet it can actually be a big honking distraction. Particularly if you haven’t managed to pick the mass of feelings apart. 

As Emerson explains it, “Those who cannot tell what they desire or expect, still sigh and struggle with indefinite thoughts and vast wishes.” 

^^That right there^^ ?

That’s my problem - Indefinite thoughts and vast wishes… which I know are unrealized even tho’ I’m completely unable to articulate them. I just know there’s something… and can't shake the feeling that if I only think hard enough, surely I’ll be able to pinpoint the nagging lack.

Which takes us smack into another problem with desire: It can distract you from the blessings you already have in life. As Brother Ralph cautions, “We love that we have, but by desire we bereave ourselves of the love.”

So, yeah.

Desire.

I’m not really sure it’s all it’s cracked up to be.

A Vulcan Dreams of the Sea

(no further words required) 

Fight the Frenzy!

After a very crazy, hectic couple of weeks, I’m about to sneak off for a get-away weekend, before the worst of the madness commences for real next week.

The problem is that, before I can relax, I have to drive in traffic. 

Touristy beach traffic.

Touristy beach traffic going into the last week of summer vacation.

Touristy beach traffic going into the last week of summer vacation that causes every other driver on the road to flaunt their testosterone through speed.

Seriously, last night coming home, I quite literally was shouting at the idiot next to me, “I do not CARE how big your penis is, I just want to get into this lane, please!” (My windows were, of course, rolled down as I shouted - I am not that foolhardy!)

Anyhow, in hopes of calming us all down, this Friday Night Dance Party has Rachel Brice once again demonstrating that slower can be far, far more impressive.

Watch, enjoy, and for goodness’ sake, be careful out there!

(And don't miss the jaw-dropper at 2:53!)

A Stitch in Time

Friday Night On The Lawn!

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Meanwhile, Back In Hollywood...

Back To Bullet Points

Relieved to Be Done With:

An excessively busy July

Inordinately Proud Of:

Taming the new riding mower

Happy to Have Survived:

HellaHot, July 2019

(Days over 100ºF, night time low’s of 80ºF in a house with no a/c = plain ol’ stupid hot)

Glad To Be Done With:

$1,500 (and nearly as many novocaine shots) worth of dental work

Grateful For:

The ice cream place right across the street from the dentist

(“ahnuuhva choc’lit maaahwt, pweese”)

Making Magnificent Progress:

The on-going renovation

Reveling In:

Fresh tomatoes

Latest Taste Obsession:

Cold brew iced coffee made 1-1 with oat milk and a touch of maple syrup.

(seriously - you could have knocked me over with a feather when I liked this…)

Filing Under “I Don’t Understand Men”:

BG- “Shower right before I arrive - when we go out later, I want you to have JBF hair”

A Thing I Never Thought I’d Do:

Safewording out of multiple orgasms