Wednesday, April 21, 2010

I'm way behind in the WeWrite4Ten assignments, but I promised Lynilu that I would play catch up this weekend. My body has been getting used to Upstate, NY weather and I've slowed down, but here goes.

The assignment for Wednesday (my idea) was to write about our favorite dessert.

I have a bit of a problem. You see, I love desserts. Dessert is sometimes my favorite part of the meal and I have the extra pounds to prove it. I think I was born craving chocolate. There was a time in my life when I believed if it wasn't chocolate, it wasn't dessert.

I have since matured beyond the chocolate only stage, but I think I would have to say that my favorite desserts still have an element of chocolate in them.

That said, imagine this. Flaky pastry, rolled perfectly into a pie pan. Fresh picked blueberries with just the right amount of flour and butter to make them hold together, warm from the oven. Add to that a scoop of really good vanilla ice cream. Serve with fresh brewed coffee. Take said pie and coffee out onto the screen porch and consume.

Can anything top this?

Random Tuesday

Lynilu and I have decided to write about this on our Random Tuesday post:

Do you frequent Starbuck's? If so, what is your favorite drink? If not, why not.

I have always loved Starbuck's. There isn't one in the town where we live. Hey, there isn't even a grocery store in this town, let alone anyplace as sophisticated as Starbuck's. Consequently, I had developed a real hankering for the place.

In Penfield, a suburb of Rochester, there is a Starbuck's. Back when I had a dog and was helping plan my daughter's wedding, I used to take the dog to the groomer, go to SB's, get a mocha and read for an hour. It was my stress reliever.

Then, the mall where I shop put a SB's in the center of the mall. So, any shopping trip had to include a trip to SB's. Their hot mocha drink was, without a doubt, my favorite. A year or so ago, I started drinking mocha Frappacino's in the summer. So, now I had two favorite drinks.

BUT, someone has stolen my heart away from Starbuck's. Can you guess who that might be? If you guessed a clown, you are correct. Ronald McDonald has started having gourmet drinks, and his (MC)frappe is delicious and much less expensive than the SB drinks. And to top it off, there are McDonald's in every town around us.

So, although I still sometimes frequent Starbuck's, I have defected and spend more dollars and time at Mcdonald's.

Rain

The WeWrite4Ten assignment for today is: Rain. Do you like rain, tolerate rain or hate rain.

My very first thought when I read today's assignment was, "Yes." And that is true, I like rain, I tolerate rain and I also hate rain.

I just read Lynilu's post for today and like her, I enjoy a rainy day curled up with a good book. I like being able to take a day off and enjoy listening to the rain hitting the roof and windows. I especially like to be on my screen porch and watch the rain come straight down. I like the smell of rain, I like looking for a rainbow after the rain, I like knowing it is nourishing my flowers and vegetables. So, yes, I like rain.

Sometimes, though, rain is just something to be tolerated. It's dark and dreary and rainy and I would rather see sunshine and bright, blue skies. But, I tell myself, "You live in Upstate, NY. Just what do you expect? Put on your big girl panties and buck up. It can't last forever."
Rain is definitely something that is necessary and must be tolerated on those days.

But then are the days when I hate rain. Like when I've planned an outdoor event that can't easily be moved inside. Or the week of Vacation Bible School, when I plan to have 90 children playing outside during recreation time. Or when I'm on vacation at the beach. You get the idea.

I especially hated rain during the years when my husband supplemented his teacher's ten month pay with summer painting. When our checkbook was getting thinner by the minute and we depended on his summer wages, I especially hated to see a rainy day. Although it meant Daddy was home with us for the day, it also meant I would need to rob Peter to pay Paul this week. Those were some of our most difficult and wonderful times, and I really didn't like the rain all that much.

Here Comes The Sun

Our assignment for WeWrite4Ten today is: "The sun. What does it do for you. Not the banal health things we all know that. But how does it effect your daily life, your daily tasks, etc.? Why do you love/hate it?

Here comes the sun. Here comes the sun. It's all right. Oh yes, it's all right. I love the sun. It's not the cold I dislike about winter. It's not the snow, the ice, the shoveling. No, it's the absence of the sun. I always say, "I can take anything as long as the sun shines." Well, I'm not sure I want to put the "anything" to the test, but I do believe everything is easier to bear if the sun shines.

Jim says we see more sun in our eight weeks in Las Vegas than we see all year in Upstate, NY. Maybe that's not 100% accurate, but we do see a lot of sunshine in our little winter sojourn in Nevada.

Summer is without a doubt my favorite season. I love spring when the buds are coming along and the grass is beginning to green up. It has been fun on this trip back east to see all the signs of spring along the way. But the best part of Spring is the advent of more and more sunny days.

I think June is my favorite month. I'm not sure if statistics would prove me right, but June is the month of sun for me. When I think of June, I think of happiness in the sunshine. Maybe part of this is the fact that June always heralded the coming of summer vacation, for myself when I was a child, and for my children and husband in later years. In my mind, I equate June with sunshine. The beginning of sunshine that lasts, sometimes, until November.

The sunshine makes me feel happy inside, it gives me energy and enthusiasm. In the sunshine, I hang my laundry out to dry. In the sunshine, I walk for exercise and pleasure. In the sunshine I plan picnics, sit under a tree and read, eat dinner on my sun porch. In the sunshine, I blossom.

Heavenly sunshine, heavenly sunshine. Filling my soul with glory divine.

Gardenias

WeWrite4Ten's assignment for this Monday: Think of a flower...one you like, one you don't like, one that you think feels like you, on that you'd like to be...You choose. Write about that flower. What does it look like? How does it smell. How do people normally react to it?

Flowers, I can't think of a flower I don't like. If you follow Pam's Ponderings at all, you know I love flowers. I photograph flowers often. I have created a flower scrapbook. I'm hooked on flowers.

Although I carried yellow roses at my wedding, and told Jim if I didn't wake up to yellow roses when the babies were born, the baby and I would be moving in with my mom, I think my very favorite flower is the gardenia.

It's interesting that I hadn't thought about gardenias much as of late, but as a child and teenager, I was overwhelmed with my desire to have a gardenia corsage. I remember that my mom had several gardenia corsages as we were growing up. One of the things I remember my mom telling me about gardenias was not to touch it as it would turn brown.

I just did a little research before writing this piece and found that gardenias are of the evergreen family. They have an odor similar to jasmine. They love direct sunlight, heat and humidity. Hence, they grow well in the south.

Although we don't live in the south, I think I'll get a gardenia bush and plant it in my perennial garden this spring. I'll plant it in direct sunlight, mulch it, water it weekly, talk to it and hope that it survives and presents me with beautiful white blooms next year.

I'm so pleased that this writing project has led me to remember my love for this plant and bloom. If I succeed in growing a healthy bush, I think I'll make myself a gardenia corsage to wear to church.

The name game

WeWrite4Ten today is: Do you know why you were given your name? Were you named for a relative, a movie star, etc.? Tell us about your naming.

My name is Pamela Louise. And yes, I know how my name came about. My mother was reading a romance novel at some time during her pregnancy and came across the name Pamela. At that time, there were very few Pamela's around and mom really liked the name.

My mother's oldest sister is my Aunt Louise. Hence, Pamela Louise. I'm sure that my mom thought it was an honor to my Aunt Louise to name me after her, but I wonder just how many times she said the name aloud before putting it on my birth certificate.

Now, there is nothing wrong with either name and I like them both. I really liked my Aunt Louise a lot. She was rather an unusual lady, but then I'm not the most normal person on earth, so the name probably fits. The problem for me was the La-la part of the name.

PameLA, Laweez! Get it? It was just too much of a mouthful to suit me as I was growing up. Actually, not just as I was growing up. It's too much of a mouthful for me now too.

When we were asked what name we wanted on our high school diplomas, I said I wanted Pamela L. Huston. I went home and told my mom who had a royal fit and insisted I go in the office the next day and change it to Pamela Louise. She said that was what she named me and she wanted it on my diploma.

As soon as I was married, I followed my mother's lead and took my maiden name as my legal middle name. That solved the Louise part of my name problem.

There is another fun part of my naming though. As I said, my mom read the name in a romance novel and really liked the name. Although my family is not Catholic, I was born in a Catholic hospital, the only hospital in a 75 mile radius of the town where my family lived. After I was born, a nun came in to ask my mom what she was naming me. When she said Pamela, the nun said that that was a heathen name and she couldn't name me that.

So there you have it, I was marked from birth. Good thing Jesus didn't hold my name against me, isn't it?

A Tropical Trek

The topic for WeWrite4Ten today is, "You are going on a survival trek into a tropical forest. You can take only 5 items with you. Describe those items and explain why you chose them.

I'm packing for a trip to a tropical forest. This is a dream trip for me, but in my dreams, I was going in style, not in survivalist mode. Hey, whatever, I'm getting to go. Now, what to take. The rub here is that I can only take five items. This is survivalist at it's best.

Okay let's see.

1. I think the first item I'll take is some sort of mosquito and fly protection. Something with a strong dose of Deet. Taking this item is pretty self explanatory, I guess. I hate to itch.
2. I know I'll need a good safari hat with mosquito netting. I've been in hiking situations where I was sweating and the bugs were having a heyday with my sweat.
3. Maybe my Bible should have been my first choice. I think on this very difficult trip, I'll need all the encouragement I can get. I know the Psalms have helped me through some very tough spots. Then there are the Israelites wandering in the desert. They had a guide though, even better than mine.
4. I don't know for sure what the food and drink preparations will be on this trip, but I'm going to be sure I have my coffee every morning. I have a small French Press so I'll pack that with a supply of coffee. Does that count as two? Nope, that's just one.
5. Now I have to think very carefully. This is it, my last item. I'm assuming my clothing items are understood, so I don't need to list them. What do I want for my last item? Okay, I know. I will bring my tweezers. For me there is nothing more irritating than a wild hair growing out of my chin. I could go stark raving mad in the middle of the jungle if I had a hair and couldn't yank it out.

So there you have it. My crazy list of survival objects. Once again, this post proves just how loony I am. Happy Trails.