We just don't know.
We don't know how long we'll walk this earth. We can hope we'll live long, healthy lives and die full of days and peacefully in our sleep. But we have no guarantees of this.
I think we also forget how important we are in the lives of others. I keep learning this lesson over and over. One of these days I'll grasp it.
One of our customers at the coffee shop passed away last week. For the entire time & has been at the shop she's talked about Chuck. I only had a handful of interaction with him but could see why he had grown on her so completely.
Chuck ordered a large black coffee through the drive thru. And expected a few sarcastic moments of banter. He gave & and co-workers business and life advice. A successful encounter for & was when she'd get the final comment and watch him driving away shaking his head.
Who would think that a few minutes a week could add up to a real relationship? Or that the arrival of three baristas at the visitation would mean so much to his grieving family? We do make a difference. A positive or negative one, we make one.
Stay tuned for a few snippets from a new-to-me location.
Here are some hints.
Easy Candy Cookies
1 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips
1 TBSP peanut butter or coconut oil
1 to 2 Cups of miscellaneous add-ins.
dried fruit (cherries, blueberries, banana chips, cranberries, raisins)
nuts (peanuts, chopped pecans or walnuts)
other (shredded coconut, broken pretzels, crushed potato chips, crispy cereal, granola)
Melt chocolate, add peanut butter/coconut oil and stir well. Add mix ins and stir. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper covered cookie sheet and refrigerate until hardened.
I made peanut butter with broken pretzels and dry roasted peanuts. And another batch with chopped almonds, coconut oil and dried cherries.
Makes about 20
Sometimes, I get frustrated and bored when practicing my violin. One can only play Happy Birthday so many times, ya know. Happy Birthday and Bingo. And other odd snippets with quirky titles like "Snow Day" that may or may not really be written sound like what I'm producing.
Then, while I'm squeaking along, I might notice that I'm not alone. And that the creature who is with me is very fascinated by the mesmerizing movement of the bow. Then... I feel a little tempted to use my bow in other ways. Yeah. Very mature. But fun.
Brussels Sprouts. So tasty. Unless they are wimpy mush. This guarantees no mush. Preheat oven to 425.
Peel the top layer off, chop the dry stem end off.
Bring water to a boil.
Drop the sprouts into the water and boil for two minutes.
Grease a pan large enough to hold your sprouts.
Place sprouts in pan and drizzle with a little oil and spice of choice. I used garlic flavored oil.
Roast for approx 25 minutes. Some of the outer leaves may crisp and darken which only makes them more tasty. Check sprouts for preferred texture. If you want them more tender, add a few more minutes.
If
you ran away and joined the circus, what would your role be? Would you
run a concession? Would you train elephants? Be a clown? Ringmaster?
Why?
I would NOT be a clown. I would NOT want to taint another generation of innocent children. In case you don't pick up on the tone, clowns are not my favorite critters. FEARFUL and a little creepy. But, I did have a bad clown experience. I was five...something unexpected and loud happened, I spilled my popcorn. And another incident at a circus had me spilling a very large, very sticky pop down the back of the person in front of me. But that had nothing to do with clowns.
What I would do? Feeding peanuts to elephants. Yes. Low level trapeze. Six feet off the ground. I'd do that. Maybe five feet.
