Fun

Baking Up a Storm

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Kami

I wish I were baking up a storm.

But no, I’m putting it off. Just not feeling the baking love yet this month. I haven’t even made a loaf of bread in weeks. What’s up with that?

Russian tea cakes

Russian Tea Cakes are more like a cookie than a cake. Must be eaten with a glass on milk on the side. Powdered sugar on your shirt, face and arms will be guaranteed.

Normally I’d have whipped out a few batches of Russian Tea Cakes and eaten half of them myself by now. And I’d be contemplating making another batch or two to share with friends and neighbors.

Why the hiccup in my usual plans?

No idea.

I have a formidable list of treats I like to make this time of year. Here it is in no particular random order:

  • Russian Tea Cakes
  • Six Week Muffins
  • Carmel
  • Fudge
  • Christmas Pudding
  • Snowdrops
  • Toffee
  • Baklava
  • Divinity

New this year Olympic Cremes, a childhood favorite. If they turn out okay I’ll post the recipe. I can almost taste them just remembering how Mom would carmelize sugar and then add the other simple ingredients then shape the mixture into balls of delight. Sugary, crispy, melt in your mouth confections unlike anything I’ve ever tasted for sale in a store or on a plate of gifted goodies.

Baklava

Baklava (Photo credit: niquei)

The Baklava is a middle eastern delight I learned to bake in the Paleocene era, from the original Greek dinosaurs Lambda Iota Tau Eateosaurus Rucus. Takes hours of painstaking work and pounds and pounds of butter and this decadent amount of honey, spices and nuts. But, it’s worth every aching muscle in my tired feet and back when it finally cools after eight hours. Those diamond-shaped delicacies bring joy to even the most grinchy soul.

The Toffee gets made multiple times over several weeks because we here at Casa de la Tilby inhale it like oxygen. Oh the butter and chocolate state of nirvana that one achieves! Words fail me.

Christmas Pudding graced my husband’s table as a wee lad. It took me years to embrace this unusual, I’m guessing British, dessert. The smell of all the spices steaming into the air over hours of bubbling on the stove top adds to the charm of this recipe. The best part about Christmas Pudding lies in its carmel sauce that I prefer to drown my small bowl of rich cake-like succulence in. I’m licking my spoon in my mind as I write.

Homemade Caramel Sauce-001

Basic ingredients to anything wonderful, butter, sugar, milk…mmmm (Photo credit: Emily Barney)

You should drop by for a taste or two. Anytime would be fine, if I ever get around to starting this process. That thought might motivate me to start the process sooner.

I don’t need to waste my words describing fudge or carmel as everyone has their own favorite twist on both. I’ve thought of forgoing the fudge this year to make next years batch seem all the more precious, but I might get in trouble. Maybe just half a batch and call it good.

How can I describe Divinity if you’ve never eaten any? Marshmallow cream training for a marathon. That doesn’t do it justice though. Divine Food of the Gods. Manna. Fluffy taste bud heaven. Here’s a visual I always think of when I say Divinity: the album cover to Herb Albert’s Whipped Cream and Other Delights. (Not exactly a G-rated piece of art, so don’t click if you’re a sensitive soul. Great music though!) I digress. Find some divinity or make some Divinity. Then, partake. You’ll thank me.

MSH prefers it with Walnuts. I don’t. I win since I’m the cook.

He gets nuts in nearly every other thing I bake this time of year, so don’t feel sorry for the man. Carmel and Divinity, no nuts. Everything else, nuts.

I’m nuts.

But that’s normal, not exclusive to this holiday season.

Melted white chocolate chips

Melted white chocolate! (Photo credit: frugalupstate)

Snowdrops are a recent addition to the repertoire. Okay, not that recent now that I think of how long ago we lived in Oklahoma, where I got the recipe.  It wasn’t an original Tilby or Mitchell family recipe.  It’s the easiest one I make and surprisingly satisfying. Imagine Rice Krispy treats but replace the melted sticky marshmallow with melted white chocolate, add peanuts, mini marshmallows left whole and unmelted, and a touch of Capn Crunch Peanut Butter cereal. That’s it. Weird, but truly delicious.

Great, just as I suspected I’ve made myself hungry for Christmas baking. I should jump on that motivational train before it departs the station.

photo 1 copy 3

Nothing like sugar to help you blast through that Christmas to-do list!

What do you bake for the holidays? Anything unusual? Fun? Weird? I’d love to hear about it. Maybe I’ll forsake one of my standards and try one of yours.

(Lest anyone feel slightly, I used to do sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles, but they had to take a sabbatical to make room for everything else.)

Include links to recipes and I’ll be your friend forever.

Now, where’s the sugar?

Categories: Food, Fun, Holiday | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Taking One Day at a Time

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Kami

It’s Gratituesday! I’m grateful for time with my best friend today. It felt like a “normal” day, not a month or so away from dying kind of day. We talked like it was any old kind of day, well, except for everything we talked about that isn’t like any other kind of conversation most friends get to have.

good day sunshine

good day sunshine (Photo credit: eye of einstein)

But really, it felt wonderful. It felt almost normal. She had more energy than usual. We were in sync, the world’s machinery ran smoothly for us, we laughed, we dodged crying, we felt like a couple of teenagers getting away with something.

We snuck out of the house and got some early lunch before the germ filled crowds showed up. We went to a matinée movie, sitting in a theater completely empty except for the two of us. The place as bacteria free as a person can get out in public. Her immune system appreciated it. We even talked out loud during the movie which made the day even better. No shushing involved.

I think we must have looked like two old sisters spending time together toddling about town leaning on each other, holding each other up.

I often wonder who is helping who in this relationship. Actually, there’s no wonder involved. I’m pretty certain I’m the one getting helped, being served, feeling loved and learning how to be real.

Yup, today felt great.

I’m thankful for every day I can get in with my bestie.

Categories: Cancer, Fun, Gratitude, Gratituesday | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

In Your Face

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Kami

It’s pie baking day here at La Casa de Tilby. Not quite like the way we did things ten years ago, but then, what’s still the same as it was ten, or even five years ago?

It used to be, well just like I said in this post last year. The whole family got involved in the decisions about which pies, how many, who got to help make which ones. And MSH had to have a whole pan of “leftover” pie dough baked up as pie cookies, with cinnamon and sugar.

Things don’t work that way so much now with the kids scattered to the wind, or at least all living at different addresses than this one.

Apple and Pecan pies in the cooling stages.

Apple and Pecan pies in the cooling stages.

Daughter two dropped by early today and pretty much baked up two delicious and, might I say, picture perfect pies without any help from me. Okay, I held the baby and enjoyed cooing and smiles and changed a diaper. MSH took the two-year old to the park and kept himself and her entertained. Already, the dishes sit washed and drying and two pies cool temptingly on the table. Not sure they’ll survive unscathed until after dinner tomorrow.

Daughter three will drop by shortly to help bake up two or three more pies. I’ll probably be a little more involved this time as there are no babies or tots involved. And yes, MSH, don’t worry, we’ll make some pie cookies for you.

All this pie talk and baking reminded me today of my first pie encounter with My Sweet Husband when we were dating.

Yes, a dating story, from the Jurassic period. Cool, I know!

I had a friend from high school coming to visit me for a weekend at the University. That put a damper on the future MSH’s plans for the weekend, but he adapted and decided to take us both out to a movie and then dessert back at his apartment.

True to guy fashion he’d gone all out and bought a frozen cream pie. Banana. You know the kind with the artificial yellow and simulated banana flavor? The whipped cream edge got smooshed somewhere in the process from the factory to the tabletop. It looked…not very appetizing.

Banana cream pie

This pie looks nothing at all like the actual pie described. This one looks 100x better. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At that time in my life I kind of liked that fake banana flavor. Reminded me of Laffy Taffy or Creamies Frozen Confections. Sure, it wasn’t the fancy over the top date idea of the week that had just gotten a foothold on the dating scene, but it would taste sweet.

Turns out it hadn’t quite thawed all the way yet. So we listened to some records, yes, vinyl LPs. MSH had a sweet stereo set-up with massive speakers and all the latest technology available in the Jurassic period. The three of us listened to tunes and laughed and one-upped each other with silly stories and jokes. We’d worked ourselves into a bit of a state when someone remembered we hadn’t eaten the pie yet.

I don’t recall if it was my idea or my friend’s idea but one of us had what we thought was a hilarious plan. I can’t imagine I would have done anything so mischievous back then. So for brevity’s sake I’m going with her as the instigator. She picked up the pie, swiped a bit of whipped cream off the edge and said something to the effect of, “someone needs to be wearing this pie.” She licked the whipped cream from her finger and laughed maniacally.

Before we knew what was happening MSH had the pie in hand and we had unwittingly become the target. My friend and I shrieked and headed for the door. We somehow managed to escape out to the stairwell where we felt, oddly, safe from the potential onslaught.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” MSH said in his most innocent and believable look. “Come back inside and let’s eat this pie.” We made out way back up the stairs and headed toward the door.

Before we knew what was happening he had the pie in launch mode balanced on one hand just above his shoulder. We shrieked again. (Why do we do that?) We looked at the pie and the pie launcher and knew we were doomed.

Just as he let the pie fly I had the instinct to duck, and my friend, who stood behind me her caught the banana cream concoction full on in the face. The look of surprise that registered sent MSH and I into paroxysms of laughter. She stood there shocked and immobile.

With yellow goo and whipped cream sliding slowly down her blond hair and dropping to the linoleum, she finally came out of her stunned state and joined in the laughter. She grabbed what little of the muck she could and flung it at me, as if I had been the one who threw the pie! Luckily she wasn’t a very good aim. Little wonder since she could hardly see out through the layer of crust and pudding and cream.

I think we ended up at Denny’s for some pie after quite the effort at damage control.

Ah, those were the days.

If that happened now all anyone could think about would be the mess, the clean up and the waste of a perfectly good pie. Of course, no one is their right mind in this home-baking house of perfectionism would spend good money on such a thing as a frozen banana cream pie.

Although, for old times sake, it could make for some great laughs.

*****

(No real bananas were injured in the making of the blog post.)

A bunch of Bananas.

Categories: Family, Food, Fun, Memory Lane | Tags: , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Feeling Animated

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Kami

With small children no longer living  in the house I don’t always get out to see the latest animated movies. It’s a shame, really, because some of the best laughs I’ve ever had happened while watching a Disney or Pixar film or a Warner Brothers cartoon.

By far one of my favorite scenes occurs in a combination animated/live action feature called “Enchanted.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-Ra7nwZRN4

I grant you that it’s a spoof on most of Disney’s other princess movies. Setting that little detail aside, doesn’t it make you want to become an animated character?

Having a lilting voice seems to come with the territory, unless you’re one of the sidekick characters, which I’d clearly not choose, given a choice. No, the main characters have lovely singing abilities enviable by all.

How would it be to sing out a cheerful morning tune and have critters come running to do your every wish about the house. Free labor and with a cheerful attitude to boot, sounds great! Kids might be “free” labor but the cheerfulness isn’t normally included. That is, until they become adults, but that’s an entirely different story.

This miraculous ability to communicate with other species seems to come in handy as an animated character. See cleaning critters above as exhibit one. Exhibit two follows with this other favorite scene:

Imagine being able to talk and reason with insects or rodents that invade your home. “Any chance you could head over to the next door neighbors house for a while?” or “There’s a nice vacant house just a few doors down where no one would bother you.” And they’d reply in their alien language, “Sure thing! Thanks for the tip.” Then off your critter problem would go.

Animated characters don’t end up at the doctor’s office either, have you ever noticed that? They bounce back from illness and severe injury with remarkable speed and no side effects. That alone would make being animated very worthwhile. I’m thinking in particular a certain coyote from Warner Brothers.

Master of disguise, able to defy the laws of physics, mischievous without consequence, of all animated characters, quick-witted and light of foot, Bugs Bunny stands out as the best. Maybe I’m partial from years of overexposure to the little guy, but I’m thinking he deserves a lifetime achievement award.

Jessica Rabbit’s impossibly voluptuous and Cinderella ends up with her man and a castle, and even Bambi with the death of his mother still emerges triumphant in the end. I’m thinking the life of animation is the life for me.

Maybe I’ve just watched one too many cartoons, ingested one too many Vicodin and spent a bit too much time on the couch recently. It must be time to get back to real life, whatever that might hold. To-do lists, cleaning, errands, responsibilities, meals to prepare, people to see, places to go, things that require my attention. I suppose real life wins out in the end.

But I can dream, can’t I?

Categories: Fun | Tags: , , , , , , | 6 Comments

What a Bunch of Nonsense!

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Kami

It’s Gratituesday! Today I’m grateful for silliness and nonsense. Yes, you read that correctly.  From seated bleacher “dancing” at the local High School football game, (that band rocks it!) to one liners and zingers on Facebook, from tickling to hot pink sparkly toenails on a woman over a certain age, from nonsensical YouTube video featuring llamas or dancing cats to old cartoons and sitcoms from the dark ages. Whatever the reason for a short break from life’s daily serious menu, I willingly embrace it.

minionsI’m lucky to know friends who’ll scream and giggle like teenagers in spite of being several decades older than the giggly screamer age. Fortunately I also know some quick-witted people who can go toe to toe with me with jokes and nonsense and movie quotes. Happily when our family gets together laughs and guffaws outweigh tension and discord fifty to one.

Life’s full of serious business, contemplative moments, heartache and worry.  I used to scare away potential friends with the weight of the world sitting solidly on my shoulder for all to see.  Laughter didn’t fit in with my earnest desires to make the most of my time on the planet. And then, someone taught me by example years ago that silliness didn’t take anything away from life’s solemnity. In fact, I saw and began to experience the load lightening magic of nonsense, laughter and silliness.

photo-19 copy 9Like downing a huge glass of ice water in the middle of a hot and sweaty task, silliness refreshes and refills and rejuvenates.

Too much of any good thing will cause more harm than good. All silliness and nonsense makes life a shallow pointless effort. Finding a good ratio between “LOL” (laughing out loud) and putting one’s “shoulder to the wheel” might make all the difference in my success at the hard work side of life.

If you happen to see a woman in a little truck doing some car dancing or belting out a tune like she’s some rockstar, it might just be me, taking a silliness break before heading back to my rock and my hard place.

Turn off your serious button and laugh a little. It’ll do you good. Click on these short links.

What is this Car Dancing she talks about?

Who said Cat’s can’t dance?

Okay, maybe llama’s are funny.

Categories: Fun, Gratitude, Gratituesday | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Flying Fire

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Kami

While camping with my young family in North Carolina I experienced something truly splendiferous for the first time.

English: Campfire with sparks in Anttoora, Fin...

Campfire with sparks. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A campfire worked itself into a steady quiet burn. Smoke spiraled lazily from its center. The day settled out in a tired wash of well-worked muscles. Each kid, except for the three-year old who was asleep in the tent, had a stirring stick inside the fire. Not that the fire needed stirring, but kids seem compelled to play with fire, literally and proverbially. They’d ignite the end and then, sparkler-like, draw designs in the air until the flame died out. Then they’d spin smoke signals, tendrils of nothingness joining in the spiral from the center of the main fire. This game could go on for nearly an hour until we called bedtime. Until then, we let them play.

My eyes followed the line of smoke upward as it wove itself among the dense canopy of leaves. No breeze of any kind disturbed the disappearing trail of grey. The trees stood completely still and quiet. The coolness of the air began to settle in around our feet. I leaned back on the large log I sat on, hugged my arms to warm up a bit and looked up to see the stars. Nothing surpasses starlight’s intensity when out camping somewhere far from city lights.

The overhead leaves and branches obstructed the view of the night sky, except for a patch here or there. My eyes searched to find familiar constellations, but the sections of sky I could see were too small. Then movement caught my attention. The leaves weren’t moving and yet they seemed to move. I asked my husband if he’d heard of a meteor shower happening. That caught his attention. He sat down beside me and looked up.

I pointed to the patch of sky I’d seen moving. “There,” I said, and “there, and there.” A meteor shower for sure, but without the streaks of light. These stars resembled embers in a fire, a quick flash of light that would disappear then quickly reappear as another flash nearby.

“That is not a meteor shower,” my husband said definitively. “Those are fireflies!” He laughed. “Come here, kids,  you gotta see this!”

common eastern (USA) firefly. Français : Photi...

Don’t let his looks fool you, this little guy can light things up and get a party going.

What? No. That’s not what fireflies look like, I thought to myself. Those lights are in the distance, high up in the atmosphere. And yet, I looked again, maybe he’s right.

The excitement and shift in his voice elicited instant obedience. The stirring sticks dropped to the ground and they rushed over to where my husband sat. He pointed skyward.

“Do you see those lights in the trees?” he asked the kids. “Watch. See those flashing, moving lights? Those are fireflies.”

“Cool!” The two of them said in tandem. “Can we catch them?”

“Don’t be silly,” I said, “they’re way past the tops of the trees.” But as I said this, the lights drew closer to us. Sure enough, the small group of lights flitted about lower and lower in the branches and then began to spread out and disperse. They didn’t fly close enough for us to see any details,  we simply admired their on again off again glow.

The kids ran and jumped and spun around under the disappearing blinking bugs. The air around us felt magical somehow, as if the sky itself had reached down and christened our camping spot with traveling starlight. Tinkerbell herself couldn’t have cast a better spell.

I’m pretty sure we floated off to sleep on a cloud of wonder and awe.

The cleverest of magicians and the finest of artists, Gaia, the ancient Greek goddess of earth,  surely weaves her incantations and her brushes with panache and skill. Better than stargazing and better than a meteor shower my first experience with fireflies put a smile on my face that lasted several days.

Thinking about it even this many years later makes me want to believe in magic.

Categories: Fun, Nature, Outdoors | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Breakfast for Dinner

Posted on September 21, 2013 by Kami

So is it just me, or is breakfast for dinner one of your favorite go-to meal plans?

Breakfast at dinnertime satisfies like nothing else I know. Add in that it’s fast and easy to prepare and smells divine. It’s the perfect comfort food.

photo-17 copy 7Obviously, I’m not talking cold cereal or oatmeal here. Bacon, eggs, hash browns. Or biscuits and sausage gravy, with an extra biscuit slathered in butter and dripping with honey on the side. Now we’re getting somewhere. Or some pancakes or French toast, now there’s easy and delish. Or my fav, waffles! Some homemade strawberry freezer jam on one half and syrup on the other half. Followed by a cold glass of milk.

Ah, perfection.

Imagine what I’m planning for my dinner tonight! Are you jealous?

Mmm. Decisions, decisions.

Now I’m waffling. And that does not mean eating waffles. Which I find weird.

The waffle we eat and the waffle that we do are both spelled the same way. The “crisp batter cake baked in a waffle iron” (thank you Merriam-Webster) had its humble beginnings in the early 1700’s as a Dutch word meaning to weave. Whoever was brilliant enough to create a pan that makes tiny square bowls for syrup to seep into deserves a medal and knighthood.  And in case you were wondering,  something can have a waffle pattern, which would be a grid like, indented design.

The verb waffle didn’t show up in Britain until the mid-1800’s. It means “to sit on the fence” or to be indecisive, or failing to make up one’s mind. Members of the US House and Senate will appreciate this word as well, as its secondary meaning is to speak or write at great length without saying anything important or useful. We all know someone personally with this “skill” don’t we?

photo-19 copy 2Why do I bring this up in the middle of breakfast for dinner?

Because I was wondering about it. Why one word for two different meanings? English runs skiwampus that way.

I suppose eating breakfast at dinnertime would be considered skiwampus, too. But then who decided what foods are proper for morning meals, which are appropriate for evening meals and what constitutes an afternoon meal? Custom, culture, habit. I blame habit more than anything.

Don’t even get me started on what to call those meals: supper, lunch, dinner, brekkies, brunch, tea, high tea, late dinner, second breakfast, elevensies, snack, late supper.

Enough wondering and talking. Let’s eat!

Who’s cooking what?

Categories: Food, Fun | Tags: , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Words, Glorious Words!

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Kami

Tumbling through the internet I fell across a list of words that lit up the room with their possibilities. I am all about having just the right word to say exactly what I’m thinking.

Half the time the tip of my tongue and my brain lose their connection and I am lost, speechless and even worse, wordless. Like that feeling of something just slightly out of grasp. Or the puzzle piece almost sliding into place. Or dreams you don’t get to quite get to the end of. That’s me when the right word eludes me.

So a list of new or semi-familiar words lights up my world and sends “gimme” fingers reaching. I want, I want, I want.

A new book, waiting for discovery can have the same effect. Delicious!

I decided I should share. That’s the kind and thoughtful thing to do with something you really, really covet. A box of chocolates I would share, too, if that were possible to do through the internet, and if I had any, which I don’t. Sadly.

But I have words!! Consider these words as my creamy, chewy, nutty box of chocolates I’m sharing with you. Yummy!!

English: A Swedish box of chocolates called &q...

Querulous: cranky, whining, cross, crabby, moody.

Not what I thought querulous meant. I could probably get away with calling someone querulous. Not so if I accused them of being crabby. My favorite two-year old has been querulous this week, but then, she’s had a runny nose and a cough, so who can blame her?

Dilatory: causing delay, tardy, slow, unhurried.

Odd, but this word also applies to my favorite two-year old as well. Little kids aren’t generally in a hurry to go anywhere or do anything. Dilatory applies equally to teens, unless it’s something they want to do, then the adult providing the ride can’t move fast enough. MSH leans toward the dilatory, mostly because he’s meticulous and detailed. I’ve had to learn to go with the flow on that one. Some things just don’t ever change.

Nefarious: wicked, evil, vile, despicable.

Never in my wildest dreams would I consider a two-year old as nefarious. Their particular brand of driving people nuts stems from purely innocent, albeit selfish, motivations. Unlike some businessmen or politicians, who could very rightly be considered nefarious for their actions and words which deceive and manipulate and harm. I’m afraid the word nefarious may crop up more often in many more vocabularies than just mine.

Don’t confuse the word nefarious with Dr. Nafario from “Despicable Me” who seems to have a difficult time following directions. Maybe he’s slightly hard of hearing. Either way, both maladies could be rendered moot with a more varied vocabulary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgDLryzDzYg

Friable: brittle, easily crumbled.

See, I thought friable was what I am in the desert. I feel fried, I also feel brittle, but apparently that’s not at all what it means. I also feel fried after spending too much time with a querulous and dilatory two-year old. Friable has more to do with the state of your garden soil. Ideally the soil will be crumbly and fluffy and break into small pieces easily. That is surely not the state my garden soil is in after six months of desert summer heat. And it’s supposedly our planting season about now. Not sure it’s gonna happen since we’re still hitting 105 during the day. To summarize: I’m fried, my soil is not friable.

photo-17 copy 5Cerulean: sky blue.

Ah, my favorite color. Of course, the blue of the sky varies throughout the day and with the level of dust and such in the air. And there are days I’d give anything for a sky full of black ominous rain clouds.  But cerulean even sounds relaxing and gentle, doesn’t it? As in, I’m going to go lay in a hammock and enjoy the cerulean flavor of the cool afternoon breeze. Can you tell I’m ready for the heat to end? I am. If it doesn’t end soon I may turn into the querulous person ranting and raving about the silly weather.

Had enough vocabulary words for the day?

Me too.

I’m going to go pour myself a nice icy glass of something and let the air conditioner waft over my overheated brain.

Happy Saturdaying!

Categories: Communication, Fun | Leave a comment

In Your Face

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Kami

I took a racquet in the face once playing racquetball.

I’m really unclear about who was in the court with me at the time. And I’m even more unclear about who held the racquet that split the skin open above my lip.

It doesn’t matter actually.

Seems like I was going for a great shot and bam. Game over. It was like a wall popped up in front of me mid-swing. It felt way worse than a ball to the face, which I’d experienced often enough since we weren’t stellar players. I don’ remember pain as much as shock and confusion. Seems I wanted to keep playing until the other players pointed out I was bleeding and probably needed stitches.

I was mostly disappointed that we didn’t get to finish our game. And I didn’t get any stitches. The doc superglued the thing closed. It looked gross. For a week I looked like I had a perpetual little kid style runny nose.

I’d have preferred the stitches.

I don’t really notice the scar much. It’s fairly light and thin. Almost invisible, actually.

20130905-160630.jpg

 

We had a group of women that got together about three days a week. We’d play singles if only two showed up, or singles if there were two courts open and four of us. Cut-throat was my favorite for all the changing up that happens. Four of us piled in that tiny enclosed space got fairly rowdy. But we managed to get a good workout and have a bunch of fun no matter how many of us there were.

Yeah, we weren’t amazing players, but we weren’t all that shabby either. At least one of us would be “in the zone” on any given day. Occasionally we’d all hit our stride and balls would zing about for long volleys, amazing shots and incredible saves. Those rare days, when everything was working, made it tough to want to leave after only an hour of play. But if we stayed much longer, we’d be paying for it the rest of the day.

We had to know when to say enough. Sometimes the clock told us. Sometimes our sore muscles let us know we’d reached our limit. And sometimes, we just didn’t care and kept playing far too long and paid for it later. But we sure had us some great times bashing that ball around.

Racquetball lets loose a ton of pent-up aggravation, emotion, and insanity. We left the gym better women, better prepared for whatever the heck the day threw our way.

Sweat never felt or smelled so sweet as on racquetball playing days.

We welcomed any and all who wanted to join in our group. We met some great people that way. I’m afraid I scared off one friend, quite unintentionally. I must have hit her in the head about four times with some really poorly aimed shots. By the fourth hit she was done and never came back again. Not sure she’s ever forgiven me. I swear it was completely and totally just me playing badly. I couldn’t hit the same spot twice even if I was aiming for it. I’m hoping one day she’ll get a chance to ding me with a ball or maybe a few water balloons so she can feel like the score is even and we can move on. Or not.

So why do I bring all this up?

I LOVE playing racquetball!

And yet, my racquet’s acquired a few years of dust. That’s a huge loss.

Why’d I stop?

Schedules change, injuries and age take their toll, life demands new things of us, we have to give something up to make the puzzle pieces all fit.

Sometimes the best things, the most helpful, the happiest, end up being sacrificed for other good and helpful things. Good reasons don’t make it any easier though.

I look in the mirror sometimes and see that thin light scar above my lip. It feels like a participation medal, or better yet, a blue ribbon or a golden winner’s cup.

Maybe it needs to be a reminder of something I need again. No, not a racquet to the face. I need that hour of sweating. I need to hit something with everything I’ve got. I need the energy I get back from pushing myself hard.

Can I work that back into my life?

I have plenty of excuses, most of them having to do with body parts and pain. Maybe it’s time to ignore the shoulder devil and do it anyway.

After all, what could it hurt?

Well, I suppose it could hurt my face again.

But it would be worth it.

Categories: Exercise, Fun, Sports | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Sunday Quotables, Too, or Two, or Again

Posted on September 1, 2013 by Kami

I really don’t like the title of this post. There’s got to be a better way of saying it, but I am fresh out of brilliance and, as a friend of mine calls it, “finesse.”

If you have any suggestions for a Sunday Post title I’d be thrilled and would gratefully name one of my garden flowers after you, or something wondrous like that.

So this first quote is, admittedly, taken out of context and edited. I’ll share the edited one with you first. Then, under that I’ll give you the full quote as I found it. I like both versions, a lot. The longer one leans toward the rebellious side, which I have a tendency to tip toward myself. So, on my mini-chalkboard at home I quoted the non-rebellious version. I’m pretty sure Mark Twain would hang me up by my toenails and throw sharp words at me, at the very least.

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“Life is short, Break the Rules.
Forgive quickly, Kiss SLOWLY.
Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably
And never regret ANYTHING
That makes you smile.”
— Mark Twain

I agree, Life is short, even at its longest. I don’t generally condone breaking the rules, but have been known to do so, a little too often. And, regret?  Regret falls under an entire category of multiple blog posts which I may, someday if I feel brave, write and elucidate on.

“The Lord of the Rings” books shine with brilliance and wisdom. I try to restrain myself from quoting Tolkien too often, but you gotta admit, he nails it time and again. Here’s a tiny bite of the feast that his words created.

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Then, there’s this saying I have on my wall in the kitchen. It’s a reminder to myself that I’m not really really old. Even though parts of me seem insistent on convincing me otherwise.

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I’ll refrain from vowing to get to bed earlier, eat better, brush more often and exercise twice as much as usual. I think I just want to try to stay young at heart. Which would involve the first quote: forgiving, kissing, loving, laughing. I can do those.

That’s all I’ve got for today.

Wishing you a week filled with grateful moments, joy, and laughter.

Categories: Fun, Happiness | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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