Strawberries, the Perfect Fruit

This is the time of year (one of the times of year) that I really love.  It's the time the strawberry guys comes to our town.  He brings his luscious strawberries from the central coast and sets up shop on several different corners in and around town.  And, believe me when I say they are the very best strawberries ever grown.
I grew up in Orange County in the 50's and 60's (gosh, I can't believe that came out of my mouth (or keyboard actually) so easily.  Anyhow, it was a time when there were strawberry fields all over the place and there were strawberry stands galore.  And I never did pass up a strawberry stand, I still don't.
You can do anything with strawberries, put them in salads, dip them in sweetened condensed milk, pile them high in a pie,  put them in milkshakes, dip them in chocolate.  There is absolutely nothing you can't do with a strawberry!  Oh yes, and you can even eat them plain.
But.....my favorite thing to do with a strawberry is to make soup with it.  If you haven't tried it you have no idea what you have missed.  Luscious, it is luscious.  We used to call strawberry soup birthday soup because we used to make it for every one's birthday.  But our soups nickname has changed.  Our, then, 10 year old grandson changed it's name.
One year our Idaho grandson was visiting us for the summer.  We had so much fun having him for the summer and we hated to see him leave at the end of his visit.  so we decided to have strawberry soup  the night before he left.   Our 10 year old grandson was so sad that his cousin, whom he loves very much, was leaving that he decided it wasn't birthday soup anymore, now it was sad soup.
But strawberry soup by any other name is still delicious!

Fahrenheit 451

My 15 year old grandson was assigned to read Fahrenheit 451 for his English class.  As he read he kept telling me how confusing it was and how he really didn't like it.  Well, having never read it before (I know, shame on me), I decided to read it so I could talk with him about it and maybe help him understand it a little better.

And, what do you know, it turned out to be one of those books that I LOVED.  It's full of symbolism and moral lessons and it was kind of exciting.  So, if you haven't read Fahrenheit 451 I would recommend it highly.

You  probably already know this, but it's about, in part, a fireman who starts fires instead of putting them out.  He burns books, just as Benjamin Franklin did as the very first fireman, according to Ray Bradbury anyway.  Read it, you'll like it!

And now I'm off the the DMV to take my mom to get her CA drivers license.  Wish me luck!

Get Ready, It's Coming

Nothing says Spring like soft little ducks, right?

Even the snails make me smile

Just getting you in the mood, it's on it's way (I'm not even going to think about the snow that's coming on Friday!).  Springtime.........

Beautiful Springtime

Yes, Virgina (or Emma) There are Nice People in California

 My Mom moved back to California after over 20 years in Oklahoma.  She has been here since November, but for some reason she is constantly surprised that people are nice here.  Every time she goes somewhere she will go on and on about how nice everyone was to her.  I think she must have expected them to curse at her and call her names.
Well, I am a big fan of people and I know that nice people are everywhere, yes, even in California.  And I want to tell you about my experience with one of those very nice people.
My husband has recently gone through knee replacement surgery, he's recovering nicely but has not been able to attend church for the last two weeks.  At church today many people stopped by to ask how my husband was doing and to say hi to my mom who came to church with us today.  By the way, she was totally surprised that everyone was so nice and went out of their way to introduce themselves to her.
Anyway, we are sitting on the couch early afternoon and someone knocks at our door.  That in itself is unusual because people come to the backdoor.  I go to answer the door and there stands a gentleman, whom I do not recognize, wearing a suit.  He introduces himself to me and tells me that he and his wife are here for the week from San Diego, just visiting, on vacation. He was at church that morning, he says, and in one the meetings people were talking about my husband 's surgery.  He tells us that he and his wife will be here for the week and wants to know what they can do to help us out.  "Anything" he says, "from stacking firewood to cleaning toilets".  And, yes, he really did say just that.
Even I was impressed with his niceness and his unselfish willingness to serve perfect strangers.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, people are good and kind and I love them.