What Is Real?

Velveteen Rabbit has never really been my favorite story, but I do like this thought from it:

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by

side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does

it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that

happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just

to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When

you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit

by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It

takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who

break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.

Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved

off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very

shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are

Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had

not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the

Skin Horse only smiled.

Title: The Velveteen Rabbit

Author: Margery Williams

I like the comments made on this blog.  It's great to be real

The Flies Didn't Drown - They Froze to Death

This will be my fourth year going

to South Umpqua Memorial Pool for

water fitness.  

I remember the temperature of

the water being opposite of the

air temperature in the

past two years. 

But this year has been like

river water regardless of

whether the air has been

warm or not.  

The last few times I've attended, I

never did manage to warm up - except

for yesterday. 

And that was when

I got out.

Yesterday was the first day this

year that I saw bugs in the water -

all tiny corpses floating around.

The Secret is to Bake With Cold Filling Inside

            At the top of our back hill is the cherry tree belonging to our backyard neighbors. I don't know if Bill and Cheryl planted the tree, or if it was already there when they moved in. Bill likes cherries.  Cheryl does not. 

            They told us that we could come to pick cherries whenever we wanted.

            Jenna's Easter bucket holds exactly 18 cups of cherries - though we hadn't figured that out until later. I did not get any pictures of Jenna and Roland picking them. 

            I hadn't considered posting about this at the time.

            Roland wanted to make a pie, and thus we cut or pulled cherries apart in order to get the pits out.  And Roland started on the filling (I personally would have waited until the following morning as it was quite late at night when he started) but put the filling in a container to put in the fridge and work on the pie the next day.

            The next day Roland decided that we needed an actual cheery picker and we made our purchase and picked more cherries and he made filling for another pie. 

He poured his new filling into a pie shell and suggested that we just freeze the pie filling in the fridge.  I would have rather frozen the new creation as I had used an overly large container for the first but did not wish to transfer . . . and since we had to pour out the hot mixture anyway . . . but I talked him into making two pies.  

            He put the hot pie filling into a new glass plate that we had purchased.  It almost looked lost compared to the other which was in a smaller tin and looked like pink jelly compared to the rich whole cherries.  We latticed the hot batch and covered the other.  The hot batch leaked in the oven, not because it was latticed.  I figured out that the hot had been overheated which is why it boiled over. 

            We had intended to give the other away, but part of the crust burned.  Perhaps it's only my imagination, but the one we baked using the cold feeling tastes better to me than the first. 

            We gave approximately eight cups to our neighbors who have let us pick apples and we put the remainder in the freezer.  Each bag is filled with three cups and we will need two bags for each pie.  Currently, we have enough cherries for four pies.

It's Going To Be A Scorcher Today

            I noticed when Jenna left for school on overly foggy mornings, she would return with the sun blazing in the sky.  The foggier it is in the morning, the hotter it seems to be with the afternoon sun. 

     The above picture was taken last year - I can't even see the mountains or trees right now.

          

            I think the sun will be blazing down by 2:00 this afternoon and may not cool off until after 10:00.  But you never know.

            We had wind, rain, sunshine, A/C, open doors, blankets, and shivers alternating all within the same hour.  Jenna took these amazing pictures with her tablet 

Salt and Pepper Shakers

       Roland and I decided that we needed to replace our disappearing salt and pepper shakers for something that would be easier to fill and easier to spot.  I think the ones we ended up with will get lost in the shuffle as the ones we have currently, but they will be easier to fill.

       I was reminded of how many sets of salt and pepper shakers my brother and I had given to my mom over the years.  So many times her birthday would fall during our family vacation - or shortly thereafter.  Patrick and I would pick out gifts from the souvenir shop of wherever we happened to be.  I don't recall all the sets we gave her except for ones that were shaped like feet.  I don't recall ever having used them.  Mom said she did not need the constant reminder of how out of shape she felt.