I smell like donuts

Andrea warned me not to hang my jacket in the kitchen.  "You'll smell like donuts", she said, as if that were a bad thing.  She was about to show me how to make their famous cider donuts.

The donut machine is well worn.  The oblong fryer accepts dough that is pressed out of a big metal bowl with a hole in the bottom that makes perfectly shaped donuts.  One at a time, they plop into the hot oil while the large bowl sways from side to side.  As they make their way through the trough an ascending conveyer pulls these sought after treats up and out of the snapping hot oil and gently drops them into a tray.  They must be rolled in cinnamon sugar before they cool, a quick plop and flip.  There are many donut addicts traipsing around the hills of Putney.  Daily visits are made as soon as the door opens at 8 continuing on through the afternoon. The donut-aholics skulk into the store sheepishly buying one, two, a half dozen or more.  Please don't tell my husband/wife/significant other they plead.  Of course, I promise to keep their secret.  It's my pleasure because these are the sweetest of secrets. 

But, the scent of fresh donuts is not the only aroma that sweetly sails out of those kitchen doors.  On any given day your snoffer could sniff up yummy smells of apple pie, ginger plum upside down cake, cinnamon rolls or spicy pumpkin scones.  The smells waft out of the old packing house seemingly pulling people in from off the highway (aka West Hill Road).  Drive that way, you'll see.  Try a donut. I'm officially trained.  Not only that but, I happily hang my jacket in the kitchen the mornings I'm called in to help out.  Sniff me, I smell like work. Yum!   

Shhhhhhh, don't tell anyone but . . .

This blog is top secret!!!  At least that's what I'm telling my sister Lois.  Saying that to her reminds me of when I used to hide a ball or a rock or any object I could find up my shirt sleeve then claim it was a tumor.  Lois would fall for it every time, even when it traveled to another spot (which of course it would when she asked me to lift up my sleeve)!  This game lasted far beyond any normal timeline of older sister vs. younger sister tormentation that I could of ever hoped for.  Just ask Lois.

In any case, it's so silly to refer to a blog as a secret.  But, that's what this one is (until I share it a little wider than its current audience of 3, maybe). But for now, I like it that way.

Comments - 5 cents please!

P.S.  I love you like a rock, LoLo. 

yes!

I just bought yes! magazine while standing in line at the Co-op this morning.  It's cover has a tattooed woman standing tall in a leafy forest with her back bared and arms raised overhead.  Her tattoo covers her entire back.  I always find myself wondering about the desire to cover your body with inky tattoos.  It's just not me and, for some reason, seems like an unhealthy thing to do to your skin.  The cover, however, demanded that I pick it up.

Ironically, or maybe not so, the focus in this month's issue is on how to take charge of your body "the thing that matters most". I find the human body and brain an endless source of fascination. So, not surprisingly, I bought it. 

In this issue there is a list of 9 simple steps to better health that, IMHO, make all the sense in the world.  Here it is, without the detailed paragraphs that accompany each step.  If you want those, you'll have to buy your own copy!


9 Simple Steps to Better Health (without Joining a Gym)

• Laugh to your heart's content
• Age Artfully
• Work with friends
• get a massage
• Eat your carotenoids
• Chat with the neighbors
• Sleep more
• Scrub toxics
• Hope like your life depends on it

I'm in love with Ken (Robinson, that is. Sir, no less)!

I love Sir Ken Robinson!  Philosophically speaking, I wouldn't mind marrying this British knight.  When you think about it, Mrs. Robinson does have a certain ring to it.  And, Mrs. Elizabeth Robinson??? Now that sounds downright royal.  

Why this profession of love?  Well, after catching him on the Ted Radio Hour a week or so ago the flame ignited (Actully it rekindled. Hearing him on a Ted Talk a couple years back, it was love at first listen).   If you have never heard Ken speak ("we're like *this*"), he is funny, charming, intelligent, and really handsome! But, what makes him truly appealing is that he's not afraid to tell it like it is when it comes to education and our schools.  Ken is not interested in talking about school reform, but rather an educational revolution.  That feels so radical and exciting!  An ardent proponent of creativity in schools,  Sir Ken Robinson insists that the educational system needs to shift away from standardization, instead working toward more personalized learning,"creating conditions where kids' natural talents can flourish"*.  Just imagine how exciting learning could be if this were always the case.  Listen to him here and I guarantee you too will fall for this man.




*NPR Ted Radio Hour