Journal Jar #2

Well, I had so much fun the last time, I thought I'd give it another go! Well, Fall of course is my favorite season. I think I've mentioned it before.

My favorite season used to be spring when all the pretty flowers come out. But that was following a nearly never-ending winter of depressing grays. Gray skies, dirty gray snow on everything, even the leaf-less trees looked dead and gray. And just when I never thought I'd see color again, those bulb flowers would start to bloom. In bright reds, and yellows and purples. I was determined to have a garden full of them, and my grandma helped me plant some and I watched them multiply, and then we moved to Arizona were tulips and daffodils don't grow.

Down here in opposite land, the land of eternal sunshine and summer, Fall is a welcome relief. You can feel it in the air. People start to get excited again. Neighbors come out to play. Creative juices start to flow again. I now wholeheartedly welcome the sight of a cloudy, gray sky. We're almost there. It might technically be fall in a couple days, but it will take a few more weeks to feel like it. It is starting to feel cooler in the early morning and evening. Yay! Fall! (hurry up please)I guess while we are on the subject of weather, and apparently I kinda already answered this question, yes it snowed where I grew up as a child. And yes, I played in the snow. There is a big difference between being a little kid in snow, and being in it as an adult. As an adult there were driveways and sidewalks to shovel, snow tires to buy, snow gear to purchase for everyone, windshields to scrape off, planning an extra 10 minutes or so into your morning to defrost your car, etc, etc, I could go on (and on).

But I loved to play in the snow. I LOVE skiing. I stink at skiing, really and truly stink, but I ♥ it. It's been almost 16 years since I've been. It pains me to think my kids have never had the opportunity to learn. And sledding is the best. I didn't always have the opportunity to do that kind of stuff, but we had plenty of snow at our house to play in. Next to the driveway there was always a huge pile (from the snow shoveled off the driveway) and we would hollow that out to make snow caves, or try to sled down it. Snow men, snow forts, snow angels, snow ball fights.

Of course, then I got older, and sitting in a hollowed out snow cave freezing my shorts off wasn't so much fun anymore. And then my mom handed me the shovel and I discovered that making the snow hill on the side of the driveway isn't nearly as fun as playing in it used to be, and then that stupid hill would be the last thing to melt, and you'd think that stupid, black and gray, crusty, nasty bit of snow would never go away. And then we moved to Arizona, and felt practically giddy at the prospect of giving away our snow shovels and windshield ice scrapers.

Yes. My mom is a great cook. Taught me nearly everything I know. Yes, I like to cook- even started a food blog, which is kind of pathetic at the moment given that I am stuck in a rut and cook the same things over and over again. (And therefore have nothing new to blog about) I'm hoping that Fall and all that stuff I said about creative juices will inspire me to get creative in the cooking area. My favorite thing to cook? Well, caramels are my specialty, but I also really like to bake cookies. I have a couple of recipes that I'm pretty proud of.