Imagine the Possibilities

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Thanks to the co-authors of              Two Writing Teachers for creating this  supportive community.

     One of the rewards of participating in this challenge is the opportunity to learn from other slicers – to gather ideas, formats, craft. Sometimes an idea bounces off in a random way generating other ideas and thoughts, and that’s how I found my slice for today. Way back in the beginning of the month Sally Donnelly used an exercise from Kate Messner’s 59 Reasons to Write for her post She used the randomly generated word “edge” to inspire her writing. Sally ended the piece with this question: What do you like best – edges or interiors? Someone commented that the question made her think of brownies – some people like the edges, others the interiors, and that made me think of “Rachel’s Brownies.”

Back in the ‘70’s  local resident Rachel Slater and her husband, Jeff, started a bakery in my home town of Malvern, PA. Rachel started selling the brownies out of her home, but the business quickly grew and they moved into a store front in a shopping center not far from my house. People would line up to buy them or bring their kids to watch the production line. The brownies were the best, to this day, that I have ever tasted. They were mainly sold locally in specialty stores, and I recall that they were also sold to a few airlines (back when the airlines provided a meal). There may have been other flavors, but the ones I remember most were Chocolate Walnut and Butterscotch (my favorite). I fondly remember that when my daughter was born, my husband brought me a Rachel’s Butterscotch Brownie in the hospital.

Each brownie was individually wrapped for sale, but if you went to the bakery you could buy a bag of “edges” for a dollar or two. These were the best – mostly because my kids preferred the middles, not the edges, so they were all mine. The edges had just enough of the soft middle combined with the crunchy outside to create a texture and taste explosion when you bit into them.

Thanks, Sally, for the inspiration and the memory. And thanks, Rachel and Jeff, for your wonderful brownies.

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Thanks to the co-authors of              Two Writing Teachers for creating this  supportive community.

Friday night. Time to start thinking about dinner. Neither one of us wants to go out or pick up.

Let me see what I can come up with.

I open the refrigerator and scan the almost-empty shelves, remembering that I really must get to the grocery store tomorrow. Hmmm…leftover broiled flank steak (OK, we have protein), some please-eat-me-before-I-go-bad peppers and mushrooms. I know I have onions and garlic. Sounds like a stir fry beginning to take shape. I check to make sure I have rice…Yes!

I start the rice and begin slicing and frying… but wait! No soy sauce! Then I remember those left over packets from Chinese take-out that we keep for emergencies. I cut a few open and add the contents to my well-on-its-way creation, then quickly jot down soy sauce on my grocery list.

I consider myself a recipe cook, meaning I need one. I plan out meals for the week and list ingredients I don’t have on hand on my shopping list. I marvel at people who can just throw things together and come up with a deliciously decadent dish in a matter of minutes. My stir fry wasn’t quite like that, but on Friday night, I created something of my own…something from nothing.

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Thanks to the co-authors of              Two Writing Teachers for creating this  supportive community.

     I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about my OLW for 2017 – create. My intention was to find different areas of my life, not just with writing, where I could create something tangible or intangible. I was thinking I needed to get back to this, to be more intentional in creating. Then I saw Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s post on The Poem Farm. She used a poem to describe the process of making a stamp. Although I enjoy crafts, I don’t consider myself crafty, and the extent to which I can be trusted with a sharp knife is questionable – just ask my family. Making my own stamp would definitely stretch my creativity, so I decided to try it out.

First, I decided I needed more detailed instructions – You Tube to the rescue. Finding the necessary supplies was somewhat of an obstacle, but three craft stores later, I was ready.

I gathered all my supplies and set to work. Amy’s instructions included thinking about the things you love to decide on a theme for the stamp, so of course I chose flowers. In the picture you will see the finished products. My first attempt was the iris which I think turned out better than the tulip.

I wish I could say that the picture below was my third attempt. But that is the stamp that I bought for inspiration. It reminds me of the bluebird house in my backyard, the one I sometimes refer to as the “fancy house.” Isn’t it beautiful?

There is an ad for a new version of Office that pops up on my computer from time to time –  Create. Edit. Do. Impress. Making my stamps took me through that process (maybe the “impress” part not so much). I have lots of material left, so if you want to try out stamp making, come on over!

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Thanks to the co-authors of              Two Writing Teachers for creating this  supportive community.

Last summer I did a writing exercise suggested by Anne Marie Pace on the Teachers Write! site coordinated by Kate Messner. The idea was to walk 100 steps in a direction you don’t normally go, then stop and spend about ten minutes recording what you observe, see, hear, smell, etc. The next step was to spend some time looking for connections, pick one, and use it as a starting point for some writing. That day, while at Longwood Gardens, I walked past the outdoor children’s garden and fountains and started counting steps. When I stopped I was near some benches, so I sat down and let my senses take over. One of the things I recorded in addition to sights and sounds and smells were a few bits of conversation between two women. In my notebook I have these phrases:

always traveling

used to be a social worker

organizes a music festival there

This morning I revisited a character sketch I started from those bits of conversation.

Laura was always on the move…literally. Since beginning a career as a social worker ten years ago, she had moved three times. Two different cities. One different state. All new beginnings. Laura always found something special in the places where she lived. Northern California had its towering redwoods and majestic mountains. Philly had history, loyal sports fans, and interesting neighborhoods. Lancaster County had its rolling farm lands and a quaintness that was hard to duplicate. The truth of the matter? Laura was afraid. Afraid of getting too involved with the families she worked with. Afraid of “settling down” as everyone told her she should. And afraid of missing out.  As soon as she felt herself getting too close or too comfortable, Laura knew it was time to start looking for that next big adventure.