21 thoughts on “Cherry Saturday, December 7, 2019”

  1. Yesterday I was in line to return an item at a store and when I turned to leave I saw a woman that I had worked with ten years ago before retiring. We both stared at each other because neither of us could remember the other’s name. She said “I know you” with a puzzled look on her face. I replied with the name of our company. She said of course – it was different floors and different departments – but we knew each other. After saying Happy Holidays her line moved up and I went on my way. Because of the long lines at check out I decided not to shop but meander around the store to get my exercise in and also Christmas spirit. I’m up at the Christmas section and see a display of angels all with the name of Joy. Of course a light bulb went off in my head and I remembered her name is Joy. When I told my family this story I finished with maybe she went by the same display and saw the Nativity figurines and remembered my name – Mary.

    2. I hope I have that problem and resolution ten years after I retire – I can put off the reaper by working a few more years. 🙂

      Alas, my name doesn’t lend itself to holiday display reminders.

      1. We wish you a gary christmas, we wish you a gary christmas, we wish you a gary christmas, and a hippie new year?

  2. Everyone has something peculiar to them. One of my peculiarities is that I can not sleep without a fan. The purr, the moving air – gotta have ’em. I have stories… but I’ll spare you all.

    Anyway, last night, the small fan which I mounted to the wall above my bed died with a scraping sound of wiped bearings. It hadn’t been turned off, barring power outages, since the day I mounted it. Also, though it had three speeds, only the highest was ever used.

    Something the dotter said a while back has had me looking for replacements for over a month, but the usual suspects don’t stock summer fans in the winter. Last night, I turned to Amazon, and there are a couple of likely devices on the way. In the meantime, I have a 4″ fan on the nightstand. (It’s usually mounted to the wall above my desk by Command hooks.)

    Jenny, you’ve just survived days without power. Imagine me, no fan, trying to sleep. Well… I bought this silly toy, some time back. It has a tiny fan on a stalk ending in a USB plug, see, and I have these portable USB rechargers… it works. I can sleep. 🙂

  3. I’m so happy. Heat, light, internet, hot food, three dogs snoozing, a big box of yarn arriving from Knitpicks . . . bliss.

    1. Congratulations on your escape from frustration. May all the rest of the winter storms swerve to avoid your area.

    2. Isn’t there a Christmas carol like that? One house a-heating, two levels lighting (not sure how many floors you have), three dogs a-snoozing, four meals a-cooking, BIG BOX of YAAARN….

  4. Congratulations on your escape from frustration. May all the rest of the winter storms swerve to avoid your area.

    I like pears, but the ones that are really worth celebrating (e.g. a really ripe Comice that drips juice down your arm when you bite into it) are not in season now. The ones that are, like russets, are a quieter pleasure.

  5. I read “food…three hot dogs…dogs sleeping.” Wait, Jenny likes hot dogs. Of corse she does, three hot dogs who snuggle.

    It’s a slow Saturday.

  7. After a stressed out couple of months (year), last night was just perfect. We finally caught up for a barbecue dinner with two families we’ve know since we met through mothers group back when our eldest kids were about three months old. Which makes it fourteen years now. It’s the kind of friendship where it doesn’t feel like work – doesn’t matter how long it’s been, we just fall back into the connection. So there was good wine, good people, and good food, and today I’m feeling more relaxed than I have in a very long time.

  8. I will take all the pears that no one wants. I haven’t had good ones in ages (the grocery store produce section is terrible). A friend of a friend has a pear tree in her yard and was giving them away a couple years ago, and I just happened to be at the right place at the right time to get some. They were amazing. A variety that isn’t sold commercially because they’re too fragile for shipping.

    Now I really want pears. I’ll probably make spiced applesauce instead with some of the applies I bought during peak availability when they were on sale. Not the same, but good.

  9. I love pears. I especially love baked pears and have been cooking them in the microwave as a post dinner treat

  10. Here’s to pear [hard] cider and a good book! A good friend taught me about that combination of joys…

  11. In the past I didn’t like pears because, like Gin, the ones from the grocery store stayed hard until they rotted without going through a ripe stage along the way. Even Harry & David pears had dull years.

    But now we live near a fruit farm that grows many kinds of pears and more than a dozen kinds of apples, and makes several kinds of cider, including pear cider. The folks are really helpful about telling me exactly how to know when a pear is ripe. We’ve been basking in pears and apples, eating them fresh or in cobblers, brownies, sauce, and crisps. My husband wants poached pears during the holidays.

  12. This isn’t a 100 percent reliable but pears wrinkle around the stem when they are ripe. If they are not ripe when you buy them, keep them in a paper bag for several days, maybe even a week. Sometimes they go straight from unripe to brown in the center but usually they ripen. And a perfectly ripe pear is heaven.

    From October through December we have a pear with our breakfast. This year’s favorite Concorde is a French favorite. It’s like a cross between a Bartlett and a Bosc: lots of flavor and just enough sweetness.

    And pear vinegar is one of my favorite vinegars on light flavored salads.

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