Look at the Book

 

After thinking about it for a while, I must confess I find great pleasure in collecting and reading through recipe books. What I realize is that I enjoy buying them and looking through all the recipes, but I don’t or very rarely create a dish from one of them and serve it.

Books containing every single type of chocolate recipe makes me go, “oooh,” and “aaah,” despite the fact that as much as I love chocolate I never even tried one delicious recipe.

I also like cookbooks that have two hundred pages of only chicken recipes. I will sit and read through recipe after recipe, yet I will still go back and cook my own tried and true chicken dishes.

I even have a cookbook where each recipe uses all kinds of exotic spices. I broke down and prepared one of these very spicey recipes which contained a large amount of curry powder. I invited my mother and aunt over for dinner so they could try my creation.

I don’t think either one of them ever had curry in their lives. It was obvious by the amount of beer they drank to wash it down. The next time they came over for dinner, they brought take-out!

Ellen G.

Favorite Reads

 

I know it's cheating but when I find a book that may be too long to read, I find it on audio. My favorites are psychology, religion, crime and horror. 

I listened to Speak It into Reality by Napoleon Hill, Buddha by Karen Armstrong, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and my favorite horror book Frankenstein by Mary Shelly.  

I find the audio books from my local library, and I find hearing the words adds a lot of life to the story.  

I have always loved books in any form.  

 Georgia

Two from Georgia P.

 Assignment: July 4, 2026

 Through a Child's Eyes

 

I know kitty understands me when I talk to him. His nose wiggles and his eyes shine. I pet him gently because I love him. Kitty is the best thing in the whole world.

Assignment July 11, 2026

 Dog Days of Summer

 

I am not a summer person. On those dog days of summer, you'll find me happily camped out in front of my 12,000 BTU air conditioner. Wake me up when it's October.

Memories of Imagination

 

IMMERSED IN A SEA OF COLORFUL RIBBONS AND BOWS AND CRUMPLED GIFT PAPER TORN APART CARELESSLY, I STARED IN AWE AT MY BRAND-NEW ROBOT COMMANDO, WHO COULD THROW ORANGE CANNON BALLS STORED IN HIS ARMS AND FIRE MISSILES FROM THE TOP OF HIS HEAD! MY ARMY OF LEAD AMERICAN SOLDIERS WERE NO MATCH FOR ROBOT COMMANDO! WHAT TOY COULD EXEMPLIFY PEACE ON EARTH AND GOODWILL TOWARDS MEN ANY BETTER THAN A MONSTER ROBOT WHO COULD DECIMATE ENTIRE ARMIES WITH A FEW CANNON BALLS AND MISSILES! I WAS IN ECSTASY WHILE MY FINGERS WERE STICKY FROM THE CANDY CANE I HAD BEEN CONSUMING.

THE ELVES MUST HAVE WORKED AROUND THE CLOCK TO PRODUCE ALL THE TOYS NECESSARY FOR THIS BONANZA, WHILE SANTA DELIVERED THEM IN THIS HIS 13TH LABOR OF HERCULES, TO THE HOMES OF LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS ALL OVER THE WORLD, AND IN ONE NIGHT!

THIS WAS THE BEST CHRISTMAS MORNING EVER….

SOMEONE WAS CALLING MY NAME….

“MR. LAPLACE!”

“MR. LAPLACE!”

“COME DOWN FROM YOUR CLOUD, MR. LAPLACE!”

OH NO, IT WAS NOT CHRISTMAS MORNING. I WAS IN THIRD-GRADE HOMEROOM WITH SISTER M*** X*****!

“MR. LAPLACE, I AM SORRY TO INFORM YOU THAT WHILE YOU MAY FIND THE TIMES TABLES BORING, THERE WILL COME A TIME IN YOUR LIFE WHEN IT WILL BE NECESSARY TO KNOW THEM. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION AND SEE ME AFTER CLASS TO PICK UP A NOTE FOR YOUR PARENTS!”

OH NO, NOT ANOTHER NOTE HOME AND ANOTHER BLOT ON MY PERMANENT RECORD, NEVER TO BE EXPUNGED AND DRAGGED BEHIND ME FOR THE REST OF MY MORTAL LIFE, LIKE THE CHAINS AND LOCKBOXES OF JACOB MARLEY, ALWAYS THERE TO BE FEARED AND EXPLAINED AWAY ON JOB INTERVIEWS AND WHEN MEETING MY FUTURE IN-LAWS SOMEDAY!

THE NOTE I RECEIVED

Dear Mr. and Mrs. LaPlace,

Good afternoon, I am sorry to bring you more grave news, but your son James is persisting in drifting away with a lack of mental discipline on imaginary flights of fancy. Please try to control your son as we all know that nothing good can ever come from displays of imagination.

Sincerely yours,

Sister M*** X*****

MY SENTENCE ALSO INCLUDED A WEEK OF CLAPPING ERASERS.

JIM-JULY 26’

Untamed to Tame

 

I was a very unruly, wild, and untamed little girl and teenager. As a matter of fact, I was still pretty wild up until my mid-twenties. How untamed was I? So much so that when I was a teenager, I put myself and two friends in harm’s way.

It was an unbearably hot and humid day with temperatures reaching the high nineties even after the sun went down. There was a public pool called Cypress Pool on Jamaica Avenue. The pool was locked up for the night but I got the idea that all three of us should climb the fence and go swimming. We all agreed. It was so hot outside we didn’t care if we jumped in with our clothes on.

As soon as we jumped in the pool and started splashing around, we heard dogs barking and people talking loudly. All these sounds were getting closer and closer to us. Two large German Shepards reached the edge of the pool and they were growling, snarling, barking and showing their teeth. We thought we were going to be attacked by them.

Owners of the pool, this older couple, called off the dogs and told us to get out of the water immediately! We thought we would be arrested for trespassing. We got out of the pool and we were told to get on our way and never break into a public pool after it is closed for the night again.

The confrontation with the two guard dogs and the couple who owned the pool really tamed me. I kept wondering what if the couple wasn’t there to call the dogs off? No matter how hot the nights of summer got after that, I never tried to break into and go swimming in a public pool.

Ellen

Tamed

 

I once believed I was the one who cared for my cats. Over time I realized the truth. The small rituals of caring and moments of silence and companionship melted into a trust that tamed my heart. 

Georgia

Dinosaurs

 

In my childhood home we had a small backyard, and it had a huge rock that seemed older than everything around it.  My friend Billy and I would climb onto the rock and invent stories of giant dinosaurs that walked over it millions of years ago. We would lie beneath the stars and imagine what it would be like to live with dinosaurs and in our minds this ordinary rock transformed our imagination and wonder led to endless possibilities. 

Georgia