Writing is like being able to put life into a snow globe. It takes the things that are too big and scary and reduces them into a form that I can put away when I want and look at from a distance. It also takes all that’s good in life and captures it into something I can take out when I want and look at close up and keep forever. It makes the bad things into something I can hold…and the good things into something I can hold onto. Both help so much that I need that little souvenir of life.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Improper Poll: Tiny Poof of Magic

I have a theory that there are wine people and coffee people. I wish I were a wine person. Wine people are cool. They are calm. I imagine when not sipping wine, they go to gyms. I picture them celebrating relaxation by inviting small groups of people to eat gourmet health food and discuss…what? I have no idea, but I bet it’s cool. I bet it makes them all laugh softly and toast one another.

Like it or not, I am a coffee person. I walk too fast, eat at my desk, and have been known to laugh until I have to run to the bathroom because all that caffeine is a diuretic. Gourmet health food, to me, is buying the GOOD TV dinners.

Usually I drink it black, but this summer I developed yet another vice when I discovered that the little parking lot shack a few miles away makes a mean iced coffee. On more than one occasion I’ve found myself driving miles out of my way. Then I started making it at home.

The easy version doesn’t taste as good as shack-bought, but I secretly get a little thrill pouring the fat-free half and half into the glass. It’s a moving work of art that’s gone in the blink of an eye. It’s so quick, I couldn’t even get a decent picture. That tiny, magical poof was almost done by the time I picked up my camera.

Gone in an instant.  Goodbye, summer. Farewell, iced coffee.

Do you have a weird little thing that gives you thrills every time?

9 comments:

  1. This sounds so weird, but I enjoy shampooing carpeting. I get excited when emptying the water container and seeing all that dirty water disappearing.

    Msybe I should shut up. Your iced coffee story is much better...

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  2. I'm not a coffee drinker. I like an occasional glass of wine, but one beverage I have every day is tea--hot tea in the morning then iced tea the rest of the day, and on cold evenings another cup of hot tea.

    In the cooler weather I also have a hard time resisting my urge to buy a skinny chi tea latte. It costs almost $4 a cup, but something about it makes my mouth water and makes me feel warm inside.

    Oh, and Sioux, I would love it if you could drop by when you're in the mood to clean some floors. I scrubbed my kitchen floor yesterday, but I didn't have the same reaction you did at seeing all the dirty water going down the drain.

    Donna

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  3. Ummm, hand writing letters. I'm not a wine person either.

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  4. I get my thrill every ten days when I put air in my slow-leak tire. There's something satisfying about jamming that round metal knobby thing over my valve stem and watching that tire inflate.

    Let's refrain from any Freudian interpretations, please.

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  5. Hard to resist Val's opportunity for Freudian interpretations, and I wonder if my secret thrill is any better. I get goosebumps just thinking about bagpipes, from pipe-and-drum bands to a single piper playing on a hill, or on the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle.
    K

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  6. I'm a hybrid...coffee AND wine. I begin my day with coffee and I love (okay, ADORE) my morning ritual: Put the water on to boil, measure four teaspoons of coffee beans (HEB Texas Pecan) into the grinder, whir for 11 seconds (yes, I set the timer), fresh ground coffee into the French press, add boiling water and steep for 4 minutes. Creamer is whole milk, 4 tablespoons. Yum!! Wine I save for Friday nights, 2 glasses (and the occasional glass during the week). I don't belong to a gym or eat anything gourmet, so my wine preferences aren't expensive. My favorites are Sutter Home Sweet Red and Riunite D'Oro. And I can always be talked into a glass of sangria because, hey, it's fruity and that makes it an important part of the food pyramid. :D

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  7. My guilty pleasure is a cup of warm chai tea. It tastes like Christmas! Yummmmm...

    Pat
    Critter Alley

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  8. Raspberry tea and I used to be well acquainted, but then I discovered peach flavored green tea at our local Arby's. When I get a craving I must go.

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  9. Oh, right - I forgot about tea people! I think of those as wise and a little exotic.

    Val, you reminded me I needed to put air in my tires. I hate the process but do love the feel of riding on those nice firm tires. I won't make Freud comments if you don't....

    Kay, I love bagpipes, too!!

    Sioux, I WISH I got a thrill out of cleaning. I once knew a woman who felt that way about mowing the lawn.

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