Dreams of Sun and Sand

Did you ever have one of those dreams that you can’t forget about? I know that most people don’t remember their dreams at night or don’t even dream.  Every once in a while I can remember fragments of a dream that can leave me scratching my head.  Last week I had a dream and if I close my eyes I can still recall the way parts of it felt. 

::insert wavy dream transition sequence here::

The sun was shining in the cerulean sky. Gat and I had beach chairs slung over our pale white shoulders as we ambled to the shoreline. My friends, Maria and Clint were already set up where the breaking waves could tickle their toes. Maria had a twinkle in her eyes ad her curls bounced in the breeze as she offered me a brown bottle beer as we sat our chairs in the sand. Clint smiled like a salt and pepper Cheshire cat and told us to dig our toes in as his eyes crinkled in glee.  Maria winked and plugged her beer with her thumb as a huge wave crashed over us.  I could feel the grit of sand between my toes as I tried to anchor myself as the clear blue and white water swirled above me and tried to sweep me out to sea. 

::End dream sequence::

There was a second part to the dream, but that I am going to keep to myself.  The dream of sun and sand is a contrast to the ice and gray of winter that I am currently in. If I close my eyes I can still feel the sand between my toes and the way the water tried to tug and pull me away.  I am sure that if I were to consult a dream dictionary it would have some deep and possibly meaningful opinions on what my subconscious was trying to tell me. I am going to remember the way the sand felt between my toes as a wrap another scarf around me in an attempt to keep warm. 

Rocky Road Fudge

It is that time of the year that my house overflows with sweets. One of the favorite sweets my mom makes every year is Rocky Road Fudge.  It is an incredibly easy fudge to make. It literally involves three ingredients, peanut butter, chocolate chips and marshmallows.

I don't normally make the fudge, because my mother will bring it with her tray off Christmas Cookies however this year I have been looking at some dairy free dessert options and this came to mind.  My mother normally uses milk chocolate chips, but that obviously wouldn't work for dairy free. I decided to try doing the recipe with dark chocolate and was thrilled with the results.

Rocky Road Fudge

12 ounces of dark chocolate chips
4 Cups of Miniature Marshmallows
1 Cup of Chunky Peanut Butter

Instructions:
 In a large pot, melts the chocolate chips with the peanut butter over low heat. When the mix is melted and smooth, remove from the heat and add the marshmallows.  Stir until everything is well gleaned and pour into a a greased 9x13 pan and cool in the refrigerator.  When it is cool, cut into one inch squares.

Exploring the Caverns

Cold winter days are meant for exploring caves. Did you know it is a constant 52 degrees in a cave? Which means it is at least 20 degrees warmer in the cave then it is outside of the cave.  My dad came out for an early Christmas visit, and part of the fun of his visits is the amount of adventures and tourist things we get to go do. 

I love caves.   Indian Echo Caverns is local to me, and I decided that it was a necessary father -daughter bonding experience to visit this cave. The caverns are a fun place to visit and the tour is about 45 minutes at a leisurely pace. I enjoyed the caverns.  One of the unique things about this cavern is that it is still living and growing.   You get the pleasure of seeing formations as they are growing and marvel at have shiny they are with the calcite growth.

My dad has never done a cave tour before, so this was unique experience for him. During the walk down the seventy two steps, my dad joked that he was claustrophobic.  Considering I have done mine tours with him, I know this is not case, but I did chuckle at the couple of low hanging passage ways that caused him to duck.  I enjoyed the tour and even spent some quality time with their goats and feisty old turkey. 

If you are ever in the Hershey area, and looking for something to do other than the amusement park, I would recommend the caverns.  There is enough diversity there to keep the whole family entertained and is open all year long.  Then again, I also like caves, so my opinion may be a little bias. 

2016 Top 10 Gift Books

I love giving books as gifts, because they are easy to wrap and there is a book out there for everyone. They just don’t know it yet.  Here is a list of top 10 books that I have given as gifts. I am not going to repeat anything that I may have mentioned in my Sci Fi book Series list.    

My Top 10 Gift Books

1.        Furiously Happy- Jenny Lawson

2.       American Gods- Neil Gaimen 

3.       Anna Dressed in Blood- Kendel Blake

4.       Harold & the Purple Crayon- Crockett Johnson

5.       Animalia- Graham  Base

6.       Beauty: A Retelling- Robin McKinley

7.        Quizol-Alan Dean Foster

8.       Cooking for Geeks- Jeff Potter

9.       Pride, Prejudice & Zombies - Jane Austin and Seth Grahame  Smith

10.  Gil's All Fright Diner- A. Lee Martinez

I make no apologies for my list.  I like what I like and I like to share good reading material with others. Hopefully this helped supply some quick inspiration. 

Gift That Keeps On Giving

I have discovered that if I don’t force myself to write, then I won’t write. It is easier to talk myself out of writing than it is to string together a coherent thought.  I am going to go back to a blog post a day for a little bit to try and jump starts some good habits.  

I know I had mentioned in a previous blog a book gift idea list.  That is an incredibly hard thing to do. I have a love affair with books, and it is hard to pick a favorite one or two.  Instead I have broken it down into two lists.   One list is going to be a list of series to check out and which book to start with in that series and the other is going to be a list of ten books that I have most often gifted. I think between the two lists, that there is something for everyone. 

While composing this list, I realized that when I think of series, I mostly think of Science Fiction Fantasy. If you are not into Science Fiction or Fantasy this will hold no appeal to you and I recommend you to try back tomorrow on my most gifted books list. 

Book Series

1.        Dune- Frank Herbert- There is a total of 8 books in this classic Sci-Fi series.  I have probably watched every movie adaptation of this book, but I still have a love for the first book that set the entire stage. If you have someone just getting into Sci-Fi this is a great book to start with. 

2.       Small Gods- Terry Pratchett- There is a huge debate on where a person should start in the wonderful fantasy world of Discworld, and it could be a little daunting since there are 41 books within this series.  . Small Gods is the one that I started with and it opens the door to other characters without making you wish you had a back story. I look at it as the gateway book that ultimately lets you get a feel for the writers’ style and is massively entertaining. (In case you were wondering, a general search on the internet shows that Color of Magic is the book to start with, and I disagree.)

3.       Howl’s Moving Castle- Diane Wynne Jones- A fair number of people have seen the animated movie that was based off of the first book in this series. I have a great love for the movie (and almost anything Studio Ghibli) and a deep love for the book by the same name. Very rarely do I love a book and movie equally, but this is one of those rare times. There are a total of 3 books in this young adult series and each novel is a breath fresh air. 

4.       Summon the Keeper- Tanya Huff- I debated between two different series by Tanya Huff. I was debating between the Keeper Chronicles (3 books) and the Blood Books (6 books in total). I love both series and they are both radically different from each other. The Blood Books is a gritty vampire detective series and the Keeper Chronicles is a tongue in cheek sci-fi fairy tale romantic comedy. When it came down to it, I decided to go with the Keeper Chronicles, because I love the way that series makes me smile at the mental images it presents. 

5.        Darwin’s Radio- Greg Bear- There is only two books in this science fiction series, and it almost didn’t make this list. I put it on the lis///t because it isn’t light and fluffy. I read a lot of light and fluffy and find it relaxing, but this book is a far cry from my usual and if you like something a bit more serious and steeped in science then you will most likely love this book.  I like how this book made me think and is a good palate cleanse on some of the overly fluffy options out there. 

Apocalyptic Flat Tire

It is a wonderful night for a flat tire. I love the way it brings me perspective.  I don't think I ever understood windchill until the car tells me it is 44 degrees out and the wind has me seriously thinking it was 29 degrees out.   It is a cosmic requirement for me to have a flat tire when I am least appropriately dressed.  High heels, dress slacks, thin jacket and a shell top is the opposite of what a person should wear to change a tire.  

This experience has made me understand why in post apocalyptic films, the clothing looks like it was randomized out of yard sale rejects. It always bugged me that it seems like they don't even try to have anything that remotely goes together in those types of movies.   As the wind ripped through the thin jacket and shell I was wearing, I searched my car for any sort of additional clothing I could find.  Search results yielded a spring green tunic vest and a burnt orange crayon colored wrap.  They clashed horribly with the cheerful crocus colored shell and eggplant jacket, but I didn't really care.  Fashion could take a hike when you are cold. 

Thankfully my flat tire was in the parking lot of my work and one of my coworkers stuck around until my husband showed up. Between the two of us, we had the spare tire out, the car jacked up and we were getting ready to take lug nuts off by the time my husband pulled in. (Jamie is awesome, and we had that accomplished in maybe 10 minutes.) Despite my husband saying that we did the hard part of getting the jack set up, he did the truly hard part of getting the lug nuts off. I think removing the lug nuts is the hardest part of getting the tire off and he did it like a pro. He is a hero.  Jamie is a heroine. I am that weird person that cracks terrible jokes when faced with adversity and doesn't lose their cool. (Also wind chill is bull shit.) 

Thank you Jon and Jamie for not letting me become a weird pre-apocalyptic desert wanderer with bad fashion sense!