LOVE IS.........

A WELL MADE PIE




Apple Pie

6 to eight tart apples (granny smith) peeled, pared and cored
1 cup of sugar
2tbs all purpose flour
½ tsp ground cinnamon
dash ground nutmeg
2tbs zest of orange

Combine sugar, flour, spices and dash salt mix with apples. Place rolled pie crust and lay over the top of tin. Fill tin with apple mixture and dot with butter and sprinkle with zest of orange. Cover with top crust. Pinch edges. Slit top and decorate as you like.


Pie crust
1 ½ cup flour
¾ cup better or shortening
1/3 cup of water

Mix flour, salt, and shortening with blending tool til mixture forms little balls the size of peas. Mix water with 1 tbs flour and add to flour mixture. Let stand 10 min. Flour board and roll out dough to desired size.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

The only black man I let in my bedroom

In 1971, I was 1o years old and I had the biggest crush on Michael Jackson and Donny Osmond. I didn't ever have much money but somehow I scraped together some cash and rode my banana seat bike to the seven eleven that was up the street from our house. I grabbed a copy of Tiger Beat magazine, slapped my cash on the counter and sped home. The next few hours were spent reading. What were their favorite foods? How did they spend their leisure time? What did they look for in a friend? Once the reading was done, it was time to cut up the magazine and decorate my room. Glossy 8x10s were posted around the room fixed with scotch tape. I thought I was so cool.

I watched with amazement in the years that followed at the transformation that occurred.



Last week Dan, Tara, and I went to see THIS IS IT. I was struck by a few things. First, that Michael Jackson was a musical genius. He seemed to feel the music on a physical level. Second, that he was really polite and gentle. Lastly, he had a childlike and inspired intuition about the artistic aspects of his show.

I'm going to put aside all of the weirdness. The fact that he named his child Blanket. The trials, the plastic surgery, the stories about his life at Neverland. Ill quote him from the movie, "It's all about L O V E. It's all about love." I believe that.

30 years

What beautiful friends

Graduation day 1979

I think I characterized myself as apathetic. So apathetic that I planned on not attending my 30th high school reunion even though I live just 10 miles from my school. I in fact had let the organizer of the event know just that when she called my cell phone to beg me to attend. (How did she get my cell number anyway?)

If it were not for a dear, sweet, and positive friend (how we became friends I'm not sure) who conspired with other friends to get me to the event with a promise of just getting together with a few women, I would have had a nice RELAXING evening at home. After visiting with my good friends they dropped the noose and I knew I was going....lucky I felt it was important to look nice for old friends I hadn't seen in a long time.

I was really apprehensive as we walked down the steps of the Walnut Creek Marriott into one of their event rooms. Kind of like prom without the hassle of a date.There were quite a few people there who, like me, looked like a variation on the original of themselves. I searched name tags that luckily hosted a copy of high school grad pics. Some familiar faces stared back at me.

What an adventure. Marriages, divorce, illness, children, careers, people who looked just like they always did, people who were totally unrecognizable. It was a parade of the good, the bad, and the ugly!

I learned a lot about myself. I don't like crowds. I'm not outgoing, I'm shy. I'm very private. I have an easier time getting along with men in social situations--they just aren't that complicated!

After about three hours, I'd had enough. It was time to go. I followed the advice of a good friend and never once slipped back into who I had been, so long ago.