This recipe is a perfect dish for every couple.  All you need is love.

After all the fanfare and the champagne of the new year, make a practice of celebrating your past memories together, and the thought of making new memories.  It is as simple as collecting thoughts, writing them down on a piece of paper and as time goes by reminding yourself of what dreams might come true and what dreams have come true!

First select a small piece of paper or cardboard stock to write your list on, something similar in size to maybe a business card, this way you can keep them together over the years, and have the current one on display at all times.

As I sort through the ones we’ve collected, they are quite amusing: each one holds a dear story behind it, something significant in our life at that time.  We have a taxi cab card from New Year’s Eve, a gift tag from Christmas, a matchbook cover from an evening’s dinner, a receipt, a business card from a new venture we started that year, even a pink tag from a piece of sexy lingerie.  This proves that anything can work, but whatever you use, make the task of finding the suitable card just as fun as making your list.

When you make your list, try to include at least one of each of the following:

• A dream
• A goal
• A need
• An improvement
• A trip
• A luxury item
• A personal item
• Something erotic or intimate

But don’t stop here, some of our lists have twenty or so items on them.  It’s really all about how flamboyant you feel the night you make the list. 

If you duplicate an item from year to year, not to worry, it just shows how important it really is to you.  Be creative, be wild, be practical, be silly, and be serious.  When you’re done, be sure to put the year somewhere on the card.

Keep your cards together, year after year.  Ours are held together with a magnetic clip and they hang on the refrigerator door where we frequently visit.  They are easy to find, they are always in order, never thrown away, seldom referred to, but always looking at us! 

Being they are actively displayed, they seem to have more purpose then just the simple thing that they are.  Seeing the list on a daily basis, I like to think, serves as a motivational tool, as well as a reminder of what we really dreamed of doing this year.  When we get extra money, well, we tend to go to the list; after all, it’s a compilation of what we said we wanted this year. 

It’s kind of like a grocery list that needs attention, you don’t really dispose of it until you’ve completely finished getting everything on the list, and if you don’t get it all in one trip, well you usually add it to another list for another time.

What is just as important though, is every time I catch a glimpse of this years’ list, I remember the night we wrote it.  I remember why we picked the card we used, I remember how we got the card…I remember every detail.  Without realizing it, somehow we must read the list over and over, because we’ll find ourselves riding our bikes again or buying a palm tree for the yard… like we said we wanted to do. 

Another thing I’ve noticed is we don’t check off the items as they get done, we check them off only when we add the next list.  I guess this has become a little ritual.  It seems more productive and fun to actually check off items from a list when you can check off more than one.  So we wait until the evening we are ready to add the next list, usually New Year’s Eve.  Then we take the old down, dust them off, read everyone again, and check off all the items that we’ve completed and sometimes even without realizing it, some things  have come from lists all the way back to number one.

My suggestion to you is the same, from this year forward, before you start your new list, take a look at the all the old one and check off what you did.  There is nothing quite fulfilling as checking off an item that has been on some list somewhere for sometime.

I realize now as 2010 faces out to me that their value is priceless.  There was a book to finish and a Super Bowl to win.  There were concerts to go to and kitchens to paint; there were ballets to attend and a pool to swim in; there were lotteries to win and gardens to mend; photo albums got organized and fences were built.  There were trips to take and artifacts to collect; there were fishing poles and new floors; there were goldfish ponds and big television screens; there were orange kitty cats and picture phones; there were gas grills and laptops; there were roller blades and counter tops; there were birthday parties and palm trees; there were surfboards and puppies;  there were tattoos and new stoves; there were knee-high boots and big stuffed tigers; there were rugs for the floor and diamond rings; there were eyeglasses and bicycles and big Christmas trees!

They go all the way back to 1994 and are so unique in comparison.  If you look closely you’ll see how some things have made it to two or even three lists, and are more than five years apart from one another, and still aren’t checked off.  It’s as if they keep reappearing until by some phenomenal occurrence they are achieved; it seems like their appearance over and over somehow subconsciously alters the very thought process that helps us generate the act that ultimately fulfills the desire.

From this small activity, we’ve been able to capture small pieces of time in our lives together, we’ve been able to follow the course of our dreams and we’ve been able to share stories again and again that have long since been forgotten. 

From the promise of entrepreneurship to the recipe card we still make Key Lime Pie to.  There’s the “Sorry” card we found after Hurricane Ivan and the cabby that got us home on Y2K, well nothing melted that night, but what I remember most wasn’t the midnight hour, it was the day after.

Yes, all this held together by one small clip on our refrigerator door, written on pieces of paper that just floated into our lives year after year.  And on New Year’s Eve before the clock strikes midnight we take a moment and we walk all the way back to year number one and we look at all we have and what is still to come.

It’s quite fitting in closing, to tell you, the book is now finally done!

Journal Entry:

December 31, 1999

We walked downtown and met Kristian and Yvette for our first cocktail at Barleys this evening.  This new club had just opened back up under new ownership and from the looks of the inside, there was promise of an extraordinaire evening ahead; more than our small town has offered in past New Year’s Eve celebrations.  The conversations were surprising and the crowd was lively and full of energy.  We drank, danced, and donned our party hats as the midnight hour crept forward.

After the clock struck twelve, there were cheers and kisses, toasts and good will.  Then as the balloons and confetti started settling around us, we walked outside to hail a cab.  Sitting right out front was a nice big van, it was empty, but warm, and we were all able to fit inside comfortably.  A little lady was driving and was more than happy to take us to our next stop: a small club on the island.  

We continued on throughout the evening, hitting every club in town, waiting and watching for signs of the Y2K meltdown.  We kept growing in numbers, picking up new friends and old friends as the night grew late.  Everyone had a favored destination for the Millennium, and we were determined to see it all.  When it got time to leave one place and head to another, dang, if that little lady wasn’t sitting right there by the curb, with a big smile and a bigger heart. 

She kept us entertained with her crazy stories; she never complained about anything, and she always got us to the next drop off safe and sound.  It seemed strange to me, with so many cab drivers on the road and at the clubs, that we kept getting her.  I remember one of us saying how she was like our guardian angel (of course that could have been the champagne talking) keeping us together and never making us wait. 

Between four and five am, she dropped us off for the last time, in front of our house, and a strange feeling came over me.  For some reason I turned and asked her what her plans were for the day and she exclaimed she had a few more people to get home, but she didn’t know after that.  I remember her giving several of us her card and asking us to call her if we needed her.  As I think back now, it was the first time I had ever seen her “card”, as we hadn’t used a card or a phone number to contact her the entire evening, she had just been there.

It is the break of dawn now and the four of us are still sitting around the coffee table in our living room.  It seems Y2K has turned out to be more of a joke than anything else for us.  I reach in my pocket and there’s a small card.  It’s white with big bold letters that say Taxi on the front.  I flip it over, and it’s blank.  There’s not a phone number, an address, not even a name.

Nothing…

*

I call this recipe Transfer, you’ll find it in my calendar.

Quote for the day:

“The clock, a collection of cogs and gears, always in motion, yet accomplishing nothing, is worthless without interpretation.”

Richard Paul Evans, Timepiece

This recipe is about turning an ordinary moment into an extraordinary moment.  All you need is love.

I’m sure you’ve heard about people having romantic interludes in airplane bathrooms, most refer to this as The Mile High Club.  I went a step further, and started making a list of other unique places that we could meet for kiss, and possibly more!

• In a pool on a float
• In a boat
• On a Ferris wheel
• In a photo booth
• In an elevator
• On a park bench
• Under a gazebo
• On  a dock
• Under an umbrella
• In the rain
• On a raft
• In the sand
• On a swing
• Under the bleachers
• In a broom closet
• In a phone booth
• On a dirt road
• In a public restroom
• After dark at a playground
• In an alley
• In your backseat
• On a Canoe
• At the Pier
• On a golf course
• At the car wash
• In the theater
• On the bridge
• In a tunnel

 I hope you can use some of my ideas, but take some pen and paper along on your next date night and come up with some of your own.  Then make a point of trying out every one of them!

There’s never enough places to have a romantic interlude with the one you love, so use your imagination and get some sparks flying tonight!

Journal Entry:

May 31, 2010

There was thunder rolling across the sky this morning, reminding me of cannons, it’s only a few short days until the pirate festival.

We decided to spend the last of Memorial Day weekend at the beach; it has now become more urgent to take advantage of this paradise we live in, before balls of tar float up from the deep waters of the Gulf.  I spent a good hour packing our bag as we waited to see what the sky was going to do.  It began to lightly rain, nothing that wouldn’t dissipate quickly; that’s the one good thing about thunder storms in Florida, there’s a saying that we like to tell the tourists, “If you don’t like the weather in Florida just hang around for a few minutes.”

This was the first time we’ve actually packed a picnic for the beach and attempted to carry it on foot over the bridge and down to the boardwalk.  I considered it a challenge.  Because of the inclement weather I put our pack of cigarettes, our lighter, our cell phone, my journal and our two Travis McGee novels in the plastic bag that our loaf of bread came in, just in case we got wet crossing over to the island; I stuffed it all into our beach bag along with one towel and a small bottle of sunscreen. 

The cooler was packed with a few cans of beer and water, light enough to carry the long distance.  The only real obstacle was the beach umbrella, but it’s necessary, so I found a way to strap it to the beach bag and hang all of it around my shoulders.  As soon as the rain let up, we headed out, eager to see the water and the tourists.

We stopped at the foot of the bridge and got a small bag of ice for the cooler and two small bags of peanuts in the shell, Scott’s favorite source of protein.  Just after we left the Tom Thumb, we weren’t 200 feet from the boardwalk, the bottom dropped out of the sky.  It was raining so hard it was coming in sideways and we could hardly see where we were going.  I opened up the large beach umbrella and tipped it into the rain, hoping the wind wouldn’t snatch it from my hands and send it down highway 98.

We reached the parking lots and they were already flooding, the rain was coming down harder and we were getting soaked.  It took all my strength to hold the umbrella and keep it from flying away, I had to bow my head and walk blindly into the wind and rain.  Scott kept our bag as close to the center of the umbrella to keep it dry, but in doing so, he compromised the clothes he was to wear all day. As we neared the boardwalk, Scott guided us through parked cars and toward the stairs to the nearest pavilion.  We were soaked to the bone, our clothes were stuck to our wet skin, and our shoes were filled with rain, but we have not laughed that hard in so long. 

We couldn’t run, it was just too much water, so we waded through, accepting our fate and enjoying every minute of it.  It was then that I pulled Scott close and kissed him square on the lips, the most passionate wet kiss, with water running down our faces and the wind dancing all around us.  It was beautiful; I can’t remember the last time we kissed in the rain, succumbing to the outside elements.

When we reached the covered pavilion we unloaded all our stuff to a picnic table, and watched the down-pour with a handful of people, probably tourists.  I could sense a state of doom in the strangers because it was raining on their vacation.  But you know what, Scott and I couldn’t have been happier, we might have been soaking wet, but we had all our essentials-cigarettes, lighter, peanuts and beer- and we had each other.  We we’re laughing and having a good time. 

By the grace of God, our mood spread quickly through the trapped tourists and before you knew it, everyone there started laughing with us.  Our wet clothes, our dripping beach bag and just how funny we looked out there in that parking lot with that big ole beach umbrella was the topic of discussion. We opened a bag of peanuts, popped open a can of beer and mingled with our guests.  Within ten minutes the bluest sky you ever saw appeared out of nowhere. 

Leaving the pavilion was awesome, the beach was desolate and all of yesterday’s footprints were wiped clean.  The water was as clear as I’ve ever seen it, we immediately staked our claim to a small piece of sand, spread out our towel, and raised the umbrella for the second time that day.  Then we headed off to get wet again! 

The water was a little cool from the rain, but I was quickly able to get waist deep and I could still see all the way to the bottom of the Gulf.  There’s nothing like swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and being able to see through the water to the bottom of the ocean.  One of the rare things you can encounter on our beaches, that’s typically only seen in the Caribbean.

Within the hour the sky was full of what I call biblical clouds, huge white fluffy clouds that look so far away that they could be guarding the gates to heaven and the sun was precisely dodging through these clouds, showing no mercy for those who previously doubted her.  As we swam a flight of F15s did a flyby in formation and reminded us all of the sacrifices made by Americans so that we can lay out there on our beach in utter freedom.  Chills ran up and down my arms and it took everything in my power not to stand up and salute.

We headed back to our little area, unpacked the beach bag and prepared to spend another beautiful day in paradise.  Tourists came over the boardwalk in droves, and the sand quickly got devoured with big bright colored towels and neon umbrellas.  Before long everywhere you looked was pink polka dotted bikinis and babies with diapers full of sand. 

After we got all situated and figure out who would sit where and who would tend the cooler, I realized I had forgotten the most important thing, our sunglasses.  It amazes me that I spent over an hour preparing for this day and didn’t grab the sunglasses.  So I turned to Scott and asked him if he wanted me to run back home and get them. 

We laughed again…

It was then that I realized, there once was a day when we might have cursed the blinding whiteness of our sand, but now we pray for its sanctity, because lurking deep in the Gulf is blackness so big that it could forever swallow up that which we call home.

*

There are times in life, when you need to take advantage of a situation.  These situations won’t always appear to be ideal, but that’s what makes them even more romantic.

I call this recipe No Preparation, you’ll find it in my calendar.

Quote for the day:

“There are no ordinary moments.”

Unknown

This treat is welcome anytime, but in a relationship it should be the first recipe you make in the morning and the last recipe you do before you go to bed at night.  All you need is love.

This is all about kissing.  I believe kissing is the king of romance and needs to be a big part of your relationship.  It is the most effective way to be intimate with one another over and over, throughout the day. Make a point of kissing each other and by this I don’t just mean a peck on the lips, there are so many other different ways to kiss.

My husband and I enjoy kissing on a regular basis, and we have quite a variety of kisses we indulge in.  I believe you should have at least one of each of the following kisses a day!  To get started, print out this list, and then practice each kiss (a great date night activity) so that each of you knows what the difference is in each one.  Then after you have mastered that, use the print out as a check off list, hang it somewhere you see often, and then check off as you go.  Make sure each day, you have checked off every kiss, soon it will become habit, and you won’t need the list, or a quota from me!

• Peck (quick kiss)
• Smack (making a smacking noise with kiss)
• Smooch (a little longer kiss, lips closed and puckered up, and eyes closed)
• Lips parted kiss (slightly part lips right before they touch or as they first touch, no tongue)
• Brushed kiss (your lips barely brush theirs, leaving them wanting more)
• Wet kiss (nice and juicy-try wetting their lips with some ideas listed below)
• Butterfly kiss (fluttering your eyelashes on each other’s face)
• Eskimo kiss (rub noses)
• Forehead kiss (plant one on their forehead)
• Hand kiss (take your lover’s hands in your hands and kiss the back or the palm in a gentle loving way-if their response is to your liking, continue kissing the wrist, and up the arms, making your way to their face-slowly!)
• French kiss (swapping spit and teasing each other with the tips of your tongues)
• Eyes open kiss
• Eyes slit kiss
• Eyes closed kiss
• Placed kiss (Lifting their chin with your fingers and placing a kiss on their lips)
• Tender kiss (ever so softly as if their lips might break)
• Hands on each side of the face  kiss (pull them to you)
• Passionate kiss (erotic, fiery, emotional, but pulling away while both of your lips are still parted-Don’t seal the kiss, leave them wanting more…)
• Necking kiss (kissing the lips, face and ultimately the neck)
• Suck-face kiss (both sets of lips are parted, one sucks the breath of the other) 
• Slow, lingering kiss (one of you slightly parts the other’s lips, while barely touching)
• Blindfolded kiss (see inserts below)
• Fresh breath kiss (after brushing teeth/eating peppermints or see inserts below)
• Blow a kiss
• Enhanced kiss (kissing while traces of food or drink are on the lips-whip creme, cake icing, wine, etc)
• Pressed kiss (pressing down hard on their lips, with the back of their head in the palm of your hand-tilting their body is good here too!)
• Tongue lashing kiss (pretending you’re going to kiss them and then licking their lips instead-causing them to squirm and shriek)
• Public kiss (a kiss that’s a little to intimate for public viewing but you linger longer than you should because it’s erotic)
• Fingertip kiss (kiss your fingertips and place it on their lips)
• Stand up kiss (if you lover is sitting, concentrating on something else and you want their attention, take their hands in your hands, pull them up to a standing position and embrace them with a slow kiss on the lips)
• Naked kiss (while showering or dressing together, pace yourself so that you become completely naked right as they do, then scoop them up in your arms and give them a small wet kiss as your naked bodies come together)

After being together for over twenty-five years, kissing can definitely be taken for granted, so instead of just practicing different kinds of kissing, we also do the following…

We rate our kisses, especially if it seems like the kiss we just got was less than what we wanted or needed at the time.  I call this the “Percent Real” kiss.  When one of us quickly gives the other a peck on the lips in passing, or plants a kiss on the lips but doesn’t even make eye contact with you because of a distraction, the other should stop them dead in their tracks, keep them front and center, with faces four or five inches apart, and say, “I give that a 70% real.”  It can be 70%, 50%, even 20% real-however you feel it rated on a scale where 100% is the best and 0% is the worse.  This gives them the perfect opportunity to make amends and plant another kiss to improve their score.  This little game always leads to more thoughtful kissing, and absolute wonderful attention!

If too much time has gone between kisses, or you’ve both been too busy to interact intimately with each other, then try this.  Sometimes you can spend an entire evening with each other, or an entire day doing projects, cleaning house, mowing the yard, grocery shopping, even date night, and you are so busy and distracted that you forget to touch lips.  One of us will get in the other’s face, up close and say one of the following:

• “Have we kissed today?” 
• “Did you kiss me today?” 
• “I don’t think you’ve kissed me enough today.”

Another great thing that you should be involved in is enhanced kissing.  I call the following styles of kissing, Kissing Games, and you should play a kissing game at least once a month, preferably more!

Kissing Games:

One of the kisses I mentioned earlier is the blindfold kiss.  Blindfold kisses can lead to playful passion.  This doesn’t mean set up the dungeon and all that stuff, you can just put your hands over their eyes, plant a flavored kiss and make a game out of it.  But also try the following ideas to spice it up a little. 

• Get you a bag of fruit flavored (tropical are the best) frozen ice pops, the ones you put in the freezer to solidify.  Then blindfold your mate and play guess the flavor.   Suck on a  frozen ice pop for a few minutes, get your lips good and wet and then kiss them, leaving cool syrup all over the lips, then have them guess the flavor-it’s amazing fun on a hot summer day-they are great to pack in a cooler and go on a little adventure, too!

Also try:

• Wines
• Wine coolers
• Flavored beers
• Kool Aids
• Flavored lip glosses
• Flavored ice creams
• Cake icings
• Puddings
• Fruit juices
• Flavored mints
• Flavored lollipops
• Flavored chewing gum

Try doing some obscure items from your kitchen while you have them all blindfolded and puckered up.  Some of my favorites are:

• Peanut Butter
• Whip Cream
• Iced Cappuccino
• Honey
• Maple Syrup
• Melted Chocolates
• Frozen Daiquiri
• Frozen Icee
• Life Savers
• Fresh Pineapple
• Fresh Strawberries
• Fresh Watermelon

Another great blindfold idea is what I call the Peppermint Kisses.  When you’ve got them blindfolded, try making them find you by the smell of your breath.  You can do this on a date night, around the house, the bedroom, the yard, anywhere really.  After you’ve got them blindfolded, chew some really strong peppermint gum, then blow kisses their way until they find you!  Be sure to remove any obstacles from their path, don’t want you to end up at the ER…lol.  We tried this and I put Scott in a computer chair, the kind that is on wheels and swivels, and he couldn’t leave the chair.  Then I would blow peppermint kisses and he had to find me, either by rolling toward the pleasant smells or by swiveling around (no falling down this way).  Don’t cheat though, you have to be still!

Try kissing each other when your faces are all wet.  Lots of ways to set this up, again, some of my favorite are:

• When you are working in the yard together and you are drenched from sweat, hot sweaty kisses are great in the middle of the back yard.
• Spray each other down with the hose, then sneak a wet sloppy kiss.
• Take a dip in the pool and kiss under water.
• Take a shower together and kiss under the spout.
• Take a walk in the rain, and lay the umbrella down for a minute to place a wet one on their lips.
• Try toasting each other with a favorite beverage, each of you holding the drink for the other, then purposely spill all over their face, and using your lips, slurp it off their lips (great with champagne or ice-cold beer)

Try lipstick kisses.  Take a bright bold color of lipstick, something sexy, and one that actually still smears and disappears.  Then after applying the lipstick to your lips, nice and thick, tackle your honey, and place hard kisses all over his exposed body parts-neck, face, arms, hands, tummy, back…leaving your mark everywhere!  He’ll love it so much, he’ll probably ask for more…

There are so many ways to enhance this small and intimate activity between the two of you.  Be sure you try all of them!  Mark it on your calendar!

Journal Entry:

May 30, 2010

Scott got up with me at 5:00am this morning it seems I’m in a pattern now so he might as well join me.  We decided to take a walk to McDonalds, it’s been ages since we’ve eaten out and we’ve set aside a little money to treat ourselves.  Believe it or not, a McDonald’s breakfast is such a treat these days.  I knew they opened around 5:00am, and it’s quite a walk for us, so we put on our shoes and hats and headed out on foot. 

We hit the little store at the end of the street and picked us up a hot cup of coffee with cream, yes, cream!  Scott offered the young man there that works the counter a breakfast from McDonalds, but he graciously declined.  A good man is a man who is still generous even if it’s his last dollar.

McDonalds was warm and friendly.  We ordered up a small breakfast and sat in a booth by the large windows watching what little traffic was going by.  Our McDonalds was just recently renovated, well I say recently, probably more like five or so years ago.  I made the comment to Scott that it felt really happy in there.  There is glass boxes all along the front filled with memorabilia dating back to the sixties, right next to is a long row of internet terminals built right into the counter tops and little black spinning stools for their users.  When did McDonalds get so high-tech?   Outside they have reconstructed the original arches; they really are an icon, aren’t they?  I can’t believe I’ve never been inside since the renovation it’s always been a drive thru refuge for us.  It amazes me that our lives were moving so fast we never took the time to go inside. 

After leaving McDonalds we stop at the Dodge Store to get a newspaper, another luxury we allow ourselves this morning.  The main headline was grim; another attempt by BP at trying to stop the oil has failed.  Underneath that was a picture of our beach, with a quote saying our resorts are at full capacity this weekend.  There’s hope!

As I sit here writing, the birds have begun to bathe in the bird bathe and are putting on quite a show.  Scott says we can afford a small bag of wild bird feed today, another item we’ve gone too long without.

As I was filling my bird feeders, I looked in the window and saw Scott sitting at the computer, typing diligently.  I blow a kiss in his direction and he catches it with his hands, then he blows one back and I try to catch it.

He gets up to the screen and tells me I missed it.  Confused I asked him what did I miss, and he says, “The kiss, it landed right there”, as he points to my cheek…

*

I call this recipe Let Simmer, you’ll find it in my calendar.

Quote for the day:

“The greatest threat to love is not circumstance, but the absence of attention.

Richard Paul Evans

This recipe is visually stunning.  It’s also a work in progress and probably will never really be a finished project, but that’s what makes it so valuable.  All you need is love.

When we first moved into our home, I began painting every wall in it, because they were all a yellowish looking white, and they felt like chalk when you ran your hand over them.   If something marked up one of these walls or the dog slung her slobber on one as she tends to do, you couldn’t wipe it off.  If you tried to, this chalky substance would come right off in your cloth and leave a dark, ugly stain.  I couldn’t touch it up with any regular white paint either, because nothing I tried matched. 

We didn’t have a lot of money when we first moved in, so I would check out our local home improvement store every Saturday or so, and they had a place in the paint department where special requested cans of mixed paint colors that went awry would be sold off at a cheap price.  Hence, I ended up with about 15 cans of paint all varying in colors, mostly bold.  I wanted to keep some of the paint of every can, so in the future I could do touch up work with ease, so I only painted one wall with each color.  This made our house look like a crayon box, literally every color in the spectrum ran through our house like a rainbow threw up in it. 

I remember one of the cans of paint I picked up was the brightest, hot pink you’ve ever seen, and it was a quart size, not really enough paint to paint a large wall and have some left over, plus it was a little hideous to say the least.  There’s one wall in particular in our house that is usually hidden from view because the bathroom door is always open, so this was the wall I experimented on with my pink paint. 

I painted the wall a bright white, but then went back over it with faux brick, except the brick was pink.  When I got done, it remind me of the cover of the album by Pink Floyd, titled The Wall.  And, ironically, my husband kept calling it, “The Pink Wall”. 

One afternoon, it was raining and I was bored.  I started going through my music CD collection to find that album cover, curious if my memory served me right.  When I found it, that is when I remembered the graffiti written across the wall depicted on that album cover.  This is how my idea got started.

So I got out my box of magic markers, and took out only the fat, black ones.  After a couple of hours of practice on paper and a lot of practice on a mirror, I came up with a piece of graffiti I wanted to put on my wall.  With careful and precise lettering I tainted my prissy pink brick wall with mine and my husband’s nicknames (Venus and Batman) in perfect scripted cursive writing.  Then as any romantic artist would do, I encircled it with a large decorative heart-bold and beautiful.  It took days to get it exact, but it was absolutely stunning when complete. 

The best part was, every morning when I brushed my teeth, I would step out of the bathroom, shut the door and stand there admiring my work, like Michelangelo might have the Sistine Chapel.  It’s classic graffiti but I might add it’s very romantic…

So one night a very dear friend that was visiting us on the eve he was to leave our town for good, chasing a dream of his own, had come out of the bathroom and noticed the “wall”.  He came into the kitchen and asked me if he could sign the graffiti wall.  I had never really consider this wall a graffiti wall, but thought, “You know what, that’s a good idea”.  Knowing we might never see Jimi again, it would be a nice send off. 

You know I never really thought about it, but just as I have my own little graffiti insignia, probably so does everyone else; that one little thing you are good at doodling with.

So I gave Jimi a black sharpie and he headed over to the wall.  This wall is just the other side of the kitchen, so while we were in the kitchen preparing dinner, he was doodling, but still able to carry on a conversation with us.  I didn’t really put two and two together until dinner was ready and he was still around the corner.  When I stepped around to check on him, he was still on the second letter of his name…and it was absolutely perfect.  It was way up high as he is well over six feet tall, and it was the best block letter font I’ve ever seen anyone do. 

He spent the whole night on his name, as we gave him some light and kept the beer cold for him.  It ended up a masterpiece even more precise than my own.  That was the night the graffiti wall was born. 

I can’t tell you now how many pieces of art on that wall now, but it has been almost 14 years and still to this day, people are able to find a small spot to leave a lasting impression.

There are just a few rules I came up with for signing the graffiti wall:

1. You can only use black magic markers
2. You can not use any foul language
3. You can not scribble
4. Do not write over anyone else
5. Leave room for others
6. Please leave a date
7. Please leave a quote if you have one

On this wall you will find a lot of the typical “somebody loves somebody” with hearts.  There’s a whole lot of symbols of peace and love.  There are dragons, roses, and many forms of religious art.  There’s quite a few “I was here” with names and dates.  And there are hundreds of quotes, all worthy enough to read on a daily basis.  It’s a beautiful thing that I have in the center of my house. 

You know we live in a small town, and on many occasions, someone has come over for a bar-b-que or a card game and gone to sign the wall, but not before reading a lot of what is up there.  So many times people will recognize other people from their art work and their names. 

And me, well every morning I read my wall, I repeat my favorite quotes up there under my breath and I remember back to that 4th of July in the summer of 1998, or that New Year’s Eve in 1999.  So many acquaintances and so many friends have left behind a memory for me and I cherish it on a daily basis.

Another fun thing that has happened along the way, is we will have an old friend stop in, someone who hasn’t been home in years, sometimes five even ten years have passed.  First thing they do is check the wall to find that they really were here.  I love the look on their face and the contented smiles when they finally find their mark in history, it’s priceless. 

Just the other night my husband and I were out at a local bar and eatery, and ran into a person whom we thought we recognized but couldn’t remember from where.  After a few hellos and how are yous, they jogged our memory and it’s always the same thing, “I’ve been to your house and signed your wall”.  I get the biggest smile on my face and think how special it really is…

Now if you don’t have an entire wall you want to dedicate to this romantic idea, then take an old picture frame, hang it on the wall, paint the bricks inside the framed wall and use just this area.  If a graffiti wall doesn’t match your decor maybe use the bottom of your dining room table or the back of a door that you can keep from sight when you want to.

I know this idea sounds crazy, but I can’t tell you how many times my husband and I stand at our wall and walk through time, friends and get togethers that we’ve shared for as long as we have lived here.  We’ll remind ourselves of old friends we haven’t seen in years, we’ll laugh at someone’s art, or we’ll look at a date and a name and try to remember who they were or why they were here…and we are reminded that all of this time took place right here, because of us!

Journal Entry:

May 27, 2010

It’s 5:17am, and once again I’m deprived of sleep.  Nature has sent her messengers, the morning doves; their soft coos alert me that the sun is coming.  Today I decide to get up with them and watch, so I put on a pot of coffee.  There’s nothing better than a cup of java in your hand and the sun rising around your house, while birds fill the air with song.

It’s the beginning of Memorial Day weekend and around here it’s one of the biggest weekends of the year.  Not just because we have  two large Air Force bases surrounding us, but because it’s the holiday that kicks off the summer months for us, the three months that we have a chance of making a living so we can survive next winter.  We are the only vacation destination for most of the Midwest and the lower Gulf states and they are truly our largest source of income.  I’m just praying the oil scare does not keep them from coming.

Scott has still had no word on his check and we’ve been scraping by for the last four weeks.  I feel like we are living in the Great Depression, where sugar is a rare commodity and parmesan cheese and coffee cream are luxury items.  But we still have a little coffee, no filters, but coffee.

I’ve discovered if you use a paper towel as a filter you can get almost a weeks use out of it.  It definitely gives you a more robust flavor by the end of the week, Scott calls it cowboy coffee.  What we do is after making coffee, we let the grounds sit out all day and dry, and then we scoop out most of them leaving the paper towel in tact. This way we don’t run out of paper towels.  I really hate going without paper towels; there is just not a good substitute for them other than maybe newspaper or brown paper bags.

I now know why homeless people have holes in their clothes.  Apparently, when cotton is completely saturated with human body oil over a period of time, it begins to break down and disintegrate, as our bed sheets are showing signs of doing.  I think I can darn the two bad places, but they had to be washed.  So we washed them in the sink yesterday, along with some of our clothes, because laundry money has long since run out.  There’s nothing better than clean sheets on your bed.

The leak in the refrigerator is getting worse.  I think because of the heat in the house, it’s running longer and harder, trying to keep things cold inside, and the drip has turned into a constant stream.

According to the newspaper, yesterday over 5oo people applied for about twenty jobs that might be available related to the oil spill.  One of the requirements for applying was you must be currently unemployed.  That’s scary…

We went to the landing again yesterday to feed some of our old bread to the ducks.  There wasn’t a duck in sight, unusual.  We sat on the old bench at the end of the docks and talked about how lucky we are to live within walking distance of this water.  A crane walking nearby seemed to share our same interests. 

I love to watch a crane fish, it’s a very graceful bird, and makes fishing look so easy.  There was a handful of fisherman around, but none of them were having the same luck as the crane.  Several sailboats were anchored out in the middle of the sound, water lapping at their sides in the light breeze and their masts gently swaying back and forth.  At least the air was moving…

A group of people came through on jet skis and following in their trail were four dolphins; such beautiful creatures living right here amongst us.  What I love best about dolphin sightings is when you first get a glimpse of a fin coming out of the water, there will always be two or more popping up near it.  They disappear as quickly as they show up, five or so minutes will pass before you spot them again.  My eyes fixed on a sight a little further down in front of them, in hopes to see them surface again, but I’m almost always off, way off.

I pointed out in the water, right by the last buoy bobbing around near the bridge, and told Scott to watch for the dolphins, and then we waited, and waited.  Sure enough, Scott turns to say something to me, and he misses them again. 

A ladybug landed on Scott’s leg.  It must have been a baby, because her spots were still yellow, instead of black.  We studied her for a moment, and then right as we both looked back out, there was the school of dolphins; sure enough, they were nowhere near the buoy I pointed at, my tracking system had failed again.

We continued our walk over the bridge and down the island behind the first set of condominiums.  When we reached the Gulf, we headed toward the boardwalk, wading along in the shallow waters watching people sunning and swimming along our beaches.  The day was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky.  The water was absolutely gorgeous.  We stopped to watch the volleyball players and talked with the locals and then we headed back home.  It seems there is only one thing on everyone’s minds these days, oil.

We took the long way home, circling around underneath the bridge to the other side of Highway 98 before crossing over.  I like it down under the bridge by the water, where the huge concrete embankments are, it’s was one of Scotts favorite hang-outs when he was a skateboarder.

We lingered there briefly; Scott showed me the concrete as a skateboarder sees it, where you drop in, where you bank, where you can wipe out. What surprised me most was there’s not one piece of graffiti on any of those concrete walls.  Not one.  I asked Scott about it, and he told me that when you come down here, especially as a kid, there is only one thing on your mind, concrete hills and boards with wheels. 

We continued up the road to the steps leading up to the bridge.  The wind had picked up a little and felt so good against our sunburned skin.  I had to put my hand on my hat to keep it from blowing off, and I noticed Scott grabbed the front of his and pulled it tighter against his head.  We got half way across the bridge and stopped like we usually do to look at the water one more time.  It’s the last place to view the Gulf of Mexico before heading to town. 

Scott turns to continue on and I just happened to get a glimpse of the back of his hat, sitting there in the fold is the ladybug. 

She spent the whole day with us and all that time never left or fell off.  I retraced our steps in my mind, thinking of all the places we had been in the wind, in the water, all the walking…and there she sits like she’s on vacation…with us!

*

I happened to look up the word graffiti before I typed it this morning.  It seems I will successfully memorize its spelling if I use the dictionary, versus spell check.  To my surprise, graffiti is not listed, but graffito is.  I read the definition and it’s what I’m looking for if I’m referring to one inscription or drawing made on a public surface such as a rock or wall.  Further down in the definition under usage is the word graffiti meaning plural inscriptions on a wall.  It goes on to say that the singular count noun graffito is still quite rare and is not standard?  Is that right?

Inscriptions or drawings on public walls, as long as they’re not vulgar have always been of interest to me.  From what I’ve read and seen lately, there are now places in big cities where graffiti is welcomed and encouraged.  That’s awesome!

I call this recipe Let dry, you’ll find it in my calendar.

Quote for the day:

“A thing is complete when you can let it be.”

Gita Bellin

This recipe takes a little planning but well worth it.  All you need is love.

Every once in a while it’s nice to take a look at things out of their normal perspective; get a bird’s-eye view if you will.  So we’ll be packing our bags again for another safari, because in this recipe I will suggest how you can have a perfect picnic in the tree tops. 

If you have access to a rooftop at your home, your apartment or your neighborhood, get out and take advantage of this romantic setting.  It’s best to use these places during the evening hours once the sun has set, but we’ve also been known to enjoy them in broad daylight. 

I know you’ve probably seen countless Hollywood movies, and television sitcoms that revolve around people entertaining, and romancing one another on a rooftop and you’ve probably thought how nice it would be to engage in such an activity.  It’s really quite simple and can be a great addition to date night. 

Pick a night that has a full moon for better lighting on your picnic. For best chances of stargazing, look in your forecast for a cloudless sky and a small moon.  Then pack some or all of the following and plan an evening outdoors.

During the day of your adventure, get your ladder propped up in a safe position to allow for easy access to the roof with no mishaps.  Then go ahead and prep your roof with items of leisure that will make your stay more comfortable.  You might want to take up small beach chairs that sit low to the ground or light weight chaises that allow you to lean back and see the sky.  If the roof is in good shape and soft with shingles, just include a heavy blanket or a very large beach towel. 

Pick out some music for the two of you to enjoy and get your portable cd player up there ahead of time.  I like to bring along recorded live concert  soundtracks of some of our favorite bands, then it feels like we are actually at a concert. 

Then pack a bag with little necessities like sunscreen, bug spray, light toys, glow in the dark toys, music CDs, binoculars, a journal, and a flashlight.  Be sure everything has good batteries and your glow in the dark toys are charged up. 

Another little thing I like to include are those small laser lights that come with hundreds of different heads, each one with a design.  It’s fun to see how far you can get your laser to travel and still see the little designs. 

Pack a small cooler with some snacks and cold beverages, a bottle of wine, chocolates, fruits and cheeses.  But you can even go as far as preparing dinner and packing it up in to-go boxes for a feast in the sky.

As dark approaches, grab your lover and head on upstairs for another great adventure together.

Journal Entry:

May 27, 2010

The oil slick is becoming a growing concern.  We’ve now added CNN to our favorites list on our DVR, so we can continue to keep updated on the efforts of containing the oil mass and the effects it will have in our local area.

We took another walk this afternoon to see the water; it’s the one thing we can still count on for now.  Although its magnificence can be seen by us in just a short walk from our house it appears that due to the word spreading of the oil the vacationers whom travel to see our water are canceling trips in mass.  We stopped in our local grocery store and spoke with the manager.  He told us this morning that sales are weakening daily from the scare. 

Scott poured himself a cup of coffee and spoke to some of his old regulars that he used to bag groceries for as I meandered near the front door.  I noticed a large table set up with big white buckets carefully stacked on top of it.  Upon approaching closer I saw the sign, they are now accepting donations of any and all cleaning supplies, just load up the buckets with your purchases.  Scattered all over the table top amongst the buckets are little plastic toy animals, all of marine life which live in the Gulf.  Each one has a little tag on it that says, “Please help us stay clean”.  It’s enough to scare the hell out of you.

We left Publix and headed downtown with a more urgent stride in our step anxious to check on the water.  As we reached highway 98, I saw the large banners strung across the highway, gently blowing in the wind where hundreds of cars pass under them daily traveling east and west.  It’s nice to see them up there, reminding us of what is to come.  We walk a few more blocks toward the sound, to the landing, to our water… 

In just a few short weeks Brooks Landing will become the nucleus of this small town, as we again celebrate the legacy of Billy Bowlegs.  Billy is a well know pirate that made landfall here in the 1600s plundering and pillaging all in sight.  We honor him now, I’m not sure why, but he’s held in high regard around here for being a buccaneer. 

There will be a mock raid from a lot of common folk dressed like pirates next Friday night at the landing, and the city militia will fight them off under a sky full of fireworks.  That first night, the city will win causing the pirates to turn away, but then they will return early Saturday afternoon, in their boats. When they hit the Brooks Bridge they will shoot their cannons, big bold booms will reverberate around our houses, shaking our windows and causing our dogs to scatter and hide with their tails between their legs.  It is by far my favorite day of the year.  All through the town, folks will cry out, “The pirates are comin, the pirates are comin!”  

You’ll hear Scott and me loud and clear from our rooftop.  This is where we gather in the early afternoon, because it’s a clear view of the people who will come from near and far on foot, walking in large groups, through our neighborhood, as parking down here is a rare commodity.  By late Saturday afternoon we will pack our bags and join in these forces heading towards the landing, on foot, to witness the upcoming battle over land and water.

By 5:00pm there will be hundreds of boats full of pirates in the sound, the early birds will drop anchor at precise points for a perfect view, sometimes days in advance.  But by late Saturday afternoon everyone that has a boat is somewhere in the water, bumping and floating together like one long water train, each one moored to the next.  There will be water balloons hitting decks left and right, and big water cannons drenching everything in sight.  Jell-O shots will be loaded up in slingshots, heading to those still sailing sober and when everybody is in place, or that’s what I like to think, we go to battle.  This second scrimmage will be on land and water. 

This time the militia will be defeated.  The pirates will take over the land, leaving their boats to dance among the women and children.  They’ll bring their treasures, and spread their loot with all the people gathered at the water’s edge.  And then we will party, party all night long into Sunday morning, dancing and drinking wine.  We will eat carnival food, paint up our faces and wear patches over one eye.  We will gallantly swing our plastic swords in the air and proudly show off the skull necklaces hanging around our necks.  We will picnic on our blankets, and the bands will play until the wee hours of the morning. 

There will be balls held all over town, the biggest one at the mall, with women and men donned in the most elaborate costumes of that century, gathering together to crown the king, the queen, and a new Captain Billy; the “Coronation”.  There will be a parade following these celebrations and it will run right through the center of town with boats on floats, full of people in pirate garb throwing beads and bags of gold coins to all, adults and children alike. 

I can finally see the water now; I slow down a little, catch my breath. 

The pirates are comin…the pirates are comin…

*

There are few times that we pull out our ladder and climb to the roof of our house that aren’t associated with chores like cleaning gutters of magnolia leaves or picking key limes when they ripen.  But when we do…

The Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival is truly a gala event.  It’s one we are proud to call our own.

I call this recipe Do Not Bake, you’ll find it in my calendar.

Quote for the day:

“Come to the edge, he said; we are afraid, they said; come to the edge, he said; they came, he pushed them…and they flew!”

Guillaume Apollinaire