Thursday, September 13, 2007

A Photo, a Triple 3WW, & a Recipe

I took the photo last July, while driving south of Mountain Meadows, heading toward Snow Canyon State Park in SW Utah. Note the prominent cinder cone.

Every week Bone provides a writing challenging. Giving us three words, he asks those of us willing to come up with something creative using the three words he provides. This weeks, our three words are “Original, Racket, and Skipping.” I often find myself immediately coming up with something to write—often using all three words in a sentence. This week I wrote three different pieces… “For what?” “I don’t know.”

1. Bill was proud of Ole Blue. “It has all original equipment,” he bragged as we walked through the parking lot. When we got to an older truck that looked like it was hand painted, he slapped the hood as if to let it know he was back, then crawled in behind the wheel. The doors were unlocked, so I jumped in on the passenger said, and he turned the ignition. After a misfire or two, the engine caught; he put in into reverse and backed out of the parking place. Shifting into first, we headed toward the street. “You sure it’s running okay,” I asked. “Its sounds like that the timing is off, like there’s a piston that keeps skipping.” “Nah, everything is fine,” Bill assured me as he pulled out into the street and gave it some gas and shifted into second. When he pushed the gear into third, the engine started making a big racket and then gave off lots of smoke, then ground to a halt, stranding us in the middle of the highway. “Don’t think I’d be bragging any more about its original equipment,” I said as I got out in order to push the truck off the highway.

2. Paula was proud of her record collection, especially the old 78. “It can’t get any better than listening to these originals,” she assured me as she pulled the vinyl out of its cover, blew on it as if to dust it off, and then carefully placed the disk on the turn-table, touching only the center and outside rim. As the record began to spin, she carefully lifted the arm and set the needle on the spinning disk. With such care, I was shocked at how much skipping the needle was doing. Such a racket came out of the speakers that I wanted to scream. “I think I’ll stick to CDs,” I said as I got up and headed for the door, hoping to quickly find a fist full of aspirin.

3. Although it was an original merry-go-around from the pre-OSHA days, the kids at the park preferred skipping rocks into the pond because the ride was so rusty that it made such a racket whenever anyone tried to spin it around.

Gingerbread Recipe

Jadedprimadonna (Angie from SC in my blog list) recently asked for my favorite molasses recipes. This gingerbread recipe came from my Great-Grandma. She was born in the 1880s and died when I was seven. Last year I wrote a post about her and my great-granddaddy. Even though she had a gas range, she continued to use a wood burning stove that sat next to the gas range in her kitchen, especially for baking, until the day she died. This is great with applesauce!)

½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup molasses
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp cloves
1 tsp salt
1 cup hot water
1 ½ tsp soda

Combine butter and sugar. Add eggs and molasses. Shift flour with soda, salt and spices and add to molasses mixture. Add in hot water and stir until smooth. Bake in a 9” x 12” baking pan at 350 degrees till done. I didn’t write a time down, but I start checking on it after about 45 minutes. (Hint: insert a toothpick and when it comes out clean, consider it done).

18 comments:

  1. I will make this on Saturday and let you know how it goes! I'm looking forward to it. My blackstrap molasses is so strong, taking it straight is nearly impossible. Thanks for the recipe!

    I enjoyed the writing prompted by the 3 words. I notice the theme of noise running through all 3. Were you in a noisy place when you were writing?

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  2. Normally I'd say I preferred tall triplets, but these short ones were good ;-)

    LOVED the "pre-OSHA" comment: I laughed at that!

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  3. Your writings are great. Reading Ole Blue reminded me of a friends old truck. The shifter was on the steering column.

    In the 2nd story, I was reminded about my age. My kids wouldn't know what a 78 is unless I explained. We don't even own a record player.

    In the 3rd story, I was again reminded about my age. I miss those merry-go-rounds. You can't even climb up into the rocket ships now because of liability. The parks welded the entrance at the bottom

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  4. Wow, three shorties and a recipe to boot. My story had old records and car trouble, too.

    So is the recipe an original? I'm no good at following recipes. I like skipping steps. Plus the fan above my stove has been making an awful racket lately.

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  5. Sage, don't you ever proofread what you post? #1 was horrible. :-)

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  6. Jaded, right now my life is noisy!

    TC & Dan, OSHA and such groups have ruined many of the good playground games--but I suppose the playground is safer today then when we were kids

    Bone, cute 3WW there at the end!

    Murf, okay, I'll admit you're right in this case as I did find three words missing and two words that were wrong (said for side?). To atone, I slipped in a semi-colon.

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  7. I liked the three stories, and to see bone here is nice...

    As it is Saturday in a mere 2 hours here in Sydney, I might have to do a bit of baking, mind if I use this receipe?

    Here from Michele's this evening...

    berniefotoblog and more at burntofferings

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  8. uffda!...thats IDENTICAL to my Great Grammys recipe..any chance they were related?

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  9. Huh..you did use a semicolon. I guess my eyes were so offended at the wording that I didn't even notice it. ;-)

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  10. Yummy. The recipe sounds good.

    BTW, if Warren Jeffs information is what you want, watch/read Arizona news. He's on every single day. And...he's only a prophet for a very small segment of the Fundamentalist LDS -- not all Fundamentalists follow him.

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  11. I am not much of a cook (it is kind of blasphemy to say that being an Indian female!). I will try that recipe for the sole reason I got all the ingredients.

    (Comparing to a toothpick, a knitting needle works better)

    I liked the 3rd 3WW!

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  12. To answer your question on my blog, yes, Hindus cremate the dead. After I die, I would be cremated too.

    I wrote that poem becos I used to visit cemeteries while I was in college and felt calm in that serene place. I don't know how I picked up that habit. First time I told my parents, they were shocked out of wits.

    Long time I visited one but the feeling is still there.

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  13. Bernie, let us know how the recipe turns out?

    Mal, is your great-grandma a highland scot from NC? (of course they came over long before she was born--in the late 1740s)

    Murf, I added the semi-colon to atone for my lack of proofreading

    Dawn, I've been keeping up a bit on Warren Jeffs trial--I'm sure it's all over the news out there.

    Gautami, I love Indian food! Where did you go to school?

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  14. Hello, Michele sent me...enjoyed your writing on the 3 words challenge.

    The receipe sounds wonderful!

    Liked the photo.

    BTW, thank you for giving me the suggestion to link to my daily poem. I'm doing that now when there is a link.

    I also read yestday's post about the Mountain Meadows Massacre! You really did a great job tracing that story.

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  15. I am SO all over that gingerbread recipe!

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  16. Sage, nope, Grammy was a half breed Bolivian. Highlands for sure, but not the same one I think

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  17. Pre OSHA days. Why do I have a feeling we are still living in that era? Maybe it is the neo OSHA era, between the industry lobbyists and cronies paying their way into the cookie jar.

    Great stories. I have an audiophile friend who also swears by vinyl. Growing up listening to cassettes myself, I prefer cds.

    I am all over the gingerbread recipe, and I don't even cook.

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  18. I have yet to find time to participate in 3WW again. Love reading what others do though.

    I'll have to save the recipe for holiday fun :)

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