Category: Experience

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Slice of Life Challenge – March 3 – The Art of Charcuterie

I started savoring Saturdays in January, making sure that weekends offer something relaxing and fun – coffee, books, short day trips, reading, writing, and creating. So when my husband and I were having coffee in Senoia, Georgia (filming location of The Walking Dead) and I walked by a charcuterie board artist hard at work on a catered board, a post came rushing back to mind. Earlier in the week, I’d seen this:

This is a story idea, I thought. I ambled over and asked the food artist a few questions – namely if she could give me some pointers about creating a charcuterie board and whether I could make some photos of her work.

The first charcuterie board I’d ever actually eaten had been a disposable one from an outdoor camping and survival store in downtown Blue Ridge, Georgia when my husband and I were staying at the top of a mountain that took a 4-wheel drive to navigate. It was too much effort to go back out for dinner, so we took home a simple board, pre-made, with some cheeses, meats, and crackers on it. Nothing fancy like chocolate, nothing colorful or fresh and sweet like fruit, nothing exciting like nuts and pickles. We were not impressed. But it had been good for binge-watching Virgin River and not starving at cloud-level elevation.

Charcuterie board artist at work in Senoia, Georgia

This particular food designer, though, showed me the art of charcuterie creation with her XO and heart cookie cutters that she was using for the cheeses, and offered me a rule of thumb or two:

“Use three meats and three cheeses – play with combinations of food, and be creative with savory and sweet foods ranging from pickles and olives to chocolates. Your board should offer a hard cheese and a soft cheese. Use cutouts on the soft cheese and pipe in some preserves. Be festive with the cookie cutters and food colors to customize your board for the occasion.”

I decided to create a board for the Super Bowl, so I found a tray and shopped for the foods. What I discovered is that you can make these boards in under an hour, and they can be as healthy or as unhealthy as you want to make them. I shopped at a Dollar General that has a fresh food section, and the cost was about $40-45 – the price of what it costs for the two of us to go out for a nice meal.

I rolled ham and cheese and secured the bites with toothpicks.

I put on an apron to try to look the part and began chopping meats and dicing cheese and arranging the foods on the tray in designated areas. I started feeling a little bit like a food artist myself!

I arranged fruits next to meats and cheeses and kept the pickles, olives, and chocolates in their own containers on the tray. Soon, my board had a look of completeness to it, and while I’m no good at making little roses out of hard salami slices like the expert, I’m confident enough to create a charcuterie board for the next social gathering where I have to sign up to bring food.

My finished charcuterie board

So I realized that the daily 1,000 story walk is true! I’d walked past a story idea, stopped to ask questions, and learned something new!

Ta-daaaaa!

Humbleswede inspired my post today when he shared First,  if I know I’m in need of an idea, I spend the day with my antennae up.  Thanks, my fellow writers, for all the sparks of ideas!

Special thanks to Two Writing Teachers
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Slice of Life Challenge – March 1 :The Slicer Meet-Up

When I was in California last November for the NCTE Convention, I programmed my phone’s navigation to take me to McCormick and Schmick’s at the Anaheim Garden Walk for the Slice of Life Meet-Up at 5:00. I couldn’t wait to meet everyone, to put faces with the names of the bloggers whose posts I read every Tuesday throughout the year and everyday during the month of March for the Slice of Life Writing Challenge. We were each bringing a gift for a writer for a gift exchange, but I knew that the best gift of all would be the personal connections I would make with my fellow writers.

I planned to arrive right on time so that I could be back at the Anaheim Hilton at 6:30 for the Open Write Meet-up in the MIX Restaurant for dinner with my group giving a presentation at the conference. Even though I was still in a boot as my broken right ankle healed, I figured this walk would be quick and easy.

I was wrong.

I’m not sure why, but whenever I’m walking in a major city along with hundreds of thousands of other people, I imagine that everyone is going to the same place I’m going – or at least that they know where everywhere is and can help me if I get lost. At the first intersection, my arrow was still wonky, changing directions like a compass that couldn’t locate magnetic north, so I took a chance and stayed in the stream with the masses.

I started scanning the throng of people for anyone who looked like a writer who might be headed to the table for the dozen or so of us who would be attending, and my eyes fell on two women about my age who appeared to have had the characteristic writer’s callus on the last knuckle of their middle fingers. I was convinced I’d successfully used my detective skills and found them.

At the next traffic light, I eased my way closer to them so that I could tag along and listen for a moment. They’d stopped talking, so I made a bold move and decided to ask.

“Are you going to the Slicer meet-up?”

No sooner had I gotten the words out of my mouth, I realized I had asked the wrong people the right question the wrong way, given the state of our world.

I found myself looking into two completely horrified faces. Horrified.

The walking light turned white, and they turned and took off in another direction, looking back over their shoulders at me as if I’d been sporting a knife in my boot. Me. A murderous slicer. I was glad I had saved a chain of emails in case the cops came and I had been taken in for questioning.

Next time, I’ll know to inconspicuously whisper, “Would you happen to be headed to the Slice of Life invitational dinner for celebrity writers?”

I walked on another block, and then I saw a familiar female face standing at a traffic light, waiting to cross. At least I was pretty sure it was her. I decided on a safer tactic.

“Fran?”

“Yes,” she replied, looking at me curiously.

“I’m Kim. I recognize your picture from your blog. Are you going to the meet-up?”

We walked the rest of the way together, and we managed to find our fellow writers.

A huge thank you to Two Writing Teachers for providing the Slice of Life Writing Challenge now and throughout the year, and to Melanie Meehan for arranging such a lovely gathering, full of fun, laughter, writers’ gifts, and stories! I’m hoping that we will be able to enjoy time together again at this year’s NCTE Convention. I’ll plan to Uber and would love to share a ride with you to the Citrus Society Celebrity Writer’s Red Carpet Invitational Gala!

2022 Slicer Meet-Up in Anaheim, California
A street somewhere in Anaheim where I got lost and somehow avoided being arrested.
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Savoring Saturdays – 1828 Coffee Company Breakfast and Hanging Out at Home

Boo Radley, napping on the back of my chair

Since January, we’ve made an intentional plan to savor our Saturdays by starting with coffee and dialing back the pace of life. Boo Radley and his brothers helped us do that today. All three dogs were in different chairs, in different sleeping positions, strewn across the furniture like cozy throw blankets on this cloudy, cold afternoon – inspiring us to kick back and take it easy.

We started the day at 1828 Coffee Company with a cinnamon roll, a slice of breakfast casserole, cheese grits, lemon biscotti, coffee, and lavender latte. What a feast! What a treasure! The gifts of time, togetherness, and relaxation without pressing deadlines are on my list of gratitudes for today.

And life is far too short not to be counting.

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Savoring Saturday – Coffee, Vacation Conversation, and Baby Goats

From Childcraft Volume 1: Poems and Rhymes, my beloved childhood classic that I still treasure today

Saturdays are for savoring – for making time for coffee, conversation, and time to enjoy life without all the demands of work and deadlines. So on Friday night when my sister-in-law called to see if I wanted to ride with her to pick up some farm fresh eggs, I asked if we could make it a post-coffee date. We’ve been chickenless on our farm for over a year now, and my husband and I have been missing the fresh eggs that we prefer when we have breakfast for supper a couple of times each week. My sister-in-law found a neighbor with plenty to spare.

1838 Coffee Company on the Zebulon Square is one of our local coffee hangouts.
My sister-in-law ordered a latte and a chocolate croissant.
My husband ordered his usual cinnamon roll
….and cheese grits, a Southern staple

After lingering over breakfast and coffee in 1828 Coffee Company for an hour, dreaming of planning a summer vacation to Glacier National Park, we made our way down the road to one of several dozen mini-farms in our rural Georgia county, where homesteaders live on self-sustaining tracts of land filled with fresh vegetable gardens, herbs, and livestock of all kinds. They make their own butters and jams, breads, dry herbs for year-round cooking, and aim to live more than 90% off their own land, right down to the soap they make themselves.

Many of the homesteaders here don’t believe in doctors, choosing instead the ways of functional medicine and homeopathic remedies, along with a diet without preservatives and chemical additives. The free-range eggs and chickens without hormone injections are part of a healthier diet. Their commitment to the land is second only to their commitment to God and church.

My basket of farm-fresh eggs that do not have to be refrigerated until washed

As we were picking up several dozen chicken and duck eggs, we also got to hold the new little kids that are 6 weeks old! Baby goats have a way of lifting your spirits instantly as you hold them or watch them scamper about, doing little spinning sidekicks as they jump off of stumps, filling your heart with joy. Their sheer energy and happiness to be alive is contagious!

My Sister-in-Law with a baby goat
Me with a baby goat
A smiling nanny goat

As we left the farm with eggs and hearts full of baby goat joy, I was uplifted with so many signs of spring – not only baby farm animals, but also daffodils in full bloom and the warmth of sunshine.

Welcome, early spring! I hope the southern groundhog was right.

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Traveling and Writing in Clean Hotels With Great Coffee

Our host today for the last day of the February 2023 Open Write is Stacey Joy, who inspires us to write etheree poems. You can read her prompt and poem here, along with others, and add your own if you wish. I’m traveling through three Southeastern states this week, and I have always found hotels to be some of the best places to write. Until now. 

Upstairs

strong
coffee
hot showers
comfortable
bedding, firm pillows
large-screen television
whispery-gray painted walls
white down comforters on the beds
clean desk and chair with working wi-fi
hotel rooms are THE BEST places to write

Fitzgerald wrote books at The Grove Park Inn
Truman Capote at The Plaza
eliminating distractions?
any Hampton Inn will do…..
….unless there’s a toddler
crying all night long
jumping non-stop
on the floor
above 
you
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T-Shirt Poetry ~ Your Story Matters

Britt Decker, our host at www.ethicalela.com today for the Open Write, shares a prompt that proves that we walk by thousands of writing opportunities everyday. We walk in them, past them, heck – we wear them! She shows us how to take a t-shirt from our closet with words, a picture, or a memory that will inspire poetry.  It's as simple as going to the closet and considering all the possibilities.  I love how her t-shirts inspire a poem about her own need of distance between work and play. Read the prompt here, and consider writing with us.  I bought a t-shirt at the NCTE conference in Anaheim, California last November with a message I enjoy sharing – your story matters.  My poem is a 3x5 today - short and simple like an index card - three lines, five syllables.  

Your Story Matters

you’re a child in God’s
great universe so
your story matters
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On Brownies and Goblins by Dr. W. Felix Haynes, Jr.

Today’s guest blogger is my father, Reverend Dr. Wilson Felix Haynes, Jr.

ON BROWNIES AND GOBLINS


I did not know anything about Brownies and Goblins until I ”stumbled” into a 1915 grade school textbook entitled The Brownies and the Goblins by N.M. Bantlay. To add enhancement to my early education, I did a quick read-scan of the well-illustrated volume, beautifully crafted. I came to understand their profile.

Brownies, or Hobgoblins, evolved in Scottish lore. They are fabled household spirits who are domestically inclined. They come out at night while households sleep and do beneficial tasks. These welcome visitors oversee needed chores, deplore slovenly work, prod the lazy, and are experts in hiding. Brownies are mostly male and appear in a characteristic form as little thick people. Scottish homes left cookies and cream to assuage their temperamental nature. Handle them with care!

The Brownies’ reputation for good work and a merry spirit made them good examples in children’s textbooks. They found their way into cartoons and advertising posters as “salesmen.” Brownies created a fortune in products, including Eastman’s Brownie camera. They go fishing, horseback riding, and travel the world. Brownies have had a hey-day in products. On posters they accompany soft drinks, cookies, coffee and soap. Any item that has a Brownie connection is a jewel.


The opening page grabs the reader of the children’s text:


Good morning to you, dear friends!
We think it very fine
To see your faces beaming
Like the merry, bright sunshine.

Your hearts are beds of roses,
That breathe their sweet perfume;
And brownie folk all love you
With a love as sweet as June.

I advocate for their return and am leaving a bowl of milk and cooking beside my fireplace. I need their prod, blessing, and spirit.

Check out Pinterest for some great ideas on building elf doors and fairy gardens in your own yard or in a public space that invites others to add to the creative magic!
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Let’s Get Deep

In the early fall when I was sipping my coffee and gazing out at Lake Juliette from my camper window on a Saturday morning, I got a call from my brother.

“I went on a blind date, and I like her a lot,” he told me.

I knew when he was ready to talk about her so soon after the first date that something was different – he’s never done that before. He’d sworn he was going to throw himself into his work as a real estate agent and enjoy the life of a single man, but he’s an attractive guy – as much as any brother can be – and when friends of friends start talking and matchmaking, a strange sort of magical chemistry happens. Friends see in their single friends a compatibility factor between two yet unintroduced soul mates. A seed is planted, and love blooms.

I was also surprised – though I shouldn’t have been – that he’d ordered a game as a Christmas conversation starter that has become a relationship-strengthening part of their courtship.

According to my brother, you can play the game Let’s Get Deep different ways, but they choose times to draw cards and take turns answering three levels of questions – from icebreaker, deep, and deeper categories.

“I’d recommend this game for any couple progressing to a more serious phase of a relationship. It gives you a chance to gain valuable insights into the shared values and dreams – and yes, it gets deep,” he told me. “In fact,” he offered, “I can also see how couples who have been together for a long time and seem happy should perhaps avoid this game. It has the potential to shake things up, but it also helps clarify how close or far apart you stand on issues.”

That, he explains, is why they keep holding their breath, holding hands, and taking turns drawing cards.

I’m pretty sure an ever-deepening love is in the cards for them, and on this Valentine’s Day, that’s worth celebrating! This adorable couple will make another blog appearance in March with a big announcement about their tastes. Stay tuned!

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Preparing for This Weekend’s Great Backyard Bird Count

The Great Backyard Bird Count kicks off this weekend (February 17-20), and I’ll be counting the birds that come to visit the Johnson Funny Farm in Williamson, Georgia – partly because I love birds, but partly too in memory of my mother, Miriam Haynes, who adored them and worked hard to establish a nature-loving legacy that she would be proud to know lives on in ways that continue to make a difference.

Here is everything you need to know to prepare and to participate this weekend. I’d love to invite you to participate and to share your findings and photos on your blog post next week. It takes as little as 15 minutes to observe and only a few minutes to report.

The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) started in 1998 when the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society collaborated to create the first online citizen-science project. In 2009, Birds Canada joined forces to expand the geographic data collection points. Its goal is to encourage people from all over the world to spend time watching and counting as many birds as they can, and then reporting their observations – which helps scientists better understand global bird populations and their migratory patterns.

To take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, you can visit this link to learn more – but to make it quicker and easier, I’ve pasted this information from the link:

Step 1: Decide where you will watch birds.

Step 2: Watch birds for 15 minutes or more, at least once over the four days, February 17-20, 2023.

Step 3: Identify all the birds you see or hear within your planned time/location and use the best tool for sharing your bird sightings.

How to Share Your Observations:

  • If you are a beginning bird admirer and new to bird identification, try using the Merlin Bird ID app to share what birds you are seeing or hearing.
  • If you have participated in the count before and want to record numbers of birds, try the eBird Mobile app or enter your bird list on the eBird website (desktop/laptop).

Here’s a link about the Great Backyard Bird Count from a former edition of Georgia Magazine.

We have two Great Horned Owls that I hope will make an appearance – or at least be heard – during the GBBC Weekend! Listen closely and you can hear them exchanging their innermost thoughts.
Special thanks to Two Writing Teachers at Slice of Life
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Savoring Saturdays: 1828 Coffee Company on the Zebulon Square

Think of the world which you carry within yourself…pay attention to what arises within you.  – Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

We recently spent another Saturday savoring the morning hours with coffee and conversation in Zebulon, Georgia on our town square. We love the atmosphere of our small town coffee shop, restored from a historic building to the place we love and enjoy today by Dr. Dan Dunnahoo. You can read his story here. Dunnahoo, a retired Pike County art teacher known affectionately as “Dr. Dan” by locals, named the coffee shop 1828 Coffee Company because it was built in 1828 by Samuel Mitchell and still has the same wood floors that creaked under folks’ boots all those years ago, every plank restored and returned to its original position in the floor.

You can step back in time and order a cup of Zebulon Pike or any of their unique blends of coffee or tea and a cinnamon roll, then sit back and wonder about the history of this place and your own indelible time stamp on it, the dust of your own shoes settling somewhere beneath your feet between a crevice in the wood on the very dust brought in by those who used it as a trading post when it was first built. You can also wonder about those who later became proud first-ever owners of automobiles within its walls when it was a car dealership, and all the romance that bloomed here when it was an ice cream shop and young men brought their sweethearts here to share a date night treat – many of whom no doubt brought their own children back years later when it was a restaurant or an office.

Today, you can find a book in one of three Little Free Libraries here in this coffee house, hear live entertainment, or listen to students reciting poetry or performing a dramatic reading. Dr. Dan and his son-in-law Bryan open their doors to welcome a variety of events that shape the culture of this small town.

Next time you’re traveling through Zebulon, Georgia, be sure to stop in and say hello. Order coffee upstairs, admire the art, and then stroll downstairs where you can play a board game or sit outdoors on the brick patio and enjoy the sights of the town. If you happen to see a middle-aged woman huddled in a corner savoring coffee, reading, or writing, come introduce yourself – – it may be me!