Food Court Flash Mob: Hallelujah Chorus

It happened at the Welland Seaway Mall in Ontario, Canada, on November 13, 2010. It's gone viral on YouTube. Over one hundred members of Chorus Niagra, a group of singers from local churches, colleges and homes, infiltrated the mall food court. The video that was taken that day has been watched well over 5 million times.

Because they allow people to embed it, I'm sharing this treasure with you. I hope it brings you the joy I just received when my high school friend Anita sent the link to me. (Thank you, Anita.)

It's The Little Things: Mr. Coffee Café Frappe

There are few special treats my husband appreciates more than a good blended mocha. In one of the after-Christmas sales I had ordered him a Mr. Coffee Café Frappe machine to make icy blended coffee drinks at home. Since I've not been feeling well, between the broken rib and the chest cold, I just stuck the box out of sight until I mended a bit.

Tonight was the big night. I made a cheeseburger pie, and once that was in the oven, used our phone's intercom feature to warn John to stay in his HAM room until dinner was ready so he wouldn't ruin "a surprise." Then I dragged out the box and set up the machine. Once I had everything cleaned, set up and figured out, I was nearly able to grind a drink without the machine, I got so angry.

These machines cost $79 retail. Once you open it up, you finally realize that you need to go buy a small size package of coffee filters before you can use it. You'd think they'd at least give you a few to start with. So there I was, with a meat pie ten minutes from the table, and my surprise a very unpleasant, "Well, you can look at how nice it fits on the counter, but I can't make you a drink until we go buy filters."

Really, Sunbeam Products (DBA Jarden Consumer Solutions), don't you think that an eighty dollar product should include everything the customer needs to have a good 'out of the box experience'? Especially if it's just a few filters that you could have packed in there for maybe three pennies? I noticed that at Amazon I could get 12 packages of filters, 200 filters per package, for $18.28 with no shipping and handling. That would mean I could have sent ten to each customer for seven cents. I'll bet a big corporation could get an even better price ratio.

Customers like to feel that they've been treated well. I will probably end up loving this machine and using it pretty close to daily, especially in the Summer. I won't, however, forget that the company didn't care if I had a hassle getting to use it when I first opened it. When it eventually breaks, I'll look for another brand.

What did John say? The cheeseburger pie was really good...

Wedding Update

It's been the sort of story people tell their children and grandchildren about. "You'll never believe how many things went wrong when your mother (grandmother) and I drove to our wedding..." with Uncle Tighe.

They were, indeed, supposed to arrive yesterday to spend Christmas day at Elisha's parents' home in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's now 10:20 p.m. the night before the wedding, and at last contact they're closing in on arrival--at about five miles per hour--while some kind of military checkpoint has been set up at a bridge near Hoover Dam to check each individual vehicle for some kind of potential threat.

They're exhausted. They're beyond hungry. They're also heading to Elisha's parents' home first, so we're going to bed soon with cell phone in hand. Just in case.

I do believe we'll have a wedding tomorrow. Of course, they still have to buy the wedding license first. The good news is that any couple that still wants to get married after a trip like they've just been through certainly isn't wearing blinders.

The Wedding Trip

While we had a wonderful Christmas here with Pat & Betty, there was more than plenty of drama for our son Jeremy and Elisa as they left Shreveport, Louisiana with Tighe, our oldest son and their best man. They pulled out around 3 p.m. Central time and hit traffic immediately, being Christmas Eve. They were heading for Las Vegas for the Little Chapel of the West, where Elisha's parents and all the guests are waiting to see them get married on Dec. 27th.

Jeremy said it seemed to take forever to reach Dallas, but when they arrived, they hit a wall of traffic. I'll correct this later if I'm way off the mark, but I believe it took them four hours to get through Dallas. Then things got really bad. The next morning they called from just outside Witchita Falls, where all the roads were closed due to weather related traffic accidents. They were sitting, doing nothing, and couldn't proceed in any direction. At that point it had taken them about nineteen hours to make a seven hour drive. Not good.

They finally got rolling and everything looked good. He called last night and said, "Mom, are you sitting down?" He sounded shaken, and I pictured crumpled fenders, the car in a ditch and an ambulance pulling away. Never ask your mother that question when she can't see if there's blood. Just spill the news. It's far less painless. The car overheated and broke down in New Mexico. Because it's a Prius, hybrid, only the dealership can "turn it back on" to see what's wrong, so even if it's just a hose, it's going to cost them several hundred dollars. (I feel a soap box moment coming on, but I'll save it for another day.)

Of course dealership is all the way in Albuquerque, 150 miles away. The tow truck can't pick them up until 7 a.m. That means a hotel had to be rented—very expensive in Santa Rosa. And once they get there, if the car can be fixed quickly, they still have a nine hour drive before the wedding. The wedding is tomorrow, so there's still a chance...

We'll be heading out to Las Vegas ourselves at 7:30 this morning, and keeping the faith for the best. We'll be praying, of course, and staying by the cell phones—thank goodness for technology! At least they're not out looking for a payphone...

Christmas Eve 2009

It's been a wonderful Christmas eve today, and a great visit so far with Pat and Betty. I wanted to say Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all my far away friends and family, and send this little video slide show as a simple gift of photos and music. Pastor Stan—this song's for you.

Christmas Eve 2009

Life offers a few perfect days, moments, memories. I had some of those today, and think I may have taken a few perfect photos to commemorate a day in the snow with my brother Pat.

We began Christmas Eve day by going to the Powderhorn ski resort, where we rode the lift together so he could ski and I could play with my camera. Neither of us was disappointed. Here are a few of my favorite photos, and perhaps a short slide show. We'll see how that turns out. If there is a slide show, it will be added later, so check back. It'll be its own entry for Christmas.

The view from the ski lift is wonderful, but even better is the beauty and quiet up there.

Pat was ready to hit the slopes, but I was on the lift for a round-trip ride back to the bottom with my camera.

He was faster than I was, too. His shout from below not even a quarter of the way down let me get a quick shot of him sailing past my much slower conveyance.

I was so glad my trip was slow, as it gave me time to see the tiny pines among the huge pines and aspens. I know "winter wonderland" is probably just a trite saying to most people, but we live it here in Colorado.

The open areas on the hills are amazing to me. Why are there suddenly no trees? Sometimes you can see herds of deer or elk crossing or, even more often, the hoof prints of those herds in the new snow.

One photo I didn't get was Santa. He was on Powderhorn today, taking a break before his big run tonight. He smiled and waved, but I got flustered and couldn't get the camera aimed in time. He was going up the ski lift while I was going down. He sure looked happy. I could hear his loud "Ho ho ho" echoing off the hills when he realized I hadn't been able to get his picture.

Heading Out

There's a storm heading in across our route that's supposed to last three days, so we're heading out a couple days early. My brother Pat and his wife Betty advised us to keep an eye on the weather and be flexible, so I don't need to feel guilty—just rushed. It's not like I didn't see this coming. I've been watching the weather forecast change for the last week. It just didn't change in the direction that would give me an extra day to do laundry and pack.

Today I managed a run to the grocery store, to do the laundry, wrap all the gifts (for Christmas, Tighe's birthday, plus Jeremy and Elisha's wedding), and make another double batch of pecan tarts. I've got everything fairly well packed, and now I've just got the shrimp dip to make and the cooler to pack. My cameras, cell phone and headphones are charged. I know I'm forgetting something, but I don't know what it is. This always happens to me.

The final thing I want to say is thank you to my sister Ellen. We used to get together to bake Christmas goodies. Now that we live so far away, I have to do it by myself—with her recipes. They're all my favorites. It makes me miss you so much more than usual, Ellen. They are tradition, taste and memory blended together. I made enough to share with everyone who stops by for the wedding. (But if I never roll out another tiny little tart... well, until next time.) Recipe to follow soon.

Early Thanksgiving

Our youngest son not only gave us a wonderful daughter-in-law, he brought us some great friends in her her family members. Her brother Matt and his wife Heather moved to Longmont, a neighboring community not too long after we relocated to Loveland.

Last Sunday they invited us to their home to share an early Thanksgiving dinner with them and their five children. All I had to bring was dessert, and since baking is one of my favorite pastimes, it was a joy. I know the photos in my slide show are going to make Ruth homesick for her brother and his family, since she's so far away, but at least she can see their sweet smiles and share vicariously in a wonderful evening.

I have to say, we always have such a wonderful time when we get together with Matt's family. Their good people who always make me think of the expression "salt of the earth." It was a perfect meal, a perfect night, and they even sent us home with some leftovers. It doesn't get better than that.

Near the end of the evening, the twins must have decided that if the put their coats on, they'd get taken somewhere. They looked really cute, and didn't seem to mind that no outing followed their getting "snow ready."

The only other thing I should add is that I made pecan tarts and a pumpkin pie in a pecan crust, and will be putting both recipes up here within the next few days. Right now I've been cleaning and organizing cupboards. (You could come and help. I'll bake for you...)

Happy Birthday, America

I always offer one piece of advice before the 4th of July. I realize that most of my friends don't really need to hear this, and will just take it for the humor value. However, it is an important message:

Don't go out on the fourth with a fifth, or you might not be around to go forth on the fifth.

Someone sent me this little video, asking that I share it for the 4th of July, and I thought this would be the best way to do that. I loved it. Thanks, Sherman.

We're still deciding what to do on the Fourth of July. Since that's tomorrow, we don't have a lot of time left to decide. Let me explain how these decisions are made in our house. I explain to John about a week or so early what I want. He thinks about it for a week or so and then, at the last minute, tells me what we're actually going to do.

The last two years we have climbed the hill behind us, up the ridge behind our neighbor Doug's house. From there we can watch the tiny firework displays spring up in about eight or ten tiny little towns spread out on the plains and valleys beneath the foothills where we live. It's pretty cool. You can't hear them, and they're very far away, but there's no traffic. When they're done, you just climb down the hill and you're home. I understand John's appreciation of the ease of it. He's also not an overly social person, so I know he's more comfortable without the crowds of strangers.

However—and to me this is a big however—it's been about seven years since he's taken me to see them in person anywhere. In fact, it's been longer than that since he's done it. I went with someone some of the kids about six or seven years ago. I like to sit close enough to feel the booms and smell the sulphur. I want to hear the crowd go "ooh" and "aah" around me. I've learned that I don't have to have this every year, but I guess I need it occasionally. This year I've been pretty upset about the political situation, and maybe that's why I need it.

So tomorrow I'll stand around and ask, looking hopeful. I do have a trump card. I can always offer to drive myself. He hates that.