scifiknitter

R.I.P. For quite a while I have started every morning by stirring a rounded teaspoon of this lovely stuff into my cup of coffee. Keeping it on hand has required a certain degree of foresight and cunning, especially since I am a frugal soul. I could buy it for quite a price from the natural foods store, or I could get it much more reasonably at a Hannaford supermarket. The two Hannaford stores in our area are many miles from my home, however, and they have only carried the product from early fall through spring. As soon as it was time to expand the shelf space devoted to iced tea mixes, the Ghirardelli hot cocoa mix disappeared from the shelves. I would pick up an extra can or two if I could in March, and hope my supply would hold out until September. Sometimes I resorted to buying a case of four from Amazon, if I didn’t make it to the store before the change of beverage season. This year I ran out, and spent the summer without my morning hit of chocolate. A few cans materialized on the...

Several years ago, on a now largely defunct social blogging site, I met Eleanor through the words that she writes. Over the years we have had a stimulating series of conversations in blog posts and comments, and we both long suspected that we would like each other a great deal if we were to meet. Meeting is not nearly as far-fetched as one might think. Eleanor lives in Quebec, east of Montreal, and we go up to Montreal frequently to visit our daughter. The issues for me were whether I would take time away from family to visit with a friend, and whether I would gird my loins and drive in Montreal. Once I decided that yes, I very much wanted to meet El and yes, I can drive in a busy city with cut-throat drivers, I emailed her with a possible date. She was available that weekend, and we settled on meeting in Granby, halfway between my daughter’s apartment and her home. I drove out of Montreal successfully, into a landscape that never fails to enchant me. This is good, level farmland, w...