The Best For Last

My mother gave me one cookbook which consists of only Halloween recipes -- sloppy joes that look like devils, gummy-worm punch. I never made anything out of it except a spice cake with a spooky looking tree on it. My mother was fond of saying that anyone could follow a recipe and while I find my talent with drinks, I do not understand or respect food enough to take the time and care to create anything, umm, that anyone might actually want to eat. But the spice tree cake was something of an anomaly, my piece de resistance. She loved the cake or was kind enough to say she did. I suppose nobody should be denied the joy of making a dessert that someone loves.

A dear friend of mine lost her husband recently in that traditional horrible hospital room way, dying the slow death of tubes and pills. An orderly came in during his last hours when he was in agony and asked him how he was doing. He said simply, I'm going home. The orderly did not understand he meant that he would be dead soon and said, I don't think so man, I don't think anyone is going to let you out of here. I love the gentle expression that he used, going home, and I thought about one of the last things Frieda Kahlo said when her feet were amputated, the thing about not needing them because she had wings. I see that on inspirational cards all the time and wonder how many people know the grim circumstances that informed the quote. My friend's husband also loved dessert and ate it almost exclusively in lieu of anything else during the last few months of his life, claiming that he always had a penchant for saving the best things for last.


Michelle's Spell of the Day
"If only smart people like your shit, it ain't that smart." Chris Rock

Cocktail Hour
Drinking HBO Special suggestion: Kill The Messenger Chris Rock

Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Monday! Still working on new links -- I've got a special Pick Your Poison sign just for the event. And a Halloween contest that I'm announcing later this week. The prize will be very cool -- I promise!