Even though today is the first of May, I woke up to 40 degrees and rain rain rain.  I’m glad that I went for a very long walk yesterday morning, when the sun was shining.  It’s true that the temperatures yesterday were a bit on the brisk side for the end of April, but I didn’t care.  I loved the sun shining on my face. 

Sunshine makes it extra good, but it’s not a must-have when it comes to my walk.  I have a new strategy that I’m calling “get it while the gettin’s
good.”  If it’s not pouring out, I’m going for a walk.  I have a
raincoat.  I have rainboots.  I have a hat. So from now on I’m keeping my rain gear together, ready to go, hanging on the coat
tree by the door.  Farmers do it; and so can I.  When I was a little girl, we
played outside in all kinds of weather.

I remember that when my now 24-year-old daughter was a child, she
loved being outside in the rain.  From our living room window, I could see her outside on the driveway, stamping hard, over and over, in the
puddles, for the sheer delight of feeling the
water rise up around her and catch her inside a fleeting fountain. 

I’ve noticed that they don’t cancel baseball games when there’s a threat of rain.  They start on schedule, and they play, and they keep on playing even when the water starts to drip off the fronts of the players’ baseball caps.  It’s only when the water starts to come down in sheets too heavy for the pitcher to see through that they finally call a delay.  A delay is really another way of saying that the field needs to be covered while they wait for the rain to let up enough to get back to it.  So I’ve decided that it’s time to take a page from professional baseball’s rule book.  If it’s not pouring, I’m going for a walk.  Rain makes a beautiful high-pitched rushing sound when you listen for it.

Now here’s the thing.  If the sun is shining, I’m still gonna get
it while the gettin’s good.  No waiting ’til later in the afternoon
after I’ve written my post.  No more finishing my cup of tea first, and
one more row on the scarf I’m knitting.  When I see that the sun is
shining, I am outside!  You hafta take advantage of the opportunity
when it comes.  You hafta strike when the iron is hot.  Opportunity
favors the prepared.  Yea, all that stuff.  This is northeast Ohio, and
the sun is not something to be taken for granted around here.
                                
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Now, to switch topics, a few months ago someone I work with decided to buy some cupcakes and bringthem into the office.  Very nice — I think.  I’m sure she had the best intentions.  But this is a good example of the fact that we are going to have to take responsibility for what we put into our mouths, because if we don’t, no one else will.  I grabbed the mind-boggling ingredient list, and have been holding on to it to share with you:

Sugar, water, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (soybean, palm, cottonseed, or canola), mono & diglycerides, TBHQ (preservative), enriched wheat flour, bleached flour.  Contains 2% or less of high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, glycerin, egg white slids, nonfat milk, soy flour, calcium acetate, sodium probaking powder, sodium pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, calcium phosphate, cornstarch, modified food starch (corn, tapioca, wheat), salt, corn flour, propylene glcol, mono & diesters of fatty acids, agar, soy lecithin, polysorbate 60, guar gum, xanthan gum, invert sugar, natural and artificial flavor, maltodextrin, sodium stearoyl lactylate, glycerol esters, sorbic acid, citric acid, sodium benzoate, phosphoric acid, malic acid, microcrystalline cellulose, titanium dioxide, carrageenan, tragacan, hydrated silica, sorbitol, propylene glycol, confectioner’s glaze, cocoa processed with alkali, pectin, turmeric, hydroxyl methylcellulose, chocolate liquor, natural tocopherol, sodium stearate, caramel color, coconut oil, artificial colors (red 1, 3, 40; yellow 5, 6; blue 1,2), corn oil, sorbitan, mono and tristearate, egg yolk.

Holy mackerel, are you for real?!  Yes indeed, that was the actual list.  Want one?  No thanks, I’ll pass today.  Instead, I think I’ll go for a walk, head for the grocery store, and buy the ingredients to make some cupcakes.

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