The real me
Brigitte E Hugh, 2010
Who is the real me?
there’s the me that I see in the mirror
is that the real me?
or the me that I see with my friends
is that the real me?
the me with my family
is that the real me?
The me that I feel when I’m just with me
Is that the real me?
there are so many me’s
which is really me?
The me that I see when I’m writing
that’s the real me.
__________________"The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should be treated with caution."
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."
"There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line."
For Sara, Alia, Bradley and Josh, we were talking about this today at lunchMusic is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart. -Pablo casals
"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much."
"Always do what you are afraid to do."
this Quote of the day totally sums up the way I felt trying out for Davis Youth. I was so nervous and I did it. Look where it got me . . . as of the moment I got that letter I was an official member of The Davis Youth Symphony! Quite the accomplishment. For those of you who know Katie Delamare You know she is a really good cellist. she also tried out for Davis Youth(and I have no doubt that she made it) but that's the competition I was up against! I made it!Quote of the Day: "For most of history, Anonymous was a woman."
Exhausted we finally finished, locked up and went to granny’s house. Granny’s house is as crazy as her shop kitchen. The wallpaper is outlandish colors and has every sort of candy you could imagine. Again clocks hung on every wall. They were all sorts of different shapes and colors. My favorite was the striped candy shaped one that had “CANDY TIME!” written where all the numbers should have been.
Granny showed us our rooms. Mine was to be a light blue room with vivid bubblegum pink carpet. It had a chandelier and a twin bed with a canopy. There was also a comfortable bright orange chair with a reading lamp, just right for me.
Annie’s room was just as crazy. The carpet was a bright, gay green and walls a dazzling sunshine yellow. Clocks hung on all the walls and another big comfy brilliant blue chair and reading lamp occupied the room. She had a twin bed with a canopy too.
We settled into our bedrooms and then went down for a quick dinner. We then crashed in our beds ready for sleep before another hectic day tomorrow.
The next morning, even though I had had a late night, I was up at six o’clock. I walked into Annie’s room to see if she was awake and sure enough she was sitting in her chair reading her book.
“Hey Annie, want to go exploring ‘round this house?” I asked
“Sure, just let me finish my chapter.” She replied
We started in our rooms. We found that our closets were adjoining and we could get to each other’s room through them. I noticed a door in my room that I hadn’t noticed the day before and opened it. It led to the bathroom, Yippee the bathroom.
We went to Annie’s room next. Her room held nothing more exciting than a door type thing in her ceiling. We opened it up and found a ladder that led up into the attic. I hadn’t even known that granny’s house had an attic.
I went and got my flashlight and we ventured up into the attic. It held mainly old furniture and trunks that held childhood memories of my aunts and uncles. My mom’s was there too and we took a look in it. It had some ballroom dance shoes and a manuscript of a play she had written for her siblings to put on when they were little. There was her old doll she was always telling me about, but I bet she didn’t know it even existed anymore.
The rest of the attic had boxes of old clothing. I did find a box of photo albums that looked centuries old. One of them had paintings from great-great-great-grandfathers time. There was even a picture of him and granny had said he hated picture sittings.
We finally finished rummaging through the attic and moved onto the other guest rooms in granny’s house. Those rooms were all uninteresting except for one. It had purple and orange striped walls and blinding yellow carpet, but other than that it was normal.
From there we moved onto the middle floor. The hallway was the most interesting of all the rooms in the way of cool hidden doors. The hallway had a cupboard under the stairs. You know like Harry Potter. The cupboard had an inconspicuous little door inside it that, when opened, had little stairs that you could go down. We went down the stairs and then down the little tunnel that they led to. The tunnel wasn’t that big and if granny were to come in it she would have to duck her head, but we are shorter than her so we fit just fine.
The tunnel led to another set of stairs this time leading up and we followed them as well. They brought us to a door like the one in the cupboard under the stairs. We opened the door and it brought us to . . . granny’s shop kitchen.
We looked at each other flabbergasted. There was a tunnel leading from granny’s cupboard under the stairs to her shop kitchen. I bet that’s how she gets to the shop on cold days.
I looked at my watch to see what time it was and was amazed to see that it was already seven fifteen. Granny was sure to be up by now and we could ask her about this tunnel.
Annie looked at me and gestured toward the door. I nodded and she went back into the tunnel. I followed and we made our way back to granny’s house.
Granny was in the kitchen making French toast. “Good morning!” she said brightly. “Good morning” we replied. As soon as the French toast was done we sat down at the table and ate our breakfast. About half way through my first piece of French toast I decided to approach the topic of the tunnel.
“Granny, How come there is a tunnel underneath the house that leads to the candy shop?”
“What? How do you know about that?” She looked up confused
“We went exploring this morning and found the tunnel.” Annie clarified
“Oh, well when I first started this candy shop it was when there weren’t any buildings out here and so we had our choice of where to put it and the house. We were able to build it so that there was a quick way to get between the two buildings. The tunnel was the most obvious way to do so and still be inconspicuous. You see?”
“Yep!” we answered at the same time.
Well that was one question answered but I still had a million more and more would come later as the days and weeks progressed.
As we headed to the store the morning was bright and warm. We joked and laughed, that is we joked and laughed until we saw the queue surrounding the store. The group was huge! I’m sure my mouth was wide open in a gape as tall as the Eiffel tower! Annie was just as flabbergasted.
“Granny,” I whispered “is the crowd always this big?”
“Yep” she replied with a smile “every day”
yesterdays quote: "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams."
“We might as well get started somewhere. My mother was a candy maker and her mother before her all the way back to your great-great-grandmother whose father was a very great candy maker; the very best there ever was or has been. His name was Matthew Cocoa. Your Uncle Matthew is named for him you know. He was a fantastic candy maker. People came from all over to get his chocolates and caramels.
“He made a special candy for each of his 8 children. The candies were treasured beyond anything you can ever imagine for they were magic. That is part of what made Matthew so famous, he used magic on his candies. It made the candies extra good. The candies he made for his children, however, were special in the fact that they had magical powers. Whereas the other candies were made with magic to make them taste extra good.
“Each of the children went on to be great candy makers. They also used magic, of course, and they started their own candy shops. Each kept the recipe for their special candy. Nobody ever saw the recipe unless they were involved in the shop, like involved with it as a family member who actually made candy. Each child handed the recipe down to the most promising one of their children to keep the candy shops alive, and the recipe protected from those thieves that would dare to steal it.
“We are descended from Matthew’s third child Maria. She handed her recipe down to my mother, Hannah and Hannah in turn handed it down to me instructing me that ‘now Alice you must not ever lose it or I will come back to haunt you.’”
We laughed at the imitation of my great-grandmother. Granny had done it with the accent and the face she remembered great-grandmother using. “Now I have to hand it down to someone in my family.”
“Who, Granny?” Annie asked
“I don’t know Annie; all of my kids are rotten candy makers. I haven’t found a promising candy maker in any of my grandchildren yet either.”
We would find out later that she didn’t tell us all there was to know about our family’s story.
Annie and I sat in silence after granny’s spiel. Granny finally broke the silence, “Oh, no! My fondants are burning!” She exclaimed as she bustled inside, “you stay here, I’ll be right back.”
Annie and I immediately put our heads together and discussed what granny had said. “Do you think she’s for real?”Annie asked. “Yeah, I’ve heard of Matthew and all the others.” I replied. Granny suddenly appeared behind me saying “Thank you, Cindy not many people believe when they first hear the story. Now you two come behind the counter and I’ll tell you what you can do to help me out.”
We hurried behind the counter and granny showed us how the cash register worked, (“Now girls, I trusting you to be honest with the money.”)Where the inventory was, (“Don’t Eat anything…”) and everything else we would need to know. Then she said “Thank you girls, now I can catch up on my candy making.
Granny came bustling back a little while later to find me curled up in a chair reading Vienna Prelude and Annie in the other chair with Prague Counterpoint. We had read them the year before when our librarian recommended them to us but neither of us had continued the series until now.
“Having a read-a-thon?” granny asked with a big grin on her face, as she successfully startled me out of Nazi Germany.
“Granny I didn’t see you come in” I said to cover up my embarrassment. We were supposed to be watching the shop after all.
“Nobody came in so we got bored and pulled out our books.” explained Annie. Granny just laughed at us. I couldn’t believe it my granny, my loving, kind granny laughed at us!
“It’s not that funny” I told her.
“Oh, but it is.” she said through the tears running down her face.
“Explain, please granny”
“Well you got all defensive like I was going to get mad at you. You know me better than that.” she looked at her watch and said “Let’s close early tonight, and I’ll teach you how to make caramel. You know those caramel squares?”
“MMM. Yes,” my mouth was watering now.
“Oh yes, those are the best kind of caramel.” Annie exclaimed, excited now. Granny turned on the sign that said Sorry we’re closed and led us to the back.
The kitchen smelled divine. I could see chocolate melting over in a pot, gooey fondants cooling and, of course, caramel in a pot on the stove.
It’s almost impossible to describe granny’s kitchen, but I’ll try. It was bright bubblegum pink with candies painted all over as well as polka dots. Quotes about chocolate and candy also covered the walls, one of my favorites was “Diet is a four letter word; every time I hear it I wash my mouth out with chocolate.” Three double ovens, four stoves and four giant refrigerators were against the wall. There were also at least five sinks. At least ten clocks were on the walls. She had two racks of pots and lots and lots of utensils.
“Granny, why do you have so many clocks?” Annie asked.
“Oh those, I’m always afraid I’m going to be late.” she laughed. Annie and I gazed around dazzled as well as amazed, every one of the pots and pans was bright like they had been polished recently.
After absorbing this (though it is impossible to take it all in, in one glance) Annie looked up eagerly, “So! When do we get started?” She asked. Granny laughed at her again “As soon as you want.” she said
Granny showed us what ingredients to put in and how long you had to stir it. Then we put ingredients into pots and went to work pouring and mixing and stirring until it was ready to go into the greased pans. I stuck a finger in the caramel, ‘cause I’m just silly like that and I wanted a taste, anyway I yelled the moment I put my finger in. You’d never guess but caramel right of the stove after its been boiling is hot. Weird how that is, ya know? In any case I yelled “OOWWWWWWWW” like any normal human would. Granny and Annie came rushing over and granny as the sensible person she is yanked me over to the sink and put my throbbing finger under cold water.
“Granny you are the best” I sighed as the cold water rushed over my finger. “I wouldn’t have had to do that if you hadn’t put your finger in the caramel pot. What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t thinking that’s the point.”
“Well then you deserve it, silly” Annie said, trying not to laugh.
“Thank you Nancy Drew.” That set her off and she couldn’t stop laughing.
“Glad somebody’s having fun around here while my finger’s falling off” I grumbled to granny. I could tell granny was trying really hard not to laugh too, but finally she couldn’t hold it in and she started laughing too. I gave them both a dark look and pretended they weren’t there. I just kept running cold water over my finger and waited for them to calm down.
Finally their laughing fit subsided and they were calm enough to converse like sensible people. By then my finger hurt a little less than at first. We had to bring the caramel to a boil again because it had partially set up and we couldn’t have that when making caramel. We finally got the caramel in pans to set up and got the dishes in the sink to soak.
We then decided that we wanted to learn how to make fondants. We mixed and stirred and poured and mixed and stirred and poured all over again. Then we put the fondant in balls and left them to set up.
We stayed up for hours before we finally finished. Even then we had to wash the dishes. We washed and dried and hung up for another hour at least.
Quote of the day:
"A day without laughter is a day wasted."
HELP! I’m a Lollipop. Why, I don’t know, but I am. Got a problem with that? Wait a second you don’t even know who I am and why I’m a Lollipop, Frankly I don’t know myself. I’m a lollipop.
It all started that fateful summer day, June 13th. Grandmother, we call her granny, called. Normally I groan when my mom’s mom calls, because she winds on and on about things that don’t concern us (mostly things that don’t concern me). Today it was different.
Granny owns a candy shop, and I was wondering when she was going to have me down; if she was going to have me down. She had invited all of the older cousins down one at a time, and now it was my turn. Hopefully it was my turn, and that is why she was calling.
This is what Granny said, “Hello Cindy! I have a question for you.”
“What granny?” I asked
“I really need some help with the candy shop, and I was wondering if you and a friend wanted to come and help me out.”
“Wha?” I trailed off astonished
“I said,”
“No I heard you; I just can’t believe what you’re asking. Hold on a second I’ll ask my parents.” My parents are awesome they are always supportive of us going to visit my mom’s mom. Probably for the quality work time we get with granny. Mom and dad immediately agreed to let me go.
I was ecstatic! My granny had invited me to stay with a friend! No siblings! Yessssssssssssssssssssss! I jumped up and punched the air, my Granny is the best. I knew immediately who was coming with me, Annie. Oh yea Granny is so the best. Did I mention that already?
Moving on, Annie and I had been friends since we were three. Annie was the total opposite of me. Where I had red naturally curly hair (I was called carrot top at school) she had creamy chocolate brown hair that was always perfect. She had mellow brown eyes while mine were a piercing blue. I had freckles and I hated them, but she didn’t have any, lucky duck. Annie was a peacemaker and I had the horrible fiery temper. I hated my temper. I was always trying to keep it curbed.
I immediately asked Annie and, to my relief, she said she could go. Thank goodness, I could never ask anybody else. Annie is the only person I feel comfortable asking to things like that and if she couldn’t come then I would have a pretty boring time alone. I mean during the times granny’s busy of course. Granny’s not boring.
We left two days later. We were on summer break so we could do that. Granny lives in Layton, Utah which is about an hour away from our houses in Preston, Idaho. Dad was driving us and I don’t know how he handled all that energy that was in the backseat, because we were so hyper. With the naivety of thirteen year old girls, Annie and I planned our time at Granny’s. Little did we know what was going to happen.
We finally reached Granny’s shop. She lived around the corner from her shop, but we came during business hours so she was at the shop.
When we arrived she appeared out front wiping her hands on her apron with that smile I love on her face. I flew up the stairs right into her arms, and gave her a gigantic hug. Annie was a little more reserved, she stuck out her hand and greeted my granny “Hello Mrs. Mun, it’s good to meet you.” granny just turned around and swooped her up in a big bear hug “ Let’s have none of that formality,” she exclaimed “just call me granny.”
Granny is a gray-haired lady with her hair always in a bun, she has blue eyes just like me but hers are warm and humorous, unlike mine. She always wore those small granny glasses and a gingham dress with a white old fashioned apron.
Granny turned to my dad “Good to see you Ken, now get those suitcases to my house and leave, we will be fine.”
“Good to see you too mom, you girls have fun!” he told us and then he left.
“Well!” Granny exclaimed “that get’s him out of our hair” Annie and I giggled a little, who could have thought my granny was so cool? She herded us inside and told us “Well we must get started.”
“With what, granny?” Annie asked
“Why making candy what else?” granny replied surprised.
“You make candy!?” I asked
“You didn’t know that Cindy?”
“No was I supposed to?”
“You mean your mom has never told you?”
“Told me what?”
So What do you think so far? Comments please!!!
Quote of the day: "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."
