Tag: fall

A Taste of Fall

I promised myself I wasn’t going to write about the time change. Our twice a year attempt to manipulate daylight usually leaves me with a feeling of dread and annoyance. Oh sure some people proclaim to love it, especially the fall back…… “we get an extra hour of sleep”…..people exclaim with excitement. As if 1 extra hour of sleep will make up for late night binging the latest series on Netflix. And if when presented with the gift of more time you want to slumber it away I say…. “hey go ahead, you do you”…..but I can’t tell myself to sleep longer any more than I can convince myself to fall asleep quicker. The body wants what the body wants. See, told you I wouldn’t drone on about time and space.

No today I will tackle a bigger, more wide ranging issue involving fall…….a little something called pumpkin spice.

Starbucks introduced their pumpkin spice lattes in the fall of 2003 selling approximately 20 million a year and launching a cultural phenomenon. Selling 20 million latte’s a year in a 90 day period of time means they’re selling over 18,000 latte’s an hour….think about that next time your in the drive thru behind 10 cars and all you want is a regular coffee.

Any trip to the grocery store beginning in the still sweltering months of August will reveal more and more pumpkin spice products. There’s the obvious ones that kinda make sense like breads, cookies, coffee, tea. But with each year the number of products with pumpkin spice continue to rise to staggering proportions. It’s become an industry in and of itself. Walk down any aisle and you can see a variety of a favorite item that now has a pumpkin spice offering. The cereal aisle has oatmeal, cereal, even the American icon the Pop Tart offers a pumpkin spice flavor. And yes there’s even pumpkin spice syrup for your pancakes or waffles, although walking through the freezer aisle reveals pumpkin spice frozen waffles so maybe you should top that with just regular syrup so you don’t fall into a pumpkin spice morning breakfast coma. The dairy aisle has pumpkin spice yogurt and cottage cheese, the snack aisle has popcorn, chips and pretzels, the cookie aisle has a wide variety of offerings……..hello pumpkin spice Oreo’s, do you come here often ?

I must admit I had absolutely no interest or even the faintest curiosity in any pumpkin spice product. I figured most of them would taste overly artificial and I would regret buying an entire package and end up throwing away most of it after it sat in my cupboard for far too long. But recently on a blustery, fall day with a bright sun shining and leaves blowing about I ventured into my local coffee shop with the express purpose of ordering a pumpkin spice latte. I figured if I enjoyed the product that launched an entire industry then perhaps I might branch out my interest and sample other products.

Admittedly my local coffee shop is not a Starbucks but it is a regional chain so I figured it must be very similar if not exactly like the Starbucks offering. The first few sips were warm and delightful, my taste buds were awakened. My curiosity was piqued…..it was then I started researching the beginnings of pumpkin spice and it all seems to lead back to Starbucks and their original latte.

I found so many stories about pumpkin spice and people trying to sample different products that as I sat there my latte soon grew cold and each sip became less satisfying until the end felt forced and artificial. Hmm, forced and artificial…..although I decided not to title this blog post forced and artificial it did seem appropriate that my first experience with a cultural phenomenon was exactly that. Perhaps there was a reason a spice that has been around seemingly forever never made a breakthrough until a giant corporation created a demand for it.

I headed out back into a glorious autumn day and I noticed a poster on the door I hadn’t seen when I entered. It was for a peppermint mocha latte that was soon to be available for the holiday season. Mmm, peppermint mocha latte….now that sounds like something I might just have to try.

Peace and Love,

John

Not What I Thought I’d Be Doing

I looked out the window of the sunroom and noticed the gutters were full of leaves and the yard was covered with so many leaves it was hard to see the grass underneath. At that moment I knew it was the perfect time to go on a bike ride.

What I also noticed was that the trees still had more than half their leaves still clinging to them. Much like the old adage of not shoveling the sidewalk while it’s still snowing, there’s not much point to raking leaves when their still falling. Today’s accomplishment will be drowned out by the steady cascade of falling leaves by the morning. The same principle applies to the gutters. Drag out the ladder, climb, scoop and clean out the gutters only gives an invitation for the remaining leaves to settle in there before hitting the ground.

As I was preparing to embark on my ride my wife mentioned her faucet in the bathroom was dripping.

“Mmmm”, I replied trying desperately to think of an escape……. “is it a drip……drip……or more like a drip, drip, drip?”

She sighed knowing my less than handy skills with plumbing, electrical or with anything that involves a tool…… “its a drip, then a little while later a drip.”

“Mmmm”…… I pondered knowing I would have to investigate. Just then my son jumped up off the couch and in a moment of leadership said he would look up how to fix it on YouTube. While he scrolled YouTube I eyed the offending faucet and slow drip on my knees in the bathroom. An ole worn out washer I thought might be the culprit…..a simple fix I hoped, knowing there is no such thing as a simple fix. I looked out the window, the leaves were falling like snow, an even better moment to get out side and not rake them.

“It’s quite simple”……my son declared ( he obviously hasn’t realized yet about the fallacy of the simple solution )

“There’s a cartridge inside the handle we just need to pop off and replace.” I had never heard of said cartridge and I was quite sure it wouldn’t be easy to “just pop it off”….but he seemed determined and I certainly admired his take charge attitude so I watched as he unscrewed the handle revealing the plastic cartridge.

A few minutes later he went for the toolbox and I knew the chance of a simple solution were dwindling as fast as the leaves on the trees. Crescent wrench, pliers, vise grips were all applied in the ensuing minutes, all with no success of removing the cartridge. Perhaps because the faucet was almost 20 years old and worn out, but removal was proving more difficult than what appeared on YouTube.

I could go off on a side tangent about how every fix it project on YouTube appears easy until your elbows deep into it or I could say that perhaps why we lament the lack of focus and commitment in our youth is because life isn’t as simple as YouTube and life gets messy and staying with a project or work assignment that involves way more commitment than anticipated has it’s own rewards……but I won’t. The easy fix is never easy, the work project will be difficult and it will involve working with others and getting along and working together. Life really doesn’t happen on YouTube or Reels or SnapChat….it happens with each other at work or at home with family.

That was a bit of a tangent I didn’t plan on…..the time it took to write that was about the same time my son, having exhausted all the pliers and gripping tools, pried off the cartridge with a screwdriver. He triumphantly handed it to me…. “see told you it was easy”…….it was my turn to sigh and exclaim that it wasn’t exactly fixed and being only half done meant we were only half done.

A trip to the hardware store where surprisingly we were able to find the cartridge with no help from any salesclerk, not that there were any around and soon the new cartridge was installed. I once again got down on my knees and turned the faucet to see if the drip was lessened. My wife peered behind me…..there was a drip but only one….success I claimed. My wife ever the realist said….. “you should have gotten two because the cartridge in the other handle probably should be replaced and while your there pickup a new door handle because that’s loose too.”

By this time my son had skeedaddled to work seemingly having already learned the most valuable lesson…….that one fix is never simple and one project just leads to another one.

As I drove yet again to the hardware store I noticed what a beautiful fall day it was. The leaves continued to fall nestling comfortably in the yard and gutters….a project for another day.

Peace and Love,

John