Talk, talk, talk.

As requested, here's the Pumpkin Cake recipe that I mentioned on Sunday.  It was a huge hit.   

Pumpkin Apple Cake

1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
(OR 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice instead of spices)
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup apple juice
1/2 cup crushed pecans

Cream butter, sugar and eggs until sugar is dissolved.  Mix and stir in dry ingredients.  Add pumpkin and apple juice. Bake at 350° in a bundt pan for 45 minutes.  Cool before removing from pan.  Glaze with 1 cup powdered sugar and 1-2 tbsp. of apple juice.  Also very good with raisins baked in. 

And now, what's on my mind today... some serious rambling about the telephone.

• Liza called my cellphone during my walk this morning to tell me that she was on her way to the eye doctor. She called again after the appointment to say that she's all better!  Happiness!  She calls every morning as she's driving to work and fills me in on her day.
• My mom called before seven.  She gets up at 4:30 every morning, which is 5:30 my time, so I just expect a call before seven most mornings.  If she doesn't call me, I call her.  ZJ was in a dead sleep and came running into the laundry room where I was folding towels, "Is today the day that Nana moves to Smithfield??!?"  She can hardly wait!  Mom isn't working today, so we'll probably call each other back and forth for whatever five or six times today.  That's typical.
• I met a new neighbor yesterday and called another neighbor to give them a heads-up to welcome them too. 
• I chatted with my Aunt from North Carolina last night.  We shared a few special memories of loved ones who've passed away over the last twenty years.  It was one of the most heartwarming visits we've ever had.  I've seen Aunt Sue only seven times in the past thirty years and we are as close as if we were in the same town because we talk on the phone while I prepare dinner about once every other week! 
• My sister-in-law and I had a good long visit yesterday sharing a few good laughs.  She's my closest relative in marriage, one of my very best friends in the world.  It was her phone call, made about three years after she married my brother-in-law, almost thirty years ago that led to the strong friendship and love that we have today.  We don't see each other daily or even weekly, but we talk often and the hours we've spent on the phone have bonded us for eternity!
• Carol teased me last week that we hadn't been talking on the phone much lately.  (I'd been busy watching Grey's Anatomy on DVD before the season began.)  A day isn't complete without a few minutes catch-up with Carol.
• My good friend, Bessie, called Saturday while she was mopping her floor.  During the course of our conversation, I dejunked my kitchen drawers and cleaned the whole kitchen too.  Bessie and I don't see each other often either because we're both so busy with life, but the phone has kept us in touch over the years.
• My friend, Susan, from Ohio and I can pick up the phone today and talk as though we had dinner together last night, even though we've not talked for a few months.  We've spent a lot of hours and money on the telephone over the decades of our friendship.
• Denise calls every morning and then again when she's cooking dinner.  We often end up with the same dinner because we cook together.  We shop together by phone.  We call each other from wherever either of us are vacationing.  If we go two days without talking, something's wrong!  We probably spend the most time together face to face, but the phone connects us constantly.

I was traveling with a friend a while back and she commented that she'd never had a girlfriend that she'd "checked in" with on a regular basis.  Honestly, most of my relationships are a direct result of the telephone. The phone keeps us in touch no matter how busy our lives are, even if it's only a three minute hello while driving to the grocery store.

I could not live without my phone.  The cellphone is always by my side, we've always had call-waiting and/or two lines!  The discovery of DSL was a happy day!  Now, here's the funny part.  I hate the phone. I'm very hard to reach by telephone. I let it ring more often than I answer it. I'm a caller ID checker, I confess. The ringing phone to me is an "urgency" not a priority.  If there's something more important happening, like dinner, or I'm finishing a chapter of a good book or pondering a deep thought or any other reason that works for me, I don't answer the phone.  It drives Doug crazy!  "What if it's important?"  They'll call back. 

I hate making calls to give assignments or invite people to a meeting or something... it just doesn't happen.  I'll create an invitation, get in the van and drive to deliver it before I'll call someone to invite them.  How lame is that?  I hate hate hate telemarketing calls.  The person never gets through their first sentence that I don't politely interrupt with "Could you please remove us from your calling list.  Thank you." and hang up.

Bottom line, to me, the phone is a social tool for relationships.  Other than that, it's an annoying noise that disturbs my peace.  How selfish is that?  It's 10:11.  Between my cellphone and my land line, I've had 13 calls so far this morning.  Three were not welcomed calls, three were "business" calls and the rest made my morning bright.  The phone... Ya can't shoot it and ya can't live without it.  That's way more than enough said.

We need not think alike to love alike.

Comments

[Chiara]

Thank you for the recipe this sounds like a must try for me.

[susan hatch]

Do you remember when long distance calls cost us both arms and legs...the time when Doug didn't let you call long distance and I would call you. Then he relented (let's face it...he knew he wasn't going to restrict you) and you'd call me when money was short? Imagine all the phone calls we make now and they are just about free. But oh the enjoyment.

Zion Ohio...Susan

[Norma]

I read your blog everyday and thoroughly enjoy it. This morning I was writing an entry in my Frankin Planner for later in the month, saw this quote and immediately thought of you. After reading your entry today, I felt I must share it with you.

"There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound."

Have a great day, Nomra