Category: This & That

…concerned about the weather.

CBC news story from about a week ago:

B.C. has endured weeks of unseasonable drizzle and grey skies this spring with temperatures touching record lows in the months of May and June, and growers are worried about mildew killing the seedlings.

And…

The economic value of B.C.’s illegal marijuana industry is difficult to determine, but over the years experts have estimated it exceeds a billion dollars a year.

Gee, poor pot growers. (For those who don’t know, “B.C.” = British Columbia). (The western-most province of Canada, right above Washington state, for those who really don’t know! 😉 ).

To read the full account of the “dilemma,” click here.

Well, I’m happy to report that it is raining less than it was a week ago. In fact, we’ve had more than two days in a row with bursts of sun! Yeehaw. I’m happy, but don’t you pity those poor pot growers? Whatever shall they do?

The Ding Dong lives! I’m ecstatic to discover this. For years, I wondered, “Whatever happened to the Ding Dong?” Dare I confess that for decades I worried I made the name up?

My kids love a chocolate-covered, chocolatey-cakey, white-cream-filled concoction called a King Don (okay, so do I). Every time I buy a package, they gobble them up. However, lately we’ve been arguing over whether they’re supposed to be called Ding Dongs or King Dons. I mean, really, King Dons? Sounds like you should be genuflecting before some fat royal guy named Don (and let’s not get into genuflecting before Don King).

When I was a teenager, The Queen of Sheba (a.k.a my mom) introduced our family to Ding Dongs. For some reason we never had Twinkies in the house, but Ding Dongs were consumed by the barrel-full. One day I opened the Ding Dong cupboard and discovered the name on the package had changed overnight to King Don. WTF? Why take a perfectly wonderfully cupcakey name like Ding Dong and mutilate it like that? 

Thanks to Wikipedia, I now know that I didn’t make up Ding Dongs. They do so exist! Under that name! However, apparently the Ding Dong name is only in use in the U.S. now. Yep, up here in the Great White North, we still have to call them King Dons. But at one time, YES, indeedy, at one time, the Canadian packaging did say Ding Dong. Now when my two teenagers tell me that “ding dong” isn’t a name for a cakey treat, but rather slang for male naughty bits, I feel quite vindicated that they’re wrong and I’m right.

Guess what else I discovered? Ding Dong recipes. Who’da thunk it?

Here’s one called Ding Dong Mousse, by April Vandecamp:

Cool, huh? Click here for instructions how to assemble. And let me know how it turns out. Because I’m not making Ding Dong recipes for my kids. Not when they insist on calling them King Dons.

Have any Ding Dong recipes you want to share? Twinkie recipes? Uses for a Twinkie? Naughty uses for a Twinkie? Just please—no, no!—no naughty uses for my Ding Dongs.

I love Friday the 13th. For years I thought I was born on Friday the 13th, hence my fondness for the day. When I was 13, I learned I was really born on a Wednesday—how woeful! But it hasn’t stopped me from loving Friday the 13th.

Youngest Son graduates high school today. Hence the quick and dirty blog post. Oh, I have a lot of drafts of good posts I could post-date and put up, however, in the event that my blog upgrade does not go well, I’m saving them.

Have a great weekend, bloggers. Enjoy your Friday the 13th.

Update 11:30 a.m. – My WordPress upgrade went off without a hitch! Next week it’s back to blogging as usual (well, I still have computer issues to address, so there’s a possibility I still might disappear, but I hope not).

Early Happy Father’s Day to all you wonderful dads out there. It looks like it’s gearing up to be a bee-oo-tiful day for Y.S.’s high school grad. Over and out!

Last night was Youngest Son’s last band concert. Every year his high school jazz and concert bands (he plays in both) stage a show at the local performing arts centre (yes, I spelled it the Canadian way for this occasion). It’s always quite an evening, full of song (as in singing), excellent music, and a lot of fun. Every year the graduating students band together (little pun) and buy their teacher a goodbye gift. He’s truly an exemplary teacher. I don’t know how he does it. Year after year, teaching those little cretins. Then picking up his saxophone to play with them in the jazz band. Very cool. In my opinion, it takes a certain sort of soul to become an exemplary teacher, and my hat is off to all of you out there who do it. This teacher has been with my son and most of the other kids graduating this year since grade seven, when he also taught part time at the elementary school to get the kids interested in music. That’s six years of teaching the same kids band. I know Y.S. has grown and developed a lot thanks to this teacher.

So, last night it was finally Y.S.’s turn to be among the band grads. They gave their teacher a podium that one of the students had built in woodwork class, and they’d had all their names engraved on a placque for the base of the podium. And it struck me…the last band concert…a few weeks ago the last band trip (a “Magical Mystery Tour,” where the kids literally did not know where they were traveling until they neared their destination, and we parents did not know where they were going either until after all the students had boarded the bus)…Y.S. is studying for his last few tests…next week my last child graduates high school…the following week he writes his last provincial exam (province-wide standardized tests for university entrance).

It’s hard not to get choked up when you’re faced with a lot of sentimental lasts. Twelve years of school rush by so quickly. It doesn’t seem that long ago when he was attending his first Kindergarten class…walking to school for the first time without me…then the first time without his big brother…then the first this and the first that…well, you know how it goes.

After he graduates, he’ll begin a whole new slew of firsts as the generous, ambitious, hopeful young man he has grown into. But, for now, he’s still my little boy in my eyes, and I’m soaking all the joy I can from the lasts.

I’m going crazy helping my two sons organize their college and university educations for September. So no blogging today, not when writing is taking a back seat to Mom Putting on Her Guidance Counselor Hat. Gah, I can’t remember juggling university schedules being this complicated back in the day. Of course, when you’re in Arts, you have some leeway in your course selection. Can’t get into American History? Try European History instead. Believe me, after helping two boys through this jungle and negotiating it myself, I’ve come to realize how much leeway Arts students have compared to Science students. Youngest Son wants to major in Geology and needs to take specific courses in his first year across the board. However, we live in a town where both the local college and the nearest university (next town over) are both small enough that, between lecture and lab courses, we are facing big scheduling conflicts. Cross your fingers that things work out. If you don’t find me around here for a few days or I’m just posting links to other places on-line, you’ll know why. The Mom duties must come first. Then the writing. Then the blog.

However, I do have a treat today. Yesterday, Avery Beck answered my call for the Cutest Baby MeMe. Hop on over to her blog and have a gander at the very, very, extremely cute baby picture of her son. I can’t get over that smile. He’s definitely in the running for Cutest Baby.

If anyone else wants to play, check yesterday’s post. Give me a baby picture to link to tomorrow!