Be Who You Are

Cheers to being who you are! The title of this post comes from a Sunday sermon, but I’m not here to impose Jesus upon you – although, what I’m about to say not only comes from who I am, but also from my spiritual heart. Many of you know who I am to some degree – Biker chick (both Harley and bicycle); cat lover; animal lover; beer and chocolate taste-tester; lover of outdoors and all things Star Trek and NCIS;Read more

#SoCS: Icing on the Cake

Mmmmm…cake. Chocolate cake, lemon cake, carrot cake, any cake. Icing is a great part of cake, but please don’t give me the sicky-sweet stuff. I prefer fluffy not-so-sweet icing that enhances the cake rather than overpowers it. But I digress. For now, I have to stay away from cake and lose the pounds that it and all of the holiday treats added to my waistline. Instead, I’ll focus on a different kind of icing…the type that makes life a littleRead more

Melange-O-Rama

Did you know that the meaning of melange is “hodgepodge” or “assortment?” I named my blog Mary J. Melange because I planned on writing a variety of content rather than singularly about cats or bicycles or poetry. It is today that I’m sharing a chaotic hodgepodge of stuff would have been called mish-mash were it not for Dan’s recent post at No Facilities. Great minds think alike, but I may have to outdo his assortment. Just because I can. IRead more

Chocolate Love & Baking Science

“Nine out of ten people like chocolate, the tenth person always lies.” ~John Tullius~ I never lie. And I don’t simply “like” chocolate, I love it. The dark chocolate kind. The kind that tastes like chocolate and not sugar. My apologies to the milk chocolate fans out there (I used to be one myself), but I no longer want dairy or a lot of sugar in my chocolate. It’s an acquired taste, but once you get there, you don’t goRead more

I Remember…

“Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.” ― L.M. Montgomery When my parents were living independently, I started an annual tradition with mom on Mother’s Day. I would go to a local greenhouse and buy a large, beautiful potted geranium in the brightest color possible for the woman who gave me life. Fuchsia was a favorite color, but red came in second. The geranium always thrived through the summer and in September or October, dadRead more

“Gee, that was stupid!”

“The words we use for ourselves and others have weight.” So said one of the worship team members a couple of Sundays ago. It’s a call for us to respect ourselves and others in what comes out of our mouth. To not call ourselves, spouses, friends, or family bad names. To grant peace to our neighbors and our negative thoughts. To verbalize love and acceptance to self and the human community. Overcoming religious, political, economic and ethnic differences when weRead more

SoCS: The Preposition Behind a Cliff

Upon a Friday sunny I shall write concerning this stream that follows through with a prompt on behalf of Dear Linda. It’s about 6:00 pm and I am brain dead. The cats are sleeping on the bed, the laundry is spinning around, and from within my stomach growls. I need food, not prepositions. I want quiet, not wordy words. From beneath the patio, I hear the neighbors drive in. Then they drive out. I wish they would stay home, haulRead more

Letting Go of 40 Years

What would you do if a friend of 40 years suddenly stopped talking? Radio silence. No phone calls, no letters, no explanation, no nothing. It will be three years in December since I last talked to my friend. I’ve been alternately sad, hurt and angry at various times, but Thursday was the worst. Perhaps it was the mutual acquaintance I ran into the day before who shared that he had seen my friend a month ago, had lunch with her,Read more

SoCS: Neighbors

Have I told you lately that I love my neighbors? I do. I reside in a large apartment complex and my building contains six apartments. With the exception of very new neighbors (it’s the one apartment that’s seen a lot of turnover), everyone else has been hanging out together, helping one another, and becoming friends as we live our separate lives with work and family. It’s an unusual situation for me as I’ve not experienced this type of camaraderie withRead more

The Right for All to Live

I was sitting on the patio Saturday morning, reading the book of James and tears welled in my eyes. Then I swore a little…or maybe a lot. Sorry God. I’m a tad bit angry these days. It’s about life and the right to live life. It seems that humans forget it’s not just about your unborn babies. It’s about all of your children. We’re supposed to love and protect everyone. Correct? Love our neighbors as ourselves. Right? Follow in theRead more

Cherished: Memories in a Plastic Box

I had plenty of cherished objects to choose from for the subject of this post: A china doll that belonged to my grandmother; a pouting stool painted by my father; an orange bicycle in the garage; jewelry from a friend; a chest of drawers that belonged to a great aunt. What I eventually chose was this: My cherished object is not one thing, it’s a collection. A collection of photos. In plastic, rectangular boxes. Memories of childhood, parents, trips, cousins, neighbors, weddings, friends,Read more

And Time Slips Away…

If you check out the comment thread of my last post, between The Master and I, you will see that we both have significant birthdays coming up in 2017. How did I get to be this old? Time slips away, unknowing and unsuspecting. One day I am 25 with a flat stomach and no cellulite and the next I am heading toward the big 6-0, wondering why I can’t lose 5 pounds of flubber around a flubbery midsection to save my soul.Read more