November 4th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Well, I survived. Boy was it cold out there yesterday! I spent part of my day doing my Tigg’r imitations – bouncing up and down to try to keep the blood flowing. It didn’t help. I made the mistake of sitting on a metal chair when I first got there, and that was the end of me. After my butt froze, I couldn’t warm up for the rest of the day. You would think I’d know better.

 

The Peddler's Village Apple Festival was almost as huge as their Scarecrow Festival. The place was packed all day, and all day people were going by with the most heavenly smelling apple dumplings. I was hooked. Come the end of the book signing, I had to have one. So after I packed up my stuff, I went on a dumpling hunt.

 

 

Here's the line I encountered. It stretched from the lower patio, up the stairs and into the main courtyard. There were at least two hundred people in line. I began to feel defeated when I noticed the sign for the bakery across the lower patio. There were only a few folks standing outside, so I went over to investigate. Sure enough, there was a line inside, but there were only about thirty people in it, and they were selling dumplings inside. There was a fifteen minute wait for the next batch of dumplings to come out, but I didn't care. I was inside, out of the wind and I was warm for the first time in six hours. It could have been half an hour wait and I would have stayed.

 

While I was there waiting, I chatted with one of the bakery's employees and she told me they were just short of 6,500 dumplings sold that day and they still had several hours left. The dumplings were selling for $6 with the custard sauce. That is $39K worth of dumplings. They sold almost 9,000 the day before, so it was feasible for them to have sold A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS worth of apple dumplings in two days. Mind boggling! And dumplings weren't the only things they were selling; they had apple pies, strudel, fritters, kuchen, zeppole and more.  

It was a good day. I sold a bunch of books and I got to meet two new authors. Barbara Steingas wrote two books. The Healing Puzzle was about how she battled Crohn’s disease and won, and Germans Are Funny Too!, the story about her crazy German family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hannah K. Jones wrote a historical pictorial about a recently torn down landmark entitled Byberry State Hospital. Both women were really sweet and it was a pleasure chatting with them.

 

Standing out in the cold all day really took it out of me, that and the normally thirty-five minute ride home which took an hour and twenty minutes. I came home, popped two Motrin and went to bed. I was out until four-thirty this morning.

Other than my blog, I did not get any writing done yesterday, so I really have to crank out some words today, but the first thing I am going to do is pull something out for dinner. I forgot to do that yesterday before I left, so my husband and daughter had to fend for themselves last night. (They went to Applebee’s.)

I hope you have a fantastic day and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge:

 

 

I wasn’t expecting it when I woke up this morning, but there it was. The undeniable sign winter was on its way and there wasn’t a dang thing I could do to prevent it. Sure it is beautiful and the air is so crisp you can taste it, but it’s just so darned cold.

I’ll admit it, when I first saw the view, the child in me got all giddy, jumped up and down and yelled “SNOW!”, but then the adult side of me got annoyed, flopped down on the couch and groaned, “SNOW!”.  Sure it’s pretty now, but in a few hours it will have turned into a muddy, sluggy, yucky muck.

The snow signals the beginning of long, cold, dark days, of slippery roads and treacherous walkways, of hibernation and isolation. Yes, there are a few holidays interspersed in the long months of winter to keep you from teetering completely onto the side of depression, but they are barely enough. In the warm weather, there are picnics, barbeques and get-togethers aplenty. It is a happy and social existence. For the next few months we will be huddle in our caves for warmth, with only rare occasions which warrant us bearing the cold.

 

Can you tell I am not a fan of the cold weather?

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

I remember it as if it were yesterday…

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.