Burnt Toast

by | Aug 31, 2024 | Lessons Along The Way, Stories From The Road

It was 7:30am a few weeks ago when I was jolted awake by an ear-piercing, hi pitched noise.  I covered my ears and took a moment to remember where I was (a hotel in Pennsylvania) and what had awakened me (the fire alarm)

In the next moments I looked at the time (7:30) I looked at Jim (already up and getting dressed.) Next, I visualized our escape route.  I quickly dressed (not easy to do with your fingers in your ears) then we checked our door before opening it (the door was not hot) and dutifully made our way outside (easy, we were on the 1st floor).   I smelled smoke…..it smelled like burnt toast.

The procedure in any building is to evacuate when you hear the fire alarm.  We know the drill; we have practiced the drill in many places across the country and twice at sea in Alaska.  You must evacuate – they will go room-to-room and get everybody out until the fire department arrives.  In this case, going outside was the best and only way to escape the painful shrieking of the alarm.

During evacuation, so many thoughts very quickly go through my mind: What do I need?  Where do I go?  What do I bring?  What did I leave behind? On a ship in Alaska, I wonder how cold the water is. If I end up in the ocean, my life preserver will only save me until hypothermia takes over.  The time it takes to evacuate is the time I have to think about my situation.  Even as I am in the process of taking action, I have those very same moments to contemplate the end of my life and how I might die. 

In every situation, when we finally get the “all clear” from the fire department I feel relief.  I also feel irritated by the rude awakening, and I also feel more than a little bit silly for letting something like the smell of burnt toast cause me to consider my untimely demise. All in all, I am just plain grateful to live another day.

HERE IS A BREAKDOWN OF ALARMS AND CAUSES IN MY 20-PLUS YEARS OF TRAVELING:

Alaska Cruise ship FIRE ALARM!     CAUSE: Incinerator fire (aren’t fires supposed to be in incinerators?)

Midwest hotel TORNADO SIREN!   CAUSE: No tornado, but we made a lot of friends in the stairwell.

Symphony Christmas Concert FIRE ALARM!     CAUSE: The entire audience and all performers were evacuated from the building and into the snow during our performance. There was no fire, a vendor was roasting chestnuts in the lobby. Which set off the smoke alarm.

Alaska Cruise ship FIRE ALARM!    CAUSE:  Dang incinerator again

Midwest hotel FIRE ALARM!   CAUSE:  No fire, someone smoking in their room.

WHICH BRINGS US TO MY LATEST EXPERIENCE:

Northeast Hotel FIRE ALARM!  ……NO fire.   

CAUSE:  This time………It was just burnt toast.

Johnny Onion Seed….

by | Jun 8, 2024 | Lessons Along The Way

Oh, the Lord is good to me,

And so, I thank the Lord,

For giving me, the things I need,

The sun and the rain and the apple seed…..

I learned this song in Girl Scouts.  It’s called “Johnny Appleseed,” and it meant nothing to me at the time, just a fun little tune.  

Fast forward (very fast) almost 50 years and this song and the lore of Johnny Appleseed means a whole lot more.  Feelings and experiences have happened over those years that have made a simple song and a simple idea turn into something so deep and profound – it’s hard to put into words (but here I am blogging, lol, so I’ll do my best).

Let me start with the concept of sharing, but with one little change…let’s use an onion seed instead of an apple seed (bear with me, I don’t eat apples every day, but I do eat onions or onion salt or onion powder nearly every day).   Johnny shared his apple seeds, and I’ve been sharing onions…..special onions called Egyptian walking onions.  I entered the onion-sharing world when I met Ray Eicher, aka the onion man.  Ray loved John Denver music and came to our concerts whenever he could.  When he learned about my love for gardening, Ray promptly gave me some walking onions and told me that he had been sharing these unique onions all over the East coast and as far West as Nevada.  

My adopted onions plants thrived in California, and so I’ve shared them with friends in Florida, Alabama and a new generation of gardeners (my son and his friends) in Idaho.  The plant is perennial, and every part of the walking onion plant is edible. The onions are called walking onions because they grow new onions at the very top of their stalk.  The new onions eventually become too heavy for the stalk, then the stalk falls over and the new onions root themselves to the ground wherever they fall…one step away (walking) from the parent plant.

Sadly, I just got an email from the onion man’s wife Adele.  Ray has passed away, but I proudly keep the gift he gave to me and have shared it with others who will continue to share with many more.  

The Lord is good to me. He has given me friends that share their gifts, talents and time with me.  Step by Step, I do my best to pass along whatever I can.  Together we plant the seeds that become the spice of life.  

Thank you, Ray!