My cup runneth over
21/06/08 15:31
I have a favorite mug. It didn’t start out being a favorite but, once recognized as such, it seems like I’ve always had a very clear recollection of where I bought it, why I bought it, and how it came to be my favorite. Our cupboard is full of glasses, mugs, tumblers, and cups the likes of which I have no recollection of every buying or otherwise obtaining. This one is different. While they all serve a useful purpose, and it’s hard not to have favorites when you have so many to choose from, there are some I never use and others that I use frequently. The one I use most frequently, which just happens to be my favorite, is a coffee mug that I bought in an airport in Texas while on a business trip some 10 years ago. You can distinguish it from the others by the label on the front of the mug which reads, “TEXAS BRAND DENIM CO.” It is a typical diner-white ceramic mug with a very nice heft to it and it is neither too big nor too small. If I want more coffee, which is rare since I’m a one-cupper in the morning and a one-cupper in the evening, I can always go back for a refill. But, I never do. It is just right, as papa bear likes to say.
Believe it or not, I have cups in my cupboard whch exist for one reason and one reason only; they remind me of my childhood. Weird, huh? You know those brightly colored 8-oz aluminum tumblers that we had as children? I can’t place them precisely although I can see them most clearly at the camp up at the lake. Maybe the little camp. Maybe the big camp. They came in standard popsicle-like colors of red and blue. They were ice cold to the touch when filled with cold milk right out of the fridge and you couldn’t imagine having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with milk in any other cup. Glass wasn’t the same and plastic didn’t get the job done like aluminum when it came to drinking ice cold milk. Those were the days before aluminum became synonomous with Alzheimers. If you were a good boy or girl, you got a liberal squeeze of Hershey’s chocolate syrup. Sugar was still in favor in those days. Not so much anymore. Don’t tell the kids.
And then there are cups that I prefer becasue they keep things hot or cold longer than usual. Coffee that goes cold before its time is useless. If I wanted iced coffee, or worse yet, coffee at room temperature, I’d prepare it that way. I don’t and I won’t have it that way. For all the days I’ve been drinking coffee, I have never quite perfected the art of making iced coffee so I usually leave that to the professionals. I’ll have one of them there coffee coolata’s, por favor. Or, I’ll have a frappacino when you have a moment. Now, with the price of gas hitting record highs, I’m less inclined to indulge my senses much less my wallet in such extravagance. For now, I will have to settle for ice cubes and a splash of skim milk with my coffee when I’m in the mood for an iced beverage. Perhaps the day will come when my cup runneth over once again. I’ll be waiting with my favorite mug in hand.
Believe it or not, I have cups in my cupboard whch exist for one reason and one reason only; they remind me of my childhood. Weird, huh? You know those brightly colored 8-oz aluminum tumblers that we had as children? I can’t place them precisely although I can see them most clearly at the camp up at the lake. Maybe the little camp. Maybe the big camp. They came in standard popsicle-like colors of red and blue. They were ice cold to the touch when filled with cold milk right out of the fridge and you couldn’t imagine having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with milk in any other cup. Glass wasn’t the same and plastic didn’t get the job done like aluminum when it came to drinking ice cold milk. Those were the days before aluminum became synonomous with Alzheimers. If you were a good boy or girl, you got a liberal squeeze of Hershey’s chocolate syrup. Sugar was still in favor in those days. Not so much anymore. Don’t tell the kids.
And then there are cups that I prefer becasue they keep things hot or cold longer than usual. Coffee that goes cold before its time is useless. If I wanted iced coffee, or worse yet, coffee at room temperature, I’d prepare it that way. I don’t and I won’t have it that way. For all the days I’ve been drinking coffee, I have never quite perfected the art of making iced coffee so I usually leave that to the professionals. I’ll have one of them there coffee coolata’s, por favor. Or, I’ll have a frappacino when you have a moment. Now, with the price of gas hitting record highs, I’m less inclined to indulge my senses much less my wallet in such extravagance. For now, I will have to settle for ice cubes and a splash of skim milk with my coffee when I’m in the mood for an iced beverage. Perhaps the day will come when my cup runneth over once again. I’ll be waiting with my favorite mug in hand.