Ice Cream Diaries - 20                                                                     May 16, 2006

'Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.'    Theophrastus (372bc - 287bc)

Greetings from Seattle.   Thanks to 40 days and 40 nights of cold, raw driving rain, I've got a little time to drop into the Diaries.   Just like last year, April was unseasonably warm and sunny, helping to contribute to record scooping numbers.   The party came to a screeching halt a fortnight ago when the clouds opened up and the mercury dropped back to more typical New England Spring temps.   Let's not dwell on today's weather though.  I'd rather talk about the awesome April.  First, I'm happy to report Mt. Tom's achieved one of my primary goals when I started, to make the Valley Advocate's 'Best of' list.   We came in at number three, just behind Bart's, and, I'm guessing, a bit further from local mainstay, Herrill's.   They may be tough to beat, given Steve's 25 year head start and virtual lock on the Northampton and SmithCollege walking traffic.   In any event, I'm just psyched to have made the list in just year two.   Thanks to all who voted for me.   I really appreciate it.   So it's on to my next goal, although I'm not sure my apartment is big enough for a black lab named Coney.

The summer team is coming together nicely.   The latest addition to the Mt. Tom's scoop crew is Katie, cheerleader, tennis star, and college bound for Bryant (this makes 3 out of 5 of my employees Bryant College students, what are the odds of that?).   As of this writing, she's only got a few shifts under her belt, but she's calm and cool, seems to be a natural with the scoop (must be the strong forearms from her tennis backhand), and is as cheerful as a robin after a rainstorm.    Matt and Lauren, the off-season fraternal wonder twins, will be cranking up the hours, and back from college for another summer in the dippers are Liz and Allison.  At installment twenty press time, I believe only Allison is in the know about the Diaries, so I may need to give her a raise as hush money.

So what's new in the ice cream kitchen...   The chocolate-dipped banana has been a big hit.  It's inspired me to try my hand at real chocolate-dipped bananas.  I understand it's a good use for those extra bananas from split demand lulls.  Customers have started asking for the summer flavors ... blueberry, peach, watermelon sherbet, but I just can't do them right until the fruit is in season.   A couple new ones I've tried lately ... Rolo - milk chocolate with a caramel swirl (working that old-fashioned candy store tie-in.  Speaking of old candy, I just got the old Marathon bars in, remember those?), raspberry cheesecake, and as requested by the Brass Cat gang, my favorite local pub across the street, Green Monster Tracks.   After much thought, I decided to make this year's Red Sox opening day flavor with Cocoa Krispees and snow caps in a green mint base.  I experimented in the lab with Cracker Jacks but just didn't like the consistency of a frozen piece of caramel-coated popcorn.  The Cocoa Krispees part was lost on most of my pre-opening day customers since few seemed familiar with the Sox' latest acquisition Coco Crisp, but when I brought over 60 cups of GMT to the Cat during opening day, I got a  big cheer, which is nice, and my neighbor Kevin of National Carpet bought me a beer.   The pomegranate and Acai Berry Sorbets were base hits.  And my latest was a tasty batch of Mint Julep, made with sweet bourbon and a hint of mint, as requested by one of my regulars for her Kentucky Derby party.

Filed under category - 'that'll put things in perspective', a woman came into the shop with her twelve-year-old boy.    He was a regular kid - braces, jean jacket, ball cap.  It wasn't until his Mom began explaining how her son has a mitochondrial disease, which means his body can't digest any food, that I noticed the tubes coming out of his jacket and into a box hanging from his shoulder.   This poor little guy has never tasted food, his stomach can only handle fat-free hard candy.    Mom explained he's been having cravings for foods like kielbasa and hot dogs.   She had heard through the vine that I make my own candy and was wondering if I could make food flavored hard candy for her son.   Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do that, but I polled my candy network and came up with a potential solution.   One of my candy reps forwarded me samples of flavor sprays.  Bacon, birthday cake.   Mom seemed really grateful, although I never did hear back whether he liked it.   Meeting a kid dealt such a crappy hand, with a supportive family just trying to make the best of it, was just one of those slap-in-the-face reminders that no matter how tough a day you think you're having, it could always be worse.  Much worse.

The things you have time for when it rains for two weeks - I started an MS-Access database to record my ice cream making and keep track of recipes.   Just a small way to crossover a bit of that engineering training and experience into the ice cream world.  It's going to be cool.  You can take the engineer out of the cubicle but that doesn't mean he can't still wear a pocket protector.

One of the favorite lines overheard in the shop, a caring parent says to his antsy kid making a move to the candy jars, 'You can't have any candy until you eat all your ice cream!'   I'm going straight to Hell.  And I will be greeted at the gate by an angry mob of dentists and nutritionists.

I bought a gas generator on Ebay.   No more thunderstorm power failure pacing and nail biting for me.

I also just bought a second waffle cone iron.  Lauren has quickly become the waffle cone queen, mastering the art with both style and grace.   She's able to knock off a couple dozen fresh cones during the short dinner lull.  Homemade waffle cones rule.   One of the sweetest smells on the planet.   A guy visited the shop a few weeks ago, used to own an ice cream shop in Springfield.   He made his own for ten years, until he got to the point where he couldn't stand the smell of ice cream.   That never happened to my Dad.  I hope it never happens to me.

During one of my last Tuesdays off, I had an afternoon to kill, so I decided to check out my old college campus, UMass.   It's only 10.2 miles from my shop/apt/new life, but I just hadn't taken the time to wander over since I moved here.  I brought my journal, the camera, and a couple Andrew Jacksons in my wallet in hopes of basking in that college energy I used to know and love, rekindle a few faded memories of the glory days, and perhaps score a new UMass hoodie.    Well, it just so turned out to be Spring Break week, so the campus was a virtual ghost town save for a few landlocked Asian students.   Guess I should have been walking the strip in Fort Lauderdale (probably dating myself with that one) to catch some college energy, along with a few Pabst beer bongs and wet t-shirt contests.    Not to be denied at least a taste of the old stomping ground, I wandered around campus and found my way into the student union building.  I flopped myself into an old worn-out couch in the campus center, clicked to an old Roxy Music CD on my Ipod and began to soak in the nostalgia like a warm tub.  Memories began streaming back.     Across from where I sat was the old 'Christian Science Reading Room' where I remember passing out music cassettes and listening to Arlo Guthrie's 'Alice's Restaurant' on Saturday mornings when my roommate was too hung over to make it to his work study job.   It was now the graduate lounge and sports a tacky neon 'Budweiser' sign.    Roxy's song, 'More than This' filled my ears...

As I could feel at the time There was no way of knowing Fallen leaves in the night Who can say where they´re blowing As free as the wind And hopefully learning Why the sea on the tide Has no way of turning More than this - there is nothing It was fun for a while There was no way of knowing Like dream in the night Who can say where we´re going No care in the world Maybe i´m learning Why the sea on the tide Has no way of turning More than this - there is nothing

There is nothing...but the present moment.    I couldn't help but think about how quickly time passes.   So much has happened between that moment and the last time I sat there.   The space between felt more like hours than decades.   Yet when I start to think about all the cool things that I've experienced in the years since graduation day, I overflowed with a cacophony of emotions.   Gratitude for being able to travel and meet so many great people, the highs and lows of relationships come and gone (or learning experiences as I like to call them), photography, writing, enjoying career success both as an engineer and more recently as an ice cream guy, being lucky to have great friends with whom to share the road...

My old engineering building still stood where I remembered it, although now surrounded by a Polymer Research Center and a collection of unfamiliar engineering buildings.   The duck pond remained but like most memories of youth, it seemed smaller.    Also new was one big cell tower behind the dining hall.  Time and progress halts for no one.   It doesn't even stop at crosswalks for pedestrians as it passes through downtown Northampton.  As I sat and reflected, I wondered when it was that I actually stopped wishing to be back in college and started to really enjoy being a 'grown up'.  Those thoughts of the past few decades since I was a college kid reminded me of what vacation usually feels like.   Day by day, it seems to move in a slow and comfortable fashion, then all of a sudden, you're on the plane home and you think, 'I can't believe my vacation's over already.  I feel like I just left!'   Not that this is necessarily a bad thing.  It likely just means you had a great vacation.   The passage of time isn't something to be dwelled upon, but it is a curious thing to think about once in a while, especially when you find yourself back in a place where you once belonged.   That Tuesday off a few weeks ago provided a cool and surreal moment for me.  If you ever find yourself in such a moment, I recommend you sit back with a fresh latte (or sundae) and savor, for it will remain a bookend just for an instant.

One thing I've often noticed is how the universe finds a way to confirm or reinforce thoughts rattling in your head.   I was watching a season four DVD of Northern Exposure just last night.   Below is quote from Hollings, one of the main characters.   I thought it summed it up quite nicely.

'When I was a boy, I used to sit in my momma's washtub, cup my hands, and try to hold water.    No matter how tightly I squeezed my fingers, I couldn't do it.   Water always dribbled away.   Time is like that.   No matter how hard you try, it always leaks through our fingers...   You think about time too much and you'll go crazy.'

I went to my friend and co-Cottage Street business owner, Mark Schwaber's CD release party a few weeks ago.   It was awesome.  I have so much admiration for people who are good at something, exude passion, and are driven to be ever better at their craft.   Sitting at a Mark Schwaber concert, you just get the feeling he is in complete command of his chosen form of expression, and even better, that he truly enjoys making music.   Being around that kind of energy is in itself energizing.  In his blog, he once called the music that plays all around him (he owns a record store, bartends, and plays in 3 bands) 'audio wallpaper'.   I remember reading that and thinking, what a cool line.   I thought about this during my UMass meditation.   With my Ipod on shuffle, old songs kept coming on.  Like being in a time machine, I was jettisoned back to times and places in my past.   Memories triggered by the song quickly followed.  True, music is audio wallpaper, but like the smell of a wet dog that reminds you of that lovable mutt named Flash you had as a kid, music is intertwined with our memories.  As art imitates life, music is ever-evolving, rarely failing to leave a mark on its own slice of time.    Maybe that's one of the reasons I admire Mark and other musicians responsible for putting up the wallpaper.   They add another dimension to our lives, providing mile markers along our journey..

Well, I've probably taken enough of your time talking about time.  I know I promised a few new characters, but it appears this grey weather has made me more philosophical than imaginative.  Not to mention that the fine April weather and bustling biz that ensued pretty much consumed me.   With numbers matching last August, it was definitely encouraging, albeit exhausting.   May has been a bit of a reality check with this endless rain, but as I've pontificated before, I try not to stress about that which I cannot control.  The good news is our friend Root Beer Rudy has started coming around again.   In keeping with the theme that nearly everything changes with time, Rudy seems to have evolved to fancying the vanilla milkshake.  Using his words, 'I'd take a root beer float but I'm always on the move.'   He was in the shop the other day, enjoying a V-shake, when as fate and luck for him would have it, his parents and his brother Reej came into the shop.  After the anticipated tension-filled exchange between a fourteen year old boy and his, like, totally uncool parents, Rudy says, 'Hey Dad, can you buy me a vanilla shake?'   Dad quickly responds, 'You just had one!'  'Yah, but I want a free one.'    'What's in it for me?'   Rudy replies with his trademarked goth grin, 'I won't burn the house down this week.'    Mrs. RBR then jumps in, 'Will you let me win an argument?'    To which Rudy responds, 'It depends, but probably not.'

So to those of you thinking, can you please not make these Diary installments so long and philosophical, I respond,  'It depends, but probably not.'

Take care, stay dry, and remember,

Life is short.

Eat (homemade) ice cream.

Your bud,

Jim