“She doesn’t usually paint outside, does she?” Michelle drew the obvious conclusion.
“No, she paints inside. But her assignment this week is to go outside at various hours of the day and night to take cell phone photos of an object that casts a shadow. They have to use the same object every time and Clara’s already done the morning and afternoon hours. She was going to start on the evening hours yesterday, but the weather didn’t cooperate.”
“I thought it was a painting class,” Hannah said.
“It is. Clara says it’s to teach the students the difference the time of day and night make. And also the difference in color between the shadows cast by the sun and shadows cast by the moon.”
“And now, with the blizzard, Clara can’t go outside to do it,” Michelle concluded.
“That’s right. The moon’s not casting any shadows that Clara could photograph with all this blowing snow,” Hannah added. “Which object did Clara choose?”
“That big lone pine tree at the edge of the woods. You know the one, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Hannah answered. “It’s a majestic tree and I just wish we could see it from our building.”
“So do I.” Marguerite gave a little sigh. “Then Clara wouldn’t have to go out at night and wade through the snow. I just hope they shovel the path that goes around the complex after this storm stops.”
“I’m sure they will,” Hannah reassured her. “Tell us about your class, Marguerite. What subject are you studying?”
“I have a poetry class. We’re working on writing poetry and the professor is teaching us about word choice. We bring in the poems we’ve written during the week and he reads them in class. Everyone discusses them and suggests ways that we can improve them.”
“I’d love to read some of your poems,” Hannah said.
Marguerite began to smile. “That’s good because I wrote one for you. Our last class was about how to capture the essence of meaning with an elegance of words. Our professor said that if we can find the best word to describe what we mean, we won’t have to use two or three adjectives to convey it.”
Hannah was impressed. Marguerite’s professor sounded like a very good teacher.
“Here.” Marguerite pulled a folded sheet of paper from her pocket and handed it to Hannah. “After I heard your speech in church yesterday, I went straight home and wrote this. Its message is that one small bit of time can completely change a person’s life.”
Hannah unfolded the paper and read what Marguerite had written.
It only takes a moment
A baby’s first cry
A lover’s lie
A kiss goodbye
And a dream’s dying sigh.
It only takes a moment.
“Oh, my!” Hannah said, handing the paper to Michelle. “It’s wonderful, Marguerite! Are you taking this one to class?”
“Yes, I think it’s what our professor was talking about.”
Hannah nodded. “So do I.”
“It’s really very good, Marguerite,” Michelle commented.
Marguerite looked pleased at their praise. “I’m so glad you like it. I hate to drink coffee and run, but Clara’s waiting for me. It’s my turn to make breakfast this morning.”
Michelle jumped up and wrapped four scones in a piece of foil. “Take these home with you. They’re Peach Scones and I just made them this morning.”
“Thank you!” Marguerite stood up and accepted the package with a smile.
“Would you and Clara like to join us for dinner this evening?” Hannah asked as she walked Marguerite to the door.
“I would, but Clara can’t. Her allergies are worse and I don’t think she can handle being in a place with two cats, even if she doubles up on her allergy pills.”
“You’re right, of course. We understand. Would it work if I send one of the guys over with a plate of dinner for Clara so that you can come over here and see Cuddles again?”
“That would be perfect!” Marguerite was clearly delighted with Hannah’s suggestion. “What time is dinner?”
“We’ll eat dinner at seven, but we’ll have wine and appetizers at six,” Hannah told her. “Please join us for those, too.”
“I’d love to.” Marguerite waited until Hannah had opened the door and then she reached out to give her a little hug. “Thank you for being my friend, Hannah.”
“And thank you for being mine,” Hannah said, watching as Marguerite walked across the bridge between the two buildings, entered the second-floor condo she shared with Clara, and closed the door behind her.
“I thought of something,” Michelle said, as Hannah came back to the kitchen.
“What?”
“I’ve been thinking about how to make the baked egg dish and I checked to see if you had any other ingredients we could add.”
Hannah was curious. “What did you find?”
“Sliced ham, Pepper Jack cheese, mustard, red onions, and sliced black olives.”
“Those are all good incredients.”
“Yes, and we can make Country Egg Bake.”
“I’ve never heard of that before!”
Michelle laughed. “That’s because I just made it up, but I’m sure it’ll work.”
“I’ll trust you on that. The recipes you make up always work.”
“Thanks, but no, they don’t.”
“Really? Name one recipe you just made up that didn’t work.”
“That’s easy. It’s tuna hotdish.”
“But . . . that’s so easy. It’s just a casserole with tuna and cream of mushroom soup! Why didn’t our tuna hotdish work?”
“Because I started putting it together and I didn’t have any cream of mushroom soup.”
Hannah shrugged. “You could have used any cream soup. I’ve used cream of celery, cream of chicken, and even cream of asparagus.”
“I know that, but I didn’t have any of those, either.”
“So what did you do?”
Michelle gave a little laugh. “I used cream of tomato. And the tuna hotdish was so bad, we had to call out for pizza.”
PEACH SCONES
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
3 cups all-purpose flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
? cup brown sugar (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
2 teaspoons cream of tartar (important)
1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
? teaspoon salt ? cup salted butter (1 stick, 4 ounces, ? pound)
2 large eggs, beaten (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)
? cup sour cream (or peach yogurt)
? cup peach jam (I used Smucker’s)
? cup whipping cream
Use a medium-size mixing bowl to combine the flour, brown sugar, cream of tartar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir them all up together. Cut in the salted butter just as you would for piecrust dough.
Hannah’s Note: If you have a food processor, you can use it for the first step. Cut the half-cup COLD salted butter into 8 chunks. Layer them with the dry ingredients in the bowl of the food processor. Process with the steel blade in an on-and-off motion until the mixture has the texture of coarse cornmeal. Transfer the mixture to a medium-sized mixing bowl.
Stir in the beaten eggs, sour cream, and peach jam, and then mix everything up together.
Add the whipping cream and stir until everything is combined.
Drop the scones by soup spoonful on to two cookie sheets sprayed with Pam or another nonstick baking spray. Alternatively, you can line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide your dough so that there are 9 scones for each cookie sheet.
If you have two ovens, you will bake one sheet in the upper oven and one in the lower oven. If you have only one oven, it will probably have 4 racks inside. Bake your scones on the two middle racks, switching their positions halfway through the baking time.
Once the scones are on the cookie sheets, wet your impeccably clean fingers and shape them into more perfect rounds. Then flatten them with your moistened palms. They will rise during baking, but once you flatten them, they won’t be too round on top.
Bake the scones at 425 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they’re golden brown on top. (Mine took the full 12 minutes.)