Like Sands Through the Hour Glass...

I can still scrunch up my eyes and hear Macdonald Carey proclaiming these words as an almost sacred invocation each day as viewers prepared to spend an hour with the folks of Salem, "Like sands through the hour glass, so are the Days of our Lives." Oh yes, I was a soap opera baby, raised on certain "stories" by both maternal and paternal grandmothers who would be nowhere else mid-day than catching up on the lives of the Horton clan. I'm not sure what understanding of time these words were meant to evoke. Was Mr. Carey, who portayed the patriarch of the Horton clan, saying time moved quickly in Salem like sand quickly, inevitably, inexorably filling the bottom of the glass? Or was he proposing that the days passed by slowly, just as the sand slipped bit by bit, one grain at a time, from the top to the bottom of the glass? If the drama itself gives us any clues, it would probably be "both / and." Why, the characters could spend days in a hospital room moving a single conversation forward tiny inch by inch. Or, conversely, a child could be born this summer, out of wedlock of unsure parentage, of course, and next summer he would be the latest teenage heartthrob drawing in a new generation of young viewers. Time in Salem actually moved ahead by rapid fits and starts one day and with bone-crushing inertia for the next several.

I lost my sweet Daddy last August and I remember as clearly as yesterday what he told me one day, not too long before he died, as we sat around his kitchen table. He said that time goes by more and more quickly the older you get. Little did I know how prophetic that statement would be and how often I have thought of it since. What I wouldn't give for one more day!

The life God gives us on this earth is indeed fleeting. While it seems almost cliche to say so, the magnitude of the truth it reflects bears repetition. As my husband often says, this is not a dress rehearsal. There are some times in life when we only get one chance to get it right. I am grateful for God's grace in any and all circumstances and I am quite sure I worship the God of second chances, but I also know there are times when we "get it wrong" and grace can only allow us to make amends and choose better the next time. If we had a "do-over", we would have much preferred on all fronts to get it right the first time.

Long ago when I still clocked my time in a secular job, I worked for a very wise man named Hugh Morton. He was a keen philosopher who got it right on so many fronts. He also allowed that time moved much too quickly and said what we need to do in order to slow it down is "mark" time. "Marking" time, he said, was doing anything out of the ordinary that created a memory and separated a segment of time from the same old comfortable day-in-and-day-out routine. He accomplished that in his own life by climbing mountains. Big mountains. He had a list of the highest peaks and was marking them off his list one by one. After a day of mortgage banking in our little building at the corner of West Peachtree and Third Street in Atlanta, he would pick up a backpack full of weights and head over to the Bell South Tower and train by walking up and down the stairwells. His example of seizing life helped give me the courage to leave that job and go on to seminary. God was clearly kicking me in the pants and urging me in that direction, and with godly wisdom He surrounded me with folks like Hugh who showed me what it looks like to "mark" time.

Can you think back to your own childhood and remember the things that marked time for you? Paul and I marvel at how the Sunday afternoon drive was such a treat for both of our respective families when we were kids. How fun it was just to pile in the car, destination mostly unknown and see where you ended up. In my family, my dad would mark time for us in the summers by coming home from work, loading us in the car and taking us to Lake Lanier for a swim. It didn't take much then to mark time and I find it still doesn't. Quite often, a food-oriented treat can mark time. (Inevitable that I would end up talking about food, right? All roads...)

I got an email from Amazon recently telling me I needed to buy THIS to make my summer special.

I wholeheartedly agreed with Amazon (link to Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker here.) The folks there know me all too well! It is lovely how they anticipate my buying needs. I have two ice cream makers tucked away in storage, neither of which is exactly like this one, neither of which is exactly accessible at this point, so I decided what is one more ice cream maker, anyway? As I contemplated homemade ice cream, a flood of special memories came back from my childhood. My mom made peach ice cream every summer that was killer good and killer special. Anyone can buy a quart of ice cream at the grocery store, but you MARK time when the whole family participates in making it at home. My sister, Sharon, and I would help make the ice cream mix. That meant peeling and chopping peaches, helping my mom make the custard-style base which started out stove-top and WAITING on it to cool down in the refrigerator before making the ice cream. My dad orchestrated the technical part which meant having crushed ice and rock salt at the ready and finding wherever we had stored the ice cream churn the last time we made it. Anticipation definitely helped make this into a special event in our home. Once the mix went into the canister and the churn was plugged in, the waiting began in earnest. It took a good half hour for the churn to do its magic, and then we had to let it "cure," when all I really wanted to do was open the canister, grab a spoon and work my way to the bottom!

The summer is flying by and the peaches (Windmill Market) are at their best, so now seems like a good time to slow things down and orchestrate an ice cream event in your home. We've had several special ice cream moments in our house already as I try to eke out my money's worth from this new kitchen toy. Paul is particularly irked that I waited 14 years of marriage before making this "family specialty" for him. His memories of homemade ice cream are of the "dump it all in the canister" kind which tends to come out grainy and milky and sugary with little of the texture you really want from ice cream. This recipe was a real find! My mother came across it in some magazine that touted it as "Thomas Jefferson's recipe." I've done some research and would say this is a refined version of Tom's recipe. The mix sans peaches would make an excellent vanilla base for all sorts of frozen concoctions. I've got about a dozen in my head, but so far can't get past the plethora of peaches pining for my attention! Make this, make a memory, mark time and the ones you serve will think you are pretty special and that they are too, since you took the time to make it for them.

Homemade Peach Ice Cream

To make 1-1/2 Quarts

(Instructions for a big-daddy churn in parenthesis)

1-1/2 tsp. Knox gelatin (1 package)

1 cup buttermilk (2 cups)

1/2 cup sugar + 2 Tb. for peaches (1 cup + 1/4 cup)

1 egg, beaten well in a small bowl (1 egg)

dash salt (1/4 tsp.)

3 cups heavy cream (6 cups)

1/2 tsp. vanilla (1 Tb.)

1 cup mashed peaches (2 cups)

1. Begin with a double boiler, or better yet, a small saucepan and a stainless steel bowl that will just fit on top of the pan. Bring about an inch of water to a simmer in the bottom pan. Off the heat in either the top part of the double boiler or the bowl, mix the gelatin, buttermilk and sugar (1/2 or 1 cup). Put on top of the water and let the milk heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is pretty hot.

2. Add the hot buttermilk mixture to the beaten egg slowly, about a tsp. at a time, whisking with a fork until you have added about 1/2 cup. Then return the egg and milk mixture to the rest of the mixture still over the simmering water and let it heat and thicken slowly, for about 2-3 minutes. (This step is to resolve the "raw egg" issue. In the old days, we just added the buttermilk mixture slowly to the beaten egg off the heat.)

3. Pour the hot mixture into a bowl and add the salt, vanilla and cream.

4. Refrigerate until well-chilled, at least about 2 hours. If you are using an ice cream maker with a frozen canister, this step is crucial. If the mixture is still warm, it will start to thaw the canister and the ice cream won't make properly. (If you are using the old-fashioned churn with the ice and rock salt, go ahead and add the peaches mixed with the reserved sugar at this point and let all chill together.)

5. If you are using an ice cream maker like mine, mix the peaches with the sugar and let it sit for a few minutes. Pour off the juice and add to the cream mixture. Refrigerate the peaches so they will be cold, too.

6. Process according to your ice cream maker's instructions. If you are using a frozen canister-type maker like mine, you will want to wait and add the peaches after the mixture is quite thick, probably in the last 5 minutes of churning. For the traditional maker, make sure you let the ice cream cure in the canister for awhile. In my Cuisinart maker, it is still a bit soft when it is done. It tastes great just like that, but if you want it to freeze up a bit, put it all in a container and let it rest in the freezer for awhile.

Note: For variations, leave out the peaches and the accompanying sugar and substitute a like amount of whatever strikes your fancy. Suggestions--heath bar bits, chocolate chips, crushed Oreos, strawberries or other fruit (add back the sugar.)

This will keep for at least a week in the freezer and still be quite good, but I'm betting you won't get the chance to find out!