Oh the Things You Can Think! (Or Do!)

Ack!!!! Forgive me, I'm late in putting this up today. Chalk it up to our having had TWO AND A HALF FEET OF SNOW (!!!!) over the past two days. [The above image is our gas grill, well before the snow stopped falling.] Seriously, things got a little hectic around our house, though not with the usual runaround stuff. Instead it was a deluge of teens hanging around the house (all needing to be fed prodigiously), and lots of playing in the snow, making paninis and pizza for lunch, chili for dinner, fire in the fireplace, heating cider on the stove, cleaning dish after dish dish piling up in the kitchen. And then ALL THOSE WET CLOTHES!!! So apologies for being late and I'm going to take advantage of my lateness by posting something that could be a neat party trick for you to try during this holiday season. Guaranteed to make you the life of the party...

I have a talent that is definitely hidden, because it’s done behind closed lips.

Now, don’t be jealous. Because you, too, can try along at home. My talent? I can tie a maraschino cherry stem in a knot with my tongue.

Aren’t you impressed? Well, I once was as well, when someone revealed to me that this was their skill. Never did I think I could achieve such a lofty goal. But then I decided to give it a try, and it was remarkably simply. So my advice to you if you’re reading this and feeling a little of the green-eyed monster lurking, just knowing that you can’t yet do it and I can, is just go for it.
Now I’d recommend buying a fresh jar of cherries—the one festering in the back of your fridge from the last time you made ice cream sundaes in 1998 is probably not ideal. I do realize that the concept of freshness and maraschino cherries seems a bit oxymoronic. I mean, do those things ever go bad? Aren’t they preserved in formaldehyde or something? But just to be on the safe side…

Once you have a cherry (and for starters, I’d recommend a longer stem), you just start working your magic. It’ll take a few passes, but unless you’ve got a diving board for a tongue, I think you’ll be able to do it. I was at a wedding when someone taught me, and everyone at our table mastered it by the end of the evening. Of course it’s important to tie the end around the stem, and not try to move the whole cherry around it. But you knew that. Didn’t you?

I used to have a lot more hidden talents. I was a competitive ice skater and did all sorts of tricky maneuvers on ice that you’d never catch me doing now. I was a human gumby as a child also, and could put my feet behind my head, could balance on my hands in a tripod position, do back walkovers down our spiral front staircase with ease. I could do ten round-off back flips in a row without getting dizzy. Now I’m lucky to hold a yoga pose for 10 breaths. But every now and then I think I might attempt something a little more ambitious. Because you just never know…
In the meantime, here's a how-to on tying that cherry stem.
Oh the thinks you can think up if only you try! Now what hidden talent do you have?

(p.s. I forgot to post this amusing little video of my crazy parrot for your entertainment...)