Friends of Friends!

Friendship boasts plenty of joys, that’s for sure.

One is hearing stories of your friends’ friends.

Friends of friends!

You care about them, think about them, even give advice to them through your friend, their friend.

My friend Susan’s friend Blair learned about Friend for the Ride from Susan.

And this fall, Blair left these funky menopause cards on my doorstep.

How cool is that?

Thanks Blair!

What about you?

Have you enjoyed friends of friends in your friendly life?

The Word Friend:  Here’s a fascinating thread on the word “friend” posted on wordreference.com. In most languages, the word derived from the word “to love.” Other root words include “like,” “free,” “beautiful,” and “tie.”

Friends for the Ride!

This is my 250th blog post!

Thanks to everyone who has guest posted (I’m always looking for more!  Email me at the address on the right.)

And thanks to everyone who has supported Friend for the Ride.

My mom painted this watercolor for us.

The rider in the front reminds us that menopause is our own ride, since each and every experience is different.

We endure those dips and swoops with the help of our friends, in person and online. Those are the riders in the background.

So here’s to all of you, my friends,

In happy honor of friendship, email, call, or send a card to a friend who could use some extra cheer today!

I’m going to do the same.

Foods That Harm/Foods That Heal Giveaway Winner:  Congrats to Haralee!

Cookie Aging Points and the World’s Easiest Cookie Recipe

I’d be telling a lie, which is chancy this time of year with Santa watching and all, if I said I love getting old.

Some say we’re supposed to not mind aging.  “Age is just a number,” they tell us.

And the subtitle of this blog is indeed “Encouraging Words for the Menopause Roller Coaster.”

But wrinkles and saggy thighs and creaky feet can sometimes outshine the bravado that comes with aging.  So I look for that bravado wherever I can.

In honor of the season, I present you some upbeat cookie thoughts on getting old.

Cookie Aging Point One:

My menopausal eyes spotted this slick bottle in the baking aisle four days ago. A new kind of squirt icing!

I’m not sure how well it works, but being a lover of icing, I’m looking forward to giving  it a whirl and a swirl.

How cool to live long enough to see good, new stuff:  computers and other useful inventions,  medical advances, innovative works of art that reflect the times we live in, AND a new system for making dots and squiggles with frosting.

Cookie Aging Point Two:

It’s neat to have lived long enough to remember the stuff of yesterday:  the expression “neat,” record players, the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, troll dolls, wooden rings on our fingers, hip hugger skirts and poor boy tops, Almond Smash, AND our moms and grandmas rolling out cookies oh so thin and oh so delicious (and storing them in metal tins).

Cookie Aging Point Three:

Finally, how lovely to have recipes you make year after year, first given to you by a friend or relative.  That person abides in your thoughts while you cook!

Here’s my friend Cathy’s shortbread recipe as I wrote it down twenty-some years ago.

You don’t need squirt icing or cookie cutters. You don’t even need to grease the pan.  Sugar is 1/2 cup. (I know it’s a little hard to read.)

Take the shortbread out of the oven when it’s lightly browned.  Dust with colored sugar or confectioner’s or leave plain. Cut into squares or other shapes.

Neat-o!