Spiders and Drink of the Week

We ALL have fears, some greater than others.  I do believe I am in touch with my ancestral beings because one of my biggest fears is spiders.  I don't care if they are the size of a dust speck or the size of a quarter, I AM SO FREAKED OUT I can't even think straight.  I mean, squeal like a little girl and cry, kind of freaked out. Last Halloween, one of the departments in our building decorated their hall with spider webs and giant spiders and I could not walk down that hall.  I told myself I was bigger than those fake, paper spiders on the wall and I could use the bathroom past the spiders, but I was not and ended up taking the stairs up to the next floor's bathroom for the whole month of October. And so begins the story of how my husband won't sit with me in church anymore.
We were at one of the early services on Easter (yes, it has taken me a while to be able to relive this moment) and during a hymn, my husband stops and gazes off to his right.  I thought he might be having a seizure and so I said his name.  He didn't respond, so I said his name again, no response, I said it a little louder, he turned to me and gave me that "stop yelling in church" look so I looked back down at my hymnal and continued on with the service.
A couple minutes later we sat down and he leaned into me to whisper something so I leaned into him, took my eyes off my hymnal and they rested on this lovely green shirt the man in front of me was wearing.  It was a deep green and in the center of the shoulder placket was A SPIDER!  It was the size of a quarter (I'm not exaggerating, you can ask my husband).  Just as I saw it, my husband saw it and saw me see it.  He quietly said, "I'm going to brush this off, so you need to move."  I was up in an instant to move to the end of the row we were sitting in.  When I moved, the spider moved, I screeched (yes, in the middle of the service) and ran to the end of the row, the spider jumped and hit the bald head of the man he was on, fell to his arm and got brushed onto the floor.  EVERYONE on my side of the church heard me scream, saw the commotion and figured out what happened.  They all quietly laughed at my reaction, and service went on.  The spider was never found, and my husband had to move down the row to sit with me, I was so distracted the rest of the service, I don't know what happened after those women got to the tomb and found the stone rolled away (o.k., that was my niece's joke but I stole it)!  The bottom line is, there is still a spider on that side of the church and I will never be able to sit there again.  I am such a creature of habit, I've sat in those seats for as long as that church has been open and now what am I going to do? 
Come to find out, when I thought my husband was having a seizure (remember that part) he was watching the spider walk across the aisle and was going to step on it and save me, but he lost sight of it when I distracted him.
The only thing to do after such a traumatic experience is to drink. And while I had a different drink that day (we had Anita's green drink on Easter) I bring you another delicious option, the Pimm's Cup. I found this while cruising through TasteSpotting one day and remembered what a cool refreshing drink this is, perfect for summer.  Now, we aren't in summer here yet, we are closer and I'm sure everyone in the states is having warmer weather than we are about now and could use a refreshing drink.  This came from the blog Apricosa (find link here).

Pimm's Cup 

Makes 1 serving 

Adapted from Gourmet, August 1957

1.5 fluid oz. (44 ml/1 jigger) chilled Pimm’s No. 1

12 fluid oz. (354 ml) chilled diet Ginger ale

4 ice cubes

1 strip cucumber

1 slice lemon, optional

1 sprig mint, optional

Pour Pimm's No. 1 and chilled ginger ale into a double old-fashioned glass (16 oz. capacity).  Garnish with ice cubes, cucumber, lemon, and/or mint.  Enjoy!

April 27, 2012     Daylight  16 hours, 39 minutes,  39 seconds     Current Temp.  48 ºF