My Two Writing Teachers colleagues and I are hosting the 14th Annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge, in which teachers from around the world participate in posting a story per day.
If you spend enough time in Vermont, where I live, you will eventually find yourself in a debate over where to find the best creemee. Just as when I lived in New York City, the best pizza was a common topic of conversation, so too are creemees in Vermont. (L&B' Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn is the best pizza in all of NYC, by the way.)
A creemee is basically soft-serve ice cream, though some of my fellow Vermonters will say it is not the same thing at all. I was born and raised in Vermont, and I’m still not sure if there is truly a difference, or if it’s all in our heads. Maybe there’s a difference?
In my tiny town of 5,000 people there are FOUR different places to get creemees: Joe’s Snack Bar, the Jericho Country Store, the Jolley gas station, and Palmer Lane Maple Store. All of them are contenders for best creemee anywhere and come up frequently in local top-ten lists and best-of’s.
We are a Palmer Lane family. However, my husband grew up on the Joe’s Snack Bar and Jolley creemees, so he is a bit partial to those as well. Personally, I like the Country Store creemees equally as well, but everyone else disagrees with me on that.
This week the temperatures in Vermont sky-rocketed from last week’s below zero to a whopping 45 degrees yesterday. Everywhere I went this week, you could feel a tangible difference in moods. People were in tee shirts and birkenstocks (this is Vermont after all) the moment the sun came out.
Naturally, we stopped to get a creemee after school to celebrate the arrival of what locals call “fake spring.” Jackson got vanilla, and I got maple. We know this warm spell won’t last. We know full well there’s a very good chance for at least one or two more snow storms left before spring actually arrives in month or two—but we’ll take the sunshine and creemees while they last.