Filter

During my late husband’s bout with cancer, we stayed in Rawalpindi for about a year, and eight months. Tired of lugging bottled water to where we were staying, I thought of boiling my own. I never knew how horrible it would taste.It looked like we were drinking paint. The color wasn’t clear either. Bottled water in comparison was better. At least one could drink it when it was put in the fridge for cooling. It tastes terrible while warm. It’s only palatable when it’s ice cold.

I have been boiling water for years for drinking purposes. Once it’s no longer warm, I filter it through a muslin cloth into a cooler. I fill bottles with it, and then put them in the fridge. When away from home I buy bottled water from the market.

I was considered a total freak carrying my own water by my friends, and relatives till a time came people started buying bottled water. I wasn’t a weirdo any longer.

In Houston tap water is unsafe. We buy huge cartons of drinking water from Sam’s Club, or Costco. If there is a sale it gets much cheaper. I am appalled at the price of drinking water here.

We are fortunate in one aspect —  the water is sweet in Peshawar. Even after boiling it retains its sweetness, and is hundred times better than the stuff sold in the market.

…
DAILY PROMPWrite a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt. 
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/filter/

Water

Henderson Lake
We travelled through a storm while passing through West Virginia. Water was pouring through the skies, and the truck was buffeted by the angry wind and rain. Directly above the driver’s seat rainwater kept sprinkling on my son. There must have been a hole someplace above. 

Houston Downtown
Clouds dot the sky above Houston, but little rain.  Where do these clouds go? I have no idea. If there was as much rain as the clouds are, Houston by now would have been submerged by water.

………

DAILY PROMPT

Water

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt. 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/water/

Forever Young

  
If I can have the face and figure I had at eighteen, why not?

But there is a contingency to it. 

What?

With the above I would like to have the same knowledge I have now. Only and only then I will drink from it.

Then again if it entails living forever, I won’t drink. I would like to remain the same as I am now till death comes.

I remember as a child when I saw my dead mother, my thoughts were of dodging death. Stories abound in every culture of fountain of life. I thought when I grew up I would search the world for it. As if it was an easy thing? Ha!

As a teenager realization struck that roaming the world alone, unprotected wasn’t a choice. The world was a dangerous place, and going alone was a folly. I never ventured anywhere unattended.

I did read the chilling story of a man who searched the world for fountain of life. He wanted to escape death. When he reached it, he was delirious with happiness. He was about to drink when he noticed old people lying about the place, who couldn’t move at all. He found that those were the ones who had drunk from the fountain.

They were living forever, wishing for death to come and death wasn’t coming.
DAILY PROMPT

Forever Young

If there were a real Fountain of Youth, would you drink the water?

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/forever-young/

Photo Credit: Google

Dehydrated



IB in his favorite stance.

We were invited to a friend’s home for an evening meal. IB (my grandson), as usual did all the stuff eight years old do — running up, and downstairs playing with the other kids. At parties he doesn’t take a morsel of food concentrating all his energies on playing. He is usually dead tired, and thirsty at the end. 

Normally he waits till we are all in the car going back home, and say, “I am dehydrated!”

This time he couldn’t wait, and kept announcing that he was dehydrated. One kindly lady held a glass of water to him, and said, “here take this”.

“No, I want coke”.

All the guests present laughed that instead of water he needed coke to quench his thirst.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/ha-ha-ha/

Ha Ha Ha

Tell us a joke! Knock-knock joke, long story with a unexpected punchline, great zinger — all jokes are welcome!

Strawberries And Cream

Last week, I visited our village. I brought back with me fresh strawberries from the fields. My brother and neighbors were delighted when I sent them the fruit. The thing was, it was fresh and larger than the market variety.

Equal amount of sliced strawberries and whipped cream makes a nice dessert when it is chilled properly. I simply love it. My favorite is strawberry jam. Way back I used to make a huge amount to last us a year long. I would sterilize the bottles and store the prepared jam. Now, I take an easy way. Suppose it is four cups strawberries, I add two cups sugar to it. Add to it the juice of two lemons plus half a cup of water. Put the pot on slow heat till the sugar melts. Increase the heat so that it is bubbling. Keep stirring (I suddenly remembered this part) till it reduces slightly, or the consistency you want. Add one table spoon butter to bring a sheen to it. Another second or two and take it off the cooker. Pour it into a clean jar and after it cools put it in the fridge.

Its mouth watering and a million times better than the store brought variety. The plus point, it’s free of preservatives.