A Bouquet of Umbrellas, and a Love Story of Soup

This is a tale of one woman's obsession. An obsession with SOUP, no less. It is a tale of thwarted love, which finds redemption, and then fulfillment; a cliffhanger that hangs by a thread. Against all odds, will she GET the soup, or will she not?

The back story: I was supposed to have lunch with dear friends at Duffy's in Boalsburg on this day, but the weather interfered. In fact, let's blame it all on the weather, shall we? It snowed a few inches Monday morning, and then it sleeted a while, and then we had freezing rain which left thick layers of ice everywhere. That was followed by heavy, drenching regular rain.

Of course, the minute I saw the forecast, I rescheduled my Tuesday lunch plans with my friends. We'll try to have our lovely lunch at Duffy's this coming Friday. And what do I usually order there? Well, I've tried a number of things, but I'm especially fond of their French onion soup (which you may view here).

So I caught the bus to work, and it was putting down freezing rain so hard that I had to abandon any plans for photography on campus. I got off the bus and the rain pelted my umbrella; in mere seconds, it was soaked, and I was headed in that direction myself. Beneath my feet: treacherous ice! So, thwarted, I hopped the next bus, went to work, and skipped the usual morning photo jaunt.

But by lunchtime, I was resentful and moody. I was starving. My tummy was grumbling. Visions of French onion soup danced through my head. My tummy grumbled some more. I paced my office, I fretted, I thought about soup. Drat, my nice lunch had been cancelled. But I was hungry for soup!

Suddenly, in a moment of surprising clarity, I realized that at my fingertips was public transportation. By simply walking out the door of our building, I could catch a bus to campus and downtown, where any possible eating option would be available to me, including the Corner Room, which ALSO serves up hot and delicious French onion soup.

Now, you may ask me which is my favorite local French onion soup: the Corner Room's or Duffy's. That's not fair; it's a Sophie's Choice; no, no, don't make me pick! Both are beautiful, each in its own way.

So a few minutes later, I caught a bus. Ten minutes after that, I was on campus. A short walk later (through continued rain, but not quite as heavy as morning), I was downtown.

I took the photo above during my short walk through campus to get to downtown. The photo above shows a bouquet of colorful umbrellas. I suspect the rest of you will be looking at the umbrellas, but my gaze is just above that, for beyond the umbrellas is the Corner Room, where the French onion soup lives!

And shortly thereafter, ah, bliss! I was sitting inside in the warm and dry, enjoying one of the best people-watching views in town, and eating my beloved French onion soup! (See the photo in the extras: Hello, Lover!)

So you see that happiness is possible, if you'll just grab for that brass ring. OK, so I admit there may be things more complicated to arrange than soup. But here's a piece of unsolicited advice: if you want happiness, you might find it more quickly if you focus on the little things you can have (and do) instead of the big ones you can't.

Seize the day! Is there something you want? Go get it!  If you need somebody's permission to arrange your own happiness: here, you have mine! (And wouldn't you like it served with a side of hot, delicious soup? Hmm? Yes, yes, I think so.)

There is only one song I can think of to accompany this tale of one woman's obsession with soup: Animotion, with Obsession.