Spring on Cottage Street 

Spring Sprung

I suppose it doesn't take a rocket scientist or an ice cream chemist to figure out that ice cream sales are hugely dependent on the weather. As you know, Summer arrived early this year as the mercury hit almost 90 degrees a week or so ago. Since it came out of nowhere, I was a bit unprepared and definitely understaffed for the onslaught of new and returning ice cream customers. Those first 2 weekends in April rivaled the best weekends I had last Summer. Certainly a good sign for this, my second season. More typical Spring weather has returned though. Cooler temps and the more expected New England April showers are filling up the ponds and streams. The silver (and dry) lining I suppose is it's given me a chance to get caught up and better prepared for the real season. I'm now stocked up with all the important things like cups and coins and caramel, so I say bring back the heat!

A taste of Summer Action (hopefully!)

Wow, what a weekend! I forgot what it feels like to be 'in the weeds'. The place was jumping all weekend. As exhausting as it was, it was also very satisfying to see my first lines of the season. I remember Dad talking about having to make ice cream late into the night, but I was skeptical. Until this weekend. Closed up at 9:30 on Saturday night, ordered a pizza, and cranked up the batch freezer. About four hours and a dozen batches later, I was restocked and ready for an even warmer Sunday. And ready for bed. No Brass Cat for me that night. No need to feel sorry for me though. Took a little pressure of the tight money management that is the off-season.

With the cooler weather back (hopefully just for a short stay), I have a little time to catch up on things and get better prepped for that summer pace. And to think about what this blog will be about. And how to keep it interesting and spicey while keeping in mind that most of my family could be reading at any given moment. Do I throw in a story about a late night romantic tryst by the pond here and there (even if I have to fabricate it)? How much about the biz can I include without making it read like a commercial? Should I make it political? Yah, right. Will it be all about the madcapped adventures of Rudy, Reej, Full Pint, and the rest of the gang? Definitely about photos, although I didn't have time to take any this past weekend. I guess the answer is I don't really know. We'll both just have to just jump in and go with the flow.

ps. Thanks to Greg for linking me from his Easthampton New City blog

Welcome to the new medium of the Diaries

Well, here I am again. Getting with the times and evolving my loved, liked, or loathed Ice Cream Diaries to the hip medium of our fledgling era of broadband. Anyway, I'm not sure how this will work out, but as that mouse who had his cheese moved (Note my first hyperlink, blogs are all about links I'm told), you gotta adapt with the times. More importantly for me, I thought that with the 'season' just about to hit, I'd be kidding myself if I thought I was going to have time to sit down and whip up a full episode a month or so until probably October. By using the blog format, I can just drop a little in here, a little there, on rainy days, during the dinner 'lull', late at night when I can't sleep because I'm so hyped up from making 100 batches of ice cream that day. Makes good sense to me. I hope you enjoy this new approach, and please bear with me as I most assuredly will make a few mistakes as I climb up the curve and try to find the appropriate 'voice' for this kind of thing. If nothing else, I hope to add more photos than the less than occasional top 10 or whatever I did in the past. Let the blogging begin...