Constant Kindness Can Accomplish Much...

"Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust and hostility to evaporate."
~Albert Schweitzer

Isn't it great when hard edges round out? Isn't is wonderful when rough patches are smoothed over? Who wouldn't love a cracked surface rejoined? Don't you just appreciate the melting of an icy demeanor? Can you see the benefit of mending the shredded fabric of a relationship? Kindness, understanding, and great communication can do wonders to assuage the brutality of hard edges, rough patches, cracked surfaces, an icy demeanor and rocky relationships. It's all about the shape of ther lens you choose to view through when looking at a situation. Does your lens magnify all that you view? Perhaps you have chosen one that minimizes situations or your desires. All of our lenses are simple and complex. There are times when we would merit choosing to magnify and praise, and times when we would have been better off to choose to minimize and downplay. That answer is entwined into our value systems and thus our responses and decisions in our daily lives. Sounds complicated? It isn't really so complicated when we are guided by kindness, understanding with a little trust thrown in and held up to be measured against our wisdom thermometer. Ah...our wisdom thermometer...now that is another blog post.

Enjoy sharing kindness today and bake your family, neighbor or potential new friend a Spiced Pineapple Upside Down Cake! Watch for more cake recipes this week!

Spiced Pineapple Upside Down Cake
1-1/3 cups butter, softened, divided
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 can (20ounces) pineapple slices, drained
10 to 12 maraschino cherries
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. Watkins Vanilla Extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. Watkins Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. Watkins Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Watkins Nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk

Melt 2/3 cup of butter; stir in brown sugar. Spread in the bottom of a prepared 13 x 9 inch cake pan. Arrange pineapple in a single layer over sugar mixture; place a cherry in the center of each slide. Sprinkle with pecans and set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream sugar and remaining butter. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients; add alternately to batter with buttermilk, mixing well after each addition. Carefully pour over the pineapple. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Immediate invert onto a serving platter.