marmalade is tasty & maple runs in the spring, right?

The A. A. Milne poem about the king who likes a little bit of butter on his bread has been echoing in my thoughts. The guernsey, when asked for some butter for the king's bread replies "They say that marmalade is tasty if very thinly spread". So the maid tells the queen who tells the king and the king says I am not a fussy man but I do like a little bit of butter on my bread.

The kids at Starbucks are pushing maple scones. If they are to be believed, maple scones are scone perfection. They are also pushing a holiday confection called "cranberry bliss". People working in test kitchens with theme marketing backgrounds must bake and bake and bake until they come up with cranberry bliss. The kids have to sample it to get sales moving so I have tasted it, an indulgence I regret. Yuck. Cranberries were not meant to go with cream cheese frosting although I concede that the snippets of dried cranberry spinkled on the cream cheese is holiday festive.

I feel like shrieking, revealing my insanity to the Starbucks gathered, "I am not a fussy woman. I like my lemon scones. Leave the king and me be."

Just to show how well-mannered I can be, I have not pointed out to the kids at Stabucks that their maple promotion is ill-timed. Surely maple syrup runs in the spring, even here in California? Starbucks seems to think pushing maple is somehow related to the falling leaves but, um, back home in the Midwest, sap runs in the spring. Right?!