Shake (n)  thick delicious drink made with ice cream and milk; short for milkshake

Shake (v)  to move to and fro or up and down in rapid succession; tremor

It’s a hot July day and what am I thinking of?  Yep, a chilly, old fashioned shake!  Nothing better than when they are made with premium ice cream – in our area, the local is Darigold – so good! Did you know that July is National Ice Cream Month?  I used to eat ice cream every day.  Unfortunately, the scale nor my wardrobe appreciated the daily habit.  Now it’s an occasional special treat in any shape or form.  When we’re on vacation, all moderation is thrown to the wayside. Chocolate fudge shakes are the fav with plain chocolate in close second and fresh strawberry in third.  Do you have a favorite?

The origin of milkshakes did not begin with the drink as we know it, but started with cream, eggs and whiskey!  The delightful concoctions of today became popular in the mid 1920’s when vanilla ice cream was introduced to malted milk.  Now the flavors are endless with both flavored syrups and fruits increasing the varieties.

The second shake in the Word Well is also quite familiar to me, having grown up in Southern California along the San Andreas Fault.  If you’re unfamiliar with this incredible natural wonder, it’s worth a read. Shaking is often felt in California and places around the world acquainted with earthquakes.  Beyond the earth shaking, there are other shakes as well. Elvis made shaking quite popular, even highlighted in his song, All Shook Up!  There are the lesser pleasant forms of shaking too.  After a traumatizing event or scare, full body shakes can be a result of an adrenaline spike. Health issues also result in various types of involuntary body shaking.  It’s all part of life on this planet.

Consider the of the usage of this word.  We never think twice about asking, “Would you like a shake?”  What if the individual was unfamiliar with our contradicting word use?  Can you imagine what might be going through their mind and the mental pictures they could conjure up?  We need to read our audience carefully and choose our words with gentle caution. For me, today I will focus on the delicious shakes of summer.  No worrying about what might be brewing beneath the earth’s crust. Ice cream makes everything better!