the course of human events

 The pie came out well, I decorated the table with lots of red, white and blue, I made strawberry coconut milk ice cream and we stayed in with the air conditioning. Of course! One has to make the most of things. I wore my latest dress creation - the coolest thing I own.

I was hoping I'd hear some bells ringing if I stuck my head out, but I suppose city dwellers would be more likely - nobody near me was ringing any bells. I would have rung some, if we had any. I even had the idea to dig around for some little Christmas bell decorations, but I stored my ornaments differently this year and have no idea where they are! I would have rung anything if I could have just found it! 

We were talking a bit about the founders: what made them persist, what gave them their momentum to  shake off the British and start their own government. It's easy to give up, especially when the average person complains in the pub, but that's about all. I did read a book about Samuel Adams where the author gave him credit for never letting go of the idea to throw off British rule; he was constantly talking about it, planting the idea in people's minds. I need to find more books about that. 

And after a week of extreme heat, it was barely seventy today, and raining. Cold air was actually blowing in! I'm happy for the creatures - I couldn't tell if anybody was drinking from the little trays I set out with water. The rabbit above was out in the rain for a while today, and didn't mind the wet at all. Maybe the leaves he ate were jucier.

getting ready

 The heat's intense and the air conditioner is humming, which makes me feel in another world. I'm sure the cats also feel that way, very different from the winters, when we're also shut in, but without the humming.

 There is a birdbath on one side of the house, near a tree. Last night I found a couple of tins and filled them with water for the outside neighbors, with a rock in one of them, for the other side of the property - the brook is dry. 

I intend to bake an apple pie, so I should get going. The phrase, "As American as apple pie" came to me, so I thought it a good idea when I was planning the menu for tomorrow, but with so much electricity being used in southern New England, to use the oven at a high temperature for almost an hour seems silly. 

I'm going to do it, anyway.

bears, skirts and dinner

"On this mountain [God] will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, The web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces; The reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the Lord has spoken."

                                                              -   Isaiah 25:7-9

Meanwhile, tomorrow is the feast of St. Patrick; I'm working, so we had the dinner today. The crockpot did much of the work.

The cabbage was in another pan.

I've been reading "The Bears and I" by Robert Franklin Leslie. Published in 1968, the author is a young man in the north woods of Canada. Are there any of these type of men left? Can someone live like that in this day and age?  Anyway, he has to "adopt" three motherless cubs, and he tells the story so well; it's a page-turner!  I had brought the book home for my mother years ago and it was such a favorite with her, I'd gotten her a copy to keep. After she died I ended up letting it go, as I figured I'd never read it, but at work last week it came across the desk and I was suddenly interested. It's hard to put down! Bears are more like us than I'd realized. If you like animal stories, I very much recommend it.

"A wild bear grows to maturity and stays healthy for his twenty-five or thirty years on a vigorous program of physical exercise and diet unparalleled for any animal of his weight. I've watched both black and grizzly bears swim across the lake three miles wide, then climb over a mountain on the other side when easy alternative routes were available to them. I have seen black bears gallop down a mountainside and ascend a 200-foot fir without even breaking their speed - climbing by throwing their arms and legs around the trunk like a pole-climber - until they were near the top of the tree."

                                                -  The Bears and I

I saw this image on pinterest and saved it. I've got a sweater this very color, although not a turtleneck and not cropped. But that's all right. I have black suede maryjanes and I could copy the look well enough. So I poked around online and found some quilting cotton that is almost exactly this pattern.

I made a casing for an elastic waist, put in wide pleats, and it is machine basted. If i hadn't been so busy with the corned beef dinner, I could have made more progress. But it's an easy design to make and won't take much longer.

"To a bear, loss of face represents genuine calamity. Within his local society, withdrawal from any struggle most generally incurs loss of pecking rights - the established wilderness protocol of who has the right to clobber whom."

                                                  -  from The Bears and I

baking experiments

A former coworker had a special cookie she made at Christmas: chocolate, with an Andes mint candy melted on top. These were good, and she gave me the recipe. I never made them until today.

I got some Andes on sale a while back and saved them; it was time to bake these cookies. But when I looked over the recipe, I saw that it calls for melted chocolate chips rather than cocoa powder. The price of baking morsels has gone up a lot - I decided to look for a recipe that called for cocoa powder.

I found one; they were a little dry in the first batch, so I lessened the baking time by one minute for each subsequent batch and the later ones were better. But it does make me wonder how the original recipe would be. 

wishing for more

 I keep seeing what look like orange berries in the hedge outside my window, so I went outside before dark to get a closer look; they had an autumnal look.

They are not orange, but I may cut them tomorrow if I can find a suitable pot for the front step area, and get the pot filled. In between sprucing up the living room, changing the beds, making the squash pie, the gravy and the Winter Vegetable Gratin. It may rain.

"Time is something people take for granted, wish they had more of, complain they never have any of for themselves, and waste as if they had flowing wells of it in their back yards."

                                                -  Rachel Peden, Speak to the Earth

happy summer

 It was so hot and humid yesterday that I chose my pale chambray blue sheets when I changed the bed. Looking at blue does help in the summer. And it is summer! (or will be by eleven tonight)

Today was dreamy:dry and very windy, but it felt wonderful. Now, the humidity's come back. Is the whole summer going to be this way? 

I've been busy easing the bias tape around my dress armholes, which takes some coaxing. 

I planned a Summer Supper in honor of the longest day of the year. First, tuna sandwiches, recipe here; a favorite in this house for many years - a bit fancified, with kalamata olives and red onion. Also, an eggplant recipe, very easy, where you salt and pepper thick eggplant slices, lay them in a pool of olive oil and bake on both sides for about a half hour on a high temp. Top the warm slices with a mixture of feta, capers, tomato and a few other things and it goes together pretty quickly. And the juiciness of it was just what I didn't know I needed. Then, freezer pops for dessert.

This morning I started to make them, coconut milk matcha pops, but - I know I had matcha powder at one time, but I guess not anymore  and I had already begun the recipe. So I decided to use instant coffee granules, which worked very well, I have to say. Any flavor would taste good when you're hot. But I've started a big jar of tea in the fridge, so I don't have to turn to sugary treats when I need something cold.

"The May Magnificat"

 May is Mary's month, and I

Muse at that and wonder why:
Her feasts follow reason,
Dated due to season—

Candlemas, Lady Day;
But the Lady Month, May,
Why fasten that upon her,
With a feasting in her honour?

Is it only its being brighter
Than the most are must delight her?
Is it opportunest
And flowers finds soonest?

Ask of her, the mighty mother:
Her reply puts this other
Question: What is Spring?—
Growth in every thing—

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,
Grass and greenworld all together;
Star-eyed strawberry-breasted
Throstle above her nested

Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin
Forms and warms the life within;
And bird and blossom swell
In sod or sheath or shell.

All things rising, all things sizing
Mary sees, sympathising
With that world of good,
Nature's motherhood.

Their magnifying of each its kind
With delight calls to mind
How she did in her stored
Magnify the Lord.

Well but there was more than this:
Spring's universal bliss
Much, had much to say
To offering Mary May.

When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple
Bloom lights the orchard-apple
And thicket and thorp are merry
With silver-surfed cherry

And azuring-over greybell makes
Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes
And magic cuckoocall
Caps, clears, and clinches all—

This ecstasy all through mothering earth
Tells Mary her mirth till Christ's birth
To remember and exultation
In God who was her salvation.

                -  Gerard Manley Hopkins

oriole in my neighbor's apple tree

keeping it going

 A bunch of parishioners stayed after Mass today to get all the Christmas decorations put away; all that's left are the poinsettias. There are a lot of them, red and white, and they're bright and cheery. But all that beauty, with the wonderful Italian nativity we have, the lights, the sparkly ornaments, the greenery on every windowsill - all away. It's the only way to do it, of course, with a disparate group all living in different places, together to perform a task.

But how strange it all is - here one moment and gone the next. In our homes we don't have to be so "complete" about it. We can let it wind down gradually for a little while longer. But then we will have to be like Scrooge, honoring Christmas in our hearts and trying to keep it all year. Because it's been born, and it wants to keep living. 

"In the English calendar, Twelfth Night was for many centuries a time of more riotous festivity than Christmas Day - a last hurrah of feasting before the return to work. During the Middle Ages the Christmas season lasted forty days, until Candlemas on 2 February, and January was supposed to be a month of feasting*, not fasting - the exact opposite of the modern 'Dry January'."

                           -  from Winters in the World: a journey through the Anglo-Saxon year, by Eleanor Parker

*I'm all in with that. 

three good things

 It was supposed to snow lightly this morning, from five till ten. But it didn't stop, and it's been snowing all day. With no accumulation! Still, there is something about snow falling, even if it doesn't mount up. 

I made a wonderful discovery yesterday! I diligently use the little defuzzing machine on my sweaters, which works excellently, but I had the idea to try it on my opaque tights. They're made from recycled nylon and get pilly after a while, so that I have to toss them. I mostly wear longer skirts, so it doesn't show much, but eventually..........well, this worked like a charm!! My tights are like new - try it!

Rather exciting, to extend the life of your clothes.

The wrens are often found at the bird feeder, which is a new thing this year. It can't be that they suddenly have a taste for black sunflower seeds; they must be increasing in our area. I find them very cute. 

trouble and pain (but not really)

 The Thanksgiving dinner came out very well. We had leftovers once, and I had to put what remained into the freezer - we will appreciate it better after a bit of distance.

I'm taking a different approach to Christmas decorations this year, and I spent part of the day working on the living room. 

A red bow would be nicer, but this is good for now; I may change this picture anyway, but I love this one, with the warm colored flowers of late summer, something discovered at a rummage sale.

I want to start making cookies, but may have to do it piecemeal: mixing up dry ingredients ahead, mixing up the dough the day before, baking one or two batches at a time, etc.. Whatever will work. It seems I do lots of things like that. It's another way of going forward. 

I ran out at the blue hour, just to get some air. Very briefly.

Some leaves hanging on.  I keep forgetting the bulbs I just bought - will I be able to get them in before the ground freezes? It's in the twenties at night, and will only reach into the thirties much of this week! Why can't I remember these bulbs??

"On the first weekday of Advent, we are reminded that the full coming of the reign of God through Christ, for whom we long, will bring trouble and pain to all of us in whatever sinfulness we are engaged in, but only to cleanse us to dwell in justice and peace in his presence."

- Magnificat, December 2024

season of expectation

Thanksgiving was very nice, and now it's Advent.                                                      

When you shall come, O Lord,
Wrapped in your glory bright,
Then shall the earth in terror quake,
The sun withhold his light.

When you shall come, O Lord,
Then shall the books be spread,
And from their secrets you shall judge
The living and the dead.

O Lord of justice, your coming overthrows all that is not ruled by you. Fill us with expectation and transform our hearts and lives, so that we may welcome you when you come. 

Readings from Magnificat.

ready enough

 My brother: Tomorrow's going to be rainy, rainy all day.

Me: That's all right; we'll be cozy, cozy all day.

It has been gloomy every other day, it seems, but we need the rain. So it's all right. 

I was busy, busy all day. The squash pie is made, the bumbleberry pie my brother bought from a customer is cooked. I made the gravy from a very nice recipe through pinterest. The beds are changed, the laundry is done and things are clean enough, I suppose. 

We are ready, ready for Thanksgiving.

yesterday, next week and tomorrow

 I went to put away the conditioner and there was a stink bug on it - the nerve! And he didn't want to get flicked outside. Well, it is raining. Thank God!! I think it's been dry for two months. This two-day rain we'll have probably won't do enough, but it's blessed, all the same.

I got an intestinal bout of something or other, and was wanting some soup. Then I saw a recipe from a youtuber with pumpkin, wild rice, and chicken broth and I got an idea. I made it my way.

Onion, and celery, chicken stock and pumpkin, wild rice mix, marjoram, thyme and parsley, and some leftover chicken. Just what I needed, easy to make, and I was able to resist the box of chicken soup with all the additives.

The stomach issue caused me to rethink the Thanksgiving menu, though. I was going to make a gratin. But, a week before the feast, I can't stand to think of that. Simply flavored vegetables are what call to me. I did a grocery order, and got some packaged green beans, and some whole frozen ones. The problem with green beans often is the strings. Hopefully, more than one option will solve the problem. I'll cook one batch at a time, of two different brands on Wednesday and see how they are. I'd rather not use the frozen ones.

Here you can see number 5, my missing skirt piece; it's slightly a-line. I will measure the bodice from side seam to side seam, and two seam allowances ( 1 1/4" total), and 4" for the tucks. I will be cutting the pieces in half lengthwise and adding another seam allowance to each (5/8").  I'll angle the pieces out a couple of inches on the way down to the bottom, and that should settle it. Maybe I'll cut it tomorrow.

"As the season turns toward December, we are settling in. ,,,as I watch the still, cold night sky deepening, and see the quiet brilliance of the stars, I like the feeling of impending change."  - Gladys Taber. And we might have a few flakes fall on Saturday.

finding Alice Waters

 

Of course I've heard of Alice Waters. But I haven't been curious about her cookbooks. And then I saw this one on the sale table at the library. It's got recipes, but also lots of advice on technique and method. Maybe it's just that the cover appeals to me, but I took it, and then out of curiosity looked up her famous restaurant, Chez Panisse. There was something on the Cafe menu: mezzi rigatoni with roasted eggplant, tomato, basil, mint and feta. It was the holiday weekend; my brother is having a vacation of sorts and he always liked pasta. I decided to try and make it. 

No recipe, but it seems a rather basic idea. She gives directions on the roasting of eggplant, so I loaded it up with mint and basil and roasted it. Out of the oven I stirred in some feta, and diced tomato from a can, and put it back in the oven to mix the flavors together a bit more.

We had to have protein; I browned a few chicken drumsticks, then braised them in stock, red wine and the tomato juice from the aforementioned can. I cooked half a pound of the rigatoni, mixed it up with the eggplant, made a basic salad, and - so good! I think I was in a rut when I found that book. Thank you, Alice!

feast of St. John the Baptist

 Midsummer Day. We had an early supper: baked salmon, with a topping made of wholegrain mustard, lemon juice and zest, bread crumbs, feta and pepper. Stovetop mac and cheese, and a green salad. A summery meal. After a week of hot and humid days, today was not so hot, and drier. Very welcome. 

Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me;

And suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek,

And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.

Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

-  Malachi 3:1

a pot full of vegetables

 It seems every year that I could never have a pot big enough to contain the corned beef, the potatoes, carrots and big cabbage wedges on St. Patrick's Day. I resent the potatoes, basically just a starch and taking up space better used by the vegetables, but what to do? 

Today I had the idea to cook the potatoes with their skins in another pot, and just mash them up, with lots of butter. Everybody would like that, and there'd be more room for the vegetables. This worked beautifully! I had cooked the meat yesterday, so I just increased the liquid and used that for the veg. I'll have to make a note of this.

We sang Be Thou My Vision at mass, and I felt very Irish singing this very obviously Irish melody.

Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word;
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord.

Amen

Happy New Year!

 I often intend to post something here, get sidetracked, and then find I'm too tired. I need a better plan. 

I discovered a most delicious and mainly healthy treat which I brought to our cousin's for Christmas. Here is the recipe , if you want to read the post, but I can tell how to make it, it's so simple.

Gently heat half a cup of natural peanut butter, a quarter cup of maple syrup and three tablespoons of coconut oil. When it's all melted, remove from the heat and stir in a half cup of grated coconut and one cup of Rice Krispies. (get the generic brand - Rice Krispies are over six dollars a box!) Spread in a pan and chill in the fridge for twenty minutes.

Meanwhile, using a double boiler, melt one cup of dark chocolate chips with one tablespoon of coconut oil. When the peanut butter mix is cold, spread the chocolate over, and chill it for two hours at least. 

This stuff is way more than the sum of its parts - it would make you well-liked at any gathering. Delicious.  Of course you can use other nut or seed butters, or crunchy peanut butter, and I'm thinking if you don't want the grated coconut, try crunchy peanut butter and more of the cereal. Good luck cutting it as neatly as the recipe's author; I don't know how she did it. I just broke it apart. It will get sticky if left out, so keep it cold. But do try it! 

*The recipe says to use a 9x13 pan - that is too big; it won't spread that much. I used something a couple of inches smaller. But it would be easy to double it, and then I'd use the nine by thirteen.

I've been thinking about The Hobbit for some reason lately, so I picked it up, and it's been so long that I really didn't remember most of it, so it's like I never read it before. 

In the past week or two, we've seen large flocks of blackbirds along the main road in the mornings. Hundreds. The ones I saw were grackles, and I'm not sure why they're moving in such a large group at this time of year. I used to see them in November, thinking that some left the area for the winter (but am not sure they do). We saw them on Friday and later my brother said when he went to his car at lunchtime (he comes home for lunch every day) it was so covered with droppings, he had to go first to the car wash. So this afternoon I looked out and there were thousands of blackbirds swooping around our neighborhood, not a starling murmuration but just flying around in groups from tree to tree, maybe lighting on the ground for a bit. I got my camera and starting filming. Wouldn't you know, the film I thought was the best one, didn't film! I must have stopped it without realizing. But it was quite amazing, and we have never seen it before like this. I found this online from a year ago. 

A small number of them came back later, but that's all. 

It's been snowing since before eight - we're finally having a real snowfall, still in time for Christmas. I was afraid it wouldn't happen. 

Winter is the mother-nurse of Spring,
Lovely for her daughter's sake,
Not unlovely for her own:
For a future buds in everything;
Grown, or blown,
Or about to break.

- Christina Rossetti

busy-ness

 It's time for baking, and I'm really trying to be faithful to it. There was a butter cookie recipe in my magazine the other day, and afterward I realized I'm so out of practice in rolling out cookies! Some were too thin and several broke apart, I think because I didn't let them cool enough before moving them. Today I baked some with oats, cranberries and chocolate pieces. I didn't have dried crans, so I cut up frozen ones, didn't want white chocolate, so I used dark. I also decided to make them with einkorn flour, which turned out rather interesting. 

Before they went in.

Einkorn feels different than regular flour, it doesn't seem as dry, or flyaway. And they say you should use one quarter less liquid in your recipes, but cookies don't have much in the way of liquid. Two eggs and a tablespoon of vanilla in these. It didn't occur to me to increase the flour but I will do that next time. This flour absorbs liquids and fats differently and you have to take that into account. If you can figure it out. So they spread out quite thinly but I have to say they're good and einkorn is easier on my digestion. It's going to be trial and error for a while.

I took photos of a couple more quilts hanging at the library -

and

This one has some sparkly fabric in it. And lastly, this quilt, which isn't part of the current display, but which was made for the library thirty years ago by a quilt group in town. It hangs above the stairway going up the the children's area. I just love it.

I was thinking since I find Christina Rossetti's poems so appealing, I could maybe find a book about her. So I got a copy of Georgina Battiscombe's  A Divided Life. I like the way it's written, and am glad I had the idea. Funny thing: I got it on Tuesday and was reading chapter one. It said she was born on December 5th. That was the day I was reading it! And today I picked up my issue of Plough - I have to finish it, because a new one should be coming soon - and the article speaks of the influence St. Ambrose had on St. Augustine, and how extremely busy a bishop could be back then. Well, today is the feast of St. Ambrose! Everything means something, but I have no idea what. Still, it is funny. 

Anyway, Augustine described how Ambrose would just quietly snatch moments for reading, in between all the pulls on his time and attention. The article says, "Ambrose has chosen to use his spare snatches of time to return within himself, to become an island of stillness. His reading, certainly, is an example of leisure."

That pretty much sums up Advent, trying to make oases of quiet and stillness in the midst of the other stuff.

a good Thanksgiving

 

O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his love endures forever.

                                      - from  Psalm 136

preparations

 Well, tomorrow's Thanksgiving, and I've made cookies, the sweet potato pie and the broccoli gratin. The pear sauce (pears were on sale when I was looking for apples, so I made pear sauce instead!) is defrosted. My brother ordered a berry pie from a customer who was selling some frozen ones, so I just baked that. I think that's enough for today. 

There were a lot of dishes to wash. I used homemade bone broth for the gratin sauce and forgot it wasn't seasoned - after it was put together it occurred to me, so I sprinkled some salt over it and will hope for the best. :)

It looked pretty good after assembling.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.