leisurely things

 "It was because Damerosehay did not change that in this chaotic, tumbling, terrifying world it was a place of such comfort."

                                                      -  from Elizabeth Goudge's The Herb of Grace (1948)

Last week I'd felt the urge to re-read The Bird in the Tree, and now I'm reading this one, the second in the set of three. When I came upon the above sentence, I realized that is why I read certain novels again and again. It's non-fiction that I tend to pick up "new". It seems to me that if a book speaks strongly or deeply to you, there is a reason for it, and it's up to you to pursue that. Get out of it everything you are supposed to, although that makes it sound so much like use, when it's really like a drinking more and more deeply of something nourishing. Hopefully, anyway.

The liturgical year turns and today we are in the feast of Corpus Christi. Our church sits right at a busy intersection, and when it's not raining we go outside after mass and process around the property, stopping at four altars set up along the way. Often it's hot out, and I find it hard to stand in the bright sun but today we are having a really strong wind (which is delightful, I think!) and partly cloudy conditions which kept things comfortable. But as for proper June temperatures - we just don't have them. It should be in the seventies, and it's not, nor is it going to be, according to the forecasts. But I realize I'm often complaining about the weather over here. (sorry)

I made a simple dinner of chicken thighs, marinated in plenty of lemon juice, olive oil, smoked paptrika, garlic, salt and pepper, and baked at a high temp till done. Which took longer than the recipe said, but I don't like slimy chicken. But it was easy, after not falling asleep until two, and getting home from church much later than usual. 

After seeing the rabbits often, lately I don't see them at all and I wonder if they've had babies. But there was one in my garden the other day, in one of the beds I'm not using at the moment, eating some weedy stuff. The garden is anything but neat, but if the creatures like it, perhaps it's not a weed

after coming out of the garden

"But Sally did not want to be set free for anything, for it was living itself that she enjoyed. She liked lighting a real fire of logs and fir-cones and toasting bread on an old-fashioned toaster. And she liked the lovely curve of an old staircase and the fun of running up and down it. ... It's my stupid brain, she said to herself. I like the leisurely things, and taking my time about them."

Ascension Day

I dreamed about Dolly last night. She was outside, exploring; she was well! She was Dolly.

It was so good to see her. Make of that what you will.

We went to mass this morning - it is the Ascension of Jesus. forty days after Easter. I thought I'd make a nice dinner. I baked a small cake, coffee flavor with walnuts, no frosting. I then made a crustless quiche, with mushrooms and spinach - a little cheese. A romaine salad with blood oranges and a bit of yellow bell pepper, oil and vinegar dressing, and some chicken tenders marinated in a yogurt lemon herb mixture and baked.

In the afternoon, I sliced up the cake, which would have looked better cut up, and decided to have a piece. It was made with dates, and a little brown sugar. Well, it was so sweet - frankly, I couldn't stand it. I threw out the rest. I felt bad there was no dessert, not that my brother would notice, or mind. 

Meanwhile, I was catching up on some of Huw Richards' videos. He is focusing lately on perennial vegetables and he mentioned rhubarb; I have thought of rhubarb before, and would like to grow it, so I wrote it down. 

I no sooner wrote the word when my phone rang. It was a neighbor, Sally. I just baked a strawberry rhubarb pie, and wonder if you'd like some. Ah, ah!! I told her the story of my dessert disappointment, AND that I'd just written the word "rhubarb". Of all things! She brought it over and said she had put in less than half of the sugar in the recipe - it was just right. Thank you, dear Sally! 

Loving Father,

because of the Ascension of your Son
our human nature is now at home with you in heaven.
May this truth be our lasting encouragement and hope.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Ascension, by Rembrandt

little systems

 I'm back to making bread; it seems, along with soup, a Lenten thing to have. 

Here's the recipe  The soup I made today was potato leek - so delicious! Here's the recipe, and I realized from reading this old post that I forgot the thyme. It was still good!

My skirt needs adjusting; it's too full, which would be pretty on some, but I like a little less of it.

Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be:
They are but broken lights of thee,
And thou, O Lord, art more than they.

-  Tennyson

becoming renewed

 The paths my brother plowed for the rabbits are getting wider, the grass in them is more visible. Water was running into the drains at the supermarket parking lot. It's been a little warmer. There will be more snow tomorrow, but I actually hung something out on the line today! It was very pleasant.

Breathe deep and be renewed by every breath,
Kinned to the keen east wind and cleansing air,
As though the blue itself were blowing through you.

- Malcolm Guite*

I bought some lamb and made Scotch broth today, and I had a very-belated revelation. I always buy the shoulder chops because that what I'm familiar with, and they're cheaper than other cuts. I bought two packages, and by the time I'd cut out all the bones and fat, what was left was a smaller amount than the pile of fat and bones. Is that economical? I had looked at the loin chop package, and noticed it seemed less fatty.  l will have to try that next time. I'm making lots of soups this Lent, and am using every good recipe I've got. It's just the thing for this time of year.

*from The Word in the Wilderness

at home, yet a stranger

 I just finished In This House of Brede with an online group - an excellent story! So many characters, so many personalities and lots going on. I remember Diana Rigg being in the film version but don't think I've watched it, so that's what I'm going to do. I'll keep my expectations low, since I can't imagine the whole story fitting into a two-hour or less movie.

I discovered a mostly-done skirt in my fabric stash - it's an olive cotton knit, made up just like my gray knit skirt, and only needed an elastic for the waist. I finished it off, and it's waiting to be ironed. I tried taking a photo, but the right color is so hard to get! 

I've started looking at my gardening books, even though the snow on the ground is still a few inches deep. There was some rain today, which will melt things a little faster. I'm also looking at all the books I own with a critical eye - do I really need you? I have a cookbook with recipes for many pantry type foods, and I noticed a recipe for chocolate yogurt. I bought a gallon of the only pasteurized milk at the store (as opposed to ultra-pasteurized) and made some. It calls for very little sugar, but I have it with a bit of honey. As I was ladling it into the jars, I noticed it looked more chocolate-y at the end than the top. I was stirring it well the whole time, but milky things often stick to the bottom of the pot, and when they do, you don't want to scrape it when you stir in case it may turn up solids which aren't going to dissolve. So I stirred frequently but carefully,and more of the chocolate stayed near the bottom. 

It's Lent.

"To take the ashes is to confess kinship with this world of dust, to declare our readiness to abdicate pretensions to omnipotence. Standing before God in this way, I profess that I am not God. I admit the chasm that separates me from him. I accept the uncomfortable otherness of God. He is what I am not, yet my being bears his mark. I crave a completion no created thing can give. I walk this earth as yearning incarnate. I am at home, yet a stranger, homesick for a homeland I recall but have not seen."

-  Bishop Erik Varden, from Magnificat, February 2026

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. 

autumn things

 I was in the kitchen a lot today, but in the midst of it found time to wash another window - one left! (the dreaded over-the-sink window) and the back door. 

Among my pinterest recipes, a pumpkin molasses quick bread caught my eye, since I'd opened a large can of pumpkin the other day and some was left. Even while mixing it up, I asked myself if I really needed to be trying this recipe, since I have a few favorites I like to make - why try another? It might be a flop. Well, it was good, and I'm glad I made it. 

There's no chocolate in it, even though it's dark. It called for a half cup of molasses; I had about half that, and the other bottles I had were all blackstrap! Why do I have two and a half bottle of blackstrap molasses? But I used it to top off the amount - had to. And it's fine, it's darn good! I didn't bother with the powdered sugar on the top. It's sliced up and in the freezer.

Autumn carries more gold in its pocket
than all the other seasons.

- Jim Bishop

farewell to summer

Well, it was pretty cool today and will be freezing tonight, so I guess that's the end of summer. The forecast predicts days in the fifties and sixties. I went out, picked all the red tomatoes, and a pepper. I cut down the three basil plants - one plant will be plenty next year - and sat on the back step in the sun, picking all the leaves off them. I had to dress warmly, but it was lovely. I covered the tomato plants with sheets, since they keep producing. My plant out in the backyard garden had so many of these tiny ones on it, but I didn't cover it - that's enough. But they look like jewels.

It was good just to be outside for a while. I don't make it a priority often enough.

Last week I found a couple of pieces of something near the litter boxes downstairs; I thought the cats were responsible. But it was two pieces of wet wood - a leak!. Rather alarming, so the plumber got called. He came by to have a look, which meant everything had to come out of my closet, so he could get access to the pipes. 

He came this morning to do the work, and the "door" to it needs to stay open for two weeks, to allow the wood to dry out. Of course, Daisy can hardly keep away from it. I don't think she would try to get in there, but it makes me nervous. I'll have to put something in front of the closet door, but not close it entirely.

I'm kind of at a standstill with my sewing, but I did notice how the small scissors match my fabric!

the last days of summer

The nasturtium bloomed. I was wondering if it would.

The other things on the front steps are in the pink family, so I'll have to figure something out. I have a yellow mum; it is the very end of summer; we'll see.

We had a couple of warmer days this week, with some humidity. By evening of that day, even the cats wouldn't eat until I put the air conditioners on. But today we were back to beautiful, and the sunlight had that golden quality. The light that shines between the leaves shimmered on the living room floor - even Daisy noticed. The days are closing in. 

Daisy sleeps in cute positions lately.

These were on different days. But she likes the back of that chair, where she can see outside if the front door is open.

I went out in the garden today and cut all the chives. Now they dry where Daisy can't reach.

It seems like a lot, but they're nice thrown in with scrambled eggs, and they won't last long.

There seems to be only one rabbit left around our property, after so many over the last few years. I have no idea if hawks or owls got some of them, or other predators. I often am running outside near the shrubs where I think some of them lived, chasing away a cat too close to the place. It's terrible. Dianne's fluffy yellow cats come by sometimes, and there's the gray cat who caught the baby bunny a year ago. But there's a third, a dark tabby with legs of a darker fur, and yesterday I caught him going into the bushes where I think they hide - the rabbit was a little way off and the cat didn't see him. I don't think a cat would attack a full-grown rabbit, but I went over there to try and flush him out, and I saw a mound of dried brush, with a hole in the middle of it. A cover for an animal, but I don't know who. I love cats, and I look at Annie and Daisy and know they would also kill for sport. But they're not going to, and these others are roaming around, terrorizing smaller creatures. And I have no idea if the rabbits have just moved on, or what. Why can't they just have peace?

"In God's hand is the soul of every living thing, and the life breath of all mankind."

                                 -  Job 12:10

the tomato crop continues

 

realizations

 

We're back to dry, cooler days after two or three of warm and humid; there was plenty of rain, too, including a thunderstorm Saturday. We needed it.

It occurred to me that if I'm having a hard time getting a sweater going on the knitting needles because my cast-ons are a bit tight, I should just cast onto a larger needle - I believe I used to know that. I'm gearing myself up to knit the Ranunculus sweater: I've got yarn - which I've had for years and should really do something with - but can't seem to get going. We'll see. Sometimes at the beginning of a project, I feel I'm all thumbs.

Now that it's cooler I'm letting myself use the oven more. And I suddenly remembered I can actually make the dough and bake one or two dozen, chill the rest and hardly heat up the kitchen at all! This is the kind of thing I've limited myself to all summer - not baking anything that takes more than half an hour. It's worked out well with fish or muffins, but why didn't I think of cookies? I tend to see them as a drawn-out business, having to bake tray after tray, find a place for them to cool away from cats, get something to store them in, etc. It's kind of the way I like to do everything - chipping away at it, a little at a time, here and there. And it's just a good idea to have some dessert-y thing around. 

soaking dry raisins

As Gretchen has mentioned, some Christians celebrated the birthday of the Virgin Mary today. 

Mary is the full flowering of the grace of Jesus Christ. To know her is to know what he has accomplished, what his victory has won. She shows in a singular manner what all of us are called to become...She is the realization of all that he has promised us.

                                                                                                    - Fr. Paul Scalia, from Magnificat

But she doesn't seem to age, according to all those she appears to around the world. ;-)

beautiful summer day

 Oh my goodness, the perfect day. And in August, of all things!  It's been a summer of so many hot, hot days, and so much humidity. Today was wonderful, and I only got warm after dinner, because I had a quiche in the oven for an hour. Otherwise, under eighty, a gentle breeze, sunshine. Ahhh. A day like this goes a long way toward making one forget about the awful stuff.

And I realized how inadequate my summer wardrobe is, for days off, I mean. So I ordered three lengths of quilting cotton on sale, in order to make three of my favorite sleeveless a-line shifts. The first is black, with sunflowers all over it. 

I cut it short, so after I bind the armholes I'll decide about a ruffle or something else to lengthen it. The checked dress is on hold for the moment.

I cut some chives to dry the other day: I just snip them into short pieces and lay them on a tray in an out of the way place. I do like to do a bit of this and a bit of that, rather than spending all day on a thing. 

Yesterday was hot, so I cooked up some chicken tenders with a piccata type sauce. For veg, I steamed some beans and then cooled them in the freezer. They were served with cut-up tomatoes and salt, oregano and olive oil. That's how we've been living - cooking things that don't require a long heating. 

the slowness of hot days

 

Daisy, holding down the pattern pieces for me. Such a little helper! I am making very slow progress on this dress, basically just figuring what style to make. I keep changing my mind. I cut out the bodice, but I'm going to take in the sides - it's too loose, so I've been measuring it against a couple of favorite dresses. You want to make something that you're happy wearing!

I finished reading Slow Medicine today, by Victoria Sweet. 

She also wrote God's Hotel and I recommend them both, if you have any interest in the way doctors used to do things, the influence that government regulation has had on the healthcare system, or even how things were before it was called "health care", which, by the time you finish the book, will seem like the wrong thing to call it.

It's been hot again this week, and today the worst: not in heat, but in humidity - just awful.We're still getting lots of tomatoes, a pepper now and again, and today I snipped a big sprig of basil, keeping only the perfect leaves after removing them from the stems, and then packed them in a container, for the freezer.

I did plan to wash the floor, but I didn't.

"Over the years that Victoria Sweet has been a physician, 'healthcare' has replaced medicine, 'providers' look at their laptops more than at their patients, and costs keep soaring, all in the ruthless pursuit of efficiency. Yet the remedy that economists and policy makers continue to miss is also miraculously simple. Good medicine takes more than amazing technology; it takes time - time to respond to bodies as well as data, time to arrive at the right diagnosis and the right treatment."

                                     from the front flap of "Slow Medicine"

But don't get the idea that she is a sourpuss. She's a wonderful writer.

beautiful summer day

 Such a beautiful day! The haze from fires in Canada has been enough to make your eyes burn, but not today! Dry air and a breeze.

Our plants are giving us so many tomatoes - I don't mind eating them. I did cook some down last week, but they're very juicy and not really suitable for sauce - too watery. Try this: cut up a few fresh tomatoes from the garden. Add a splash of water, some olive oil, lots of oregano and plenty of salt - probably more than is good for you. It's the oregano, it makes it all kind of vinegary. You may add some onion powder, if you wish.

I have four yards of a cotton check fabric, and am trying to decide on a pattern, looking at pinterest photos and dresses online. I keep changing my mind; meanwhile, the summer is moving along. 

In Magnificat this morning I read, in 258, St. Cyprian wrote that the Roman emperor Valerian issued an edict to the Senate. Bishops, presbyters and deacons were to suffer the death penalty without delay. One of the first to be apprehended was Pope Sixtus II and four of his deacons as he said Mass along the Appian Way. All were beheaded. 

"Let all people fix their minds not on death but rather on immortality; let them commit themselves to the Lord in complete faith with joy rather than in fear, knowing that in this contest the soldiers of God and Christ are not slain but rather win their crowns."

                                             -  St. Cyprian

life and growth

A rabbit got into the garden last week. He didn't seem to eat anything we would regret. They seem to find so much among the grass, God bless them. A simple diet is best, isn't it? Then I didn't see any rabbits for a week, until today when there were two baby ones, running around the hedges. So, it continues. 

Look what somebody dropped off at the library this week.

I love this story. Look at the cover!

So elegant, with the gold edging. But there's a fragrance, like the previous owner wore perfume and now the book has it. I might just bring it back - I don't fancy having to smell that whenever I read it. Such a disappointment.

I was reading in St. Matthew's gospel, near the beginning, and it said that after the Magi came and asked where the child was who was born king of the Jews, "he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him". I never noticed that before - all Jerusalem was frightened? How interesting. 

I picked a handful of beans today and steamed them; my brother can have them with his eggs tomorrow for supper.

a lot of sparkle

I had just shut off the a/c, opened my side window, and was watching the pretty sparkle of the fireflies, when someone on the street behind us set off quite a colorful display of fireworks. So much for the quiet beauty of nature.

Daisy is in my back window, watching fireworks set off by another neighbor - it looks like a big sparkler, or something. Annie is on the hallway chair, which is brave for her; she isn't hiding. Our town event is scheduled for Tuesday, so this sort of nightly show may happen again. For the first time in days, I don't hear the mockingbird. Well, the creatures don't know what to make of the loud noises and I feel sorry for them. 

I don't know where I've been - mentally - for the past week. I always mean to post, but something gets in the way. I am making a linen top: sleeveless and simple, and I've been researching various ways of cutting bias strips. There are many, and it's interesting! I have to bind the neck and armholes and didn't want to use the packaged stuff. 

I've been experimenting with strawberry frozen yogurt, and frozen coconut milk pops, coffee-flavored. Something cold for the mouth must be kept on hand at all times in summer heat!

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.

rain and sun, bless the Lord

 Oh, the rain we've been having. And yesterday it was so cool and damp I actually shut all the windows and turned the heat back up. But I didn't hear it come on, so I used the oven twice, ironed, and made a thick soup for my supper, all the help to warm up the place

Later, the sun came out!

The trees are well past blooming, but now the azalea 

and the bridal wreath, are having their turns.

My bed is waiting cool and fresh, with linen smooth and fair,
And I must off to sleepsin-by, and not forget my prayer.

But slumber hold me tightly till I waken in the dawn,
And hear the thrushes singing in the lilacs round the lawn.

RLS

The American Robin is of the thrush family, but we don't have lilacs in our lawn.

spring pleasures

 My brother mowed the lawn yesterday.

I stepped outside in the morning to empty some trash, in time to hear a mockingbird giving his spring recital. I had seen him quietly in the hedge in earlier weeks, listening.

I set up the little greenhouse in the most perfect temperatures, and gentle breeze.

I am trying to get some seeds sprouting in little containers, and I was able to just sit outside and do some. 

I had a bedroom window open all night.

The cats have greatly enjoyed all of this. 

I made blueberry muffins.

"Humanity's task continues God's own creation, filling the realms that God established, extending and elaborating good order within the creation, and exercising beneficent rule over its creatures. Humankind both had to rule over and to share the creation with other creatures.

The original creation is good, yet much remains to be done. God creates, commissions, empowers, and equips humanity to complete what he has started; we are a means of his continued creation and providence."

                                                       -  Alastair Roberts, from Plough magazine, Spring 2025

puddles and puzzles

 It rained all day, and everything is puddled. It was a winter rain, it couldn't be described as a spring shower, at all. But I used the oven and made chicken tetrazzini, to warm us up.

The crabapple tree is full of crabapples - I don't know what to do about it. They should have been eaten, or fallen down, right? In a month, these trees should be blooming, and will the fruits get in the way? Will they cause a problem. I'll have to go outside and examine it up close. Did they go bad? We'll have to find out.

And on the subject of trees, our young kousa dogwood seems to have the bark gone near the bottom part - we assume it's our rabbit neighbors, since they're known to eat tender bark in the winter. We'll see how that tree does, if it can continue without the bark. Also, my brother says they chewed his blueberry bushes down to the nub. Live and learn. We enjoy our rabbit friends, and we'll work on ways to live together. 

flicker at the feeder

From this morning's reading, on John 13:34 -

"God is love. God is self-emptying on behalf of the other. But this means paradoxically that to have God is to be what God is - and that means giving one's life away.

Now we see the link between joy and commandments; I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. And now we begin to understand the laws, commands, and demands of the Church. All are designed to make us more adept at love, at giving ourselves away. Don't steal; don't kill; don't covet your neighbor's goods or wife; honor your mother and father, worship God. All of these commands - positive and negative - are meant to awaken love and make it possible."

                                -  Bishop Robert Barron