a silly tale

A few months ago at work, I met a young Indian woman amidst the cookbooks. She asked if I knew of any baking clubs around. Baking clubs? There are several book clubs. But she loves baking, and was looking for a club. Well, we ended up chatting at least twenty minutes - but nobody came looking for me, so I guess it was all right. Since then I've run into her at the library every few weeks, and she tells me what she's made lately, saying she'll bring me a sample.

Well. I was at the supermarket with a full cart, and parked it near the ladies' room. Christina was right there looking at vitamins, but I didn't say hi because I really had to go. I came out - my cart was gone. A cart was there, but not mine. I thought, "Now I have to go all over the store, looking for my shopping cart!"  But I had this feeling that if I could find Christina, that might be the answer. I took a few steps and then we spotted each other. "Christina!"  "Lisa!" we exclaimed.  I said, "You have my cart."  She looked, and we both ended up laughing and hugging each other like two sillies. She told me she'd been thinking about me lately, and had actually gone to the library earlier that day to bring me some goodies, but I don't work Saturday. And here I was anyway, at the market, later on!  Funny. Of course, she didn't have the goods with her.

But she did show me a photo later in the parking lot; like a mother with pictures of her kids, she had a photo of a chocolate cake she made for some friends. She really does love baking.

handwarmer giveaway

That was my one thousandth post, the other day!  I suppose maybe I should celebrate it.

And since I'm on such a roll making these snuggly warmers, it may be that somebody out there would like a pair for themselves. They are one hundred percent wool and a basic one-size-fits-all. My hands are small, and they're fine for me, with room.

If you're interested, leave a comment here - up until Friday, and then I'll have the drawing. How time goes by!

a snowy month

Saturday it snowed all day, steadily. All day, and in the end maybe two inches. Funny. Tomorrow sounds similar.

We seem to be getting all of winter in one month.

something in common with mushrooms

Apparently, just like us, when mushrooms sunbathe the light they absorb turns into vitamin D. Then, when you eat them you're getting the vitamin! How nice. 

So don't forget to put your mushrooms out in the sunshine before you cook with them, and they'll do you a favor.

the journey

"There is only one journey. Going inside yourself."

                  -   Rainer Maria Rilke

an apple a day

for St. Valentine's Day

stalactites

My brother went outside suddenly this afternoon and I wondered where he was, until I heard the chopping and stomping on the roof, and the glass-like tinkling sound of breaking ice. I didn't realize it was that bad.

We do have icicles hanging from the eaves here and there.

But then he came in with a four foot long dagger.

from Wikipedia -

"Any material which is soluble, can be deposited as a colloid, or is in suspension, or is capable of being melted, may form a stalactite."

gifts received, gifts to give

Because we have been forgiven, we know the way of forgiveness; because we have been healed, we know the way of healing; because we have known God, we know the way of God. The gifts given to us are gifts for us to give.

                                            -  Magnificat,  February 2014

thrilled to pieces

I have a bookcase in my bedroom which was full of books, on every shelf. But I just couldn't stand that any more.

I guess I'd seen enough glossy photos of bookcases with empty spaces in them - was it possible that I could pare down my collection in order to make spaces?  I've also been so inspired by Carmella's blog - she, her husband and three boys, living in a 665 square foot space. The idea of keeping only what you need, and is of practical use to you. 

So, the top shelf; I took out all of it, dusted it and put back what was useful, a week ago. Some stacked and others standing, all in the name of interest. Oh, how neat and appealing it was! A few days later, the second shelf. The same result.  And the other day, the snow day, I tackled the other two shelves. Oh, the spaces I now have! The library is receiving my unneeded books.

I even have shelf space to put knitting!!  Wonder of wonders.

socks on straight needles

We got this new book at the library about using straight needles to knit your socks. The author has invented a special way of doing this for those who have a hard time with multiple needles. I've gotten over that issue but it looks interesting all the same, and I have some Wool-Ease I want to use up. I did the gauge yesterday, and cast on today; we'll see how it goes.

Joining Ginny for yarnalong.

snow day

After reading Leila's blogpost about thinking ahead and cooking more than you need right now, I decided to buy a few butternut squash. Today's snowstorm kept me at home, so I put them in the oven and left them there while I worked on other things. Roasted in that leisurely way, they came out so soft and creamy - I had quite forgotten how good!  We lunched on some, we'll have a couple for Friday and the rest are in the freezer. 

on the way to work

winter again

with more of the same predicted for this month.

sweet girl

One of the most touching things -

on the laundry again

when your little dearie gives you her tummy for a rub, and to say she trusts you.

gold scallops all around

A year ago I made a skirt from some fairly heavy weight cotton velvet. I wore it once. 

The problem was, because of the thickness, I didn't know how to go about hemming it. I didn't want a lump at the bottom.  I was able to wear it once because I just cut it and wore it that way. But the nature of velvet is that you can't iron out any wrinkles, so I knew I'd have to always wear it once and then wash it. But, it wasn't hemmed, so I couldn't wash it! A dilemma.

That thing has sat at the bottom of my hamper for a whole year. Oh, I've had all sorts of ideas for hemming it. I really wanted to attach another weighty fabric at the bottom, but didn't know what. I thought of making a quilted piece, a wide section, to be attached there. But, even though it is almost an upholstery weight it still has a nice drape - anything quilted would have spoiled it. I pondered the situation I can't tell you how many times, coming up with nothing. Until yesterday.

My sewing machine isn't fancy, but it does have two or three decorative stitches, and I decided to try one at the hem. A small scallop - I practiced first on a scrap, of course. Found a full spool of some vintage gold thread, and did it today. I know vintage thread is supposed to be weak and they say don't use it. But older thread often has a wonderful sheen and this makes a pretty, shiny scallop all around. There is no seam here which is depending on a strong thread to keep it together. 

I can wash it now, and we'll see what happens. I'll trim it near to the sewing, and hope for the best. It really is pretty, and I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner!

knitting with Gladys Taber

I'm joining Ginny this week with another pair (the sixth!) of these handwarmers which are so appealing and easy to knit. I'm reading another from Gladys Taber, Amber being her five-pound Abyssinian cat. Gladys was an animal and nature lover and had many cocker spaniels, Irish setters and cats.

"Amber hears it [the Canada geese flying over] and it means something to her, although I cannot explain what. She listens, she watches, her tail comments.

The geese are going over, I say. I pray for happy landings."

She talks to Amber, explains things to her and on the whole, seems to understand her cat pretty well. Apparently Gladys Taber wrote quite a few books, and I am happy to look forward to reading them.

"the mind's tenderness toward the heart"

I used to be in the habit of writing quotes on paper scraps - things which seemed like truth to me and which I knew I'd forget unless I wrote them down. Yesterday I came across one, and today I found another.

What wisdom is acquired during the course of a life is a result of the mind's tenderness toward the heart.

There it was on a piece of paper, without a source. Looking it up, it is attributed to James Cowan, but since I haven't read his work, I guess I saw it quoted in another place.

Worth sharing.

real life

"The reward of the unhurried is the real life."

                              -   Ann Voskamp

robins in winter

I'm going to have to call the Audubon Society, I think. Who else?

A week ago I looked out the back door and saw a robin right there. Over the past few years I've heard some say that some robins stay around all winter; but I never saw any. Today there were three together in a backyard tree.

Here are two of them; I couldn't get them all in the picture without them looking like dots. 

My brother says he's heard that there are black-headed ones who stay - they are Canadian robins. 

Well, these don't have black heads.

I hope they have something to eat - robins don't eat sunflower seeds, which is what's in our feeder. They like bugs and worms. But this guy looks pretty plump, doesn't he? 

I know the mockingbird used to be a southern bird, but now they stay up here all the time. I suppose robins could do the same. 

a "remarkable episode" in cat observation

"Seaweed is an interesting person, competent, sure of himself...His own house is across the road and up a short distance, but he can be seen as soon as he appears around the bushes...he reminds me of a bank president on the way to a conference. His markings are somewhat like a patchwork quilt, but his dignity is Fifth Avenue.

The incident that established Seaweed on our special list was the day last week when he took his usual route home, skipped across the road because a car went by, crossed the back yard, planted his stocky body at the glass door and was let in. Whereupon he marched to the hall, went down the cellar stairs and used the litter box. Then he came back upstairs and went back out.

I consider this one of the most remarkable episodes in my cat observations...How was he so sure just where that litter box was, since he had obviously never spent a night in this house?..And, practically speaking, why did he travel so far without stopping on the lawn, since he is an outdoor cat much of the time?

In the end I decided any normal, ordinary cat can keep any human being in a state of frustration."

                                          -   Gladys Taber,   Conversations with Amber

snow and cold

We haven't had much snow this winter. But today - it's a snowy day.

After work I walked up to my neighbor's for a brief visit, and on my way watched the sparkles here and there glittering in the dark ahead of me. Magical stuff.

Dolly helps with the laundry

helps herself to a warm bed, that is.

order, beauty

"Order is the shape upon which beauty depends."

                 -    Pearl Buck   (from Simple Abundance)

blue and gold

Our house faces westish, and yesterday after an early dinner when the sun was getting lower, the sky behind the house got that darkish deep blue and the golden light was all over the trees and everything out there.

 I don't really like putting up pictures of my neighbors' houses, so I used a filter called smudge stick, but you can still get the idea of the brightness.

a thing for hankies

My mother sang in the church choir and I'd usually go up with her.  A nice lady up there once gave me a set of three machine-embroidered handkerchiefs, and I haven't looked back since.  Years later while working in the nursing home, a patient brought out stacks of hankies she'd made years before, some with tatted edges and some with crocheted. She let me take a big stack. 

Those are all gone, but meanwhile I found that one of the fabric companies had printed some to be used for crafts.  I use them for my runny nose.

I also have three beautiful Christmas hankies my mother gave me.  Yes, I'm ironing. I'm ironing anyway.

dear tree

Our beloved ornamental cherry tree, which sits in front of the house and blooms so magnificently every spring -

Our dear tree which was so weighed down by snow two years ago -

                           

has a split right down the length of the trunk, and I was the one to discover it (with a shock) this morning.

I was very surprised two years ago when there seemed to be nothing wrong, after the big snow. But maybe that caused a weakening, and together with temperatures in single digits yesterday, this crack developed.

I called the nursery where we got it - she said when it's getting warmer to paint it with that black tree stuff. I thought she'd say we should wrap it up! Bind the wound! Put it in swaddling clothes like a baby! She didn't seem to think so.

My brother knows an arborist - we're going to see what he thinks. It's heartbreaking.

one more

Christmas present to give, that is.

I'm in no hurry.

May each Christmas, as it comes, find us more and more like Him who at this time became a little child, for our sake, more simple-minded, more humble, more affectionate, more resigned, more happy, more full of God.

-  Cardinal John Newman (from Miss Read's Christmas Book) 

winter cold from the past

With reports of such cold temperatures around the country, I offer this from Miss Read's Christmas Book:

Sunday, Christmas Day, 1870

As I lay awake praying in the early morning I thought I heard a sound of distant bells. It was an intense frost. I sat down in my bath upon a sheet of thick ice which broke in the middle into large pieces whilst sharp points and jagged edges stuck all round the sides of the tub like chevaux de frise, not particularly comforting to the naked thighs and loins, for the keen ice cut like broken glass. The ice water stung and scorched like fire. I had to collect the floating pieces of ice and pile them on a chair before I could use the sponge and then I had to thaw the sponge in my hands for it was a mass of ice. The morning was most brilliant. Walked to the Sunday School with Gibbins and the road sparkled with millions of rainbows, the seven colours gleaming in every glittering point of hoar frost. The Church was very cold in spite of two roaring stove fires.

                                     -   Francis Kilvert,  Diary, 1870-1879

Now that's something I could never do.

on the eleventh day of Christmas...

one friar piping?  Well, it is a bit cold for sandals, so I guess I shouldn't expect the other ten.

a chocolate memory

Cyndi brought me some Fanny Farmer chocolates for Christmas. She had a reason for it.

When I was a child, before the days of shopping malls, my mother would dress me up and bring me into the city, where we'd go to my absolute favorite department store; a place with brightly-lit make-up counters, escalators, a large ladies' lounge, dining room with Victorian wallpaper, and, at the top of one of the escalators, a little spot where they sold chocolates. I have a memory of a box of milk chocolates all in the shape of wooden shoes.

About twenty years later, Aunt Helen and Uncle Tony came by for one of their monthly visits. These were always very pleasant - they'd come around lunchtime on a weekday and Aunt Helen would usually bring a small box of chocolates. This time it was Fanny Farmer, which I hadn't had. Or I thought I hadn't. I chose a solid milk chocolate piece, and was instantly transported back to my childhood at that wonderful department store. So, at last I knew what brand those chocolates were! There was no doubt in my mind - that taste memory was a certainty.

I didn't know Cyndi when I was little, but I've been friends with her a long time and she knows the story, so when she saw these she remembered. Thanks, Cyndi!   mmmm