time pieces

 "As with joyous steps they sped

 To that lowly manger bed,

     There to bend the knee before

                                                      Him whom heaven and earth adore;

                                                     So may we with willing feet

                                                     Evermore seek Thy mercy seat."

                     ~As With Gladness Men of Old, second stanza

William C. Dix

As I have set out to create the atmosphere of this home most of the things I had in my previous home have laid the foundations for each room. It is truly amazing how much of my furniture and things fit into this old "new" house. Making this house a home takes greater devotion and purpose and more time in knowing just what things are still needed to give this house what it might still be missing.

For years I've entertained the thought of having a clock of prestige in our home. Of course, we have always had a few necessary clocks such as a bedroom nightstand clock, a battery operated wall clock in my sewing room, and a few digital clocks in the kitchen...one on the stove and one on the coffee maker. Fairly common clocks that certainly did their job of keeping me in the know of the current time.

But I desired a clock that was serious. One that was fashioned by the hand of a clockmaker and would create a statement in the clock world,  not just in its utilitarian essence but also in its aesthetic essence. Years ago I considered a cuckoo clock because some are beautifully crafted and I see them as whimsical thinking children, or an adult for that matter, would find fascination in it.

Then one day in November we met the Clockmaker.  MC does not make clocks per se, but he has collected clocks for over forty years. He works on all clock types and repairs them, even to the point of making pieces that have broken and need replacing to make the antique clocks run again. MC knows the history of many clocks, the countries of origin, the dates and the clockmakers of yore. He is seventy-nine years old and his art is sadly dying out. He has so many calling him for clock repair from all over that he has limited his work only to those who purchase a clock from him.  I am glad we stopped by his antique shop just down the road from us housed in an old log cabin one Saturday. He has made a true clock lover out of me. I am more focused now with an eye of interest longing to know more about various clocks.

This Christmas my husband and I have gifted ourselves ourselves with two of his clocks and they arrived on Tuesday. MC came to hang them and set them to ticking in their designated places. 

Now to my home has been added two new things that I felt have been missing. A handsome gentle  ticking clock in the back hallway from Vienna and a merry click-ticking blue-plated clock from Germany in the kitchen above the doorway entering into the scullery. Both of these clocks were made by men with the first name of Gustav,

 and both are non-strikers.

I have now added the winding of two clocks every eight days to my  home tending.

12-22-22

 O come, O come, thou Lord of might, who to thy tribes, on Sinai's height,

In ancient times didst give the law in cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

~O Come, O Come Emmanuel, 2nd stanza

John Mason Neale and Henry S. Coffin

 To go outside early this morning and attend my flock of feathered hens was not the most pleasant thing I had to do today, but chores of this type even go beyond that quote about the postmen's rain or shine deliveries! It was so cold and rainy that the hens did not even come outside  to free-range. I was thinking how thankful I was astute enough late yesterday afternoon to throw another layer of bedding into the coop thinking the hens might choose to remain inside with the predicted weather forecast.  We use the deep layering bedding method in the chicken coop and it has been by far the best choice for our coop and our little flock!

I set a pot of natural things in a pot of water to simmer on my stove.

Now my house smells seasonally wonderful! Pine needles, orange pieces and peels, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves and even tiny bits of pines twigs and cones, whatever you forage in wood and home can be used. Just keep adding water throughout the day.

I am fine tuning my menu lists for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner. This year it will be a bit different, Witt and his family, now that there are seven of them, have decided to stay home on Christmas Day and make their own traditions. I think this is a good thing, but I am glad they will be coming for Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning we will go to Rose's house where she will be serving breakfast, then we will attend church. Later that afternoon, around four o'clock, I will be serving Christmas dinner at my house. The beef tenderloin was just purchased and I am making a French Onion soup for an appetizer, using several kinds of onions.

daily bread

All creation, join in praising God the Father, Spirit, Son;

Evermore your voices raising to th' eternal Three in One:

Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ,

the newborn King.

Angels From the Realms of Glory, fifith stanza

James Montgomery 

Bread is made from three basic ingredients:  flour, salt and water. Four if you choose to use flour and water to make an ongoing live culture of sourdough starter.

My entire family has finally given me the five stars on this recipe of sourdough bread. And the key word here is entire family. I consider myself to have climbed a very steep mountain at last and it makes me happy. Because Charlotte is home from school until mid January and it is the holidays where more are gathered around my table at times, I usually  bake a loaf about every other day. We like toast, we like sandwiches, we like bread for soup soppings, and just general buttered bread for dinner. This bread recipe provides it all. Another thing that makes me happy. I persevered in my sourdough journey using several recipes from various sources, tweaking here and there to make it come together for me. 

I begin the process in the morning and it basically takes all day. Nothing fast or hurried, I like that about bread making. Yesterday we celebrated my husband's birthday so today I am baking another loaf. The process was began this morning and it takes basically all day. Since my kitchen is chillier than the other rooms in my house, the present loaf is rising by the fire on a trivet in the living room.

  I received this tea as a gift form my daughter -in -law and made myself a cup while I was beginning my bread,

and I was listening to a  Christmas CD of Twila Paris. 

At the beginning of each blog post until Christmas I will be sharing a stanza of a Christmas hymn. Many of these stanzas are not as familiar and they are rich.  

meet me there...and a cookie recipe

"God of God, Light of Light,

Lo, He abhors not the Virgin's womb;

Very God, begotten, not created,

O come, let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him,

O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord."

~O Come All Ye Faithful, second stanza

John Francis Wade

Christmas carols were playing in the background...on a CD player which my girls think is obsolete, but works excellently for me, especially since I have a great collections of Christmas CDs😊.

The live mistletoe is hanging between the living room and the dining room. A fire is crackling warm. Louie has "snuck" inside and is contently warming himself by the fire on the ottoman. I am drinking a cup of Holy Basil tea while baking ginger molasses cookies, this time using my sourdough starter (recipe follows). 

 I am waiting for my dear husband to return later and meet me  under the mistletoe.

These cookies are the soft and chewy sort. So deliciously good! You may add the spices and spice amounts to your taste. If you prefer less gingery and more cinnamon cookies, just adjust.

Sourdough Ginger Molasses Cookies 

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/3 cup molasses

1/2 cup sourdough starter

Sift flour, baking soda, salt and spices together in small bowl.

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and then add the molasses and vanilla. Add the sourdough starter. Mix thoroughly. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet mixture,  be sure not to overmix. (I use a spoon, not the mixer, to stir and combine both the starter and then the dry ingredients).

Roll into 1" balls...you may have to slightly flour your fingers... then roll into a bowl of 2 tablespoons of sugar, coating the entire ball.

Place 3" apart on an uncreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes any 350 degrees.

The dough may be frozen up to three months.

 Isn't that wonderful?

You can pull out the dough and have a batch of freshly baked cookies when company stops by or if you are just hankering for a taste of these wonderful treats, seasonal comfort food at its best. And the added bonus of how it makes your home smell just like walking into a bakery! 

 

of cat and woman... and the rock dam

You have probably made the connection already since I have mentioned it before that we love the simple act of walking in the woods. When we were searching for property to buy we were hoping there would be acres of woods, so we feel as we have been doubly blessed. And now that the cold weather season has arrived we walk daily. I am saying we when usually it is just me, unless it is a weekend. But this particular morning Charlotte and her young man friend, her beau Issac, were with me. Myrtle came along too and Charlotte thought it was rather dandy so she snapped this photo. It is not the first time this cat has walked with us through the woods (she blends well with the woodsy colors, she is to the left of the photo,---even with my shoes).

We had set off this morning because I wanted to show them Rock Dam. I discovered this manmade dam in the woods one day as I walked the creek bed. It never ceases to put a jump and a skip in me when I am there watching it run over the rocks, hearing its rush.

Just walking by water is both soothing and exciting at the same time.

the old house

 There is something about an old dilapidated house that deems exploring. When we bought this property we had all sorts of imaginings of what this old house was in years past. It sits in the back side yard of our property, and we do not yet know what it was used for other than the obvious that someone lived there years ago.

Now that the weather temperatures have changed we have gone inside to check it out. (This is a snake's paradise in our area in warmer seasons and we are not fools). The floor is unsafe in several places, but you recognize the kitchen, the bathroom (yes, there is a bathroom), the living room with a fireplace, a downstairs bedroom and an upstairs bedroom.  I see containers of canning jars, old mattresses tossed atop one another and two large wooden trunks. There is much work to do here and we do not know if any part is even salvageable as of yet, but is certainly does stir the curiosity of many a visitor who comes by to visit us.

I gingerly pressed open the door and stepped inside recently. I am one that can see possibilities in things, but truly all I could see here was perhaps using the sink as an outside vegetable washing station and the canning jars could be washed and sterilized. 

That is all I will say about this old house at the moment.

the back hallway

The southern exposure of the back stairway is welcomed on sunny days, full of dancing shadows and bold glares as one traverses up the red-carpeted stairs.

Many will ask me if our home has all the bedrooms located upstairs. The answer to that is yes, all the bedrooms are upstairs.I guess they are thinking of aging and what stairs might mean for future mobility or maybe unexpected health issues making stair climbing difficult for a time.

But I like going up the stairs to get to my bedroom. But I am never one that does not think ahead for future possibilities, so there is a room downstairs that could be converted into a bedroom if ever needed.  

 

"All right I think we've been down here in the dark long enough. 

There's a whole other world upstairs.