in the groove

Just in case one mightn't noticed, I am in the groove of blogging once again. What kept me away in the first place has brought me back once again, but in a somewhat different vein. The keeping of a record of the everyday events of my life, it demands attention.  And on that note, the last mention, I promise, of Charlotte's  thirteenth birthday ends here. 

Dots made from card stock to string as garland.

Pizza

Needle felting purses

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake. Charlotte found this recipe  on Pinterest, so upon her request I attempted to make it with what I am happy to declare little difficulty.  Though next time I would definitely make more raspberry puree!

Memorial Day ended our extended weekend. So with little pomp, but great intent we gathered with a dear family at our house to officially open "summer" activities. The rains stayed away and Priscilla  was able to snap some creative photos in the backyard. 

Happy late spring! Happy end of school days! Happy beginning of "summer".

turning thirteen

 To quote  Nathaniel Hawthorne,  "Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind." In a decade plus three years, the shadows left behind are nothing short of beautiful memories in regard to Charlotte. 

   I am blessed to be her mother. 

Happy Birthday to my most favorite thirteen year old!

daybook/photo gallery

Outside: If there could be a lovelier spring day it is beyond my scope of imagination, even though we have had comparable ones. Yet the demand to see, listen, feel, and smell is not far from me as I enjoy the open windows and spend times outside.

Thinking: I should be doing something other than this blog post. The days are hard to catch these days, I pursue my moments like a fisherman on the open sea eager to bring in his supply of daily fish.

In the kitchen: Now in this place, besides the daily ministrations of preparing and cooking nourishing, healthy meals for my family, I hone my baking skills using sourdough starter and freshly milled flours. I crave the taste of lentils most days. So a soup of lentils and kale, a variation from a recipe found here.
The sourdough starter is one given by a friend with an accompanying recipe for friendship bread. I decided to experiment and make this starter truly my own; I feed it simply with water and flour. This past week I baked a loaf of banana bread using this leavening and my wheat flour. It was  quick and delicious.

Charlotte and I eat lunch outside these days. Today a lunch of lettuce gifted to me by Claire picked from her garden. I threw in some organic spinach, tomatoes, raspberries, cucumbers, and lentils. This dressing is my favorite at this time. Do you ever get like that too, something becomes your favorite for a season? Here is the recipe:
1/2 shallot
juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon each of fresh chives, parsley, and oregano
1/3 cup olive oil

Sewing:
Another spacious place, a place it seems I can't get enough of, yet I "getalong" nicely. This is a smocked tea cozy, perhaps a form of manipulating fabric would be another name for this type of work.  I am presently sewing buttonholes on a diaper shirt, and I just cut out an infant summer dress, panties, and hat in a tiny gingham of the prettiest shade of turquoise which will be trimmed with orange rick rack.

her little head

She came for a visit the week before Mother's Day, for an entire week. Rose would bring her to me in the morning and I would have the unspeakable delight of cuddle time.

Ivy Elizabeth will be venturing to the beach next week, and I want to be sure her little head is adorned not only in prudence and mother wit, but cuteness too. This baby sunbonnet pattern is a free pattern found here.  

satisfying a peanut butter cookie craving

I had a craving that would not cease, so I gave in and baked a batch of peanut butter cookies. I slightly altered the recipe I found. They calmed the peanut butter craving bug that was gnawing at me. This should curve the craving quite some time...I hope.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
 Cream these together and add:
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
In a separate bowl, whisk together:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Stir dry ingredients into the butters.
Fold in:
1 cup *Reeses* chocolate peanut butter chips
Roll into about 1-1/2' balls and place on a baking sheet with a non stick baking mat.
Flatten the balls. I used my fingers.
Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.

praying and knitting

 I like to think of myself as being an ongoing student in the school of prayer. Simply put," Lord, teach me to pray", and He does. Thankfully, there are excellent books at my fingertips to ponder and pray through as I read them, and there have been many prayer mentors and partners through the years that have directly influenced my prayer journey.  The other day I remembered I owned this little gem of a book by Watchman Nee. So I pulled it off the shelf to reread for what probably is the fourth or fifth time. Don't you just love books of this magnitude? We can talk about the need of prayer, but as its title says, let us pray.

And while at a Precept Bible Training one weekend back in April, I just happened upon a yarn shop tucked in a corner of downtown Cary. Its wooded floors and  beautiful yarns stacked in square wooden bins literally invites a knitter in, as if a knitter needs an invitation to browse a yarn shop! And appropriately, the shop's name is Warm and Fuzzy. While there I selected a Quince & Co. yarn (Chickadee)in the Belize colorway. To my way of thinking at that moment a simple shawl seemed  desirable for a spring project, thus it took minimal effort to choose Piper's Journey shawl by Paula Emmons-Fuessle. I am enjoying knitting this shawl immensely.

It is good to be joining up with Ginny and her Wednesday yarn along today.