extra February snippets

A medium-sized fuchsia suitcase is laying on my bed as I am in the process of packing for a weekend trip with Charlotte, we leave first thing in the morning. Her dance company is attending a dance weekend with the School of the Arts here in my state, it is a treat that I get to go along too.

 Earlier this week...

Enjoying: One of the perks of Charlotte being in the Youth Orchestra is we are allowed a certain amount of tickets to attend the local Symphony. We go as often as we can and enjoy superb programs every time. Last Saturday it was a bone-chilling walk back to our car after the concert, thankfully our souls were still warm from the music of Puccini, Hayden's Farewell Symphony, and the orchestra performing Mario Caselnuovo-Tedesco's work alongside guest artist Artyom Dervoed, a renowned classical guitarist. 

Nature Walks: The Common Grackles have appeared once again in the neighborhood. The last time they traveled through it was fall. It is the most eerie feeling to be out walking and observe the large numbers congregating in the tops of the trees, and to watch them constantly swooping across the treetops with their loud incessant chatter. Too close to Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds for my taste.

And  the adoption is final!!!!
Vivid memories of that evening over two years ago when Witt and Claire came straight from the hospital carrying this three day old little one. We wanted him from the beginning, but it took a long drawn-out process and ceaseless prayer to make it to this happy moment.

winter knitting

"After supper they went into the sitting-room. It was warm enough to do without a fire and they settled themselves in the bay window, with a table between them for Lutkin's knitting..."

Landscape inn Sunlight

Elizabeth Fair

Back in early October I began a knitting project with the zeal that any new pattern and yarn summons after a planned visit to a yarn store.  The weather was graciously moderate as Octobers always are in our southern climate and winter calling as only a future impression of mindful preparedness. There were several things that drew me to choosing this pattern,  a simple enough pattern yet  including a 38 stitch cable band with a 32 row repeat.

For me this translates into a project that doesn't work as as carry-along project, but instead it requires having a pattern board at hand, and close attention to my knitting. This makes for a perfect match as my husband and I decided to pull out our BBC DVD's of All Creatures Great and Small.  The last time we watched this wonderful series was during the winter of 2014, and these absolutely well-done movies (1980 TV series) have proven as delightful as always. The wrap has been growing alarmingly long, it blankets my legs as I knit which is certainly an added bonus on cool evenings. I've knitted the (76 1/2  inch) length and now all that is needed is the addition of the side band.

I certainly am not a fair predictor of the spring weather, yet I do know there have been wintry March days, and with the hope of wearing this wrap in 2020 I can hold onto the remembrance of another  knitting project that allowed a late winter/early spring adornment. Joy!

February bits and pieces

The last Saturday in February has arrived, grandchildren showing up at the back door bundled up  against the cold temperatures at 8:30 just as we were beginning to prepare breakfast. Of course, I had been up for some time and was sufficiently supplied with needed mugs of coffee for the day. Witt and Claire had a Foster Care meeting scheduled until after lunch and had asked us to keep B and G. 

What I am remembering about toddlers is their insatiable ability to go from one thing to thing to another in a very short amount of time, so unlike me at this stage of my life. Before long G was ready to go outside, which worked great since dear husband was going outside for a walk anyway and we had wisely retrieved the stroller from the trunk of Claire's car that morning. Then I had a moment to put on soup for lunch and get Sunday's lunch started. After lunch G. was put down for his nap and  that allowed game time for Breanna, Charlotte and me.

The next few photos were on my camera roll and since I partly keep this blog as a scrapbook of my days and years, I wanted to record a few other February bits and pieces on this post. Every Wednesday afternoon at 3:00, the back door opens briskly and four teenagers converge into my kitchen for Bible Study. I have always manage to have a snack waiting on the counter for them, and I love hearing their anticipated laughter and lively conversation. This week of Valentines Day included special treats (not shown, chocolate-covered strawberries and chocolate chip cookies).

Reminiscent of previous  Valentine dinners with my husband here at the house, I am fond of  the marvelous traditions we've shaped making for a quiet evening with my love.

stitching through silk

A free afternoon, yet freely chosen.

   I was free to stitch, buttonhole seaming through silk, this time on my silk-embroidered reticule. And the BBC version of Northhanger Abbey provided free amusement in the background, making all dimensions lively.

( a few hours of free time spent this past Saturday afternoon...betwixt this and that)) 

enjoying every hour...

"The seasons are what a symphony ought to be:

Four perfect movements in harmony with each other."

              ~Arthur Rubenstein

 A halcyon moment this afternoon, right before dinner prep was to begin in earnest. I sat outside and stitched, alongside me was a cup of tea and fuzzy Louie.

I am reading more these days. The challenge of choosing to read certain classics and a sound feeling of I must "get on with it" faces me daily.  Interestingly enough, I look forward to the extra hours I spend reading,  somehow this self-imposed challenge is quite enough to justify those extra moments.

  Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanhouken is lingering in my thoughts, and I expect it will for quite some time.  This book gets five-stars, and I highly recommend adding it to your reading list.

As I closed one book I opened another, thus, beginning at the top of my 2020 Reading Challenge, a 19th century classic. I remember reading Wuthering Heights in high school, the movie was seen in the theater and that is what I do remember. "Oh, Heathcliff"!  But after reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte in the past few years, it only seemed fair to give Emily another chance. This novel is slow and  slightly vapid in the beginning, but I am sensing a slight change, so I plug on...

Louie jumped down and I fancy he is pondering one of my gardens, noting the rebirth of flowers, herbs and garlic...yes, this year I am growing garlic in several garden spaces!

books, books and more books

                                                                              (image here)

I have always intended to be a woman of my word, and since I distinctly stated in my last post that I would give the books I was considering for my 2020 Reading Challenge soon, I believe soon has arrived this evening. These books are not necessarily written in stone, nor will I carve them there until I am reading a noted book and it proves itself to be a book I will want to continue reading. As you might well notice the list is not fully complete, I am open for suggestions...

1. 19th Century Classic   Wuthering Heights   Emily Bronte
2. 20th Century Classic   One of Ours   Willa Cather  
3. Classic written by a man    Jayber Crow   Wendell Berry
4. Classic in Translation    The Confessions  St. Augustine
5. Genre Classic  4:50 to Paddington  Agatha Christie
6. Classic with a person's name in the title   Celia's House.   D. E. Stevenson
7. Classic with a place in the title  We Bought An Island   Evelyn E. Atkins
8. Classic with nature in the title   The Country of the Pointed Firs  Sarah Orne Jewett
9. Classic about family  The Fountain Overflows  Rebecca West
10. An Abandoned Classic   Villete  Charlotte Bronte
11. Classic Adaption   North and South  Elizabeth Gaskell
12. Childhood Classic   Cornelli  Johanna Spyri
13. A Perennial  A Praying Life  Paul Miller
14. A Religious Classic   How Should We Then Live?   Francis Schaeffer  
15. A Grace Livingston Hill   Homing(?)
16. A biography/autobiography  Severe Mercy  Sheldon Vanauken
17. A non- fiction   Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life  Marta McDowell

What is it about typing something that makes reality spring into focus? This list seems terribly ambitious, especially in light of other things I love to do beside reading, and unfortunately, I have never been one that enjoys reading while doing something else with my hands.

      "A fondness for reading, properly directed,, must be an education in itself"

Jane Austen Mansfield Park

housewifery comfort

Ironing, cooking nourishing foods, baking bread, and preserving stock, these are only a few of the things I do in my home on a regular basis. My home duties are done with gratitude and for bringing pleasure to my family, therefore, I am the recipient of a double blessing.

Winter has had a bit of a strange feel to it this year. Some days of high unseasonable temperature  warmth, and then cold days with bitter, biting wind.
This cold, but pleasantly sunny day, I pulled out my husband's shirts that need ironing and it was worth the extra effort to set up the ironing board and iron in the sunroom where the morning's sun provided the comfort of being  home and ironing.

I know I have mentioned probably more than one time that I prepare soups on a regular basis year round. But I especially love when winter allows those deeply nourishing and comforting winter stews and soups. Chicken and dumplings is one of my husband's most requested winter soup. It requires so few ingredients, along with chicken, all are staples in most kitchens
.

There is much written about porridge, and certainly there are varied opinions from  people regarding their childhood memories or preferences, but to me a bowl of pre-soaked cooked porridge, sweetened with maple syrup, a dollop of butter, fruit, nuts and cinnamon must be awarded a gold star on a spectrum of satisfying comfort.  

I will not say I have mastered the art of baking a good loaf of bread, yet I can say with confidence that I am learning and that I have discovered several new recipes that my family enjoys eating. Plus, I am learning about baking with ancients grains and sourdough starter, and it is extremely difficult to go back to plain flours and yeast.

And I can not remember if I have shared this on the blog before, and if I have just think you have been twice informed. I make chicken bone broth about every other week, and would do it weekly if we could eat enough chicken! But a tip that I have enjoyed is freezing some of my stock in ice cubes and storing the cubes in a plastic container. You can then add as much or as little of the stock as is needed for your recipe. Excellent for sauces and such.

2020 Reading Challenge

 I love perusing library shelves. Yes, with ebullient memories of library days during childhood,  still one of my simple pleasures is meandering through the library book stacks, reading the various titles while pulling certain books off the shelves as possibilities to take home and read. Books are friendly to me.

 Since every year is moving by at an extraordinary rate of speed, and since I am only getting older, I thought I would take the time and effort this year to create a purposeful Reading List, after all my "want to read" book stacks are only getting larger. I  fancy calling it my 2020 Reading Challenge, join along if you would like.

 The book blog, Books And Chocolate, recently posted a 2020 Back to Basics Reading Challenge which piqued my interest in adopting a similar reading list, mostly classics (books written at least 50 years ago). I have chosen to follow the basic mainstay of her list, adding
several other novel types as well.

1. 19th Century Classic
2.  20th Century Classic
3. Classic written by a man author
4. Classic in Translation
5.  Genre Classic (fantasy, mystery, science fiction, western. etc.)
6.  Classic with a person's name in the title
7. Classic with a place in the title
8. Classic with nature in the title
9. Classic about family
10. An abandoned title (one you had begun in the past and had not finished)
11.A  Classic adaption(movie or TV series)
12. A Childhood Classic
13. A perennial ( a re-read)
14. A religious classic/book
15. A Grace Livingston Hill book
16. A biography or an autobiography

Scribbled on yellow legal pads are the actual book titles I am planning to read or have already begun. I will post them soon. I would love any recommendations!

bolognese sauce

Some mornings I will get up and know it is destined to be a sauce or soup making day.

The weather is usually cloudy, rainy or even drizzly such as was today.

I bring the fresh vegetables to the cutting board, sharpen my best chopping knife and begin a session of serious chopping. Today it was to make a delicious and simple bolognese sauce.

Years ago I was browsing through the Willams-Sonoma store and this sauce recipe was one of their free handouts. I usually make it several times a year and since it makes a rather large portion of sauce, I have discovered it freezes extremely well. My most favorite way to serve this sauce is over spaghetti squash topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

I realize that with Pinterest and Google, the sharing of recipes is almost obsolete, but I photo shop the recipe ...just in case....that is all I'm saying.

And you get the added bonus of exercising your neck too!

going to nearby places

I walked in the cold overcast afternoon.

Maybe it is because I have enjoyed reading so many books set in English villages where the town's hub is a square with several up and down lanes branching off from the main street, a street that accommodates quaint shops for the needs of any village- abiding person. I love the thought of living in such a place. I recall a woman friend telling me how she lived in a small town in Connecticut  with her husband well over forty years ago; they owned only one car and she was able to walk to the grocer, pharmacy, florist, or any place she needed to outside venturing into the larger city. And I also have vague memories of my Grandmother walking to a street of shops near her house in the old part of the town of which I grew up that maintained such a street of shops within walking distance of the residents going back to the 1940's.

As for this afternoon, my mind's ruminations were due to not getting into my car and driving the few miles to the host's house where our monthly bridge meeting was being held. Instead I  bundled up in my aubergine woolen coat  and with my Stegmanns wool clogs , I briskly made the twelve minute journey. And speaking of  Stegmann's clogs, I bought this pair of clogs in 1992, and they are still in excellent shape. I slip my socked feet into them and my feet remain toasty warm, plus the comfort they provide is almost like wearing slippers.

After another twelve minute walk home, I hurriedly began supper preparations.  For tonight I was preparing my own version of Swedish meatballs to be served over tagliatelle noodles, so for that I needed to gather a few springs of fresh parsley from my leaf-strewn garden.  A crisp green salad  served on the side should be just right.

handmade gifts

 Mad last minute shopping frenzies in my opinion are a choice you make and as for me not a way in which I choose to spend the last days of Advent. I desire to be home making lists of cookies to bake, meals to prepare, planning how I am going to set my Christmas table, and getting the house ready for the arrival of family. And since I do like to make simple handmade gifts for the grandchildren if at all possible, these days leading up to Christmas may provide just the needed time to do so. I have been nursing a sore throat for several days, drinking mug after mug of herbal teas and taking elderberry syrup, therefore, sitting in my sunny sewing room to sew those gifts are delightful,  just before Rose and Ivy arrive tomorrow night and my days will look quite different.

A flannel nightgown for Ivy(31/2), an apron for Breanna(9), and I am just now ready to begin knitting red mittens for Gordon(23 months).