turkey feathers

Birth of a Flower

I was meandering around my yard yesterday and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw this Rhodie; a perfect puff-ball of pink petals.  Planted a couple of seasons ago, it has finally come into its own.  Worth waiting for don't ya think?   Sorry, the official name escapes my muddled mind at the moment.  I try and keep a small garden journal for such things, because I'm good at forgetting details like this, however, no time to dig it out this morning.  We've got "Bitty", our 3 1/2-year-old grand-daughter staying with us during the day so mama can get the rest she needs. 

Baby Olivia is doing fine, no jaundice at all and already gaining weight.   We were in sync with matching pink outfits this morning.  Sigh.  I could stare at this face forever.

Short & Sweet

A perfect 20" :: 6 lbs. 9 oz. to be exact.  And extremely sweet!  Just as sweet as this cake Grace made to celebrate the occasion.  I meant to update a bit sooner but these past few days have been a blur of activity.  Baby grand-daugher #2 was born literally moments after that last post, and since then we've all been kept quite busy.   Thanks so much for the *baby love*.  I'll be sure and pass it on to the proud parents. Ding....there goes that kitchen timer again!

Frozen Food & Warm Fuzzies

OK, so what do you do when you get the call that your darling daughter-in-law has gone into labor?  You boil water, of course.  Add noodles.  Roast a chicken.  Make vegetables to go with it.  And bake a cake, that’s what!  If you ever wonder what you can do to help a family that has a new baby (and a toddler) in the house, the answer = food.  Comfort food.  Mostly in the form of nourishing home-cooked freezer meals.  So to this end, the girls and I spent most of the day mixing, cooking, and boxing things up to take with us tomorrow.  We still have a few presents to wrap, including these, a knitted baby blanket to finish (Grace’s gift project), a basket of books and puzzles to keep new ‘big sister’ occupied and some Mother’s Day goodies to gather before heading up to Portland to join the rest of the family, and hopefully meet grandbaby #2 (who hasn't actually 'officially' arrived yet.  But will.  Soon.) These few quiet days of contemplative needle-felting and tea sipping suddenly got very busy.  Happily, so!  But I tell ya, it sure feels good to be sitting down right now and resting my feet.  If only for a few moments, while waiting for the kitchen timer to call me back.  Ding. Alas, my allotted fifteen seconds for blogging is up. I leave you though, with some more needle felted fun.  I’m awfully proud of the bum on this one. ACK! Think I found a new hobby!

Coming Back Around

Poor Ginger has been down with the stomach flu for the last couple of days.  I've been tip-toeing around the fringes of it myself, but feeling much better today.  I think part of that has to do with being up all hours, with one eye open, one ear cocked, and one leg hanging off the edge of the bed ready to spring into action at the first hint of trouble: that horrible gag in the middle of the night.  The gag heard round the world; from a mother's point of view anyway.   If you're a mama, you know.  You know that sound.  (We'd already changed the bedding and cleaned up the floor once.)  Mostly, I was only needed to hold one's hair up and lend calm support through the worst of it.  Sometimes the ordinary events in a child's life can be difficult for us all.  Still, we are nurtured by the small gifts of compassion and very happy to be feeling well again. 

Meet Pumpkin. Ginger's pride and joy.  Her gentleman hamster companion.  He seems happy to be back in the thick of things too. 

Some of you asked about the little bird sitting on the bench in my last post.  Why, this is a 'Rufous-Sided Towhee', to be exact.  The males sport black and white polka-dot "suits".  I actually see more of them than the females who must be off tending their grass nests in the tangle of trees here and about.  I'm quoting now, from a small pocket booklet by Miller and Nelson, all wonderfully handwritten with beautiful illustrations and general bits of information:  "A timid ground feeder; prefers dense, unkempt gardens..." (yes, that would certainly explain their presence here!); they scratch with both feet together looking for insects...the "Towhee Shuffle".  They really do look like they're dancing when they do this!  Very cute.  They have incredibly bright rusty-red colored eyes too, hence their latin name meaning, "red-eyed chirper".  And a song worth noting, described as, "drink-your-teeeeee".   They're primarily located coast to coast.  Keep your eyes peeled to see one, they will surely delight.

oh, and I've got another apron-smock nearly finished, pictures soon!

No Snow, Just Suds

Aw shucks, and we were having so much fun too.  Well, it's all over for another year.  Time to tidy up.

And cozy up. 

Here's wishing you love, joy, and peace in 2008!

Spice of Life

Thanks again for your conversations! I do love the feedback, but regret I'm not always able to respond to them all in kind, but I do try.  And just in case anyone has had trouble leaving comments here, or any other TypePad blog, please know that there was an internal error (read about it here). I wasn't even really aware of it until this morning, so if your comments weren't showing up for some reason, that might explain it.  (For the record, I only block pesky nonsense spewing troll-bots and their cousin mischief-makers from crashing my party.) 

Gosh, so, here it is Friday again, and the final countdown weekend until Christmas.   I think I'm ready.  Every once in awhile another detail I've forgotten pops into my head and I'm off and running again before time runs out.  Speaking of time, tomorrow is Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year.   I think we have something like only 8 hours and 32 minutes of daylight here in the northwest.  I just want to stay inside and hunker down with a blanket and an old-fashioned holiday movie. It's already getting dark around four o'clock.  Rather than blazing all the lights in the house, we have small-wattage lamps and electric candles sprinkled here and there to cast a glow throughout the rooms and to cut down on electricity usage.   It makes the place feel nice and cozy too even when it's barely above freezing outside and icy cold.  Baking yummy things is good for that too.  Grace got her groove going with the gingerbread cookies yesterday.  She's getting pretty good with that pastry bag, I tell ya.  The Hagel Slag was a gift from our friend John.  You have to love the Dutch for their inventive ways with chocolate, especially first thing in the morning.  These little chocolate sprinkles are for shaking on your toast.  Grace used them on her cookies, but I just ate them straight from that crazy-cute box.  My mouth was so happy!  Oh, that reminds me, better get back to the business at hand. 

Hmmm...decisions, decisions.

At Peace

About last week . . . I must say, we have been deeply touched by the thoughtful emails and comments left here regarding the sudden loss of my brother-in-law.  After it happened, I really hesitated to share such a personal tragedy.  I do try and keep these sorts of things out of the "big blog-picture" (so to speak), mostly because life's miseries are universal and using a craft-blog to gain sympathy for mine is not the focus here.  Sometimes though, it becomes necessary in order to explain an abrupt absence.  Even so, and having said that, it's still a comfort to know that there are people who truly care.  We so appreciate the kind words and hugs sent our way.  We really do.  Our hearts are glad and our burden is lighter because of it.  Thank You all for that. 

Sage Advice

Ginger and I are both feeling much, much better and we're on the upswing now.  She went outside to play today and I'm back in my office getting caught up on a few things, including this blog.  We were lucky it was just a cold that ran its course and didn't progress into anything worse, as sometimes happens.  "Thank You" to all you *Dear Hearts* who stopped in and gave us those sweet get-well-wishes and sage advice for a speedy recovery.  It was very much appreciated.  For future reference I'm tucking it all under my cap.  Thought it would be nice to share a few bits here for those of you that are suffering now or may succumb at some point.  There's still no cure for the common cold, but some things do seem to make it easier for us.  The first thing I did was take Kitty's advice and made chicken soup.   I never have much of an appetite when I'm under the weather, but chicken soup always seems to make me feel better.  (How true the old adage: "feed a cold, starve a fever ".)   Jen recommended Goldenseal capsules to nip things in the bud, but I only had some in leaf form, so drank tea instead, nasty tasting, but I think it helped.  Will try the capsules next time.  I was also interested to hear, that Kat's grandmother, who was born in a log cabin in 1913, told her that the bag of herbs that my Dutch Grandmother wore around her neck might have been asafoetida. Imagine that!  Perhaps this wasn't so odd afterall.  Brit and her family were treating their colds with warm lemon water and cough drops.  I swear by lemon water!  It alkalizes your system making it harder for germs to survive.  (Read more about that here. ) I drink it on an empty stomach before bedtime and it seems to help me sleep too.  Quite a few people recommended resting.  I'm working on giving myself permission to rest more often.  Why is that so hard to do, especially knowing that it can help prevent illness induced by fatigue.  There were others that hoped it wouldn't spread to the rest of the family; Kim suggested using rubbing alcohol to wipe down sink handles, toilet flushers, and door knobs.  All that reminded me to disinfect the tooth brushes while I was at it.   I run them through the dishwasher with everything else on the sanitize cycle.  So far, no one else has caught it (knock wood).  Airborne was mentioned by both Claudia and Terri who swore by it's effectiveness at preventing colds, although it didn't seem to work for me the few times I tried it.  It's funny how certain things work for some and not for others.  Zinc lozenges also do nothing for me but I know a lot of people find them useful.  I did try Zicam swabs though, and they worked really fast.  I was more than a little surprised by that.  I'll be sure and keep a supply of those in my 'box of tricks' to use the next time I feel a nose tickle or scratchy throat coming on.  They weren't at all unpleasant to use either once I got used to the idea of inserting something in my nose.  Amanda introduced me to this revolutionary treatment program to eliminate allergies that can lead to illness, infections, and nose bleeds, and I'm checking that out now too.   And Kathy reminded me about the benefits of garlic, which we use a lot of around here, so I tend to take it for granted, but it has so many healthful qualities, including boosting the immune system...just don't forget to chew a little fresh parsley with that if you eat it raw or you won't have any friends around for miles.  I have to also mention another remedy for colds and flu, that I just happened to notice on my 2007 Susan Branch calender for October, she says:  "Put a shot of Jack Daniel's in a big mug---add a teaspoon of honey, the juice of one lemon & fill it with boiling water.  Rub Vicks on your chest, tie a sock around your neck, put cotton in your ears, get your kitty, and go to bed with the clicker.  When you feel well enough to eat, have Campbell's chicken noodle soup, buttered saltines, and 7-up."  Yup.  All good advice.  So now that's that.  We should all be up and running full speed ahead soon.  My very best to all you guys out there who are also suffering with the symptoms of the season, get well soon, and hope some of this helps get you back on your feet. 

The pictures?  They're random shots this week from the kitchen.  From top left to bottom; we have the last of our delicious garden cantaloupes filled with frozen blueberries for breakfast.  Birthday flowers from my sister-in-law Janet.  Indian corn the girls grew and just harvested.  Lunch Mexicana style; cheese quesadillas, avocado, and sweet cherry tomatoes from the garden.  I made the refried beans fresh in the crock-pot, which was filled with fresh clipped rosemary and water earlier in the week to freshen, humidify, and purify the air.  (Another great tip!)

Cold Turkey, Soup & Sorbet

What a great weekend.  I don't know when I've had more fun shoveling dirt and sticking things in the ground.  The garden fortress is shaping up beautifully.  The Mister is nearly finished hooking up the auto-drip system that will keep everything watered, in case, I, um...forget. 

(He made great waffles too!)

We went out and bought the girls each a chopped whiskey barrel, and let them have their pick of flowers to plant in them.  (We'll also be planting things like squash and beans, but a little instant gratification was in order).  The results reflected their personalities to a T.  Grace chose soft pastels, wispy, ethereal, graceful. 

Ginger went for bright, colorful, cheerful, spicy.  I can't look at these without being reminded of their gifts and talents.  It wasn't all work though, we did manage to slip out for that big enchilada fix one night and also made the afore mentioned strawberry sorbet.   In the very near future, I see my crockpot of soup being nudged out of it's prominent space on the counter by the electric ice-cream maker.  yum.  (Tami reminded me that we need to make strawberry lemonade too.  Yes, we surely must!) 

I know I said (last week) that I was signing off for the summer, OK I'm going...I really-really am this time...she says with one foot in the door. (tee-hee) I'm just not (sniff) good with goodbyes (sob).  It's hard to stay on task when there are so many lovely distractions like craftyblogs and blog pals.   So hard to leave this groovy party.  I just have one more loose thread to tie up before I go though.  The summer book give-away.   My goodness, never knew there were so many of you lurking out there.  Much thanks to all the old pals and the new ones for piping up and brightening my morning!  The comments are officially closed now though, and all the names are being tossed into the super sonic spinning bonnet as we speak.  A winner will be announced at any moment.  Hang onto your hats.  Drum roll please.... (nothing like keeping you all in suspense is there?)  OK.  The Super Shuffler has spoken.  It appears that lucky number seven has been chosen!  Congratulations to lucky number seven!  If you are lucky number 7, please contact me with your shipping info and I'll pack off your prize pronto. 

Thank you ALL so much for the fond farewells.  It warms the cockles of me little heart, it truly does.  Perhaps I'll pop in "now and then" with a bit of news throughout the summer, as has been suggested instead of going cold turkey.  (ha!) And just in case you may be wondering who this is, let me introduce you to, Star.  Star has been Ginger's constant companion for five years straight now.  She showed up one Christmas morning and the two have since been inseparable.  Meaning: she has accompanied us on family vacations, doctor AND dental visits, restaurants, shopping, anywhere and everywhere a horse can sidle up.  (Some kids have cute little teddies or blankies they transport with them everywhere they go...Ginger has Star.) 

Who um, appears to be waving.

(OK, I can take a hint. )

At Your Service

Head Cook, third in command: 

" Her first duty, in large establishments and where it is requisite, should be to set her dough for the breakfast rolls, provided this has not been done on the previous night, and then to engage herself with those numerous little preliminary occupations which may not inappropriately be termed laying out her duties for the day.  This will bring breakfast hour of eight, after which, directions must be given, and preparations made, for the different dinners of the household and family." 

~Mrs. Beeton (1861)

I'm still here with my nose in the afore mentioned household management book.  It's been years since I took it down from the bookshelf, other than to dust it off, but now I'm looking at it again with re-newed appreciation and insight.  The attention to detail is amazing.  The print is so small though that I'm having a hard time reading it.  I have to put on my glasses and read through a big magnifying glass.   Granted my eyesight isn't what it used to be, but still.   It's also exceedingly chunky because of it's size, just 4 x 7-inches, so it won't lie flat and my wrists give out after awhile of  forcing it open.  Insert: loud cracking complaints from the book-spine.  (Ouch!)

I'm glad some of you had a chance to watch the program, and thank you for alerting me to the biography that's out now.  I'm adding it to my reading list.  I'm nearing the end of Astrid and Veronika, at the moment.  Another tragic tear-jerker.  Oh my.  It's books and stories like these that can make us thankful for so many things.  Fortunately, (for balance sake), Ginger and I are reading this book together, which is beautifully written (I highly recommend it) and light-hearted, although life deals Ida and her family a few blows too.  But we are nearing the end now and things seem to be sorting themselves out.  One of the things I love about children's literature, is the inevitable conclusion and the happy ending.  Eventually, we all learn that real life is not always so neat and tidy, but without an occasional happy ending, where is the hope?  I'm simple.  I like my stories and movies that way too.  Just knowing that certain things are possible is very encouraging somehow. 

Like chicken servants.  Aren't these two cute?  I'd hire them to do my cooking in a heartbeat.  But for now I will just have to be content with them gracing my dishtowels.  Janet shared the patterns with me months ago (thanks again) and I finally got them done.  You can find them here on her website.  OK.  Off to find a scullery maid now.