OMG!! It might be winter!!

  But I'm not gonna get too excited yet.  The weather has taken a turn for the nasty....43 degrees and rainy.and almost 11 AM, so I think we can be pretty sure it won't get much warmer. Although the rain is supposed to stop. 

  Just for today, for right now, I am content to be in my warm homey house, surrounded by yapping dogs and trying to figure out if I can get my bread starter made. I have to go to town early today, and that always messes up my schedule.

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  My son came today and took my car in for a new front tire. He's buddies with the guys at the used tire place. They got him a really nice tire and it only cost me 30 dollars.  The front end on the car was shimmying so bad I could barely hold the wheel. See, we live out on a county road and they never have the money to properly repair the roads.  Potholes and washboards are the order of the day, and this mess EATS tires. So I never buy new ones anymore, it isn't worth it. I do get gently used ones that come off wrecked cars. The Irishman was worried that it was the tie rods, but number one son says it rides smooth as glass now. Thank goodness--the car repair gods have already punished me enough for one year.  lol

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  I'm going to start a batch of the artisan bread here in a minute, altering the recipe slightly. I'm adding a half cup of Bob's Red Mill 6 grain cereal to the mix. I had some of my friends bread made this way and it was awesome. She told me today that she just made some with raw quinoa added to it and that I should really try it--it was great.  Maybe next time.  When I stopped to buy the cereal last night, I also picked up a bag of flax seed and a bag of corn grits for making polenta. I love polenta...

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  Not much going on around these parts. I did just get a call from my neighbor telling me that the church's pecan sale started and that pecans were up to 9.00/lb this year. I think that's still cheaper than the stores.  And they're beautiful nuts, I bought some last year.  So, I ordered 3 pounds. That might get me through the winter. I'm going to talk to my brother in Georgia too...maybe his wife can get me some nice ones (she owns a restaurant there). Pecans are my favorite--a versatile nut that can be used in a thousand different ways. I'm on the verge of needing walnuts too...

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  I am lazy today. Not really doing much of anything besides the bread dough, which I only have to stir together and leave out on the counter until tonight.  Thought maybe I'd vacuum, but....maybe not. Going in to MissB's early today, and not looking forward to that. She is keeping her house at about 84 degrees all the time since it got cool. We all go in and change it and she goes back and changes it again. I keep mine at 69. I can barely breathe in her house, it's so hot. It makes me sluggish and tired and cranky. She is 82 and refuses to wear anything on her feet or a sweater. sigh...I'm going to be as stubborn as she is when I'm that old, I just know it.  lol

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 Okay. I'm off to make bread and then go shower. Or...maybe a little nap.....I only got 5 hours sleep again last night and I'm suddenly pooped....

  It's all about priorities, right??

Namaste.

Sunday at the races...

That's how it's felt all day.  Got up late and kinda ran the rest of the day trying to catch up.

  Here are the 5 new babies that joined our family on the avian front 

Black Australorp

Buff Orpington

Little darlins at the feeder

The Australorps will be almost solid black with a greenish iridesence  on the wings, and the orpingtons will be a gorgeous golden reddish color. Both are great egg layers and on the nearly recovered list of once endangered chicken breeds.

  One of the cats also had a litter of 5 kittens today under my desk. Sigh....

All in all...a day of miracles and love and lots of magic.  But I'm tired....

Namaste

Tuesday's Tidbits

A beautifully laid back kind of a day...and I should have been in bed hours ago, yet here I sit.


After the craziest weekend I've had in years...I decided today was an "Annie" day. I talked to a minimum of people, listened to music, played on the computer, made pesto with some organic basil someone brought me, baked bread and made soup.

One of my dear sponslings celebrated 6 months today. She is ecstatic. Anothers 14 year old son wound up in the ER with alcohol poisoning on Sunday night. Another went on a short spree. All around, I'm grateful to be me and to be pretty much past all that early sobriety hell. lol

Found out last night that Greg Mortenson (Three Cups of Tea) is coming here to Alton in October. I think I will go see him. Such an endeavor...if you haven't read his book about building schools in Pakistan, do so now. Incredibly inspiring. If you still think that one person can't make a difference....read his book. He has been nominated for a Nobel Peace prize too, and should hear the same time he will be here. I'm excited...can you tell?

My pesto turned out wonderfully....followed a recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook (Molly Katzen). I cooked portabella mushroom stuffed rigatoni with the pesto on it for supper. Along with a piece of warm from the oven bread with butter. It was heavenly. There's enough left over to have a cuple of more meals, or a lot of slices of bread with it all schmeared on top. YUM...

The Festival of Faiths and Cultures was phenomenal. No other word for it. The stage performances were magnificent...African drummers and dancers, Bulgarian folk dancers, Hula dancers, German dancers. Native American storytellers. Childrens programs galore. Booths and tables from everything from the St. Louis Museum of Art to Kenya wood carvings. Every relligion you can name in attendance. Beautiful people in native garb, smiling and chattering and loving the perfect weather on a perfect day. A man handing out copies of the Kabbalah newspaper, women from the Taiwan Buddhist booth handing out vegetarian food and recipes. A table of nuns from the Franciscan Sisters order with a table full of green cleaners and printouts on everything from composting to compact flourescent bulbs. I was in heaven.

Sunday I was at the Area 21 Assembly in Vandalia all day...acting as DCM, giving our report, bidding for the next fall assembly. We had a great time arguing about stuff and visiting with each other and eating a great catered lunch. I came home with all kinds of goodies to take to next Sunday District Meeting. lol

Enough...I have to get in bed. Last night it was 3 AM before I made it....I swore to myself that wasn't happening tonight. I really meant to be there an hour ago! lol


I am blessed to have this sober life of mine.


Namaste.

Friday, fulfilled...

These are the clematis flowers that grow near my front door. I have lots of flowers around my place and I'm really grateful for the beauty and peace they bring to my life.

I'm blessed to be out in the country, away from the air and noise pollution of city life.

I'm grateful that I can walk out my back door and pick enough food for dinner.

How cool is it that there are over 30 hummingbirds around my front porch at any given time this time of year?

I'm ever so grateful that they told me to write a gratitude list every day when I was new.

I'm ever so grateful I listened to them.



I'm glad there's a queen sized bed with a pillow topped mattress waiting for me at the end of the hall...and all I have to do is turn off this computer and walk there.

Right now.

Good Night.


Namaste.

Fri-da-licious-Friday

[A Basket of Cat}

A long day, and I should be heading to bed, as I have to be up early. I am chairing the meeting at 10 Am, so I have to be there by 9 to set up, so I have to get up by 7:30 so that I can make breakfast and get dressed and drive the half hour to get there. Grandson is here spending the night...he fell asleep watching a movie at about 7:45. That means he'll be up at zero dark thirty. And he MUST have scrambled eggs and toast for his breakfast! lol He loves the idea of eating eggs that he carried in from the henhouse.

We had a lovely, though short day. When I picked him up, he said that he was hungry. I got him right off the school bus. He said that his dad is drinking again, and that last night he drank so much he passed out in the floor. When the youngster woke up this morning, he was still there. He said that after his dad passed out last night, he dumped all his beer down the sink and threw away all the cans. I guess he had a hard time getting him to wake up this morning, and he needed to eat a good breakfast because they had to take the ISAT's today. He was afraid he was going to miss school.

I watch this sweet boy and think-dammit! he shouldn't be having to play the punishing parent with this guy. He said his dad gets mad all the time and yells at him when he drinks. And he said he told him that if he didn't quit the drinking, he wasn't going to stay with him anymore. I hate what alcoholism does to our children.

It's been a gorgeous day with temperatures in the low 80's...almost breaking a record set in 1956. Miss Caylee found the pond and has been throwing herself in it all day. I watched her come tearing through the back yard and fling herself into the water with reckless abandon. With a look of total and complete ecstacy on her little dog face. lol We can learn so much from our animal companions.

I have had so many opportunities today to be so filled with gratitude--I love it when I don't have to work too hard to find the beauty in my world. There have been so many things, from a beautiful sunrise, to a gaggle of Canadian geese out on the pond, to the cacophony of frogs down by the springs. From a kind word by a stranger, to the sight of a freaky young man helping his grandmother get out of the car, to the look on my husband's face when we tricked him about something tonight. From the sounds emanating from the new kitty box as the week old babies squirm and vie for the best feeding position, to watching my little dog run at breakneck speed around the house, after I thought she might never walk again. From watching my sick kitty recuperate with the magic of antibiotics, to reading my favorite bloggers and hearing what's going on in their worlds.

Especially blessed by the mundane routines of my life. Especially blessed by friendships near and far. Especially blessed to be here, now.

Namaste.