Double Chocolate Walnut GF Cookies

Somehow (and I'm really not sure how) I managed to make a batch of Double Chocolate Walnut Cookies today. They didn't come out as good as Kim's. I suspect I baked them a little to long. I'll try again I'm sure, because when Kim made them they were out-freakin'-standing - especially for a gluten free cookie!

A Doughy Day

Today I was on a roll. (sorry - couldn't help myself)

I made cookie dough in preparation for cookie baking tomorrow. Well, I did make a sample batch today, just to make sure it was good. Hah! I made a loaf of raisin bread to enjoy at breakfast and tea time. I made two dozen little rolls, many of which will be sent to my mom along with a bundle of other goodies. That's what I made today.

Warm Thoughts

I did a lot of things today ... though not of the variety that makes for interesting reading (or writing). But one of the things I did do was make time for my journal.

Even with simple markers interesting layering can be accomplished, don't you think?

And today was the coldest day of the season thus far, filled with dancing winds and deceiving sunshine, so I opted to dream of summer to warm my thoughts and heart. Peace.

Sweetness, Drama & Pie

This morning I dropped The Boy off at work, spun by the bank and then made time for an over-due breakfast out with a very sweet friend. We rarely get together and when we do it's usually over an old-school breakfast at a classic area diner. It was a charming way to start this day. Midday plans changed so I leveraged the time by finishing a scarf for a friend and starting some maryjane-style slippers for me. Dinner was prepared so that later I could just preheat the oven, roll out the dough and pop it in the oven. I called my mom as I do most every day. When I picked up The Boy I learned that he had cut his hand. He had dressed it as best as he could while working. Being a boy ("man") there was the typical understated drama (including the suggestion of potential stitches), so I stopped at the drugstore to pick up an assortment of first aid items just in case I didn't have what I needed at home. Once home his gloved hand was taped up, he hopped in the shower and I got dinner into the oven. Then I cut off the glove, removed the make-shift bandaging to discover a cut that we could manage at home with a few butterfly bandages, some herbal treatments, reiki and love.

We finally sat to eat ... a delicious chicken pot pie from a recipe I adapted from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice and then we relaxed into the evening ... and I got back to those maryjanes. That's what I made today.

Reflections & Refractions

This morning I woke a bit agitated. Anyone who has experienced this knows that if not promptly shaken off it can stick with you the whole day. So I fed my dog - the dog that woke me with her Granny Annie squeaky toy. While she ate I stepped outdoors into the brisk healing air of morning and regarded the quarter moon, the puffs of clearing clouds, the scant dusting of snow that fell as I slumbered. My eyes were drawn to the eyes of Nature ... eyes that regard me everyday from countless places ... but today they gazed at me from the native lumber wall of my deck. Eyes so close to home.

The eyes of Nature asked me to look around, to gain perspective, to find my balance and to seek and honor the message in that agitated awakening that I had experienced.

I returned to my little kitchen to break my fast with a bowl brown rice, shoyu and ground beef from a happy cow. In this simple nourishing morning meal I realized how blessed I am to have a freezer filled with countless cuts pasture fed beef and garden harvests ... even if my pantry is a bit bare this year. And then some.

I went back outdoors to offer a bit of cornmeal, tobacco and rose petals for the gift that quelled my angst, then returned indoors to begin tackling the chores that awaited me. With love and gratitude solid in my core.

Ashe. Ashe.

Roasted Chicken

... from a local farm, stuffed with homemade bread, garden leeks and sage, onion, pepper and carrot ... served with mashed potatoes, simmered carrots, gravy, horseradish-cranberry sauce and a spinach salad. Life is good. Ashe. Ashe.

A Morning for the First Snow

I wandered my little acre in the quiet of this snow covered morning ... just taking it in.

Taking it all in.

All that has passed and will be again.

All that weighs me down and lifts me up.

All that sustains and nourishes me.

I took in the last of the baby leeks and some sage that will find its way into a beautiful farm-raised chicken that will be roasted later today. And there's still a little more in the gardens to sustain me for a while ... even as the snow falls. Peace.

My Way Back ...

I've been home for a few days now from my Thanksgiving travels and find myself struggling with really settling in at home.

Motivation is generally second nature to me ... not this week, it seems.

Yet I am grateful for my journal, for it is a tool that supports me through such necessary struggles.

Ashe. Ashe.