SUNSHINE

 

We have sunshine.  We have shadows.  We can see sprigs of green out there.  And if you squint a little you can see the garden cupid out there by the tree emerging from the snow.

The warmth on the back is like a kiss from God.  Yes, there is a tomorrow, and, yes, there will be spring.  Oh, we will have more cold, to be sure.  And rain.  And a lot of wind.  We have to have the wind to dry up the rain.  And then we will have sprouts and leaves and eventually even flowers. 

Really, it is so good to feel God's love and hope in my life.
 

IT'S STILL WINTER

 

It is still winter.  There are still mounds of snow.  The snow is dirty.  Parking is miserable.  It is still cold.  And I am CRANKY.

LEFT OVERS

 

Last night's pizza.  Even better for lunch.

 

IT'S FRIDAY

 

So yesterday I got right up, had my coffee and a yogurt, dressed and was off for my dentist appointment.  I arrived there at eight thirty for an eight forty-five appointment (I'm always early.  I get that from my dad).  After unbundling -  earband, hat, mittens, coat and settling into my book, the receptionist poked her head around the corner, "Barb," she said, "What are you doing here?" 

"I have an appointmet.  It's the tenth, isn't it?" 

She consulted her computer, looked up, and said, "MARCH tenth, honey."

I bundled back up and went home, had another cup of coffee, finished the daily puzzles, wrote my blog for the day, and, of course, adjusted my calender for March.  Don't know how I got that wrong.  Must have just not been paying attention when I wrote it in my Day Runner.

I am usually pretty good about keeping my calendar in order.  I try to keep Birthdays too.  But just because I write the Birthday in doesn't mean that I am going to remember to do something about it.  I am really bad about Birthday greetings.  AND I have been known to miss lunch dates completely.  Just blow them off.  Be in the car on the way to anywhere, look at my watch and realize I shoud have had lunch with 'x' an hour earlier.  Those gaffs are really hard to face.  I haven't done that in quite a while because the last one was such an embarrassment.

Life is full of mistakes.  Seems like I make more than my share.  And I chew over them horribly for days, tieing myself up in knots, condemning my poor behavior, and generally being in a huge funk.  Then I remember about grace and forgiveness.  God forgives everything.  I remind myself that having made the amends that I could, I just need to forgive myself and move forward.

Forgiveness is freeing.
 

A SUCCESSFUL FAILURE

 

This is my second attempt to bake bread in the crock pot.  At the same time I was trying to get away from the white bread thing, thinking that Bill might be allergic to wheat.  The first attempt was a gluten free bread mix.  My mistake on that attempt was that the setting on the crock pot was on Warm instead of High.  Well, the yeast really worked -- gooey, sticky up and over the sides of the pan.  When I realized my error, I scooped it all up and plunked it back into the pan and turned the setting to High.  The loaf baked, tasted good but was a galumpy, funny looking loaf.  Forgot to take pics.

This time around I did the scratch thing with spelt four.  Yes, I know, spelt has gluten but some people can tolerate it.  This was my first experience with spelt flour.  My first mistake here was that I was proofing the starter and forgot to add in the yeast.  Once the yeast was in, it bubbled up and I was able to make a decent looking loaf.

 Here is is going into the crock pot -- on High this time.




 
 

 
 
 
An hour later and it is rising well.

Two hours later and it hasn't risen any more at all and the top is beginning to crack.  I'm thinking that this has to be the spelt flour and not the crock pot.  But I am open to whatever happens.

Three and a half hours and it seems done.  Not a spectacular looking loaf even on the inside.  Pretty dense.  I haven't tasted it yet so don't know how that will be.  It will probably make great croutons or snack toasts.


I am out to lunch on spelt. I am delighted that I can bake one loaf efficiently in the crock pot.  I wouldn't have known about this except for reading about it in "Make It Fast, Cook It Slow" by Stephanie O'Dea.  I am anxious to get another of the gluten-free mixes and see how that does.  Maybe next week.   

BRRRR.... COLD -- AGAIN!

 

I'm feeling pretty much 'holed' in on this cold day.  Not much ambition . Things not going as well as they might.  Hanging in for the rest of the day and trying to make the most of being cold, being surrounded by cold, dirty snow; and trying to make do without sunshine.  I am glomming on to the 'all will be well'  from Julian of Norwich.  It is a good prayer to remember and has seen me through many a bad spell.  THIS is not a bad spell.  It is just a little low point, and life does deal us those once in a while.

"All shall be well,

and all shall be well,

and all manner of things shall be well"

 

IN PRAISE OF BUTTER

 

There is something to be said for butter:  TASTE.  It is just plain good.  Wonderful, in fact.

When I awakened this morning there were memories of oleo floating through my brain.  Remember oleo?  That was the forerunner of margarine.  It came in a one pound block  -- white.  Lardy.  Tasteless.  Included with this was a little packet of "color."  The oleo was put into a bowl and allowed to soften to room temperature, then mushed around with a spoon until it was malleable.  Then the "color" packet was v e r y carefully opened.  If it spilled anyplace but on top of the oleo it was a horrendous mess and almost impossible to clean up.

One worked the color into the oleo.  Slowly.  It had to be smushed and shoved, pressed and pushed, worked and reworked for a very long time.  The color had to be completely incorporated leaving no streaks.  Just one smooth, continuous color.  After all, it was supposed to look like butter.  I don't remember how it was packaged and put away for use.  In fact, I don't remember even using it on toast or anything else.

After the block of oleo with the color packet came a revolutionary new coloring method.  A soft pliable envelope type -- oblong -- could have been plastic (?).  The container, whatever it was, was left out to get to room temperature, then squished and squeezed until pliable and THEN on one side was a little capsule, that when pinched, released color into the oleo.  More squishing and squeezing to get the color uniform.  Again, I don't remember how this package was opened or stored or how its contents were used.  I think at this time we referred to this as 'margarine' or maybe even oleo margarine.

The margarines that saturate the market are too numerous to now consider.  Some are touted to be more healthy than others.  Many claim to taste just like butter.  Others have additions of "good" oils and vitamins.  They don't taste like butter. 

Butter is best!