Book Report/Four Frances books

This is Frances the badger and she is the heroine of four books by Russell Hoban written in 1960, 1964, and 1977. Four wonderful, heart-warming books filled with the love of family and home life. We read them to our children over and over again, and listened to an audio version read by the perfect narrator, Glynis Johns, whom you may remember as the mother in the movie, Mary Poppins. The other day I was between audio books, and came upon the tape among the many childhood tapes in our house, and decided to listen again. The wonder and joy of Frances is how real she is. Children will recognize their own feelings, and parents will see their children in her. Bedtime For Frances addresses the usual childhood fears of going to bed, with some lovely touches like the parents out in the living room,

watching television and having tea and cake.

So reassuring for the frightened child to patter out of her bedroom, and come upon such a homey, safe scene. Frances' parents help her to cope with her fears by telling her that it is the wind's job to

go around and blow all the curtains.

Bread And Jam For Frances includes many of her delightful little songs such as,

I do not like the way you slide,
I do not like your soft inside,
I do not like you lots of ways,
And I could do for many days
Without eggs.

And my favorite, favorite part which both Tom and I have remembered for all these years; the way Frances and her friend Albert make their lunches "come out even." Frances doesn't think she likes any foods except for bread and jam, and her kind and shrewd parents help her through by offering only bread and jam for every meal until she sings,

What I am
Is tired of jam.

A Baby Sister For Frances and A Birthday For Frances tell us more about this loving family as they are joined by little Gloria. These are just the best books, and I highly recommend them if you are a parent of young children, or if you are not, but would love to read (or listen) to books that will "warm the cockles" of your heart.

Quote du jour/Gladys Taber

In a queer sort of way, we New Englanders are proud of winter. We have had many hard winters, some easy ones, some almost arctic ones. But I have never heard anyone complain about the weather. "Quite a storm," the postman may say, "but we have to expect it."
"Pretty cold last night," says the grocer. "Went down to ten below on my thermometer. This time of year we generally have some cold."
Even when it took our neighbor, Joe, four hours to shovel us out after one storm last winter, he only said, "Lot of snow fell this time."
Cars stall, motors freeze, wires go down sometimes. Roads drift deep with powdery snow. Branches crack and crash down. But neighbors get out to help one another and there is a good deal of joshing as to whose thermometer falls to the lowest mark. Winter, I think, is a common denominator, as well as a challenge to Yankee staying power.
Gladys Taber, Stillmeadow Sampler, 1959

Today's cd/Back To Black

Amy Winehouse
Back To Black
2006

I know, I know I am very late coming to this singer, but my enthusiasm makes up for it! Amy Winehouse may be troubled, but my God, she can sing! Whew. I am so impressed. Beachreader wrote about her back in July and I should have bought the album then! If I close my eyes and pretend I don't know anything about her, I could be living in another time. There was a great program on NPR this morning about the young English singers. I'm going to look into the other ones mentioned as well. Thrilling, exciting musical times. There have been so many young singers over the past few years who I love and whose cds I have bought: Stacey Kent, Tony DeSare, KT Tunstall, Colbie Caillat, Brett Dennen, Paolo Nutini, James Blunt, James Hunter, Feist, Michael Bublé, Jamie Cullum. And these are just a few of the singers, not even mentioning the many great bands.

Lentil/Cannellini Bean Stew and Cornbread

This is a variation of the Wheat Berry Stew, using Moong Dal instead of wheat berries. This is such a great hearty dish, especially on a cold winter day. It has become one of my favorite suppers. With it, we had cornbread baked in a cast iron pan.

Cornbread

1 cup flour (I used 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 white)
1 cup cornmeal
1 T. baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (put lemon juice in cup, fill with milk)
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup frozen whole corn kernels

Preheat oven to 400º F.
In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients.
Spray cast iron fry pan with cooking spray.
Add batter and bake 15-20 minutes.
Top with butter.

This tastes just as good as it looks!

Today's picture/Sunset

Last night and today we got eleven inches of snow.

Rosa Rugosas

February 6, 2008


June 19, 2007

Our Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday:
the day before Ash Wednesday. Though named for its former religious significance, it is chiefly marked by feasting and celebration, which traditionally preceded the observance of the Lenten fast.

We had a wonderful evening with our friends, our daughter, her fella. Lots of laughter and terrific crepes.

Less Book Challenges

You may have noticed on the sidebar that two of the four reading challenges are gone. My eyes were too big for my stomach, and I just had to let something go. I gave up the Canadian Book Challenge and the Young Readers Challenge.

Quote du jour/Michael Pollan

Yet as a general rule, it's a whole lot easier to slap a health claim on a box of sugary cereal than on a raw potato or a carrot, with the perverse result that the most healthful foods in the supermarket sit there quietly in the produce section, silent as stroke victims, while a few aisles over in Cereal the Cocoa Puffs and Lucky Charms are screaming their newfound "whole grain goodness" to the rafters.
Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food

Today's poem - Pancake Song by Christina Rossetti

Pancake Song
by Christina Rossetti

Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan;
Fry the pancake,
Toss the pancake,
Catch it if you can.

Our Daily Bread

This is a picture of today's bread just after mixing, as it begins to rise. I thought I'd share a little tip for those of you who don't care for whole wheat bread, but want a healthier, grainier bread than white. My bread is a whole wheat bread, though I often add a little King Arthur's unbleached and unbromated white artisan flour. If I have any leftover brown rice or cooked potato or dry rolled oats, I add them to the mix, but recently I have begun to do something new. Last week I cooked a little bulgar and some rolled oats for just a few minutes, and put them in the bread. It was just delicious and got raves. :<) Today I cooked a little of Bob's Red Mill 5 Grain Rolled Whole Grain Hot Cereal, and added it. This contains whole grain oats, wheat, rye, barley, triticale, and flaxseed. A powerhouse of ingredients to really make a healthy loaf.

Quote du jour/Gladys Taber

One reason cooking is so exciting is that there is always something new you can make; actually it can be a new adventure every single day.
Gladys Taber, Stillmeadow Sampler

Old-Fashioned Pancakes

Colleen has just informed me that it is Pancake Week, and though I'm a day late in starting, I'll take any excuse to make pancakes. I'm thinking, why not have a different recipe each day of this special week?! Tonight's recipe comes from Laurel's Kitchen Caring by Laurel Robertson (the original Laurel of Laurel's Kitchen).

Old-Fashioned Pancakes

2 cups flour (the recipe calls for all whole wheat. I used 1 1/2 cups whole wheat and 1/2 cup white)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 - 3 cups milk
2 Tablespoons melted butter (the recipe called for oil - but I wanted to use butter!)

Stir together dry ingredients.
Beat eggs lightly and combine with milk.
Add to the dry ingredients and mix briefly.
Stir in the butter.

Spray a griddle or electric fry pan with cooking spray.
Pour batter on by large spoonfuls.
Cook over medium heat, turning once when bubbles come to the surface and pop, and the edges are slightly dry.

Boy, oh boy, these are great!

Book Report/No Graves As Yet

No Graves As Yet
by Anne Perry
Mystery, 2003
Finished 1/30/08

This book was not a challenge choice, but was recommended by Kay.

When I come across two particular words in a book, I know that I am in the England I so love reading about. Scrubbed and spilled.

In the kitchen they sat around the scrubbed table

Flaming nasturtiums spilled out of an old terra-cotta urn

I sigh with pleasure, and usually can be confident I am where I want to be. Add punting on the river in Cambridge, and descriptions of rooms and nature, and I'm pretty happy. Then add a touch of mystery, and especially a touch of a spy mystery, and if the writing is good, and the story well-told, I can't ask for more.

No Graves as Yet satisfies each of these most personal qualities.

A sense of place is very important to me in books as it is in life. I have a sort of heightened sensitivity to the "feel" of a house, a road, a town. It has always been there, even as a little girl. My remembrance of locales is strong. I have tried to read Anne Perry's Inspector Monk series, but I have come to the realization that I'm not comfortable in those dark and dreary (and often scary) Victorian streets. I am comfortable in this setting; this golden age of England, just before the eruption of the First World War.

As he passed through Grantchester, a dozen or more youths were still practicing cricket in the lengthening sun, to the cheers and occasional shouts of a handful of watchers. Girls in pinafore dresses dangled hats by their ribbons. Three miles further on, children were sailing wooden boats in the village duck pond. A hurdy-gurdy man cranked out music, and an ice cream seller was packing his barrow to go home, his wares gone, his purse heavy.

This reminds me of the poem by Rupert Brooke, called The Old Vicarage, Grantchester.

I only know that you may lie
Day long and watch the Cambridge sky,
And, flower-lulled in sleepy grass,
Hear the cool lapse of hours pass,
Until the centuries blend and blur
In Grantchester, in Grantchester. . . .

. . . oh! yet
Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea?

The story begins on a perfect day at a cricket match. As Joseph Reavley watches, his brother Matthew arrives with the terrible news that their parents have died in a car accident. He also informs Joseph that the father was on his way to deliver a document to Matthew:

a document outlining a conspiracy so hideous it would change the world we know - that it would ruin England and everything we stand for. Forever.

On that same day, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated. Could the deaths be related, or is this just a sad coincidence?

I really loved this book, and look forward to the others in the series, each of which covers a different year in the war, and follows the Reavley family. I can't wait to read them.

Marcia's book reviews are now featuring the dedications, and I think this is a great idea. I always read them with interest, as well as the little sayings or poems that often preface a book. For this book they are especially meaningful.

Anne Perry dedicated this to:

my grandfather, Captain Joseph Reavley, who served as chaplain in the trenches during the Great War.

The title of the book comes from G.K. Chesterton:

And they that rule in England,
In stately conclave met,
Alas, alas for England
They have no graves as yet.

Which came first?

Not the old chicken or the egg question, but short attention span and the crawl at the bottom of the tv screen. I should begin by saying I don't watch television news. The only times in recent memory I have tuned in to CNN was September 11, 2001; and the day John F. Kennedy, Jr. died in the plane crash. Well, yesterday I wanted to watch John Edwards' speech about withdrawing from the Presidential race so I turned on the television. I was astounded at all the junk on the screen. There was a little square on the right telling me how many hours, minutes, and seconds (counting down) until the Republican debate that evening. Why on earth does anyone need to know that? Isn't knowing the hour it begins enough? And then the crawl was telling me about how many were dead in Kenya, and all about Roger Clemons' drug use, and then to top it off, quoted Hilary Clinton's response to Mr. Edwards' leaving the race. Just above the crawl was a square telling in 3 or 4 words what he had just said. Oh, my God, I couldn't believe it. So, you know what I did? I put my hand up so I could just see John Edwards' face. It was his speech, his words I wanted to hear. Can we not give someone that respect? It made me think of conversations I have observed or even been a part of, when one person isn't really listening to what the other says, but is spending that time planning out what he is going to say, or worse, butting in. I think I would go crazy if I watched CNN all the time. I think it would make me feel unfocused, scattered, filled with more information than is good for my brain, and more importantly, my heart.

Today's pictures/End of January clouds

I just wish you could feel the cool, fresh wind. This is my favorite kind of day. It is cloudy, but there's a brightness in the sky as well. The temperature is around 40º F.

I Met The Walrus

Have you heard about this film? When you go to the site, you can read more about the filmmaker and the movie, and see a trailer. Great stuff.

Today's picture/Late afternoon sunlight

January 25, 1915

Virginia Woolf, painted by her sister, Vanessa Bell


From Virginia Woolf's diary entry, January 25, 1915:

My birthday, - & let me count up all the things I had. L. had sworn he would give me nothing, & like a good wife, I believed him. But he crept into my bed, with a little parcel, which was a beautiful green purse. And he brought up breakfast, with a paper which announced a naval victory (we have sunk a German battle ship) & a square brown parcel, with The Abbot in it - a lovely first edition- So I had a very merry & pleasing morning - which indeed was only surpassed by the afternoon. I was then taken up to town, free of charge, & given a treat, first at a Picture Palace, & then to Buszards. I don't think I've had a birthday treat for 10 years; & it felt like one too - being a frosty day, everything brisk & cheerful, as it should be, but never is. The Picture Palace was a little disappointing - as we never got to the War pictures, after waiting 1 hour & a half. But to make up, we exactly caught a non-stop train, & I have been very happy reading father on Pope, which is very witty & bright - without a single dead sentence in it. In fact, I don't know when I have enjoyed a birthday so much - not since I was a child anyhow. Sitting at tea, we decided three things: in the first place to take Hogarth, if we can get it; in the second, to buy a Printing press; in the third to buy a Bull dog, probably called John. I am very much excited at the idea of all three - particularly the press. I was also given a packet of sweets to bring home.

Mrs Bale can't complain

Mrs Bale really can't complain about the weather. It was a marvelously snowy December. January has been a regular winter month, with some snow - but not much, cold weather, thaw, colder weather, some gray days, but a lot of sunshine. My skiing husband and snowboarding children have had a great time. I don't venture out too much, mostly to the bird feeders or to the car, but I still love it. I take deep breaths of the cold, crisp air and feel alive.

When I went out this morning to take some pictures, there was a treat in the north pasture.



The fir tree under the maple is our Christmas tree. Tom tied it onto some branches to give a little shelter to the birds and squirrels that visit the bird feeders.