A Tale of Two Charlie Brown Christmas Trees

For many years we went out into the woods and cut our own Christmas tree.

1982

1986

While it was always great fun, the result wasn't always beautiful. Around here the fir balsams grow thick together, and what seems so perfect out in the woods is really three or four trees looking like one tree. Anyhow, after some time, I lobbied to begin buying our yearly tree at the local Christmas tree farm, and quel difference. The tree didn't have any spaces between branches. Ornaments didn't pull the branches practically down to the floor. You may see these perfect Christmas trees in many of my December letters.

Well, this year Matthew and Margaret have been talking about cutting their own 'Charlie Brown Christmas tree.' If you don't know what this is, it comes from a wonderful 1965 television production called A Charlie Brown Christmas. It is still shown on television and is also on dvd.



I found their enthusiasm contagious, and so the night before last when Tom got home from work, we went out in the fast-falling snow, and cut down a tree right on the edge of the field. There it is!

The dogs came and a lovely time was had by all.

We decided we'd bring the bow saw down to Margaret and Matt's house so they'd have it when they wanted to go cut their own tree.

As we were walking down the hill, we met them coming up. Matt was going to borrow the tractor to plow out their driveway area. They decided to cut their tree and bring it home in the bucket of the tractor.

We all had so much fun. It was the most incredible feeling to be doing this with the woman who used to be that little baby.

The tree in our living room

and in their loft

In the children's book:

The Queen chooses a tree that isn't perfect because she realizes that it has sheltered birds and animals.

And when the Queen's family and the villagers come to the great hall,


'everyone who danced and sang around it said that Small Pine was the finest Christmas tree yet. For in looking at its drooping branches, they saw the protecting arm of their father or the comforting lap of their mother.'

Quote du jour/The Old Farmer's Almanac

But the days are short now, and we must make the most of them so as to have some time left for reading and study.
The Old Farmer's Almanac
December 1885

I don't often express my own thoughts when I post a quote du jour. I usually just let the words speak for themselves. But I can't resist writing a bit about this one. You can't read a magazine or an online article on the Christmas season without hearing about the stress of shopping, decorating, baking. Each one offers ways to take shortcuts to give us more time. 'Don't try to do too much' the articles say. The reader gets advice on 'how to make a simpler Christmastime.' When did all this madness begin? I don't remember my mother running around, harried and cranky. I remember Johnny Mathis on the stereo and the beautiful tree. I remember the fir boughs and lights on the front porch. Maybe people didn't used to buy so much? This whole Black Friday thing feels like shopping gluttony to me, especially when it begins on Thanksgiving Night. What happened to sitting around with the family and friends relaxing?

With all the business and busyness of these days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, can you imagine anyone taking time for 'reading and study??' I sure can't. And The Old Farmer's Almanac didn't say a word about the bustle of the season; just that the days are short. You notice also that the quote doesn't say anything about the evening. That's when many people read now. Our days are way too busy to pick up a book at say, three o'clock in the afternoon. We would think we were being lazy.

I'm not a person who has a lot of nostalgia for the 'old days.' There was as much good and bad then as now, I truly believe. But reading these few words really got me thinking and wondering if maybe we aren't missing something very important. We need time in our days to read and study. Quiet time without machines, without other people, without noise. No matter where we live, we can put on some soft Christmas music and just sit. Sit with a good book. Maybe even study a history book or a biography or a guide to wildflowers. What a difference it could make in the whole world if each one of us gave ourselves the gift of a little time each day 'for reading and study.'

Today's Christmas cd/Kate Rusby - Sweet Bells

When I listen to Kate Rusby, I sometimes think her work is all the music I need. Her voice is so pure, so clear. I love how the words sound when she sings them. I envy my British friends who may live close enough to see her in concert this holiday season. Here is a review from a recent show in Preston.

A couple of my letters have noted this wonderful singer, here and here.

This 2008 Christmas offering is unlike any I have ever heard. Some of the songs are familiar, but she approaches them in a way which feels older than the hills - the way they may have been sung by a family sitting around the hearth on the dark days of December.

Though this video doesn't show Kate, you may hear one of the songs and decide for yourself if this album is one you must have in your life. I am so grateful it is in mine.

Just another birthday

'I feel exactly one day older than yesterday.'

That's what Tom says about turning 60 this day. He painted the bookcases in our study. He's on the tractor hauling wood to the terrace just now. We are invited to Margaret and Matthew's for a birthday supper later on. One sister gave him a huge bunch of birthday balloons, and the other gave him sixty crisp new one-dollar bills. Both his parents are still alive, as well as his step-father, and he's been in touch with each of them this week. Michael's text was 'Happy Birthday Daddy-O' while Margaret's was the Olive Garden Happy Birthday chant which everyone in this family has taken as their own.

Here's a picture of Tom and Matt yesterday bringing a table which had been stored in our cellar, and a workbench down to the new house. It belonged to Tom's great-grandfather, and now he has given it to Matt.

Tom is a man who has the gift of living each day without thinking much about the one before or the one to come. He is a contented man.

The Making of a Home - part 8

Matt and Margaret spent their first night in the new house on November 22! I asked Margaret if it was alright if I took some 'done' photographs, and she said it was fine, so here is a peek into this home that you have seen being built literally from the ground up. You may click on 'The Making of a Home - 2010' tab under the blog header for earlier photographs. It has been the most amazing process, which really began just about a year ago with visits to the bank for Margaret and Matt; and the town for us to get a subdivision of our land. It has been quite smooth all along the way. People have been very nice.

These photos were taken on the first of December. There is still inside unpacking, decorating, arranging to do but it is now their home! When I took these pictures, both of them were at work and there was a crockpot bubbling away and a newly made loaf of bread on the counter. We gave Matt a bread machine like ours for his birthday in November, and he has made maybe half a dozen loaves since they moved in. Margaret told a dear story of a bunch of guys who stopped by and they all stood around the island eating fresh bread. Don't you love it? We gave Margaret a red KitchenAid for Margaret's Day, and already a cake has been made. Ah, the lovely domestic life. It fills my heart with the deepest happiness.

What you see when you first walk through the front door

Happy Lexi and Piglet in their new home

Margaret and Matthew's closet off the bedroom - isn't it great?!

I love the built in shelves in the master bath, such a nice touch.

Upstairs - the loft

These are Margaret's childhood beds in the guest room

Her massage room

The cellar

If you look really closely through the trees, you can see our house

With the camera zoom

Waiting for a summer day

The landscaping can't happen till spring, and wow is it ever muddy!

Isn't this a great welcome mat? Matt's brother gave it to them.

The joy of seeing their lights each evening is simply indescribable. We are so very happy for them, and for us!

The Christmas Letters by Lee Smith

68. The Christmas Letters
by Lee Smith
fiction, 1996
fourth reading
finished, 11/25/10

On this, my fourth reading of The Christmas Letters, I found I loved it more than ever. It is one of the best concepts I can imagine - Christmas letters from three women beginning in 1944 with the mother, Birdie; continuing with her daughter, Mary who begins writing in 1967; and then a final letter from Birdie's granddaughter and Mary's daughter, Melanie. They span 52 years, years in which a lot happens in America and in these women's lives. The first ones are very personal, sent to sorely missed family members, while the later ones are to family and friends. There is usually a recipe included which relates to the story told in the letter, and even these recipes show the passage of time. An early letter from Birdie offers a homemade carrot cake which won Mary a 4-H prize, while some years later, Mary includes a recipe for a 'Speedy Italian Supper' from a cookbook called Cooks on the Run. The early letters were handwritten, but in a 1966 installment we read an apology for 'these carbon copies ... but I am in a hurry and we have a lot of news.' There is a particular poignancy when we read of happiness one year with no thought that next year's letter will tell of a death in the family.

If you send such letters, or receive them, you know that the writer tries to put the best spin on the year's events. Troubles are glossed over, with only a line or two about what was most likely a big deal.

We only regret that it did not work out for Joe at Copeland Construction, but we wish you good luck, Joe, in whatever field you decide to go into.

A later letter from Mary says, all in capital letters:

A REAL CHRISTMAS LETTER, THE FIRST EVER

in which we learn the truth behind events and people mentioned in past letters.

Lee Smith is a wonderful storyteller, and this is a very special book.

December begins

One of my earliest posts featured George Winston's album, December. The first song,Thanksgiving begins my Christmas year after year. I think it is perfect to offer thanks at the very start of this most wonderful of months. With thanksgiving in our hearts, the true meaning of the season may be revealed.

Quote du jour/Dorothy Blake

The old-time poets, who used to write so mournfully of the sad November days, must have kept out of sight and smell of good home cooking and the busy ways of homemaking. Nothing sad about those, to my way of thinking.
Dorothy Blake, Woman's Day magazine, November 1952

Winners of the giveaway!

The winner of Fine Lines is Maureen, and the winner of A Year With Emerson is Penny!!

To send me your snail mail addresses:
Look under the blog header picture.
Click on 'about me.'
Click on 'view my complete profile.'
Click on 'email' under 'contact.'

I'm so happy for each of you, and very thankful to everyone who took the time to enter. There'll be more to come in the future!

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie

67. The Moving Finger - third in the Miss Marple series
by Agatha Christie
mystery, 1942
Kindle book - 13
finished, 11/22/10






I had such a strange few weeks of reading after finishing my beloved Scarlet Feather on October 25. I began several books which I did not want to continue. One was a mystery that just got too creepy for me though I read half of it before quitting - The Glass Devil by Helene Tursten. I tried another mystery, one from the Golden Age, but I found it so confusing, with so many characters who didn't stand out from one another, and such a boring story that I quit this one too - Death at the President's Lodging by Michael Innes. Then I began a cozy, which isn't always my favorite genre, though I do adore some. This one was a bit too romancey for me - Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn. I tried another sort-of cozy, but it wasn't the first in the series, and I couldn't catch up with what was going on with the characters - A Puzzle in a Pear Tree by Parnell Hall. I read quite a bit of another mystery, and didn't care for it and dropped it - A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley. I began yet another mystery, and just couldn't get into it - Walking Into Murder by Joan Dahr Lambert. I may try any or all of these at another time, but my first attempts weren't successful.

So, who better to 'cleanse the palate' than Agatha Christie? This is the third Miss Marple novel, though she doesn't make an appearance until nearly the end. She 'solves' the mystery, but I found her to be an odd, barely fleshed out character. I'm not sure why Agatha even included Jane Marple. The book went along just fine without her, though the mystery may not have been solved!

The narrator is a most pleasant fellow named Jerry Burton who is recovering from an accident. His doctor recommends that he and his sister, Joanna rent a house in the country where nothing happens so he can get complete rest and relaxation. Well, it wouldn't be a mystery book if this was the case, would it? The little village is besieged by poison pen letters. They aren't true, but they deeply upset the bearers and their families. Doubts crop up. Could he or she really have done that? When one of these letters presumably ends in a suicide, it becomes very serious.

Sometimes I think every Agatha Christie I read is my favorite, but this one really is very, very good. It has a light cheeriness which isn't always present in mysteries. The characters are exceedingly well-drawn and memorable. I didn't have to wonder who someone was, and have to look back to an earlier appearance. The Moving Finger was a perfect reading experience.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe for when you don't want too many. It makes two dozen cookies. I got it from a magazine ad for Sugar In The Raw, sugar I have mentioned before; the one I use all the time for both white and brown. The ad is just adorable, and here is an article on Sugar In The Raw's latest ad campaign. Ah, the genius of those mad men and women.

Cumberland Packing Corp.'s new campaign for its In The Raw all-natural sweeteners is putting a twist on a familiar approach by tying recipes into humorous takes on human emotions and behavior.

The campaign, taglined "It's Only Natural," aims to convey the versatility of Sugar In The Raw and its zero-calorie counterpart, Stevia Extract In The Raw, by drawing consumers in with lighthearted commentaries on the roles that food plays in our lives.

The campaign's print ads, from the Mother New York ad agency, feature bold, run-on headlines playing on themes of love, loss and indulgence and close-ups of tempting foods and beverages, accompanied by step-by-step recipe copy.

Examples include "Cocoa brownies to heal a heart broken by a man who promises it wasn't you; it was him. And by him he means a girl named Stacey Lee"; "Chocolate chip cookies you'll bake for her birthday that she'll never try because you'll never give them to her because you'll eat them all and phone in some tulips"; and "Spiced iced coffee that has you thinking about the five bucks you spend every day on a coffee you could brew at home but know you never will except for today."

The underlying message: "In The Raw understands the changing reasons in one's choice of sweetener and provides the flexibility to choose, without sacrificing taste, naturalness and quality," sums up Steven Eisenstadt, CEO of Brooklyn, N.Y.-headquartered, family-owned Cumberland Packing Corp., whose product lines also include Sweet'N Low, NatraTaste (Blue and Gold), Sweet One, Nu-Salt and Butter Buds.

Sugar In The Raw, a turbinado sugar made from natural cane, was launched in 1970. Stevia In The Raw, introduced in 2009, claims to be absent of the aftertaste often associated with stevia products, and has shown the fastest growth in unit and dollar sales among the top five nationally branded sugar substitutes during the past 52 weeks, according to SymphonyIRI data cited by Cumberland.

The stevia product is available in a baking-bag package designed for easy use in cooking and baking, as well as in single-serving packaging.

The cookies are, of course, delicious! And they'll not go stale because there are so few you'll eat 'em up in no time.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

quoting the ad here - with my notes in orange

Makes 2 dozen. 1 for you, 1 for her. Or so she hopes.
Oven: 375º.
Big bowl:
1/2 cup melted butter - cooled
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup of all natural Sugar In The Raw.

Maybe she's having one of those days? Weeks? Sub 1/2 cup of zero calorie Stevia Extract In The Raw with 1/2 cup Sugar In The Raw for a better day. Mix hard.

Add 1 1/4 cup of flour. Yeah, the white stuff. A little bit won't hurt.
1/2 tsp. of baking soda
1/2 tsp. of salt
1/2 cup macadamia nuts - I didn't use any nuts
and 1 cup chocolate chips. Well, minus the handful (or two) you'll have already eaten.
Then stir it up - I used the Kitchen Aid

spoonfuls on the sheet - I greased it with cooking spray
and into the oven.
10 minutes later, it's Happy Birthday time. Maybe even for the birthday girl.

A fun recipe to read, and terrific cookies to bake on this snowy, foggy November day.

Please do visit Beth Fish Reads for more Weekend Cooking posts.

Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy

66. Scarlet Feather
by Maeve Binchy
fiction, 2000
Kindle book - 12
second reading
finished, 10/25/10







If pressed to name my favorite Maeve Binchy book, I think it would have to be Scarlet Feather. This is my second reading, and now that I own it, I will probably read it again and again. I love these characters. Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather want to begin a catering business. Cathy is married to a lawyer, Neil who works hard to help those who don't always get legal support, and Tom is in love with Marcella, a beautiful woman who wants to be a model.

Cathy has spent her whole married life feeling that her mother-in-law was disappointed that her son married a woman who didn't come from a 'good' family. Cathy's parents are dear people; 'salt of the earth' as they say, except that her dad is a gambler whose every penny goes on a bet. Cathy's mother is a hard-working house cleaner, and in fact was the cleaner for Neil's family. Neil's uncle and aunt's family life is terrible. The man is gone all the time and the woman is an alcoholic. Their older son is a selfish crook, and the two young twins are a sad case. No one wants them. Maud and Simon are two of the dearest children I've met in literature.

All this may sound dismal, like one of those gloomy books I steer clear of, but it isn't at all. These facts are dealt with in a very matter of fact way. There is a lot going on in the book with various family members. There isn't any melodramatic event; there is no startling tragedy. Life just moves along in its pleasant, trying, troublesome, humorous way. Problems come up, but they are solved. Not everyone is bubbly and happy, but there is no sense of life not being worthwhile. Indeed, it is just the opposite. This is one of the most life-affirming books I've ever read. People have an outlook that is encouraging and exemplary.

The book also details two breakups. The slow coming apart of a couple is so well done. And, I expect, very true. People do go in different directions, and as we see in this book, it is often their careers that come first. Their jobs take a tremendous amount of time and energy. There is no time to talk about the big or little things. The book is an example of the opposite of Del Griffith's motto in Planes,Trains and Automobiles: Like your work, love your wife.

If you've never read Maeve Binchy, this would be a marvelous place to begin. It is set during the rise of the 'Celtic Tiger,' which we know has now fallen, rather spectacularly. The themes in Maeve Binchy's earlier books, which take place in an older Ireland, are wrapped up with the Church and social conventions. These modern Irish people are not bound by the old traditions, and are making their way into a new world. A perfect book, in my estimation.

Quote du jour/Sir John Templeton

How wonderful it would be if we could help our children and grandchildren to learn thanksgiving at an early age. Thanksgiving opens the doors. It changes a child's personality. A child is resentful, negative—or thankful. Thankful children want to give, they radiate happiness, they draw people.
Sir John Templeton
(1912-2008)

Muffin Monday/Sour Cream Muffins (and Chili)

I had some sour cream in the refrigerator, so I thought I'd make sour cream muffins this cold, dark November day. I found a recipe on the internet.

Sour Cream Muffins

Whisk an egg.
Whisk in:
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon soft butter
1 cup sour cream

Mix together the following, and then add to egg mixture:
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

I found this a little bit dry so added maybe half of 1/3 cup milk.
Fill greased 12-cup muffin tin.
Bake in preheated 400º F. oven for 20 minutes, but check at 15.


These are so very good. They will go perfectly with tonight's chili. Everyone has their own favorite chili recipe. This one is adapted from a friend's, and we just love it.

Chili

Put 1/2 cup dry black beans, and 1/2 cup dry cannellini beans into crockpot. Add 1/4 cup farro. Turn on high. Add maybe a teaspoon each of cumin and chili powder. Add salt, as desired.

Sauté a diced onion, some chopped summer squash, maybe a cup of frozen corn, and a sliced carrot in 2 Tablespoons olive oil, and then add to crockpot. I used the vegetables I had on hand today. If I'd had an orange or yellow pepper, I would have added it, too.

Aren't these colors beautiful - like a summer bouquet.



Put a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes through the food mill, and add about 2/3 of it to the crockpot.
Cook for several hours.

Farro is a new-to-me grain, but it has been around for a really long time. More here, and here, if you are interested. I think it adds a nice touch to the chili.

This is the best picture I could get of the steaming chili in the crockpot. :<)
There's a giveaway going on through Sunday, the 28th!

Blog Anniversary giveaway!

Tomorrow, November 22, is the fourth anniversary of the day I began writing this blog, these letters. I love the idea of a giveaway on one's blog anniversary. It is such a nice way to say thank you for my dear readers. There are two books which I am offering as a giveaway this year. One was given to me by a wonderful Canadian internet friend with whom I was on an email list for a long time. She and I have stayed in touch, and recently she sent me a magical parcel of books and magazines which included a book called Fine Lines. She remembered me talking about it years ago. Since that time, I have bought my own copy so I told her that I would offer her gift as a giveaway on my blog. I did a little entry about clotheslines, with a mention of the book here. The second book is one I recently bought, called A Year With Emerson with a quote for each day of the year.

Fine Lines is a fun-filled book about a much overlooked aspect of North American culture: clotheslines. If you have ever driven through communities and noticed all the lovely laundry on the backyard lines and wondered about the colourful art of hanging up clothes, you are about to find out the stories behind those fine lines.

While other books pin their success on airing dirty laundry, this volume is a refreshing change. It's a book about clean laundry hanging in a gentle summer breeze... as well as winter laundry frozen stiff as boards on the line in the backyard. Mrs. Clothesline examines in every detail the different kinds of lines, the various hanging methods and the personality profiles of those who participate in this age-old daily ceremony. Once you've read this engaging book, you'll never look at a drying line of wash the same way again.

Cindy Etter-Turnbull writes of the unsurpassed magic of the best drying days, dos and don'ts for beginners and veterans, clothesline props, clothesline disasters and other related subject matter. Fine Lines covers it all. She includes true life accounts of clothesline tragedies and triumphs from people across the country. Fine Lines is the book that will revolutionize the way you look at laundry. It is intended for amateurs as well as professionals, men as well as women. This book will put to rest any questions you may have about the fine art of hanging out the wash.

Probably nobody knows more about clotheslines than Cindy Etter-Turnbull. Cindy, and her basket of clothes, has spent many fun-filled evenings in homes and community halls throughout Nova Scotia collecting stories and anecdotes about clotheslines. She has been featured by Stuart McLean on CBC Radio's Vinyl Café, and has appeared on Wayne Rostad's On the Road Again.

Born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, Cindy and her husband proudly possess two actively used clotheslines. Cindy spends her spare time training the family dog, gardening and trying to out-fish her husband. Her love of tradition, beauty, orderliness, and humour has led to her fascination with "fine lines."

"A chief event of life is that day on which we have encountered a mind that startled us." A Year with Emerson is a feast of 365 such days, designed to celebrate the bicentenary of the "Sage of Concord." Known throughout the world for his cogent, epigrammatic writing, admired as the "George Washington of American Literature," his work is even more piquant and enriching in bigger doses. In this delightful display of his genius, the daily almanac entries take us to the heart of his ideas and philosophy. Some were written on the very day in which they appear in the book, some are speculations and musings of the season and the natural world, but all are unfailingly wise, still relevant to our modern times.

As a philosopher, essayist, poet, and lecturer, Emerson's mind ranged across the universe even as he traveled the length and breadth of the United States and Europe. With him as a companion and guide, we meet the ideas and personalities he championed and encountered, from Lincoln to John Muir, from Carlyle to Montaigne, and, of course, Emerson's own close New England circle of Hawthorne, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and the Alcotts. With company like this and the scope of Emerson's vision, we can read the entries as a daily inspiration and tonic, or simply enjoy this extended daybook as a revelation of a visionary, incorruptible, and surprisingly modern mind.

Richard Grossman is a psychotherapist, medical educator, essayist, and former publisher who has been reading and studying Emerson for over forty years. He lives in Salisbury, Connecticut.

If you would like to have one of these books in your own library, you may leave your comment on any posting beginning today, November 21 through next Sunday, the 28th. It is very important that you tell me which one you want. I will draw two names on Monday, November 29, and will send the books anywhere in the world.

Today's poem by Iva Reed on the 28th Margaret's Day

We celebrate the days our children arrived from South Korea, and call them 'Margaret's Day' and 'Michael's Day.' I've noted each day: here and here. I've also featured a few poems written by our old friend, Iva and on this 28th anniversary of Margaret's arrival, I thought I'd offer one she wrote in honor of our daughter. I cry each time I read it.

Iva and Margaret

Magic! Magic!

Night-time's
thick and glossy dark
fell fast asleep, and

right then!
right there!

became my lovely Margaret's hair.

Noon-time's
bright and shining glow
sprang wide awake, and

so warm!
so wise!

became my lovely Margaret's eyes.

Iva E. Reed
8/85

All Shall Be Well by Deborah Crombie

65. All Shall Be Well - second in the Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series
by Deborah Crombie
mystery, 1994
Kindle book - 11
finished, 10/17/10






This second in the series takes place in the building where Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid lives. One of his neighbors, a fifty-year old woman named Jasmine, is slowly dying. Kincaid has become quite fond of her, and his friendship means a great deal to her. When she does die, the assumption is that it was a natural death but it turns out she had asked a friend to assist her in suicide. And the autopsy shows that Jasmine died from an overdose of morphine. Was it suicide or was it murder? And if the latter, why kill a woman who was dying anyway?

Kincaid and Sergeant Gemma James become quite emotionally involved in the case as they spend time in the dead woman's home, searching for clues to why anyone would want to murder her. The author's descriptions offer the detectives and the reader a sense of who Jasmine was.

One wall held prints and Gemma went closer to study them. The center of the grouping was a sepia-tinted photograph of Edward VIII as a young man in Scouting uniform, smiling and handsome, long before the cares of Mrs. Simpson and the abdication. A memento of Jasmine's parents, perhaps?

Kincaid stopped in front of the solid, oak bookcase and contemplated the spines as if they might reveal something if he stared long enough. Books were jammed in every which way, taking up every inch of available space. Gemma joined him and scanned the titles. Scott, Forster, Delderfield, Galsworthy, a much worn, leather set of Jane Austen.
"There aren't any new ones," said Gemma, realizing what struck her as odd. "No paperbacks, no best sellers, no mysteries or romances."
"She reread these. Like old friends."

This is the sort of building Duncan Kincaid would come home to in Hampstead, London.

The silence in Carlingford Road seemed intense after the main thoroughfares, and the air in the shadow of his building still held the night's chill.

You may read the opening of the book at the author's website to get an idea of the writing, the feeling of the book. I am so loving this series, and have the third waiting on my Kindle.

Muffin Monday - Rice Muffins

Here is another recipe from Nava Atlas' American Harvest. Her philpy is a long-time favorite, and these muffins are a bit similar.

Rice Muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup cold, well-cooked brown rice
2 Tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 400º F.
In a mixing bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, and salt.
In another bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, rice, and melted butter.
Gradually add wet ingredients to the dry and stir vigorously until thoroughly blended.
Divide the batter evenly among the 12 cups of a greased muffin tin.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the muffins are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of one tests clean. (keep checking after about 15 minutes - mine cooked faster than the recipe said)
When the muffins are cool enough to handle, transfer them to a plate or rack to cool.

These muffins are great! Not a sweet or fruity muffin, but more 'bready,' more substantial.

We are having them tonight for supper with Gladys Taber's Leek and Potato Soup, using frozen leeks from this summer's garden.

The Making of a Home - part 7

Today is the first time I've been down to the house since mid-October. Because of the colder weather, the workers put in a kerosene construction heater to keep the house warm so the polyurethane on the floors would dry. Well, I'll tell you, I have never had such a sensitivity to a smell in my life. It was like it jumped right into my lungs and I felt sick. Tom went in a few times and when he got home, he had to put his clothes in the washer immediately, and still I had to open doors and burn candles for a while. Now the heat is on, and the heater is shut off. Thank goodness.

SO much has been done since I last wrote. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Front steps and porch lights

The stairs

The kitchen

The bathrooms



Ceiling fan


Dining room and loft lights

The photos aren't so great because of the brightness! Maybe next time, I'll go down after dark.

To celebrate Matt's birthday, they had a bonfire at the house, burning a lot of the scrap lumber from the job. We didn't go down, but it was quite a sight in the nighttime sky. Forty or fifty people showed up, and it lasted till midnight. The 'kids' thought nothing of standing outside for hours on a cold November night.

I'm not sure when they'll be in. My guess would be not for two weeks anyway. The upstairs floors aren't finished, the washer and dryer need to be hooked up, the stove isn't in place yet. And I'm not sure about the water to the sinks. But still, it is moving along beautifully. Margaret and Matthew are so excited.

For the other entries please click on tab under the header picture.

Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason

64. Arctic Chill - seventh in the Inspector Erlendur series by Arnaldur Indridason
translated by Bernard Scudder and Victoria Cribb
mystery, 2005
finished, 10/16/10

When I begin an Arnaldur Indridason book, I sink into it as one would a big upholstered chair. From the very first sentence, it is a reading experience like no other.

I am fascinated by Detective Erlendur's preoccupation with missing persons in Iceland. Every single book features this to a greater or lesser degree. He describes disappearances as 'a distinctly Icelandic crime.'

His theory was that Icelanders were indifferent about people who went missing. In the great majority of cases they believed there were 'natural' explanations, in a country with a fairly high suicide rate. Erlendur went further and linked the nonchalance about disappearances to a certain popular understanding, extending back for centuries, about conditions in Iceland, the hard climate in which people died of exposure and vanished as if the earth swallowed them up. Nobody was better acquainted than Erlendur with stories of people who had frozen to death in bad weather. His theory was that crimes were easy to commit under the cover of this indifference.

Each book teaches me something new about the country. Arctic Chill focuses on how the Icelanders are dealing with a new population from Thailand. I read here that in 2005 when this book was written, there were about 500 Thais in Iceland.

A young boy is found stabbed to death on a frigid January afternoon when it is dark at 4 pm.

Reykjavik at mid-day - Photo by Aaron Sylvan

He is the son of an Icelandic father and Thai mother. The police haven't had much experience with racially motivated crimes, and wonder if this may be one. Then the mother's other son disappears.

'Could it be that Sunee [the mother] no longer feels safe among us?' Erlendur said. 'Here in Iceland. Could that explain why she's hidden her son? We can't begin to understand what it's really like for immigrants in this country. We can't begin to understand what it's like for someone from the other side of the globe to move over here, settle, start a family and try to integrate into Icelandic society. ... Racism may not be an everyday occurrence here but we know that not everyone's happy with the way society is going.'

This is a heart-wrenching situation for all concerned, and is further complicated for Erlendur because he is getting occasional phone calls from a woman who says, 'Oh, God, I can't do it.' Is she a woman whose marriage has broken up, who has also disappeared? And why does she call him?

As always, I don't want to give away too much about the story. What I will say is that this writer is one of the best I've ever read. The detail, the quiet exploration of people and society, the slow way the reader gets to know not only Erlendur but his family and co-workers is different from any other books. Arnaldur Indridason really stands alone for me. There's no one like him. If you haven't begun to read his work, I really do encourage you to do so. He is a wonderful writer and his books are excellent.

Today's poem by Iva E. Reed

Leaning, Lending a Hand

There is a way

the light slants

in the late afternoon
or fresh after a muted rain,
against the moss painted side
of a sagging shed, like the light
was leaning to lend a hand to help
an old enfeebled friend to stand.

Shadow shrouded,
the surrounding trees shift and
sway, drift and nod; old cronies
of the ancient shed, lifting and
lowering their palsied heads,
having their say.

Iva E. Reed
1980

Quote du jour/Julie & Julia movie

You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when nothing is sure, and when I say "nothing" I mean nothing, you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It's such a comfort.
Julie Powell in the film Julie & Julia