Today's picture/First Snow

This is today's version of yesterday's picture. The whole world is transformed.

Page 161 Meme

Tara offered a fun meme to any of her readers who were interested.

Open up the book you’re currently reading to page 161 and read the sixth sentence on the page, then think of 5 bloggers to tag.

Since I'm on page 153, I got to read ahead a bit. :<) The sixth sentence on page 161 of The Unpleasantness At The Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers is:

"I wish you had spoken more openly."

Short and to the point!

As Tara wrote, anyone who reads this is welcome to participate since, I, too, love to know what people are reading right now.

Today's picture/Raindrops

Today's poem - Working in the Rain by Robert Morgan

Working in the Rain
by Robert Morgan from Topsoil Road


My father loved more than anything to
work outside in wet weather. Beginning
at daylight he'd go out in dripping brush
to mow or pull weeds for hog and chickens.
First his shoulders got damp and the drops from
his hat ran down his back. When even his
armpits were soaked he came in to dry out
by the fire, make coffee, read a little.
But if the rain continued he'd soon be
restless, and go out to sharpen tools in
the shed or carry wood in from the pile,
then open up a puddle to the drain,
working by steps back into the downpour.

I thought he sought the privacy of rain,
the one time no one was likely to be
out and he was left to the intimacy
of drops touching every leaf and tree in
the woods and the easy muttering of
drip and runoff, the shine of pools behind
grass dams. He could not resist the long
ritual, the companionship and freedom
of falling weather, or even the cold
drenching, the heavy soak and chill of clothes
and sobbing of fingers and sacrifice
of shoes that earned a baking by the fire
and washed fatigue after the wandering
and loneliness in the country of rain.

Dog rescue :<)

So, you may wonder, what does this woman do all day? Is she bustling about cooking or quietly reading? Oh, for the peaceful life. Well, sometimes. But there are farm adventures, and today's involves those two adorable creatures on my blog header.

One would think that two black dogs would wish to spend a 40º rainy, raw day in front of a warm, crackling woodstove. But they wanted to go outdoors, so I opened the door, and out they ran. They were gone quite a while but I figured they were following their noses in the field, which is the summer pasture and safely fenced in. Then I heard Ben bark. Usually, if not always, it is Sadie who gives the bark to come in. So, right off I knew something was up. Ben came rushing into the house all upset, and soaked, as you might imagine. I called for Miss S. No dog. I shut Ben into a room, and donning my old big coat, which belonged to my late father-in-law, and my Wellies, I trekked out and there she was, sitting prettily behind the fence in the sewer area. I had to go to the barn, shut off the electric fence, pull up some strands, step on some others, and coax her out. It took her a while since she is afraid of getting shocked. Finally, her desire for freedom overcame her fear, and she jumped through. So how did she get there? Were they both there? How did Ben get out? When the dogs engage in these sorts of escapades, we always call them Two Bad Ants after a children's book we used to read to our kids. Well, right now, our two bad ants are happily drying off in the warmth of their home.

Book Report/Simply "Father", 2007

Simply "Father"
Life With Theodore Roosevelt As Seen Through The Eyes Of His Children
By Toby Selda

I first read about Theodore Roosevelt a few years ago, in an unabridged audio of Letters From A Bully Father. I quickly went on to read more and more books about him. I joined the Theodore Roosevelt Association. I think him one of the most remarkable men who has ever lived. He accomplished more in his sixty years than others in a hundred. There are a lot of books out there if you want to read about this amazing man, and more on the horizon with Doris Kearns Goodwin presently working on one. I read about this little book in the TRA newsletter. It can only be bought through the National Parks Service at this time.

In a "note to our readers," the author says:

To develop a plausible story line, fictional text has been created for the characters. This is a work of historical fiction which uses the collective voice of the Roosevelt children to tell the story of their life with Theodore Roosevelt. The book is meant to have the look of a family album from the 1900s.

It does indeed have this look. There are beautiful family photos, reproductions of letters, and pictures of the glorious home on Long Island, New York, called Sagamore Hill.

On the back of the book is a photo of TR reading, with words from Autobiography:

I think there ought to be children's books. I think that the child will like grown-up books also, and I do not believe a child's book is really good unless grown-ups get something out of it.

Well, I got a lot out of this one. Even having read quite a bit about Theodore Roosevelt, I still learned more. In fact, I am quite sure that no one can ever learn all there is to know about this man. If you are already a fan, you'll love this book, and if you don't know much about him, here is a wonderful way to begin.

Home, wife, and children, they are what really count in life.
Theodore Roosevelt

Remembering Robert J.

It may be that only those of you in New England and northern New York state will recognize this man. Robert J. Lurtsema had a classical music program on WGBH, the Boston public radio station, called Morning Pro Musica. He was the morning voice in our home for many, many years. We would set the alarm to wake up to the birds which always opened his program, I believe at 7 am. How things have changed. Now the public radio stations I listen to have talk, talk, talk all morning, and mostly all day as well. Politics, opinions, dire news coming into our homes. But not in those days. We didn't know how lucky we were, how truly blessed we were to have that lovely, calm, quiet voice in our radio lives. I learned more about classical music than I ever could have in college, along with all the correct pronunciations. Each day of the week, after the birds, he opened the show with a different piece. My favorite was Respighi's Ancient Dances and Airs, which I think was the Thursday music. In his obituary, Mark Feeney of the Boston Globe wrote:

He tended to program the early hours chronologically, with music of the medieval, Baroque, and Classical eras predominating ( "Nothing too jarring before 9 a.m.," he liked to say)

Now the jarring starts early, early and never stops.

Also from the obituary:

Hearing the news read in Mr. Lurtsema's magisterial tones - The New York Times once described his voice as having ''the texture of warm fudge'' - was a unique experience. Indeed, a listener once wrote him, ''If the end of the world were coming, I'd want to hear it from you. I can hear you saying, `Well, there has been an announcement that the world will end in 28 minutes. That gives us just enough time to hear Telemann's Sonata in F for Recorder, Oboe and Continuo.'

He was also a big influence in our lives in terms of Scottish music. He was the host for Burns' Night, a celebration of the great poet's birthday in January. One year, Tom and I drove down to Boston through the snow in our big red four-wheel drive truck to be there. We saw the wonderful Jean Redpath and the Vermont Scottish weaver and singer, Norman Kennedy.

He would have been 76 today. I am thankful he was a part of my listening life, and oh, how I miss him.

Quote du jour/Bob Marley

When the rain fall,
It don't fall on one man's house top.
Bob Marley, So Much Things To Say

A Frosty November Morning

Sunday Supper - Dark Waffle Cake

Years ago we visited the Boston Children's Museum with the kids. My favorite section was a re-creation of a 1930s-1940s house. On the coffee table of the living room was a book called Foods and Fashions of 1936, and in that book was a recipe from Gracie Allen. I copied it down, and we've made these waffles a few times. I just found the book online in one place, and it now goes for $50! This is really a dessert, but it is Sunday supper day, and anything goes, right?

Dark Waffle Cake

Cream 3/4 cup butter with 1 cup sugar.
Beat 4 egg yolks and add.
Sift 1 cup flour with 1/2 cup cocoa and 2 teaspoons baking powder.
Add to creamed mix, alternating with 1/3 cup milk.
Beat well.
Add 1/4 cup chopped nuts and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Beat 4 egg whites till stiff and add.
Bake in hot waffle iron.
Serve with whipped cream.

This is delicious, especially with a glass of nice cold milk!

The Optimistic Gardener

You may have seen my Garden Bloggers' Book Club October/November book missing from the sidebar. I wrote to Carol, and told her I had too many books going this time of year, and wasn't going to get a chance to read the selection, Eleanor Perenyi's Green Thoughts. I do own it and plan to read it sometime, just not now. Carol wrote back and asked, if as an alternative to doing a book report on the book, I might consider a quote from it, and write about that. Here is the quote:

I can’t resist them and invariably let optimism get the better of judgment, which come to think of it may be the first principle of gardening.

"Them" refers to plants.

Well, it just so happens that my relief from gardening is over. My little vacation from a preoccupation with flowers and vegetables has left me refreshed and ready to begin again. The problem is the month is November, not May. But the consolation is I've started some lettuce, and have begun thinking about next year's garden. The quote is very apt. I can't resist. I have always bought more seeds than I have room for. In my dreams, I have more gardens than I do. And listening to my favorite, favorite gardening book which I just bought from Recorded Books does not help one bit. It is called, Dear Mr. Jefferson, Letters From a Nantucket Gardener by Laura Simon. I've already read it two or three times, and I am happily immersed in it again. I lay in bed this morning thinking, how about an annual bed? I've never devoted space to just annuals, but it would be nice I think to have a little "cutting garden" for the colorful, little jewels that I would love to bring inside to a jar on the kitchen table, or just admire outside. Let's see, how about some cornflowers, which I grew this year in honor of a dear blogger I read faithfully; and cleome for the bees we just might keep next year; and some zinnias Laura Simon loves called "Cut and Come Again" - why not? I've never grown them before; and Jewel Mix nasturtiums because I just saw the most beautiful one I've ever seen here; and some more of the Bright Lights cosmos that were tucked in among the perennials this year, and really should have a place all to themselves, along with all the other beautiful cosmos varieties. Do I have enough room under my lights to start all these? Should I buy some more? :<)

I want to try a few kinds of zucchini to see if I can finally have success, and get so many that I, too, will be giving them away. We had to repair a water line this year, and Tom suggested we use the dug up area for corn instead of putting in grass seed. Hooray! That will give us more room in the garden for peas and yellow beans and those onions we grew this year. And it's been a long time since I've grown spinach and Laura Simon was talking about the old variety Bloomsdale Savoy.

See how it goes? All gardeners are like this. Yes, our optimism does get in the way of our judgment, but heck, that's what makes the world a happier place, isn't it? Optimism is a good thing, as long as we don't get too discouraged when the sweet peas don't blossom or the weeds get to be too much. We let those things go and begin thinking about next year. Ah, the gardening life!

A little November gardening

Many of the gardeners I visit still have flowers, or are doing fall cleanup. Since my season has been over for quite a while now, I've had nothing to say and no pictures to show except the post about the dreaded yellow iris, which is all dug up and taken to the dump in several garbage bags, so hopefully it won't spread anywhere else. :<) I've had our two geraniums under the lights for a while now and they are doing just great. And you can see that Raya enjoys that inside sunshine, too.



Today, I planted some lettuce seeds, Garden Babies Butterhead. The intent is to keep planting so we can have lettuce all winter. We still have quite a few seeds left from this summer. I use soil from Gardener's Supply.


This room is always warm since the heat from the wood stove goes right up the old stairs off the kitchen, plus it is south facing, so it is the perfect place to have the grow lights. Recently I also brought up my desk, and a second Adirondack chair. This is where I read my "yearlong book," which this year is Henry Mitchell's One Man's Garden. 2008's will be Letters From Eden by Julie Zickefoose.

Quote du jour/Lilias Folan

The yawn is said to be like honey for the body; it has the ability to both soothe and energize.
Lilias Folan, The Inner Smile

Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose.

Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose. These are the words the Dillon Panthers high school football team, in the television program, Friday Night Lights, say all together before every game. Great words, don't you think? And in the locker room there is a sign which reads, Football- Training for the rest of your life. This is the highest goal; this is sports at its highest level. Playing sports doesn't always work out that way, but this is the ideal. Learning how to work with others, learning you are not alone whether you are the star or the one who drops the ball, learning to play fair, learning to lose and win with grace and poise. These are good lessons. They are life lessons. These are things that can get us through every single day.

I'm not from Texas but I have cousins there. When we were all little, they came up to visit every summer. I remember late night conversations with Patty about Texas Friday night football games. The notion of games played under lights seemed such a romantic idea to me. Where I grew up, we had Saturday afternoon football games. They were wonderful enough, but oh, nighttime games seemed so grownup to me. In Texas, even in her very small town, they take their football, and their cheerleading, very, very seriously. My uncle went to the local high school football games, both home and away, long after his kids had grown, until he died.

In my teen years, football was important. The games were played just once a week, so we had all week every fall to prepare for that day. Everyone showed up. Friends, girlfriends, parents of players, other parents. It was the weekend event. And then there were the Friday night pep rallies. The whole Main Street was closed off, and we marched behind the band and the cheerleaders. On the night before the last game of the season, we'd walk up to the park on the hill where we'd have a big bonfire, and afterwards there would be a dance at the school. These sound like such simple pleasures now. Kids have so much more going on. But then, and even now in many areas of the country, this still goes on.

Friday Night Lights is a television show without stereotypes. Let's see, there is the "ideal" high school couple; he's the star quarterback, she's the beautiful cheerleader. There's a stereotype, right? Well, no. In the first episode this boy is hurt playing football, and in an instant, he becomes paralyzed and in a wheelchair, possibly forever. And that beautiful girl, well, her perfect life falls apart when her father has an affair and destroys the family life she has always known. Then there's the sweet boy who is launched into the quarterback role. In a more by-the-book television show, he would become a great athlete overnight, win the girl, etc. Well, it is hard, hard work for him to learn this position. And he must do it while taking care of his grandmother who seems to be at the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. His mother is long gone, and his father is a lifetime soldier in Iraq. Oh, and he also has a job. It goes on and on. The characters in Friday Night Lights are real. We know them. There are wonderful families and very broken families. There are high school alcoholics and there is racism, and there is generosity and real decency. All just like real life. It isn't afraid to show the down side of so much town support, with grown men being more interested in these games than just about anything else in life. Indeed to many of them, these games are life.

I first heard of Friday Night Lights from reading a blog entry a few weeks ago, and I am so grateful. After watching the first episode of the second season, we started taping it each week, and renting the dvds of season 1. And this will demonstrate how much we really love this show - Tom is already dreading the end of the first season dvds because then we can watch it just once a week. These people are in our minds and in our hearts. We both agree we have never seen anything to beat it (and this from two huge LOST fans).

Quote du jour/Charlene Ann Baumbich

She always kept her flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt stored right next to one another since she so often sifted combinations of them together.
Charlene Ann Baumbich, Dearest Dorothy, Help! I've Lost Myself

Today's picture/Clouds

The Joy of Baking - Wild Rice and Quinoa Muffins

When I read Tara's piece on quinoa, I told her I would post a recipe using this wonderful grain. I got it from Mollie Katzen's site a while back, and have made these muffins many times since. They are a meal in themselves. Look at all those ingredients! A powerhouse of nourishment, but also, very, very delicious. Tom, who doesn't care for the taste of quinoa in another recipe I make (and will share sometime) loves these muffins.

The recipe does involve a few steps, but hey, so does a main dish, and this is as nutritious as anything I can imagine. The first thing with quinoa, pronounced keen-wa, is that they are coated with saponins, a natural covering to keep the birds away. These are used for soap and must be washed off before using. If you buy your quinoa in a box, you probably don't need to do this, but I get mine in bulk. So, let's see, what to do while holding a strainer under running water for five minutes. I let it be a very Zen time. I play with the sprayer, and make little mounds in the quinoa like those metal things you put your hands in to make a print. Sometimes I spray in one place and make a little quinoa fountain. Today I also looked out the window at the dark day and falling rain, marveling at the cheerful little birds at the feeders.

1. Cook one cup dry wild rice until done, maybe 40 minutes.
2. Cook one cup dry quinoa until done, about 15-20 minutes. Along with the fun to be had washing quinoa is the unique beauty of it after it is cooked. You know it is done when this little ring forms around it.

3. Mix 1 1/4 cups wild rice and 1 1/4 cups quinoa together. There will be some left over with which you can make a nice lunch with sautéed vegetables.
4. Add 2/3 cup cranberries.
5. In a separate bowl mix together:
2 cups flour
3/4 t. salt
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
6. Add to grain/cranberries mixture.
7. Beat an egg, add 1 cup milk, and 1 1/2 t. vanilla, and add to other mixture.
8. Add 1/4 cup melted butter

Spoon into greased muffin cups, and bake in preheated 375º F oven for 20-25 minutes, until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Makes 12-18 muffins, depending on size.

We're going to have them for supper with an easy, light, delicious soup I call "Louise's Soup" after the woman who gave me the recipe.

1. Put a 28 oz. can of crushed, chopped, or diced tomatoes through the food mill into a saucepan. You may eliminate this if you want a chunkier soup. I prefer more of a broth-y soup for this recipe.
2. Sauté an onion in olive oil, turn down heat, and add a couple cloves of garlic and cook some more.
3. Add the onions and garlic to the tomatoes.
4. Stir 1 T. broth ( I use Rapunzel vegetable broth) into a cup of warm water. Add this to the tomato mixture, along with 3 more cups of water.
5. Add 1/2 a 10 oz. package of frozen spinach.
6. Bring to a boil, and then lower heat to simmer.

Today's cd/Coco

Colbie Caillat, Coco, 2007

On this dark and dreary 40º day in northern New England, what better cd to put on than Colbie Caillat's debut album, Coco. Suddenly there is warm California sunshine in this house. What cheerful, upbeat, energizing music. Tom compares her to Jack Johnson, and I agree. They both calm me down and lift my spirits. I love this album. If you haven't heard her on the radio, you may visit her myspace and listen to some songs.

Book Report/The Battle For The Castle, 1992

There's always trouble when fictional characters let someone else in on a special secret. In the first book, The Castle in the Attic, William kept his own counsel; he didn't tell his best friend Jason about the castle or his "magic powers." Well, in this book, published seven years later, and taking place two years later, he spills the beans. There is a rite of passage where these young boys live that they all "must" jump the trains (jump on, crawl across the top, and jump off on the other side) when they are twelve years old. William, still small for his age, does not succeed. I think his telling Jason about the castle is his way of making himself look good in his friend's eyes after blowing his attempt. And Jason wreaks havoc just as Omri's friend, Patrick does in the Indian in the Cupboard books. He is a loose cannon whom William cannot fully trust as they make themselves small, and proceed on a new adventure. Once they arrive, things get better and they must band together to save the kingdom from a new peril.

The very idea of twelve year old boys jumping a train will shake up any readers who are parents of young ones. In the television interview I saw, the author of the book, Elizabeth Winthrop addressed this:

The biggest thing about children's books is that you cannot talk down to children. You cannot preach to them in any way. I have to get down on that child level. I have to leave the adult behind. There are times when your characters do things that you just say, "no, don't do this" - I mean in Battle For The Castle, William jumps a moving train and every single part of me is screaming, "don't do this, William," but that is what he would do.

I'm not a fan of rats. They probably top my list of things I'm afraid of. And so, this book was a little bit hard for me to take. Picture giant ones, standing on their back legs, progressing along "like a great black oil spill." Yuck!

The Battle For The Castle will be very appealing to those approaching the teen years, or just entering them. There is a subtle sense in the book that the older generation will not face the facts, and it is up to the young to take things into their own hands. In order to succeed this time, William must depend on his wits, not his ability in gymnastics. We meet a wonderful girl character, who is descended from one who could tell the future and knew all about herbs. These two gifts, combined with the talents of Jason and of William, save the day. Kids (and adults) love a series, even if it is only a series of two, so I'm sure this book made a lot of readers happy to see William again. And he came of age in a truer, better way than that of jumping trains.

Sunday Supper/Blueberry Pancakes

The New England Butt'ry Shelf Cookbook
Receipts for Very Special Occasions
By Mary Mason Campbell
Illustrated by Tasha Tudor
1968

I grew up with a butt'ry, and this old farmhouse had one, too, until we knocked down the wall and made it part of the kitchen. And though it is not a separate room now, that part of the kitchen is used just as a butt'ry would be. Here is the way it is described in this beautiful cookbook.

City people used to have pantries. The country counterpart of the pantry was called a "butt'ry." In occasional hidden corners of New England, this country room may still be found in use, but only the most old-fashioned houses, loved and lived in by the most old-fashioned kind of people, have a "butt'ry" these days.

The butt'ry (properly spelled buttery, of course) is a small room with a smell of good things to eat and a look of delicious plenty. It is located next to the kitchen in the cool corner of the house. Its window is shaded in summer by a crab-apple tree. We can watch a robin and her mate busily raising their family in the nest tucked between branches. We can reach out the window with a long-nosed watering can to give a drink to the fuchsia and begonia plants trailing their flowery stems in the dappled shade of the leaves. Through the window, we watch the lilacs and the old-fashioned roses come into bloom, and enjoy a view of the perennial border against its background of gray stone wall as its colors and patterns change from the daffodils of early spring to the last flowering chrysanthemum of autumn.

This most appealing description goes on for several pages, telling the reader of all the wonderful foods and ingredients which are stored in such a room. I have read these words many, many times and find them achingly nostalgic. They paint a picture of the physical details of the butt'ry which tell us much about how it was used, and how life was lived in older times. I love this book which is filled with receipts, the old-fashioned word for recipes, for holidays throughout the year. There are stories about the fun which was had on Valentine's Day and Easter Breakfast and the Thimble Tea and the Quilting Bee. Tonight's Sunday Supper recipe comes from Fourth of July Breakfast and it is:

Blueberry Pancakes

In a small bowl, whisk together well 1 egg, 1 cup milk, and 2 rounded Tbs. sour cream.

Into a larger bowl, sift together 1 cup flour, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. mace, 1 Tbs. sugar, and 1 Tbs. baking powder.

Into this dry mixture, pour the liquid and beat well with wire whisk or egg beater. Add 2 Tbs. melted and cooled butter and stir until mixed. If you like pancakes thin, add a bit more milk, perhaps 1/4 cup.

Fold in 1 cup blueberries. Drop batter by large spoonfuls onto hot, lightly greased griddle. Brown on one side, turn and brown on the other; turn only once.

The batter is light and delicious even without the blueberries. Serve with plenty of fresh butter and maple syrup in generous pitcherfuls. This receipt makes about a dozen pancakes.

My notes:

I used the Kitchen Aid mixer.
I used an electric fry pan sprayed with cooking spray.
I used 1 teaspoon baking powder, not 1 tablespoon. It just seemed like too much to me.
I didn't use mace.
Lastly, and most important, they taste wonderful. Utterly delicious!